The title of this blog may be NJ Spice, but where I go, you go, and yesterday I had dim sum brunch in Chinatown. For someone who loves the cuisine, I have not had a lot of experience with dim sum, but one thing I do know – it is a lot more interesting if you are Chinese or have Chinese friends with you.
My old favorite spot, Sweet-n-Tart Restaurant, has decamped to Flushing, so, along with a friend and my nephew, I tried Oriental Garden at 14 Elizabeth St. Oriental Garden is best known
for their seafood, but they do a basic dim sum brunch, too. The dim sum here are presented in bamboo steamers instead of stainless, and the things we chose were, indeed, delicious, especially the ethereal vegetarian dumpling and shrimp in rice noodles. But I found the selection limited, lacking, for instance, congee, the Chinese rice porridge, I have come to count on. And if they had chicken feet, they weren’t offering it to us Westerners (not that we minded, I admit).
Far more interesting to me was the solo gentleman (not Asian) at the next table who ordered up a two-pound sea bass out of one of the fish tanks. It was fished out by a guy on a ladder with a net, weighed on a scale on the floor in a corner, and carried off to the kitchen. It shortly reappeared on a platter, steamed and festooned with ginger and scallion. Voila! A work of art, and our new friend even let me lean in for a photo as he dug in.
Faith Bahadurian
NJ SPICE 
The last time I had dim sum was on a blind date in SF Chinatown about 15 yrs ago and let me tell you that it has been dubbed the date from h***. The dim sum was greasy and undecipherable (as was the date mind you)…haven’t been back since. Now I absolutely love any kind of asian food. Can anyone recommend a good sit down chinese place in Central Jersey?
I was recently delighting in dim sum in Chinatown, my home town of New York when I looked around the restaurant and saw the tables filled with familes and/or friends sharing the meal. There were so many Chinese families together, eating and talking and seemingly happy to talk and eat. I was struck by the rising buzz of voices and the aromas of earthiness all around me. Was that what our blogger saw as well?
Response to Dim Sum done that: there are two good ones in the Princeton area: Sunny Garden (just off Rte 1) and Elements Asia (on Quakerbridge Road, close to Quakerbridge Mall).
I have also had some good/unusual dishes at Shanghai Park in the Princeton Shopping Center, although I have not tried their Dum Sum yet. I have heard good things about Szechuan House on Nottingham Way in Trenton, so will check that out soon. My favorite tiny place? Szechuan Ace in Somerset!
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