It's Good to See You Again - Koi Palace 鯉魚門

Can't believe it's been more than 3 years since my last visit to Koi Palace,
It's a famous dim sum/seafood/tea house restaurant in Northern California,
Here's the link to my old post.

I consider myself high maintenance when it comes to food,
Even 3 years ago, Koi Palace got a very high rating - 8 from me,
I was about to bump up the score to 9, but the wait at the restaurant just gets on my nerves,
Despite that,
This is still hands down my favorite dim sum place.

See all these people waiting? There're more standing inside the restaurant -

We called in earlier to get a number, but that ain't get you anywhere,
Upon arrival, me and my friends still lingered outside the restaurant for at least 40 minutes,
Fortunately, it's all worth it.

"Number 421, 421."
Thank god it's our turn, we entered the hallway with our heads up high,
Finally, it's OUR time to munch on all the goodies,
You guys just keep waiting there staring at the live lobsters crawling in tanks (evil grin*).

Here're some dishes that were not mentioned from my old post,
Whole crab meat filled dumplings 原隻蟹肉小籠包-

What a luscious dish,
Look closer to the picture, you can see all the real crab meat inside that thin layer of dumpling wrap,
A mouthful of seafood jewels.

Rice roll with shrimp stuffing 蝦腸粉-

Shrimp stuffed eggplant 百花鑲茄子-

Shark fin dumpling in broth 鮑翅灌湯餃-

Ok, I usually don't eat shark fin due to animal protection kind of thing,
But this place got the ingredient from a legal farm so I felt a little bit more justified,
*Plus my friend ordered it.

Either way, this dish was da BOMB!
The dumpling skin was paper thin and fully soaked up the flavor from the broth,
To die for.

Shrimp dumplings 蝦餃-

Roasted suckling pig 化皮乳豬-

This was mentioned during my last review,
I don't wanna skip this dish at all, it's my all time favorite dim sum item,
You get the crunchiness of the skin with a layer of silky fat underneath,
All the pork lovers out there, you've got to try this!

Egg yolk lava bun 奶黃流沙包-

Creamy and steamy hot egg yolk mixture inside the bun,
I lava it!

Black sesame glutinous ball 擂沙甜湯丸-

Sugar egg puff 鬆化沙翁-

Tastes like extra fluffy and airy donuts.

Highly recommended Chinese restaurant in Northern California,
Just remember to call in and reserve a space first,
Maybe cheat a little bit, tell the operator an earlier time,
Like schedule for 12:30 but you won't show up till 1,
Not sure if it'll work, but since the wait is definite, won't hurt giving it a try!
(shhhhhhhh it's not my idea**)

Overall rating: 8 (so the high score remains)

Koi Palace (Daly City)
Serramonte Plaza
365 Gellert Ave
Daly City, CA 94015
(650) 992-9000

http://www.koipalace.com/default.htm