You will receive a number (most of time it’s handwritten). Once you arrive at any restaurant, you must fight your way to the front where the hostess is and inform your party size. This will minimize the time you’re waiting in the front area with all the other hungry guests. In order to have dim sum on the weekend, one must arrive before 11am. I don't even know the official Chinese name for this dish. Being the polite niece that I am, I did not comment about their selection. Since they were paying, they picked Ocean Jewel. However, years later, I kept reading raving reviews on Chowhound, so I wanted to know what was so good about this place? A year ago, my uncle and aunt took my little sister and I out for dim sum. To me, if a restaurant couldn’t get the basic shrimp dumpling right, then they must be a really bad place. Also, the prices were more than my usual go-to dim sum place (KB Garden). I found the shrimp dumplings (har gow) were lacking real shrimp and had too much filler. My first experience was very disappointing. I had only been to Ocean Jewel twice before in my life. On the day after Christmas, I convinced my parents and younger sister to brave the crowds to get dim sum at Ocean Jewel. Their name and management has changed quite a few times and currently they are called Jade Asian, which I still think is a great Cantonese/Dim Sum restaurant. It was right by the huge municipal parking place on 39th Avenue. When I was a kid, my favorite dim sum place was called “KB Garden”. Not to say there isn’t “good” dim sum in Chinatown, it just can’t compare to all the creative dishes I’ve seen and had in Flushing. I thought with Chinatown’s huge Cantonese population, I’d find superior dim sum, but I was soon disappointed. I was surprised to find that the dim sum in Chinatown pales to Flushing. Once I moved out to Manhattan, Flushing became quite a trek, so I resorted to Chinatown.
I have distinct memories of spending my Saturday mornings at dim sum in Flushing or Boston. Okay, I’ve been to many dim sum places in Flushing. If I knew Cantonese, wouldn’t I be asking in Cantonese?
Most of the time I have trouble understanding them because they always answer me back in Cantonese when I asked in Mandarin. I like having the opportunity to ask the cart pushers what is in their dishes. This eliminates many Chinese/Taiwanese dishes for me. I only eat certain seafoods (no sea cucumber, abalone, clams, shark fin, bird’s nest, geoduck, etc.) and I despise mushrooms. For a Taiwanese-American, I’m quite a picky eater. Also, I love that I can see the dishes before I order. I think that the main reason I am a big fan of dim sum is that most dishes max out at 4 portions and this allows you to order many little dishes. In Cantonese, most people say “yum cha”, which means “drink tea”. Anyhow, for those who don’t know what dim sum is, it literally translates into “snack” in Chinese. I’m sure it’s awesome in Hong Kong as well. I’ve heard great things about the dim sum in Toronto and Vancouver, but I have yet to experience it. Dim sum is the only thing I haven’t had in Taiwan that is better than New York. I seem to enjoy dim sum only when there are many carts filled with all sort of little dishes.
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