dim sum times

2009-06-15T05:24:00.001-07:00

6/15/2009
Figured it was time to write this one up.
Lin Garden in Dracut does a dimsum buffet every weekend. I have gone the last 3 weekends in a row.

From the outside the place looks like a trailer-like polynesian restaurant advertising its comedy night and with plastic dragons and the like on the wall. But inside its a nice space with a terrific view of the river. The place could be no closer to the river so the views are great.

The dim sum buffet starts at 11:30 and has 3 tables of items. They are very good about keeping it all full and fresh. In fact i have yet to see anything empty. Costs aprox $15

From memory: (im sure im missing many things and they vary slightly week to week)
The first steam table has:
Chicken wings, pot stickers, meatballs w/ brocoli, chicken feet, s&p shrimp, fried tofu, bell peppers w/ shrimp, chinese eggplant, turnip cake, dungeness crab, dried tofu skin sheet stuffed w/shrimp, fried chive/shrimp wontons. Scallion pies w/pork/egg/scallion inside

The 2nd steam table has:
soy milk/fried dough, rice noodles w/toppings, house fried rice, beef chow foon, hot&sour soup, some sort of soup with rice noodles and thousand year old egg, some sort of tasty greeens with bits of pork, about 6 different types of buns in steamers. Including Pork, sausage, red bean, etc. Yesterday they had small bowls of silken tofu w/syrup.

Then there is a table with 3 trays w/sterno and steamers on top. In here there are hargau, shumai, pork/taro balls with rice outside, about 5 other pork based dumplings. The other 1/2 of the table are dessert type items. Various rice flour based sticky treats w/bean inside, noodle square things that look like rice crispy treats, tea infused rice w/bean wrapped in bamboo leaves, couple types of jello red/coconut, great almond cookies, moon cakes, etc..

Overall we like it as a suburban option. No driving to boston/parking issues. Great when there are only a couple of us so we can enjoy the variety. Of course being a buffet its not exactly the same as a fresh cart load of stuff in boston. I really like the S&P shrimp and the shrimp/chive fried dumplings. Also love the rice covered meatballs w/taro/pork inside. The skins on many of the dumplings are on the thicker side and many/most of the pork based dumplings taste very similar to each other. Scallion pies are very good too

Considoring how small the crowd of clients is typically, i would say they do a great job of bringing out a large variety of items and keeping them well stocked. Crowd is 99% asian.

I would definately recommending trying it if you are in the suburbs and dont feel like treking to boston or woburn. Attached a few photos of a couple plates.

2008-05-25T10:04:00.000-07:00

5/25/2008 Winsor Dim Sum Cafe - Boston -Al, D, Jeff, Pam

1st time trying the Winsor. Place was rather quiet at 11 on a Sunday. Service was excellent, very attentive staff. Food all arrived fast , fresh and hot. Everything was excellent and we will return to try more items for sure.

We had:
Steamed Shrimp Dumpling (Ha-gau)
Pork & Shrimp Dumpling (shu-mai)
Steamed shrimp/chive dumpling
Spare ribs with Black Bean Sauce
Steamed shrimp rice noodles (chow-fun)
Bean curd sheet w/ pork & Oyster Sauce (tofu-skin-roll)
Fried Stuffed Bean Curd & Oyster Sauce (stuffed with shrimp)
Pan Fried turnip cake
Crispy spring roll
Fried stuffed eggplant
deep fried chive dumplings
Shanghai fried rice cakes
Crab meat dumpling w/soup inside (this turned out to actually be soup with 1 large dumpling floating in it)

2008-03-15T06:06:00.000-07:00

3/14/2008 Dinner at Sichuan Gourmet framingham:
6 of us went last night to SG framingham.

We started with:

Dan Dan noodles - a favorite of the group. Angel hair like pasta with a spicy sauce and bits of pork.
Sichuan Wonton w. Spicy Chili Sauce (10) - Small wonton-soup-like dumplings in a similar red sauce as the dan dan noodles.
Scallion Pancakes - smaller then most and not cooked very dark, still tasty.
Shrimp Toast - These were nice. Deep fried white bread with shrimp paste on top. What made these ones interesting is they had bits of waterchesnut in the shrimp mix and generous amounts of sesamee seeds on top.
Main dishes:
Fresh Whole Fish w. Sichuan Chili Bean Sauce - Similar red spicy sauce with beans in it this time. Fish was moist and flaky. Some at the table got frustrated with the bones.
Beef & Napa Cabbage w. Spicy Chili Sauce - Again similar red spicy sauce but more of it and alot of crushed red pepper flake made this the spiciest dish we had i think.
Cumin Flavored Dry Beef w. Chili Sauce - Always a favorite of the table. Sort of a beef jerky with cumin sorta thing.
Smoky Hot Shredded Chicken w. Cayenne - The cayenne is not what you expect but more of a fresh green pepper sorta thing. Nice flavor.
Ma Po Tofu - chunks of tofu in a similar red spicy sauce as many other dishes. Wasnt a big hit at the table. I liked it but i prefer a firmer or fried tofu. This was your basic soft-white cubed tofu.
Cellophane Noodles & Minced Pork - We added this at the end and the waitress replied "have you had it before?" which made us think that she thought we wouldnt like it. Well it was interesting. Clear noodles with the consistancy of gummy bears in the red spicy sauce with bits of pork thrown in. Was tough to eat and wasnt a big hit of the table but most people were pretty full by then.
White rice.
Sesame Sweet Potato Cakes - These dessert cakes have mashed sweet potato and a dollop of red bean paste in the middle. The outside it a thin crust with sesame seeds. I would have liked them sweeter but they were good and very hot filling.

Total bill with some drinks and tip was $186.

Overall I felt it was all tasty but I would have liked more variety of sauces/flavors. I think we ordered too many dishes that had the same sort of sichuan red sauce/oil. Bill seemed a bit high for the amount of food we got but we did have 5-6 cocktails at the table as well.

2008-02-10T11:07:00.000-08:00

2/10/2008 13 of us went back to Green Tea 2 in Framingham. Again, everything was excellent. We ordered much too much food though! Staff was very friendly and even gave us tours of the kitchen. All the wrappers and noodles are homemade in house. We got 3-4 of many of the dishes so some of the photos are of multiple orders on 1 plate.. I counted over 70 orders! We left $325 total with tax and a good tip. I counted 29 different items. (not pictured are sweet soy milk and stuffed mushroom caps) Some photos of items below with names: (you can click the photos to enlarge)

Taro Cake

Three Delight Fried Rice Sticks:
Chicken Chow Foon:
Shrimp Chow Foon:
Eggplant Stuffed w/ Shrimp:

Exotic Tofu:
Golden Sticky Rice Ravioli:
Szechuan Spicy Wontons:
Taro Cake:

Hargau:

Bean Curd stuffed w/ Shrimp:

Spareribs in Black Bean Sauce:
Singapore Deluxe Rice Noodles:

Fried Dough:

Salt/Pepper Calamari:
Spring Rolls:
Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf:
Shumai:
Shrimp& chive cake:

Vegetarian Bean Curd Wrap:
Stuffed Bitter Melon w/ pork & Shrimp:
Chicken Feet:
Steamed Pork Buns:
Scallion Pancake:

Shrimp Cheung Fang:
Crab and shrimp balls:
Steamed Chive Dumplings
Steamed Beef Balls:

2008-02-03T10:34:00.000-08:00

Green Tea 2 Framingham - 2/3/2008

3 of us went today to the new Green Tea 2 in framingham for dimsum. http://www.greenteaframingham.com/images/dimsum.gif

WOW. We were blown away. Everything came out hot, fresh, and fast. Not 1 dish that wasnt exceptionally excellent. The owner came to our table many times and was very proud to tell us about how they make all the noodles and wrappers from scratch. After the meal i went to tell him how excellent it all was and he brought me into the kitchen to show me how/where they make everything homemade. Very impressive.

Shrimp Dumplings (har gau)- generously sized and full of shrimp, perfectly steamed.

Shrimp & Chive Cake - small expertly panfried on both sides with thin wrappers, loaded with shrimp and chives.

Shu Mai - Typical preperation, but very fresh and hot

Steamed Shrimp Cheung Fun - Homemade noodles with very large shrimp inside. Excellent

Spare Ribs w/ BB sauce- Lighter sauce then im used to, generous amounts of garlic, peppers, etc.. very tasty.

Vegetarian Bean Curd Wrap - This one was loaded with mushrooms and had sort of an egg dipped fry to it.

Taro Cake - Similar to a turnip cake but with chunks of taro. Pan fried on both sides to a golden crisp skin.

Stuffed eggplant with shrimp - huge pieces of chinese eggplant, sliced open and stuffed with shrimp paste like a sandwhich. Not the typical small chunk with a bit on the top like you get in boston.

Szechuan spicy wontons - Bean sprouts and dumplings in a mildly spicy sauce. Huge portion. Not spicy like you would get at a Szechuan restaurant but very tasty.

Three Delight Fried Rice Sticks - one of the highlights. thick rice noodle chips, shrimp, chicken and pork all browned/pan fried perfectly. Excellent.

The quality, freshness and flavors were all better then most dishes i have had in Boston. Plus easy to get to for us suburban folks, came to only $15/each with tax and tip + Free parking!

I had been to Green Tea Newton several times but this was also much better then there. Larger portions, faster service, hotter, tastier.
You gotta try it!

2007-12-23T15:06:00.000-08:00

12/23/2007 7 people Emperor Garden Boston.

7 of us went today and spent about $100 on dim sum.

At first we were worried as they didnt seat us in the main dining area but in a lounge off to the side. When we arrived we were the 1st in this large room and obviously there were no carts/peopls. However as they promised, within about 10 minutes it was hoppin in there as well.

We got most of the normal standards hargau, fried dough, meatball, shumai, mushroom cap meatball, baked pork pastry, egg custards, chicken feet, shrimp chow fun, ribs in black bean sauce, taro dumplings, fried shrimp/chive dumpling, fried calamari, s&p shrimp, congee, tofu skin roll, spring roll, shrimp roll, sticky rice, roast duck.....

Out of that list the only thing i actually had to spit out was the calamari, not much seasoning and very fishy. Others didnt think it was so bad , but it remained mostly uneaten on the table.

Didnt have the soapy/soggy experience i had there 2 years prior so it certainly has improved since my last visit!

Most was on par with the other big places in chinatown.

The turnip cake cart didnt come around till we were done eating and leaving, which was sad as i love them. Also never saw any of the fried shrimp patties with the shredded taro on the outside. One of my favorites which they didnt seem to offer at all. We also wanted snails but they dont do those there, they did have clams but we didnt get them

2007-11-06T16:52:00.000-08:00

11/5/2007 Just wanted to post the menu of Woo Jung Restaurant in Ayer Ma. I love the scallion pancakes at this place. (actually on a page of the menu i didnt post!) They are not at all like the chinese type. More like a thick rice cake sorta thing.

2007-10-08T08:38:00.000-07:00

10/6/2007
Pam and I went to the Yangtzee River Dim Sum Buffet for lunch. Typical, same as usual there. Items on the cart seemed pre-prepared, not on par with Boston Dim Sum. Many decent items on the buffet table and certainly plenty enough to eat.

Later for dinner 7 of us went to try Fuloon for the 1st time.

Quiet night, not very busy, service was excellent. Very attentive. Offering plenty of water refils, quick plate clearings, extra napkins,etc.. Not only did they give us new plates after our apps, but they changed our dinner plates once midway as well!

We had some adventurous and more conservative eaters among us so we ordered a mix.

We started with Scallion pancakes, crab rangoon, peking ravioli and a double order of the Spicy Wontons. The Spicy Wontons were interesting with a good amount of Sichuan pepper corn spice and garlic. The scallion pancakes were thicker then im used to but good. I was also able to try the Hot and Sour soup. It had a nice dark thick beefy broth but not very spicy.

Then for main courses we had Szechuan style whole fish, Diced chicken with dates/chestnuts, Wok baked beef, tea smoked duck, Pan fried noodles with chicken,pork,shrimp.

The fish was tasty but not as spicy as we wood have liked. We feel that maybe they made it more mild then usual for us? It had 2 stars on the menu where the wonton app only had 1. Yet the wontons were much more spicier.

The Diced chicken with dates/chestnuts was a big hit among the more conservative eaters at our table as was the wok baked beef.

The Tea smoked duck was excellent with a nice seasoning on the crisp skin. We liked it much better then the version at Sichuan Gourmet. It was served with some steamed dough buns.

The Pan Fried noodles were very good too. Perfectly crisp with a nice sauce and plenty of toppings. As good as any chinatown version in my opinion.

For dessert they gave us complimentary Sweet Sticky Rice pastry with red bean inside.
Overall a nice meal and everyone enjoyed it.

Next time we will order more spicy dishes and make sure to get them with full strength.

2007-09-28T06:49:00.000-07:00

9/27/07 Cantonese in Acton yet again.

Tonight we got the singapore rice noodles w/ thai soup and scallion pancakes again.

Smaller portion then last time on the noodles but still more then plenty. Not a fan of the scallion pancakes which are premade/frozen from a retail package. Soup is excellent. Also got the Salt and Pepper shrimp which were very very good.

2007-09-08T04:53:00.000-07:00

Sep 7th New Cantonese place in Acton again!
Tonight 2 of us both got dinner combos. We both go the "tai soup" which was tom yum soup with fresh veggies and chicken in it, very nice. I got the singapore rice noodles- huge portion loaded with chicken and shrimp. I got the "boneless ribs" for my app, which turned out to be charsiu bbq pork rather then the typical type. Pam got the Cantonese fried tofu which had various fresh veggies including corn and eggplant. She also got the scallion pancakes.

2007-09-04T09:27:00.000-07:00

9/4/2007 Cantonese Eatery Acton MA. This is a new small place in Acton. Hope it does well! They have bubble tea too which is a big plus for me. I had the Chicken Chow Foon today and it was tasty. The hot and sour soup however was bland and watery and the spring roll frozen and premade. Here is the menu:

2007-06-17T12:34:00.000-07:00

6/17/2007 Green Tea Newton, Al, Damon, Jeff.
Mussles in black bean sauce, shrimp in mushroom caps, ha gau, shu mai, Shrimp chow foon, Scallion/shrimp dumplings, ribs in black bean sauce, shrimp/crab dumplings, pork dumplings, spicy pork wontons, radish and taro cakes.

Everything is made to order and comes out nice and fresh/hot. We found the skins on the dumplings to be too thick though.

Owner is very friendly and helpful. Nice to support a local small business.

2007-05-20T15:09:00.000-07:00

may 20 2007, Peking Cuisine Watertown - 5 people

Place opens at 12. 1st warning sign would have been, nobody waiting in line. We went in and sat down. Hmm nobody inside either. Sort of odd for a place with huge "now serving weekend dim sum " in the window.. We are given regular menus, we ask for dimsum menus. They give us the "chinese" menu that has a small section in one corner "weekend dim sum". Aprox 7-8 items, none of the familiar china-town cantonese items other then fried dough and soy bean milk.

We ordered as asst of items, mostly from the regular menu but a few from the chinese menu.
Highlight was the House Special pan fried noodles. Very tasty and comparable to Boston versions. Eel with garlic sauce was a bit "off". Spicy pork with hot peppers was grissly pork w/ green peppers and little flavor. Fried shu mai were like what you get in the plastic trays at trader joes, im sure they were. Peking ravioli, very doughy, also the frozen variety. Spicy wontons in hot chili oil, were totally bland wontons in peanut sauce. Fried salt/pepper calamari was good, nice and tender, not much seasoning but nicely prepared. Some sort of cold tofu skin dish with mushrooms inside wasnt a very big hit either.

Overall it was ok normal chinese food with little seasoning/flavor, im sure we could have asked for things "extra spicy". We went expecting familiar dimsum and that it certainly was not.

We were there from aprox 12-1 and in that period only 1 other customer came in to order a takeout dish to pickup at 2. So not too busy.

2007-05-20T05:25:00.000-07:00

Note: I no longer am putting repeat trips to places on the blog. We go too often and not much changes. In the past 2 months we have been to China Pearl Boston, China Pearl Woburn, Hei la moon, Chau Chau City all countless times, almost every weekend there isnt an update on the blog is because we were at one of these places and nothing has changed.

2007-05-20T05:22:00.000-07:00

April 29, 2007 - Tobiko Asian Acton

This place has a small dimsum paper that you mark off like when ordering sushi.
2 of us got basically all the items. Shrimp chow fun, shu mai, har gau, shrimp/chive dumpling, ribs w/ black bean sauce, tofu skin roll, some sort of fried dough w/ pork bits inside. We also got a order of pan fried noodles. Food was slow to arrive but decent once it came. Not bad for a closeby taste to satisfy a craving.

2007-04-10T07:47:00.000-07:00

Captains Blog, Dim-sum-date April 8th, Easter-Year of the pig.
Crew: Damon, Will, Mike, Ang, Al,myself
Hei La Moon.

Cart action was strong.

Shrimp chow fun x2, Spring rolls, pork pastries x2, sticky rice in lotus leaf,ribs over taro,taro coated fried shrimp patties, fried calamari,har gau x2, shu mai, seafood dumpling, shrimp/chive dumpling, shrimp rolls in tofu skin, tofu skin rolls x2,turnip cake,greens, peanut/taro dumplings,fried shrimp/chive dumpling, more that im forgetting im sure.

This week at hlm and last week at China Pearl, they have been attacking us with evermore msg. I am worried for my crew and the entire fleet. Im not sure how much more they can take before they become completly insane. This week my co-pilot and 2nd in command were taken down, next week who knows?

2007-02-26T06:18:00.000-08:00

2/24/2007 Lin Garden Dracut MA-
This is an all you can eat dimsum buffet. About $12/pp with tip/tax.

First steam table had chicken feet, turnip cake, crabs, couple types of fried scallion dumplings, chicken wings, shrimp in tofu skin, panfried ravioli,fried cruller, sticky rice in lotus leaf, couple other items.

Second steam table had congee, hot & Sour soup, rice noodle soup, sweet bean milk, chow foon, vermicili, bokchoy w/ pork, 5-6 types of steamed buns.

Then there was a table with chaffing dishes with 6 other steamed dumplings including , rice covered meatballs, Hargau and shumai. There were platters with dessert type items as well. Various jello types, some buns with red bean paste, etc..

Overall it wasnt bad for a dimsum buffet. Although I think its better when they have carts as well as buffet such as Oriental Pearl in Framinham does. Also could have used a few more fried items.

2006-12-30T05:58:00.000-08:00

12/22 Jin Buffet Saugus.

2 of us went last night to check out Jin. 8pm on Friday night.

I will try to give an accurate report for those who have not been.If you have been to weylus you know the scene, this is a huge, fancy/glitzy chinese pagoda type palace up on a hill. Made you feel like you were in vegas or something. Pretty cool actually. How often do you go to a restaurant with its own escalator inside!?Friday night at 8, not too many people there, I guess they are earlier eaters mostly. There was the end of some companies holiday party and perhaps a few dozen others.

Buffet is layed out as follows. Going around the outside perimeter.Sushi station-we dont do sushi but i checked it out for my friends who do. Looked fresh with perhaps 10 different types of rolls. Seemed to be all/mostly roll type items.

Rawbar- little necks and oysters.

Grill area- they are setup right behind the buffet w/ the grill. Beef,chicken skewers. Tiny steaks,asst chops. We both tried the chicken skewers and thought they were eh... All dark meat and fatty.

Next to the grill area are several fish dishes, all looked pretty dried out.

DimSum area- Here there were about a dozen stacks of steamers. Items include shumai, chicken feet, tripe,tofuskin roll, several types of bao. I wanted hargau or anything shrimp but they were all out. We did get a steamer of yellow bean bau and they were rather tasty. Most the stuff was way over steamed and didnt look appealing.

General area- Next area had all your basic americanized chinese. Crab rangoon, spring roll, fried shrimp, chicken fingers, all your basic apps. Several noodle dishes, rices, etc.. All the fried items were lame. The spring roll i swear was empty. I had the panfried noodles which were just a cold greasy mass. DC thought the lomein was ok.

Soup station- aprox 6 soups including hot and sour, udon, shark fin, wonton, etc.. DC had a bowl of hot and sour, took one bite and left the rest. Said it was cold and blah.

Carving station- Here a woman sits and carves peking duck and prime rib. The peking duck was decent, she carved one up right as we arrived. They had the pancakes, and scallions, etc.. The prime rib was pretty much gone. 2 leathery slices sat there untouched the whole time we were there.

Then in the center they have one buffet table with in my opinion the best stuff. Ginger scallion lobster had to be timed right. 1st time i got 2 dried up claws that were nasty. 2nd trip up, a little better still pretty lame. 3rd trip up, i scored a fresh batch and filled a plate with tail pieces, claws, etc.. This made the entire night worth it as it was very good. Even with only a few dozen people there was quite a bit of competition as everyone/like me was waiting to get some of this. Also on that bar several shrimp dishes with large shrimp, sea scallops, abalone, frogs legs, fish, crab legs, about a dozen decent dishes total.

Cold station - there is a buffet with various cold chinese delicacies on one side. Things like beef tendon, octopus salad, peel and eat shrimp, etc.. On the other side asst puddings, jellos, tapioca, glass jelly. Also a section with typical salad type stuff.

Desserts- there is a 2 door sliding cooler with asst fresh fruit, a long 2 tier section with asst cookies, bean paste buns/pastries, various things you would find in a chinese bakery. There is also a smaller cart with asst pastries with bean or pork fillings. There is a lame icecream station with only 4 flavors. Choc/vanilla/strawberry/orange sherbert.

Price was $25/per person. I felt it could have been really good but we went too late and most everything except the most popular dishes was dried out, greasy and bad. The saving grace for me was the one good batch of lobster that i got. For my GF, it was a waste as she probally ate about $5 of food and didnt really enjoy it at that. The buffet seems really big at first but soon you realize its alot in the way its spread out and the amount of open spaces. For instance for the rawbar of oysters/clams they take perhaps a 15ft section of ice/buffet. For the seafood lovers i think its a good deal if you time it right. If your not into seafood probally not that good for you. By comparision i regularly go to Hudson Super Buffet. It is 1/2 the price and has just as many if not more items with the exception of the lobster. Also at HSB the dishes are hotter and fresher. I would go again, but earlier with a group of my guy friends who are seafood lovers. In all fairness, 8pm on friday night was past their prime and too late to go

2006-10-29T20:41:00.000-08:00

10/29/06 Hei La Moon, Boston. 10 of us!

Today a group of us went to Hei La Moon in Boston. We had not been in a while. One intersting thing was that they opened a basement level of the restaurant up. Looks to be larger then the original restaurant down there. We didnt sit down there but it made our wait for a table for 10 upstairs much much shorter. We got a great table right by the exit of the kitchen, this was ideal as all the carts were full and hot when they got to us.

We found everything to be great today, much better then we had remembered even. Some of the items we got: (multiples of each)

Shrimp and beef stuffed rice noodles, shu mai, har gau, shark fin dumplings, tofu skin rolls, congee, ribs w/ black bean sauce served over rice noodles, Yellow custard buns were perhaps the best ever, Egg tarts, steamed pork buns, baked flaky pork pastries, sticky rice in lotus leaf, fried shrimp w/ taro, fried shrimp w/ chive dumplings were twice the size as anyplace else, Taro dumplings w/ pork inside, fried calamari-always great here, snails, chicken feet, turnip cake, chinese greens w/oyster sauce,seafood in tofu skin, steamed shrimp/chive dumplings, and many others I cant remember or dont know a name for!

Total bill $140 w/tip. Cant wait to go back.

After the meal we walked to Rainbow Cafe for Boba Tea drinks. They had a good selection all made with ice cream and real fruit. I found the boba pearls themselves to be really too mushy though and too big for the straw. Perhaps we got the bottom of a batch or something.

2006-10-23T08:24:00.000-07:00

Sichaun Garden Brookline.
4 of us went to celebrate a birthday at Sichuan Garden.

Waiter thought we were nuts ordering this much but we finished 90% of it.We got:
Hot and Sour soup - average nothing special

Pan Seared Pork Dumplings - typical pan fried dumplings, nicely done though, not too doughy or mushy.

Dandan noodles w/minced pork chili - strange version, the noodles were more like plain old prince spaghetti rather then chinese style. Less pork then i would have liked.

Sichuan pork dumplings w/ roasted chili vinagrette - spicy hot, not much filling. Same sauce as the dandan but w/o the pork.

Shredded camphur tea duck w/ spring ginger - This one I wasnt thrilled with. Alot of veggies not so much duck, not too interesting to me.

Stir fried chicken w/ spicy capsicum - Very good flavor, nice dish. A bit too much of the spicy capsicum. I sort of picked around most of it.

sauteed prawns w/ black bean sauce - very good version

panfried noodles w/ chicken - Better at a Cantonese place. Noodles are thicker here, really not their specialty.

Seafood hot pot. - very interesting. Fish balls,tofu, shrimp, glass noodles, scallops in a firey broth. We were not quite sure what to do with all the broth. Its almost like it should have been a soup. Had alot of whole Cumin seeds in it which im used to having in indian food or sausages. Took a bit getting used to w/ chinese food.

The hot pot was off the "secret" chinese only menu. They couldnt find an english version of it but apparantly at one time they had one. Id like to know what else was on that menu as that was my favorite dish. I knew they must have had hot pots and none were on the english menu so i just had them make me one.

2006-09-03T12:37:00.000-07:00

9/13/2006 Oriental Pearl - Framingham MA. Mike, Ang, Pam, Jeff, Damon.

I have not had an update in a while since we have been just repeating the same places/food already written up. However today we tried something new.

There is an all you can eat buffet that included most of our favorites. Fried green things, shrimp rolls, tofu skin rolls, congee, chicken feet, pork hock, rice noodles, chow foon, Taro dumplings, asst cold meats, salt/pepper shrimp w/ heads, various desserts, etc...

There is also one cart with steamed items. Sticky rice, hawgau, shumai, pork buns, yellow custard buns, pork ribs, various shrimp and pork dumplings, shrimp balls, etc..

We found everything to be hot, fresh and tasty. A few items we thought were better then the china town establishments. The taro dumplings were the best,also the egg tarts were very good.

A great place when you dont feel like dragging into Boston. Also the price is great at $8.99 for all you can eat. We will be back!

(sorry we didnt take any photos)

2006-07-18T12:07:00.000-07:00

7/16/2006 Yangtze River - Lexington. Alan, Damon, Jeff, Pam.
Basically the same as the last time there but not much of a crowd so the food was not as fresh and sat longer. We did try a hot Taro cake pudding dish that was tasty. No photos today.

2006-07-05T06:43:00.000-07:00

6/28/2006 Sichuan gourmet, ( not dimsum but great Sichuan food) Framingham. Don, Lynne, Ang, Mike, Jeff, Pam, Dave, Tony, Eric, Alan,Mike C.
http://www.laosichuan.com/en/menu.php?site=Framingham

Hot and Sour Soup - good kick to it

Guys thought the Mai Tais were weak but the bartender did come with the bottle of rum and touch them up once.

Chengdu Spicy Dumplings

Didnt get photos of Crab Rangoon, Scallion Pancake, Peking Ravioli, Dan Dan Noodles, Sichuan Cold Noodles.

Cumin Flavored dry beef w/ chili sauce - very interesting flavor

Chicken w/ cashews - hot

Smoky hot shredded chicken w/ Cayenne - nice

Tea smokey flavored duck - good duck but a bit boring

Fresh whole fish with Sichuan chili bean sauce - very good!

General Tso's Chicken

Chicken Pan fried noodles - Decent but not as good as the Cantonese versions

Chengdu Hot pot style beef - This was the spiciest dish we had.

Scallops with black pepper sauce

Tangerine Jumbo shrimp

Sesame Sweet potato cakes

The Bill!

Group shot 1

Group shot 2- Girl with dark shirt was our waitress (probably quit by now after dealing with us!)

Group shot 3

The Beer did have enough alcohol in it! ( traditional ancient chinese Unicorn Salute)

Fish Head (Hey it's a job!)

2006-06-05T11:49:00.000-07:00

6/4/2006 Yangtzee River , Lexington MA. Damon, Eric, Mike C, Mike P, Angela, Allan, Kevin, Tina, Jeff, Pam.

All you can eat dim sum buffet includes items on 3-4 buffet tables and all items off carts. Buffet items included various fried items, noodle dishes, fresh vietnamese spring rolls, congee, soy milk, turnip cake, dessert items. Carts were all steamed items. Many of the items were comparable to chinatown quality but many were also not as good. Overall considering the easy location, easy parking, and value for the $, it was very good and we will be going back!

Some of the gang outside

Dessert buffet

Main buffet

Lo mein, chow foon, tofu and other buffet items

Plate of buffet items

Plate of buffet items including Peking ravioli, Fried shrimp/chive green things, spring roll, Turnip cake, chicken steamed dumpling, fried shrimp balls, salt/pepper shrimp

Soft Tofu w/ sweet syrup

Tripe

Tofu skin roll

Shu mai

Stuffed mushrooms

Shrimp balls w/ Corn

Rice noodles

Pork dumplings

Shrimp Dumplings

Chicken Feet

Chinese eggplant

Pork Dumplings

Coconut tarts

Pork Buns

Mike C and Al

Eric

Mai Tais for dessert

Bill for 9 adults and 1 child, not including drinks

2006-06-03T04:51:00.000-07:00

5/28/2006 Shangri Lee - Chesire Ct. Will,Jeff, Pam, Bill, Karen,Pete

All you can eat Dim Sum/Chinese Delicacy buffet $11.95
http://www.shangrilee.com/

Jonesing for dimsum and stuck in ct, I found this place by doing a few web searches. The buffet is setup makeshift on a row of tables all pushed together. The first section features cold chinese delicacies. aprox 15 cold dishes. Smoked meats, duck, asst marinated noodles, vegetables, a spicy shrimp dish. Many of these dishes reminded me of kim chi and the other korean dishes that are given at the start of most korean meals.

Next section included some typical chinese appetizers. Very good honey coated chicken wings, peking ravioli, etc. Then asst hot dishes chicken, whole fish, curry noodles.

Next was a station had 4-5 stacks of steamers with the typical shumai, tofu skin roll, haw gau.

The last station was a make your own soup station. With udon type noodles, broth and toppings.

A seperate table had fresh fruit, hot soy milk, steamed bean buns and asst dessert type dimsum pastries.

Everything was very light and tasty. A much different experience the anything we had found elsewhere. If it wasnt so far away, we would definately go back.

2006-05-25T13:26:00.000-07:00

May 24- Dim Sum chef- Brighton. Angela, Mike C, Mike P, Jeff, Will, Damon, Al.

We went to the Dim Sum chef last night. I think we made the guys day with the qty we ordered. 7 of us, ordered 2 rounds. Round 1: Shrimp dumpling, pork ribs w/ black bean sauce, bbq pork bun, fried sesame shrimp roll, fried vegetarian spring rolls, fried bean curd skin rolls w/ shrimp, fried shrimp & chive spring rolls, pan seared turnip cakes, rice noodle roll w/ shrimp, rice noodle rolls w/ beef, shrimp and chive dumpling,shumai,crispy shrimp cake w/ taro

Round 2: sticky rice in lotus leaf, panfried sticky rice, shanghai meat dumpling, squid w/ garlic sauce,pan seared chive and shrimp dumplings,braised beef brisket on rice, curry chicken on rice,vermacili roll,2 more orders of shrimp dumplings, sesame shrimp roll, 2 more orders fried shrimp/chive roll,shrimp/chive dumpling. Then to go I got an order of the custard cream buns. All in all it was just about $100.

Everything overall was very good especially for a food court. The shumai were not very good and tasted premade/frozen. The 2 "main dishes" over rice came with way too much plain boring rice and not enough meat. The beef brisket one should be named beef-fat. The chicken curry one was very tasty though. The garlic squid was nice and tender and with lots of garlic, more italian then chinese almost! The sesame shrimp rolls were perhaps my favorite, very nice.

Topped it off with bubble teas from the lolli tea place. Much fresher boba then I have had before, not as hard and rubbery. Hard to pick a decent combo though with so many choices.

Blurry vermicilli roll

Fried sticky rice

Squid w/ Garlic

Shanghai meat dumplings

Pan seared shrimp/chives

Sticky rice in lotus leaf

Shrimp w/ chives

Shrimp dumplings

Fried rolls

Chicken Curry

Beef Brisket

The gang minus Ang who took the photo

2006-04-20T03:35:00.000-07:00

4/16/2006 Uncle Cheungs Framingham MA - Alan, Charles, Will, Jeff

Radish pastry

Shanghai Spring Roll

Pan fried Ravioli

Pork Buns

Pan Fried Noodles w/ Shrimp

Emerald dumplings

Fried Crueller

Ravioli w/ chili sauce

Fried Calamari

2006-04-11T21:38:00.000-07:00

4/9/2006 Chau Chau City Boston- Eric, Tina, Kevin, Mike P, Mike C, Damon, Jeff

$17/each as usual

Wrapping up the leftovers

Yellow Custard buns

Taro

Snails (poor ROI)

Shu Mai

Noodles

Mussles

Ha gau

Shrimp/chives pan fried

Egg Custard tarts

Pork/chive dumpling

Fried Calamari

Roast Pork Bun

"The Dim-Phantom and Master MSG"

"Whitey-Fingers and The Dim-Phantom"

"Secret-Weapon"-she speaks the language

"Eggman and Master MSG"

2006-04-03T21:46:00.000-07:00

4/2/2006 Hei La Moon boston Jeff, Pam, Alan, Mike P, Ang, Will

Beef chung fun

Sweet doughy w/ pork inside

BBQ pork baked w/ flaky pastry and sweet glaze

Spring Rolls

Fried Calamari from kitchen, not cart

Sticky rice

spareribs

Ginger dipping sauce

Pan fried w/ sausage, pork and shrimp

2006-04-03T14:41:00.000-07:00

3/25 Green Tea in Newton. Everything was great as usual. Damon, Will, Jeff.
Shu mai
Har gau
chicken chow foon
beef rice roll noodles (cheung fun)
tofu skin roll
spicy wontons w/ beansprouts
peking ravioli
taro rice cakes
Thick Noodle soup (forget the exact name) large bowl of thick noodles w/ shrimp,pork,chicken,egg,vegies.
Great service and the owner stopped by several times as he always does. Really friendly guy.
$42 w/ tip

2006-03-21T01:46:00.000-08:00

Hei La Moon Dim sum Boston 3/19/06 Jeff, Alan, Damon, Mike C, Tina, Kevin, Eric

The Damage (we had alot of multiples)

2 Thumbs Up Squid

Shrimp in tofu skin w/ celery

Sweet Buns, these ones are empty

Congee (rice soup)

Clams!!

Eggplant w/ shrimp

Pork/shrimp dumpling

Ha gau (shrimp dumplings)

Tofu w/ shrimp

Steamed pork buns Come with ginger/vinager

Fried green things - Nice and plump today

Vegi Roll

Steamed Green things (shrimp and chives)

Tofu Skin Roll

Taro Dumpling

Turnip cake (we call them Lard cakes!)

Slippery noodle w/ shrimp

Porcupines! Shrimp w/ taro on outside

Roast pork turnover

Shu Mai (already ate 2!)

Tofu Skin Roll

Mr MSG MAN!

Tasty Greens!

Chicken Feet! (Eric says they taste like chicken!)