mmm-yoso!!!

2024 Rose Parade float Road Test #3, breakfast at All That 'N Dim Sum

Thanks for stopping by to read mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog.  Kirk is currently busy and Cathy is writing today's post.

Link to 2024 Road Test #1

Link to 2024 Road Test #2

Another Road Test of mechanics and maneuverability for some floats which will be participating in the 2024 Tournament of Roses Rose Parade was held on the last Saturday of August at Phoenix Decorating Company in Irwindale.  We arrived here about 7 a.m. The Entry for Rotary International, "Clean Water, The Music of Life" was being tested with weight (people) onboard.  You can see a rectangular slot at the front end of the 'keyboard'-that is where the 'Spotter' for the float will be watching for traffic and hazards during the parade.  He or she will be communicating with the driver, who only looks down and follows the 'Rose Colored Line' painted on the street.
 The entry by the City of Alhambra, "Celebrating the Year of the Dragon"was tested in its full open position. 
 But every float has a maximum height and width it must be able to collapse down to so it can proceed along the Parade Route.  The doorway of the decorating barn is that maximum size.  

 "Chimes of Liberty Protecting Our Future"  is the 2024 entry by the Fraternal Order of Elks, a Service Organization.
 This detailed float will certainly be an eye catcher! You might notice the hands are missing from the Fife and Drum Corps- the faces as well as the hand flesh tones are being decorated with various spice blends/mixes by professionals (not us volunteers).
 Lutheran Hour Ministries entry, "Make A Joyful Noise Unto The Lord" passed its third mechanics and maneuverability test and is ready to be decorated beginning on December 2.  You can see the rectangular slot for the 'Spotter' in this photo.

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Following taking photos, The Mister and I headed South on Irwindale Avenue, (passing Portos) and He started looking for Dim Sum via his phone.  All That 'N Dim Sum opened at 8 a.m.!  Siri directed us.  It wasn't very far past the multiple places cc and I visited last year following the 2023 Rose Parade Road Test #2.

 Step inside, order and pay.  We were directed to a table and soon enough, our orders were delivered. 
 Pretty much a standard first time order for us: Har Gow ($3.99), Shumai ($3.99), Crescent dumplings ($3.59) and egg tarts ($3.59) were brought out first.  Fresh and warm, great flavors. The soup dumplings ($7.99) took a little longer and were steaming hot.  (I took the photo before asking for a spoon, but there was no leakage) quite a bit of soup and a thin dumpling skin). Tasty.

 There were utensils in the drawer under the tabletop-but no spoons.  Tea was $1 each (so, one green and one oolong) and you could get more hot (as well as chilled) water at the counter.

All That ‘N Dim Sum 18518 E. Gale Ave Rowland Heights 91748 Open Mon, Wed-Th-Fri 9-5, Sat 8-5, Sun 8-4  (closed Tues) Website

2024 Rose Parade Float Road Test #2 and breakfast at Ocean Bo (El Monte) plus

Thanks for stopping to read mmm-yoso!!!, this blog about food.  Cathy is writing today because she has a post about food (and some other things) while Kirk is busy with work.

This past Saturday had us waking at 4, leaving at 5 and getting to Irwindale at 7; the start of what we thought would be an efficient morning. 

2024 Rose Parade Float Road Test #1 

A few floats were being tested for mechanics and maneuverability. The Oddfellows and Rebekahs float, "All You Need is Love", passed with flying colors!  I can't wait to see which natural materials are used to decorate the unicorns. The Kiwanis 2024 float, "Serving in Harmony" passed its third road test, with people (weight) on board and will be ready too decorate with 'dry' materials and glue on the first Saturday in December.  You can volunteer to decorate by signing up HERE. 

 The Lions Clubs International float, "Changing the World Through Music" has a great rendering of the Parade theme (Celebrating A World of Music; The Universal Language) and float title.
 The Royal Court float was also tested; seven members will be seated here as part of their year long reign of community service. Stored inside the float barn, the Elks Clubs float with headless and handless Fife and Drum Corps is painted in (usually human 'skin' decorating, done with various spices, is separately worked on and I suspect that is why the heads and hands are not attached). The Petal Pushers and Lutheran Hour Ministries entry, "Make a Joyful Noise Unto the Lord" has been further painted in.
 The Rotary International entry, "Clean Water, the Music of Life" with the ducks and umbrellas looks to be a winner.  It's cute and conveys the message of the Parade and of Rotary. 
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Being efficient, we were on the road South and got to Portos before 8 a.m..

 Plenty of parking, no lines, a quick pick up of the seasonal peach tart, a blueberry croissant, cranberry orange scone, cheese roll, walnut raisin bread and a Cuban quesadilla (pretty much another form of cheesecake).

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 We started on the 10 West, toward El Monte, took an exit and I made a quick stop upon seeing this signage.
 The menu was outside, inside and at the counter.  
 We ordered #1, #3 and #7 (Shrimp Har Gow, Shrimp Shiu Mai and bean curd wrapped meat) ($18 total) and put the bag in the car.  It would be a late lunch.
 Very good, fresh, quite large pieces.  Glad we stopped. 
Hong Kong Dim Sum House, 9505 Garvey Ave, South El Monte 91733 (626) 350-7099 Open Wed-Mon 7-3, Closed Tues

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 Since it was early, and we wanted Dim Sum,  we we decided to try Ocean Bo again
 The menu is the same, prices slightly higher by 30¢ ($4.59) than in October.

 The drill was the same; check off your order on the menu and everything is brought out at once.  We knew what was in the car so ordered different things here. 

Steamed Fun Gor, Ham Sui Gok, Shrimp and Chive dumpling, Seafood Gow and baked egg tart (each $4.59).  Hot tea was $1.80 each and the pot was constantly kept refilled.
 Cross sections; different skins on each item, everything very fresh and very efficient service.  A great place. 

Ocean Bo 3944 Peck Road El Monte (626) 452-1818 Open daily 8 am-9 pm website 

Even though we were done at 9:29 a.m. and thought we would get home quickly, that didn't happen.  We drove over to the 15 and ended up getting in at 12:45.  Crazy traffic! Still a nice day.

Seafood Cove #2 (Westminster)(Dim Sum)

Here you are, reading mmm-yoso!!!  Cathy is writing the food adventure for today.  Kirk is elsewhere, with His Missus.

It was early on a Sunday and The Mister and I started driving North with the intention of having another Brodard breakfast.  At some point, I remembered this breakfast from October  and told The Mister to look for 'Dim Sum' on his phone.  Siri sent us one more exit West to this crowded-before-9 a.m. parking lot.  
 It's self check-in at a touchpad at the hostess stand.  Soon, a text message arrived that our table was ready.

  We were seated, hot tea ($2) was promptly brought out and we could order from the photo menu as well as from the passing carts. 

 Additional beverages were also available from a cart. 

 Shrimp Noodle Roll ($5.99) came from a cart and was filled with large, plump, flavor filled shrimp.  Slippery and  satisfying. Our order from the kitchen (each item $5.99) was delivered quickly.  The Shrimp Har Gow was filled with the same large shrimp and wrapped in a not too thick nor too chewy tapioca based dough.
 The steamed Tofu Skin Roll was filled with pork, carrot, mushroom and crunchy water chestnuts.  
 The Black Mushroom Sui Mai was really tasty.  The Sui Mai filling (pork/shrimp/ginger/mushroom/scallion/water chestnut) was a large serving size to facilitate holding the large black mushroom.  Flavors in every bite! 
 We ordered  the soup dumplings from a cart.  None were leaking.  The dough was chewy, especially at the top folds but overall the filling was quite nice.  
  The fried shrimp balls ($7.99), ordered from the kitchen, were a great choice.  Very large, cut in half and simply a mass of cooked shrimp formed into a paste then rolled in breadcrumbs and fried, this serving could be a complete meal if I could control my cravings. 
The picture menu  had this "Sweet Tofu-available only on Saturday-Sunday", so I had to order it.  What a great way to end the meal!  Soft, warm, fresh made tofu served with a sugar-ginger  sauce. It was quite perfect. 

 Our Order Card.  Seven items plus the hot tea ($49.95).  A very nice special meal. 

Seafood Cove-2  9211 Bolsa Ave, #106 Westminster, CA 92683 (714) 893-1976 Website Open daily 8:30 a.m.- 9 p.m. (dim sum 8:30-3)

2023 Rose Parade Float Road Test #5, Breakfast at Portos and Dim Sum King

mmm-yoso!!! is being written by Cathy today.  This blog is about food as well as reasons leading to the food.  

On the last Saturday of October, The Mister and I drove up to Irwindale to observe the fifth road test of 2023 Tournament of Roses Rose Parade floats.  

Link to 2023 Road Test #1

Link to 2023 Road Test 2

Link to 2023 Road Test 3

Link to 2023 Road Test 4

On this day only a few floats were being tested for mechanics and maneuverability.
 Here is the Elks (a fraternal organization) 2023 Rose Parade entry, which needs to collapse to go along the Parade Route.  The size of the door leading to the Phoenix Decorating Barn is the exact maximum height and width to allow passage.
  It is a magnificent float when fully expanded.
 Fezzy Bear, the Shriners Hospitals for Children mascot, and their 2023 float, is still in its rebar stage.
 Apparently this float will be highlighting the annual Shriners Golf Tournament fundraiser.


 The Lions Clubs International float, "Bridging the World Through Service" was tested with weight (people) onboard for the mechanics and maneuverability as well as the ability to exit the float within 45 seconds in case of a fire. 

All in all, a short day.  So, we headed out to look for breakfast.

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 It is so easy to get to the West Covina Portos (six miles South on the same road as the decorating barn). 
 Getting here before 8 a.m., there are no crowds.
 We ordered a medianoche (Midnight) sandwich ($7.19); a Cubano (pork, ham, Swiss, pickles and a mustard/mayonnaise dressing) on a sweet, dark bread (instead of a lighter Cuban roll).
 Also a ham and cheese omelette sandwich ($5.95) (on a fresh, buttery croissant). Of course, I had to get a loaf of bread (walnut raisin ($4.15)).
Also a few other items (apple strudel ($1.55), gingersnap cookies (0.85), a pumpkin spice danish ($2.49) and three pan de muerto ($2.45 each) along with a dozen turkey-gravy potato balls ($18.79)).
   I also noticed the guava rose cakes ($3.85) so very pretty- and delicate and delicious (guava mousse with a chunk of guava in the center on top of a thin sponge cake, topped with a white chocolate).

Of course, some of these items were shared with friends.  Portos Bakery, many locations, Website

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Then I remembered our breakfast after the Fourth Road test and wanted dim sum!

Once again, The Mister was navigating via his phone, searching for "Dim Sum".  Soon we were here. 
 There is no eating area, which is fine since we were full and heading home. 
Quite unassuming and very popular, this was a perfect place to pick up some Dim Sum to go. 
  There is a small interior with a small selection shown, the kitchen is behind the steam trays.  
Photos are on the front window.
 Menus with pens are at the front.  Not many descriptions are available.  
 Steamed Fun Guor (ground pork, dried shrimp, peanuts, chives, mushroom and radish in a tapioca wrapper) ($3.98)
 Shrimp Har Gow (only shrimp in a tapioca wrapper) ($4.38)
 Baked BBQ pork pastry ($3.98)
 Shiu Mai (ground pork and minced shrimp, water chestnuts, mushroom in a flour/dumpling wrapper) ($4.38)
 Rice noodle roll with shrimp ($3.98)
 Everything held up well on the drive home and we had a wonderful lunch!

Dim Sum King 11230 Garvey Ave, Suite D El Monte, CA 91733 Website Closed on Thursdays, opens 8 a.m. other days. 

2023 Rose Parade Float Road Test #4, breakfast at Ocean Bo (El Monte)

You are reading mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog.  Cathy has the helm today while Kirk takes a break.

Link to 2023 Rose Parade Road Test #1

Link to 2023 Road Test #2

Link to 2023 Road Test #3

The last Saturday in September had The Mister and I wide awake and driving North on I-5 before 5 a.m..  There were several traffic problems mentioned on the radio and we cut back across the 78 to I-15 and took a different-than-usual route to Irwindale and Phoenix Decorating Company, arriving at about 7:15.  Floats were on the street and being tested for mechanics and maneuverability.

 The final float of the parade 'announces' the Rose Bowl football game which will start four hours after the Rose Parade ends  (on January 2, 2023, because there is never a Parade or Game on a Sunday).
Here is the same float on December 31 last year; it is not judged but always freshly decorated.
 The Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom float, "Protecting The Wild" was being tested.  You can see the tree in the back of the float 'collapses' to be able to fit down the Parade route. (See how other  floats collapse in the Road Test #3 post). 

 Here is the artist rendering of the Mutual of Omaha float.

 In the front is the

skeleton/rebar version of the Elks 2023 entry to the Parade.  It is backing into the barn, to the right (you can see the driver of this float, if you enlarge the photo-he is past the middle, to the far right).  You can also see the Wild Kingdom float (with the trees in position) and the Royal Court float behind this Elks float. (Royal Court float being decorated on December 31)

 The Trader Joe's 2023 entry is a multi-piece float.  
 The front appears to be a 'chopper' motorcycle.
 The attached second part of the float is a pirate ship; I see the ships wheel, collapsed sail, giant pelican, a banana and a collapsed palm tree.  It will be interesting to see the progress. 

On October 13, Former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords was announced as the Grand Marshal of the 2023 Rose Parade.  The theme of the parade, "Turning the Corner", epitomizes Gabby's remarkable recovery from traumatic injuries. 

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On to the food portion of this post.  I was not craving a 'traditional' breakfast.  Since The Mister is a navigator, I told him to type in "Dim Sum" on his phone and direct me.  Soon, we were in El Monte, parked, walked in and were able to get a table right away.
 The other entrance door lead to the steam trays and take out area of the restaurant. 
 Each table had a menu and a pen; we ordered.  Soon, everything was brought out to our table at the same time. 
 I was not the only person taking photos of food. 
 The salted chicken porridge ($6.89) was wonderful with a great chicken stock base; you can tell the porridge had been simmering a long time.  The chopped pieces of bone-in chicken were plentiful.
 Pork Shiu Mai ($4.29) were quite large, very well flavored (didn't need additional soy nor chili sauce). In addition to the chopped pork and shrimp, the filling had crispy water chestnuts, carrot and mushroom.  
 The Seafood Gow ($4.29) were particularly good.  The crisp, pan fried dumpling, filled with pieces of fish, shrimp and crab as well as (spinach?) greens; turned out to be our favorite bite of the morning.
 The shrimp rice rolls ($5.39) were each filled with two plump, large, flavorful shrimp.  The rice noodles and sauce complimented each bite in flavor and texture.
 The shrimp Har Gow ($4.29), steamed in tapioca flour wrappers.  Filled with very plump, large shrimp, this 'staple' of Dim Sum restaurants was a delightful treat. 
 The baked egg tart ($4.29) was a perfect ending to the meal.  The still warm and eggy custard inside the multi-layered Chinese puff pastry (less oily/more flour-y than traditional puff pastry) was just so perfect. 
 The tea, very fresh.

Ocean Bo 3944 Peck Road Suite 1, El Monte 91732 (626) 452-1818 Website
 For those of you wondering, we just drove right past Portos on the way home (!)

Saturday Stuffs - Diamond Palace Coming to Rolando, Chef Chin (Convoy) Has Closed, and EE Nami (supposedly) Reopening on June 1st.....now June 8th!

I haven't done one of these in a while; so here are a few things I saw during my wanderings.

Diamond Palace Coming to Rolando:

I saw this when I went to Northgate Market to get some ingredients to make pozole for the Missus.

In the former location of Lucky Star. A quick check when I got home yielded this post by Eater San Diego. Apparently a new Dim Sum/Chinese BBQ place run by the folks behind Golden Island. Hmmmm, based on my last couple of revisits to the place...albeit of the takeout category, I'm just not overly excited. Hopefully, I'm way off base on this.

3893 54th St
San Diego, CA 92105

Chef Chin Has Closed:

I noticed that most of the windows on Chef Chin were covered when I drove past so I pulled into the parking lot.

And yep, they are apparently closed......

Haven't heard anything about what this location is going to be yet......

4433 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

EE Nami Closed for Plumbing Repairs, set to Reopen on June 1st , now June 8th - Supposedly:

*** Update - thanks to "FOY" Derric; it now seems that June8th is the date! Thanks Derric!

After returning from Paris and Scotland I was craving some Tonkatsu. I hadn't done takeout from EE Nami in a while, so I thought I'd do a takeout order. I checked online and found that they were "temporarily closed", which is sometimes a bad sign. So I drove on by on the way home and saw this posted on the door.

Apparently there's some plumbing work going on and according to this, they should reopen on June 1st....which is like next week! Great. Except that the multiple UPS notices on the door kinda worries me a bit?

Hopefully I'll get my tonkatsu next week.

EE Nami
4706 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92117

Hope everyone is having a restful Memorial Day weekend!

Roadtrip (During Covid) - Comparing Sea Harbour (Rosemead), Then and Now

Recently we had an appointment....a looong overdue appointment in our old neighborhood. The Missus had been wanting Dim Sum so we decided to revisit an old favorite of ours, Sea Harbour before our appointment. We got there about 10 minutes before opening and we waited by the front door....and then of course the "SGV moment" happened. As the door opened, a guy and his wife just cut right in front of us and then as we stood at the host stand asking for a table for two another couple pushed right in front of us and got seated....but heck, I guess it's ok because they are regulars??? Welcome to the SGV......I'm not sure if it's because I've lived in San Diego so long, but it seems that it's even worse these days...

Anyway, we got our table and placed our order. There seemed to be a strange disconnect during our meal as things took a very long time to come out and the order in which items came out seemed a bit strange. Also, some of the dishes seemed a bit off and one was just plain terrible. So, after coming back home, I dug out some photos from previous visits to Sea Harbour over the years and did a comparison of some of the dishes.

So, here's the meal in order.

Usually, during dim sum meals, noodles and rice comes out last.....but not today my friends.....the Seafood Pan Fried Noodles was out first.

The Seafood was excellent; cooked perfectly. The noodles not so much as some were just really hard....not crisp, hard. And there just wasn't enough sauce/gravy in the dish to help soften the noodles. There seemed to be a smaller portion of seafood as well.

Here's a photo from a previous visit.

The Durian Pastry arrived next....these were good. Light, creamy interior, crisp exterior...though more of a dessert kind of thing.

One of the two items we had that seemed basically unchanged (except for price) was the Egg Tofu with Abalone Sauce.

Wonderful creamy interior; slightly crisp exterior, nice savory sauce......

It does seem that earlier versions had a bit more sauce though....

The other was the Sticky Rice in Lotus leaf which was solid and quite filling....

Quite hefty with a decent amount of pork filling.

Next up was a favorite of ours; the Shrimp, Dry Scallop, and Chinese Celery Dumplings. 

   The shrimp were nice and plump, the dry scallops added a sweet-savoriness, and the celery helped provide a nice "clean" finish and crunch to things. The biggest issue for us was how thick, sticky, and rubbery the wrapper was.

I thought it was much thicker than on previous visits and also that it used to have "folds"; so when I returned home and looked at previous photos; guess what?

Here's what it used to look like.

I guess I'm not quite senile yet.....

We also ordered the Black Fungus and Celery Dumpling.

    These suffered from the same issue with regards to the wrapper as the shrimp and dry scallop dumplings. Too thick, doughy, and sticky. In this case the filling just could not stand up to all that wrapper; even with chili oil.....

Here's a photo of this from a previous visit......it looks like something from a total different restaurant, doesn't it?

And yet, I knew that if the last item to arrive would be up to our Sea Harbour standards, everything would be fine and end on a high note. The Missus's favorite item from here is the Radish Cake with XO Sauce. When it arrived, the Missus and I looked at each other and said "where's the XO sauce"?

Apparently, these days, they saute the bean sprouts with the XO sauce and dump it on the radish cake. Which used to be nicely crisp on the exterior and soft and with a decadently melt-in-your-mouth tender interior. This was like eating mush....it was terrible and lacked flavor. This was the straw that broke the camel's back.

I mean look at how it used to be.

Does it even look like the same dish?

The service was uneven, the pacing terrible, the staff indifferent, all for $80 of dim sum for two. It was quite sad; Sea Harbour was once our favorite Dim Sum restaurant. Perhaps Covid has changed things....I can imagine changing portion size and using some products sparingly....but even technique seemed missing here; look at those dumplings! 

We left sad and depressed, as in the days before Covid, Sea Harbour was a favorite stop for us in the SGV. I must have done at least a half dozen posts on the place and I know that Ed from Yuma had done at least two.

Looks like we'll have to find a new go-to Dim Sum restaurant in the SGV. 

Sea Harbour Seafood Restaurant
3939 Rosemead Blvd
Rosemead, CA 91770

More Takeout from Golden Island

During the fall, I received news that the kitchen staff at Golden Island had experienced some turnover.....the interesting news was that the "new" folks were from China Max...which BTW, still looks quite far from any construction, even though they said they would be reopening this year (2022). 

I decided to place a takeout order and headed on over.

There were actually people dining in and it just seemed quite "normal"......

For whatever that would mean. One of the reasons I keep returning is the manager, Michael is such a nice guy. I asked him about the staff change and he confirmed that yes, the kitchen staff had changed over.

So, I went ahead and ordered what I believe is one of the two items they do well; the Shrimp Siu Mai.

This was actually better than what I'd had here before; moist, tender, and just toothsome enough. Good shrimp flavor without "muddiness", the wrapper wasn't as dry and tough as before, though it's now $7.45!

I also went ahead and ordered something that was recommended to me, the Baked BBQ Pork Bun ($4.99).

   Not a big fan of these; though the bun is nice and fluffy, it's quite dry and bland. The cubes of char siu are really tough and the "sauce" also seemed quite bland as well. Even though it's one of the most inexpensive items on the menu, there's a bit of a shortage of filling as well.

Well, it seems like there was some improvement; so I waited a few weeks and did a revisit. This time I ordered  an item I wasn't very happy with before, the Har Gow and a recommendation, the Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf.

The Har Gow ($7.45) was a bit better.

 The wrapper was a bit more pliable, the shrimp was still on the drier side, but this had a nice "shrimpiness", with no off or muddy flavors. Nice large pieces of shrimp, but I bit more chewy than I like.

Still this was definitely better than what I'd had before.

I also got the Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf ($8.69).

This just wasn't very good.

You can easily see the issue I had with this, right? First off, the seasoning hadn't permeated the sticky rice.....plus there were some undercooked rice in this; really hard and not good eats. There was a whole shrimp, which was on the hard and chewy side. And there was just not enough filling to give this much flavor. I brought one home for the Missus. After heating; She opened it...there was no real fragrance, She took a look at the fillings and gave me a look, telling me; "well, this one is for you....."

Sooo.......I decided to return in November. I had been craving Kwai Fei Chicken and the version I'd had from here on an earlier visit was one of the two items I enjoyed. 

I also got the Soy Sauce Noodle ($12.99)....because you know....I needed some carbs to balance out that chicken.

This was pretty good, though I would have preferred a bit more soy sauce. Still, all the noodles were firm to crisp and well coated. The bean sprouts were also still crisp; but the dish could have used a bit more "wok hay" as well.

As for the Kwai Fei Ji ($17.99).

 What the heck happened here? This was so disappointing. The chicken had all these weird and somewhat bitter "brown spots" and was very dry, the overall flavor was a bit off. The "sauce" tasted a bit off and lacked assertive ginger tones. This is basically why I ended up trying the Kwai Fei Chicken from Eastern Dynasty.

Needless to say, I was quite disappointed. 

It's too bad about the inconsistency as I really like the manager here; though not quite sure on the service as I always arrived at my assigned time and always had to wait for my order. 

Though they do have "Jazz Night" if you're into that sort of thing.

Golden Island
10660 Camino Ruiz
San Diego, CA 92126

Takeout Revisit from Golden Island

And so it came to pass....a few days ago I went into the office and due to vacations, etc, I was the only one there. A huge office space that once held maybe over 75 people, was left to me. Of course I was used to an empty office when I get into work at around 515am....but by 830, there I was, all by my lonesome. Then around nine-ish I went to refill my water bottle, when I noticed the motion control light in the back was one. There was one other person in the office.....being from a different team/department, we often passed each other and said hello, but never really spoke. But today, well, while filling my water he came into the kitchen area to use the coffee pod machine and we had a nice short chat. At the end of which, he mentioned it just having been Lunar New Year and yet, he hadn't had any Chinese food this year. I think he thought I was Chinese. Anyway, I ran into him again when going to the restroom and he mentioned he'd be getting lunch at this place he had wanted to try called Golden Island. I mentioned that I'd visited for takeout a couple of times and what I knew about the place. I also told him he could order online and not to freak out at the prices. Anyway, he decided to go for it and told me that if I wanted to place an order he'd be happy to pick it up for me. It had been nearly five months since I last visited and I had been thinking about the getting the Kwai Fei Ji from there....about the only thing I really enjoyed. So I went and placed an order, gave the dude some cash, and he went tp pick up my order....hey, who needs Uber Eats/Doordash/etc, etc, etc!

Anyway, he returned at around 1130 with my order. In addition to the Kwai Fei Chicken, I ordered the dim sum item that was at least decent during my visits, the Shrimp Siu Mai (now $6.69 was $6.19 a few months ago) and decided to try something new, so I went with the Pan Fried Shrimp and Chive Dumpling ($6.69).

When I opened my package, I knew something was amiss....do you see what it is?

No, it not the Shrimp Siu Mai, which again, while being a bit on the tough side, was perfectly serviceable.....perhaps a bit mild in flavor...it could have used more of the briney-sweetness of really good shrimp. I brought two of them home and the Missus thought they were not bad.

I'd never seen Pan Fried Shrimp and Chive Dumplings that looked like this:

What the heck is going on with the wrappers? Jiu Cai Jiao wrappers are usually made with combination of wheat and tapioca starch or glutinous rice flour. When pan fried, this allows for a nice crispness, and a pleasant, very mild sweetness. This looked like they just went with some leftover siu mai wrappers, then threw in in  pan to get a hint of "brown" on it. The filling as almost all chive, which over-powered everything else.

This was so weird. I mean, the online process is - you place your order and wait for an acknowledgement, you get a confirmation email where the restaurant can update your order....the guy in the office ordered turnip cake, but they were out so he replaced it with something else. I'm thinking they should have done that here? I only ate one, I brought the other two home and when the Missus saw this, She just plain refused to eat it.

In case you're wondering what this should look like.....

At this point, I was kind of worried about my Kwai Fei Chicken ($15.99). But I was relatively happy with what I got.

The sauce wasn't quite as good as what I'd had the last time. It had much more oil and not enough scallion, the flavors seemed a bit muted, but it wasn't terrible.

As for the chicken, well in terms of the nice winey-anise-poultry flavor, with a bit more salt this time which actually helped. I did find the white meat on the dry side, but the dark meat slices were very nice.

So no complaints with that.

I do wish I could find some other dish at Golden Island other than the Kwai Fei Chicken....let me know of any dish you recommend here.

Golden Island
10660 Camino Ruiz
San Diego, CA 92126
858-578-8800
Current Hours:
Daily 10am - 930pm

Dim Sum To Go From Jasmine

My first visit to Golden Island had me wondering how takeout was going at Jasmine. I had checked out their website and found they were doing online takeout orders. So, I decided to order some dim sum...which was 20 cents cheaper then Golden Island......at $5.99. Interesting to note, Jasmine Express opens at 1030 as does online ordering. And then it's at least 50 minutes before your order is ready.

Upon arriving, I noticed that the signs lead you to Jasmine Express for pick-up.

And you have to wait in line with everyone else....all of the folks in front of me were placing orders. They placed their order and waited across from the restaurant to be called. So, while I expected my order to be ready at 1130.....which it was (see the photo below, it's on the shelf); I still had to wait another 25 minutes in line. Add in the rather perfunctory service..... Wouldn't it make more sense to have a separate line for online pick-up?

Anyway, check out the outdoor dining at Kula above....creative uses for those concrete dividers.

Eventually I made my way to the front of the line, mentioned my name, and was handed my bag....I mean...really, my food was laying on a shelf for 25 minutes, when I could have walked up and been out of there in less than five.

I then drove back to the office and checked things out; I went with the Pork and Shrimp Siu Mai, Har Gow, and the Steamed Shrimp Fun Gor (fun guo aka Chiu Chow Dumplings). All $5.99. Man, if I hadn't been to Golden Island before this; I'd have had a bit of sticker shock as this was twenty bucks of dim sum.

The siu mai was decent. The pork had been evenly minced, thus achieving a better texture and was also more tender and moist, Good porkiness; the wrapper was still pliable and not hard. Pretty good overall.

The Har Gow was the best of the bunch; no torn wrappers here. The shrimp were plump and tender, with a nice mild sweet-brininess. This was quite good.

The Chiu Chow Dumplings was the worst item; the wrapper too thick, the filling under seasoned.

I actually like a bit more pungency and peanuts in this style of dumpling.

Overall, while the pick up process was really weak, this was much better than Golden Island.

A couple of weeks back; I decided to try the whole drill again.....with the same results. Enter order and pay at 1030; told to pick-up at 1130, arrived, this time at 1115, and still waited almost 30 minutes to pick up my order which had been lying on the shelf since I arrived.

This time I got the Shrimp Siu Mai, the Har Gow again, and the Steamed Scallop and Shrimp Dumplings.

This time one of the wrappers on the Har Gow was ripped....bummer.

Still, these were as good as what I'd had on my previous visit.

The shrimp and pork siu mai was also quite good; moist, fairly tender, nice balance of porkiness and shrimp flavor.

No hard pieces, no grittiness, no muddy flavors. The wrapper was even more tender than with the pork siu mai on my previous visit.

The Steamed Scallop and Shrimp Dumpling was ok.

While the wrapper was a bit on thick side and the dumpling could have used more scallop.....I missed a nice tender-sweet-oceany scallop flavor, the shrimp in this was again quite delicious and prepared well.

So, while the dim sum at Jasmine was, in my opinion, superior to Golden Island, GI definitely had the better service and process. So, I'm not quite sure....maybe it's best for me to wait until this is all over and I can have a proper dim sum meal.

Jasmine
4609 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Dine In Hours
Mon - Thurs 10am - 3pm
Fri - Sun   10am - 3pm, 5pm - 8pm
Jasmine Express
Daily 1030 - 830pm