Koi Palace

[docsconz]

In reading through a number of topics that involve dim sum therre is one dim sum restaurant that keeps on popping up with raves and a general sense that it is certainly amongst the best if not the best dim sum restaurant in California - Koi Palace. It was surprising to me, as such, to find that this restaurant does not have a topic of its own. With this post I aim to remedy that.

On my recent visit to Northern California shared for a good part of the time with fellow eGulletarian, Molto e, we wanted to visit as strong a cross-section of top culinary destinations as we could in the limited amount of time that we had. Koi Palace seemed to fit that bill. We were able to fit it in for lunch as we traveled from Yountville and The French Laundry to Los Gatos and Manresa. It was quite convenient that it was on the way.

The place was hopping even though it was a Wednesday afternoon. We had to wait about twenty minutes to get a table and this is no small restaurant!

The entry area is rather interesting as it is filled with tanks of a number of varieties of interesting fresh sea creatures destined for various culinary creations.

We were led to a nice table that we had to ourselves that had a good view of the vast restaurant.

This restaurant proved to be an excellent example of subjectivity when it comes to the enjoyment of food. It is also an excellent example of the important role texture plays in one's perception of food. Everything was unifomly well prepared. I enjoyed both the flavors and the textures. Molto, on the other hand was not particularly fond of the gelatinous textures found in many of the dishes we had and rather common amongst dim sum dishes. He can comment more about this if he is so inclined, but this restaurant was the one on which our opinions of the food diverged most widely, although it was not based on the apparent quality of the cooking or the ingredients.

The selection was as large as I have ever encountered at a dim sum restaurant, especially in the middle of the week. Everything we sampled was hot and fresh.

We started with Clams in Black Bean sauce

These compared quite favorably in terms of flavor and overall enjoyment to the clams we had earlier in the week at The Slanted Door.

Duck Shreds Burritoswere good, but they wound up getting lost amongst our other dishes.

Salty Pepper Squid was perhaps the first dish where Molto and differed in opinion here. The squid were perfectly fried and absolutely greaseless, however, they were somewhat chewy, a textural component he found less than compelling. I enjoyed everything about this dish and almost but not quite polished it off.

Har Gaw - Shrimp Dumplings I could eat these all day and all night.

Suckling Pig We both agreed that this was the dish of the afternoon. The skin was perfectly crisp. The flavors were clean and delicious.

Crisp Bean Curd Skin Roll This was clearly one of the more texturally challenging dishes.

Rice Noodle Roll Stuffed with Shrimp Another texturally challenging dish. I happen to like the texture and the flavors were fine as well, though not quite as "shrimpy" as I would have hoped.

Pan Fried Pork Dumplings These have been exceeded in my experience at The No.1 Dumpling House in NYC's Chinatown, but they were quite good nevertheless.

A view of the room around us.

I was getting full and Molto had had enough - besides we were going to have dinner at Manresa that night so we brought the meal to a close with these:

Crisp Egg Custard Tarts I love thes soft gelatinous desserts. These were good, although I have had better. I enjoyed what we had, but I would love to return there with someone who really knows the strengths of this restaurant. I am sure that there were truly amazing dishes that we missed. I would have loved to try more. Hopefully I will have the opportunity to do so in the future.

[Jason Perlow]

Nice photos, Doc. Koi Palace is my favorite Dim Sum place in the Bay Area.

[Parmhero]

Those dishes look great, doc. Koi Palace is on my radar for the week after next. Interesting contrast between your impression and molto e's. I think the Chinese sensibility is more delighted by what Westerners find odd or extreme types of tastes and textures. That's probably why people who value "authentic" dim sum feel Koi Palace is the best, while others find, from the desciptions I've read, the more toned down fare at Yank Sing more to their liking.

[hzrt8w]

Har Gaw - Shrimp Dumplings I could eat these all day and all night.

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Nice Photos!

Sorry Doc, I am pretty sure what's shown in this picture are Xiaolongbao (Shanghai specialty) and not Cantonese Har Gaw. Xiaolongbao uses pork filling and has no shrimp in it. Not sure if the waitstaff misquoted or delivered the wrong order to you.

I had both Har Gaw and Xiaolongbao during my last trip to Koi Palace. While I love their Har Gaw (shrimp dumpling) - very juicy, fresh and tasty, I couldn't say the same about their Xiaolongbao. I could only come to a conclusion, which I should have known and learned from my years of eating at dim sum restaurants - never order Shanghai specialties in a dim sum (Cantonese masters) restaurants!

[docsconz]

Har Gaw - Shrimp Dumplings I could eat these all day and all night.

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Nice Photos!

Sorry Doc, I am pretty sure what's shown in this picture are Xiaolongbao (Shanghai specialty) and not Cantonese Har Gaw. Xiaolongbao uses pork filling and has no shrimp in it. Not sure if the waitstaff misquoted or delivered the wrong order to you.

I had both Har Gaw and Xiaolongbao during my last trip to Koi Palace. While I love their Har Gaw (shrimp dumpling) - very juicy, fresh and tasty, I couldn't say the same about their Xiaolongbao. I could only come to a conclusion, which I should have known and learned from my years of eating at dim sum restaurants - never order Shanghai specialties in a dim sum (Cantonese masters) restaurants!

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You may very well be right although I don't remember having had pork dumplings there and that is not what was marked on the menu on which I took notes. It has been awhile and my memory can certainly be faulty.

[Jason Perlow]

Those are definitely Xiao Long Bao, AKA soup dumplings. These are Har Gow:

Incidentally those are from Hong Kong Flower Lounge in Millbrae, another excellent Dim Sum place in the Bay Area. Close to the airport.

[docsconz]

Those are definitely Xiao Long Bao, AKA soup dumplings. These are Har Gow:

Incidentally those are from Hong Kong Flower Lounge in Millbrae, another excellent Dim Sum place in the Bay Area. Close to the airport.

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I am sorry, but they were most definitely not soup dumplings. They may not have been the dumplings I thought they were, but they were shrimp and had no soup in them.

[jschyun]

Interesting. I order xiaolongbao just about every time I'm there (which is alot). I don't know why we order them because it's not their forte for obvious reasons but we do it anyway. And in fact with the exception of a few times I've had it, the xlb are not very juicy at all and they break a lot which may explain why yours weren't juicy. They don't carry seafood xlb by the way, only pork.

I believe that pic shows a small order of their xiaolongbao.

[Jason Perlow]

Yeah, they definitely LOOK like XiaoLongBao. That doesn't mean they were particularly juicy.

[ludja]

Interesting.  I order xiaolongbao just about every time I'm there (which is alot).  I don't know why we order them because it's not their forte for obvious reasons but we do it anyway.  And in fact with the exception of a few times I've had it, the xlb are not very juicy at all and they break a lot which may explain why yours weren't juicy.  They don't carry seafood xlb by the way, only pork.

I believe that pic shows a small order of their xiaolongbao.

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Hey, jschyun! Hope you're doing well.

Do you remember the name of the dish we ordered with XO sauce there? I think the base of the dish was a type of very white-colored, rice-based dumpling/noodle. I thought those were great.

[jschyun]

hey ludja!

rice noodle roll in XO sauce is that dish. I think they call it XO Spicy noodle roll or something like that. I like the KP version.

[AlexBernardo]

I happen to know this resto well so I'd like to add my comments. An excellent kitchen and access to first-class ingredients this side of Hongkong can make food at Koi Palace dazzling at times, alas, it only happens occasionally. I've had dimsum and dinner there numerous times since it opened several years ago, and though I've had a love-hate relationship with this resto, unfortunately it's been mostly disappointment than love. I can say that I've had the xialongbao there at its most ethereal--delicate skin, with the broth inside hot and exploding with flavors. Sadly, many tries afterwards have seldom produce the same results, in fact, most of the time it's a bit dried out, the skin too firm, and the flavors lacking.

At dimsum, I find their most consistent, not to mention the best value, is the shark's fin dumpling soup. Something you don't usually find in Bay Area dimsums. This has seldom failed me and I highly recommend it next time you visit this place.

But my main complaint about Koi Palace is the service. Just a wild guess, but it seems that at dimsum, servers are instructed to constantly butt in as you're eating and try to shove more food on your table. I mean the servers don't just call out the dish and be on their way if you don't show interest, these guys make sure they get in your face. Needless to say, the dimsum experience can be harried, instead of relaxing, on a Sunday morning.

Nevertheless, I keep coming back to this place in the hopes that I would have one of those unforgettable meals again. In addition, this is a grand restaurant--high ceilings decored like a huge tent. Beautiful and unique among Chinese restos. Willie, one of the owners is a good acquaintance of mine, and he's the one with the grand vision for this place. He constantly flies to Hongkong to secure the finest seafood. He shows off his haul in the multiple fish tanks that greet you in the lobby, which are undoubtedly one of the main draws of this place.

[hzrt8w]

I have a few of my own food pictures from Koi Palace from my last trip. Circa March 2006.

Front-door showcase of the most expensive ingredients... Shark fin, Abalone and such.

It may not be easy to notice, there is actually a small koi pond inside the restaurant. When you go through the front entrance to the dining room, it is on the far right. There are a few small tables placed right next to the pond. To me they are the best seats of the house. But you have to go there early to get these spots (or wait a long time for them).

This is something that I have not seen: a broze kettle with the tea that you ordered placed on top of a small sterno to keep it hot. Very nice touch.

I know Koi Palace serves many items from dim sum, chow mein to seafood entrees and banquet dinner. I think I can get some of the stir-fried dishes and seafood entrees in other San Francisco who could make it just as good. Their dim sums, however, I would rank among the tops. When I go to Koi, I tend to just stick with dim sums.

Har Gaw - shrimp dumplings. Typical 4 in an order. The wrappers are nice and transluscent, showing the pale pink color of the shrimp inside.

In Hong Kong, there is an old saying which said: if you want to judge how good a dim sum restaurant is, you only need to order their Har Gaw and you will know. There are implications from this saying. Har Gaw is just one of the dim sum dishes that is very difficult to master - both in cooking it to a perfect taste and kneating the beautiful shape.

Siu Mai - ground pork and shrimp dumplings. The wrappers are thin and yellow in color - thinner than the wrappers for Cantonese wonton. The bright orange dot on top is typically crab roe. An order of Siu Mai typically accompanying the Har Gow.

Meen Fa Gai - "Cotton Chicken". 棉花雞 The literal translation is "cotton" chicken. The "cutton" is actually referring to fish maw whose color and texture slightly resemble those of cotton's. A couple of chopped pieces of chicken (with skin typically) steamed with black mushroom, fish maw and -- a small piece of abalone!

Seen Zhuk Guon - Steamed Ground Pork Wrapped with Tofu Sheets. Typically 3 in each order. Ground pork mixed with black mushrooms, wood ear fungus, bamboo shoots and such in a small tofu sheet. First slightly deep-fried then steamed.

Steamed Shrimp Cheung Fun - Steamed Rice Noodles with Shrimp. Typically 3 rolls and a couple of cross-cuts by a pair of scissors. Steamed rice noodles are common street food as breakfast and snacks. There are different fillings you may order: beef, BBQ pork and shrimp typically. A spoonful of diluted and sweetened soy sauce is scooped on top when served.

Xiaolongbao - Shanghai style soup dumpling. Condiment: Chinese red vinegar and shredded ginger. A typical order of Xiaolongbao in a Shanghainese restaurant contains 10 dumplings. When served as dim sum (Cantonese), they typically serve 4 in an order. Supposed to have burning hot soup with ground pork inside the paper-thin wrapper with a small hole on top.

This is the only regret I had at Koi Palace. Their Xiaolongbao was just okay. I had better ones before. And I have more disappointments than pleasant surprises ordering Xiaolongbao in Cantonese dim sum restaurants in general. (Why was I still suckered into ordering it often? Good question)

Lesson learned: Don't order a Shanghai specialty in a Cantonese dim sum restaurant. Stick to what Cantonese do best: dim sum, BBQs, seafood stir-fries, chow mein/fun/fan. Save the crave for Xiaolongbao and stir-fried eel to Shanghai Dumpling King another time...

Edited May 23, 2006 by hzrt8w (log)

[docsconz]

Thanks for the nice photos and lesson in dim sum, Ah Leung! The soup dumplings, I believe, look different than what I had there.