Our NY dimsum experiences have been mixed to date. Our first outing, to Queens, involved driving around for more than half an hour looking for parking. When i finally found a spot it was so far away i might as well have walked from brooklyn. Another visit to pacificana in brooklyns chinatown was more of a success but we ended up finding a great vietnamese restaurant and we often usually ended up there instead. Since then we had not tried it again, wary of traffic, parking and possibly mediocre food.
Tanya mentioned that if we headed out early to Queens we should be able to avoid traffic and parking woes. But then i remembered a place i had sighted last year on a trip to bay ridge, a big bustling chinese restaurant that had glowing reviews. Why not avoid the trek to queens and tick off one of the items on our brooklyn to do list at the same time?
However the scars of our previous trip had left their mark. When Naina insisted we make the 20 minute car ride by public transit a voice in the back of my head was saying, yes it'l take twice is long but if you spend 20 minutes looking for parking what have you given up really? Besides our last bus trip to brighton beach had gone swimmingly. The maps were dubious about our chances of getting there by subway because of service changes so we decided to stick with buses. The kids did pretty well all things considered, they managed to entertain themselves as we waited in the brisk winter air. Darshan had only a small tantrum at the outset when tanya kiboshed his desire to hold her metrocard at exactly the moment that the bus pulled up to the stop. After one transfer and a short walk we arrived at 65th and ft hamilton to see a mob of people milling around outside the restaurant!
Most of the crowd outside were smokers and we were able to get into the building. Inside it was quite a scene and we all stood around for a bit trying to understand how it all worked. A crowd of hungry onlookers clustered around the entranceway as a lady on a pedestal called out numbers, amplified with the help of a microphone for the benefit of those outside. The rest of the room was taken up by 50 or more round tops filled with luckier or at least earlier patrons interspersed with waiters and dim sum ladies pushing their carts. Some of those carts made their end runs right in front of us and it was tempting to reach out and grab a dumpling or a bun because who knows how long we would have to wait?
Of course this uncertainty took a toll. Tanya managed to figure out the system from another non-asian in line and snagged a number but by this time the kids were starting to lose it. However at dimsum no one can hear you scream. On top of all the chatter drowning out Darshan and Nainas meltdowns (nandika was more reserved, confining herself to the occasional moan) there appeared a dragon or rather a man in a dragon head accompanied by a drummer, a cymbalist and dancers wearing clowny baby like masks. While this was going on i noticed we had actually gone into the wrong restaurant! Instead of east harbor we 'd ended up at its lower yelp rated cousin a block away new spring garden. Still there was no way we were leaving, the place couldn't be bad with the throngs surrounding us. With the dragons still clanging away our number (31) was called and we waded into the ocean of tables trailing our whining kids behind us.
Like rookies we found ourselves minutes later buried under a mountain of har gow and shu mai. The kids turned up their noses! The problem was they didn't recognize anything and have gotten to the age where they err on the side of caution. Its especially funny since they demand shu mai with every order from our local Japanese spot but they look a little different. Everything was good but if i'm honest not spectacular. The sticky rice was very good. There was also a dish i had never tried before served from a tureen which looked like goat. The server couldn't speak english and another lady said it was chinese lamb and then repeated something i didn't understand. Nandika also enjoyed the mango pudding. The crowds had disappeared but the place was still full when we left at around 1.
It was a hike home since naina and darshan both were tired by this time. We got stuck at the intersection for a bit as they took turns demanding to be picked up. A man standing there put things in perspective by saying "wait till you've got five," turns out he did ranging in age from 16 to 14 months. We took the subway on the way back and darshan fell asleep on the way home. We spent the afternoon on the sofa, nandika and i reading and naina making us laugh by putting stickers in her berenstain bears book! At dinner darshan polished off the left over har gow and we finished the day with movie night. The intermission snack was fruit salad and the movie was monsters vs aliens!
