Happy Friday Jackets! Today I want to share with you some of the best Dim Sum joints in the Bay Area for a family dinner, a date with a best friend, or a quick bite. None of these places are expensive and the portion sizes are large enough to feed two people. So eat up jackets! I hope you all have some wonderful meals over our winter break.
Peony Seafood Restaurant, Oakland: I have been going to Peony seafood since I was a little kid and I can happily say the food has always been delicious. Peony’s is in a mall in Oakland Chinatown with a huge dining room and tables for the whole family. Everything is served family style so order to share. Peony’s offers an extensive dim sum menu for lunch, with some plates available on the dinner menu as well. The head chef trained in Hong Kong, providing contemporary and creative Chinese dishes. Some of my favorite dishes are the pea shoot dumplings, shu mai, custard egg buns, coconut pudding bunnies, and curated custard tofu.
Dragon Beaux, SF: Dragon Beaux resides out in the Richmond of SF, and from the outside it may be overlooked. But on the inside is a decorated and grand restaurant serving fresh and delectable Dim Sum. Everything is served family style with large portions. Dragon beaux offers a “refined culinary experience” with a wide range of dim sum and modern chinese dishes. The best dishes here are the soup dumplings with colored skins, yolk lava bao, taro buns, shrimp rice crepe roll, and seafood HK crispy noodles.
Dumpling Home, SF: Dumpling Home has been widely regarded as one of the best new dim sum restaurants in the Bay, as well as receiving a recommendation from the Michelin Guide. Dumpling Home is not a traditional Chinese, nor dim sum, restaurant, specializing in their dumplings. Dumpling Home is a casual restaurant, but it is usually very busy and does not accept reservations, so I recommend arriving early. The best dishes here are the crab and pork xiao long bao, green onion pancake, shrimp egg chives and wood ear mushroom dumpling, and house special bean paste noodles. Be patient with the staff, and ask for the chili sauce.
Da Lian, Berkeley: Da Lian is my favorite chinese restaurant in Berkeley, and another childhood favorite of mine. I may be biased, but for good reason. While Da Lian might not look that busy, I would like to bring attention to this restaurant and encourage people to go eat there. Da Lian serves traditional Chinese dishes and incredible dim sum. They have all the dishes you could want at a chinese restaurant, and the food always arrives hot and fresh. My favorite dishes are the spinach dumplings (I always order at least two), the honey walnut shrimp, zha jiang noodles, sizzling rice soup, and cabbage rolls.