A couple months ago I mentioned to my brother's girlfriend, Cindy, that I had not had dim sum in what felt like forever. Therefore, because she's Chinese and speaks Mandarin and Shanghainese it only made sense for her to take me. Although we have been talking about going for two months, there never seemed to be a good time. I was either in Santa Barbara finishing spring quarter or my brother was abroad backpacking his way through Europe. Finally we found a day that worked for everyone: last Sunday.
Maybe it was the anticipated wait that made it so delicious... or maybe it was the fact that I tried things I would never have dreamed of eating when I was younger. Either way, Sunday turned out to be a wonderful meal.
There were five of us that made the trek to Oakland China Town. We went to Joy Luck Restaurant which is known for cheap, good food. It must be noted that people in Oakland China Town speak Cantonese which made ordering a bit more difficult. Luckily, both Cindy and our other friend were experienced enough in the art of dim sum that they were able to order everything for us.
We began the meal with a few recognizable treats including the infamous pork buns (my brother's favorite) and became more adventurous as the carts came by. Cindy ordered tripe and chicken's feet, both of which I had never had before. The funny thing is that three or four years ago the aforementioned items would have disgusted me. However, now I was just extremely curious. I took a chicken's foot, intrigued by the fact that it looked exactly like a live chicken's foot. And after a bit of difficulty with the chopsticks (I refused to use a fork) took a bit--- imagine that... it tasted just like chicken! And it was kind of fun to eat because you have to pick out all the little foot bones. I tried to get my brother to try but he refused; he said he was quite content with his pork buns.
After the chicken's foot, I decided it was time to try the tripe. Or maybe I did not know it was tripe and just wanted to try everything. It was off-white and cut into long strips with little bumps on them. The texture was sensational- crunchy but chewy and a bit rough. But it was delicious! It was cooked in ginger and tasted just like ginger.
Basically we stuffed ourselves on everything we could get our hands on. The only disappointing part of the entire day was that they ran out of egg custards and sesame buns by the time we finished the savory dishes.
O and the best thing about Joy Luck, is the 5 of us ordered over a dozen dishes, all left completely satisfied and only paid 6 dollars each! Perfect for broke college students!
Maybe it was the anticipated wait that made it so delicious... or maybe it was the fact that I tried things I would never have dreamed of eating when I was younger. Either way, Sunday turned out to be a wonderful meal.
There were five of us that made the trek to Oakland China Town. We went to Joy Luck Restaurant which is known for cheap, good food. It must be noted that people in Oakland China Town speak Cantonese which made ordering a bit more difficult. Luckily, both Cindy and our other friend were experienced enough in the art of dim sum that they were able to order everything for us.
We began the meal with a few recognizable treats including the infamous pork buns (my brother's favorite) and became more adventurous as the carts came by. Cindy ordered tripe and chicken's feet, both of which I had never had before. The funny thing is that three or four years ago the aforementioned items would have disgusted me. However, now I was just extremely curious. I took a chicken's foot, intrigued by the fact that it looked exactly like a live chicken's foot. And after a bit of difficulty with the chopsticks (I refused to use a fork) took a bit--- imagine that... it tasted just like chicken! And it was kind of fun to eat because you have to pick out all the little foot bones. I tried to get my brother to try but he refused; he said he was quite content with his pork buns.
After the chicken's foot, I decided it was time to try the tripe. Or maybe I did not know it was tripe and just wanted to try everything. It was off-white and cut into long strips with little bumps on them. The texture was sensational- crunchy but chewy and a bit rough. But it was delicious! It was cooked in ginger and tasted just like ginger.
Basically we stuffed ourselves on everything we could get our hands on. The only disappointing part of the entire day was that they ran out of egg custards and sesame buns by the time we finished the savory dishes.
O and the best thing about Joy Luck, is the 5 of us ordered over a dozen dishes, all left completely satisfied and only paid 6 dollars each! Perfect for broke college students!
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