din tai fung

din tai fung
3333 Bristol St, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 (inside south coast plaza)
tel: 714) 549-3388

what was consumed: soup dumplings (both pork and crab), wontons in spicy sauce, shanghai rice cakes with chicken, steamed bok choy, and sea salt black tea to wash it all down

din tai fung in orange county? it is high time! apparently, i'm not the only one to think this way as the line to get on the list to wait for a seat at the south coast plaza location was out the door and around the corner (stacey and i took a chance and got in the significantly shorter "bar seat" line. stacey's a pro and we were sitting in under 30 minutes). funny to think that i've seen this delicious dim sum chain in so many different countries ... but it wasn't until i came home that i got to visit.

once stacey and i sat down, we quickly put in our order. all the soup dumplings please! or at least two orders (one for the each of us, split down the middle). and they were delish. inside each dumpling is some filling accompanied by broth. there is no such thing as taking a bite; you enjoy the entire dumpling as a whole. YUM. we also rounded out the dumpling menu with an order of some veggie dumplings in spicy sauce.

din tai fun also has other options, in case soup dumplings aren't your thing (but they should be. we will have to have a serious chat if they aren't). i'd definitely recommend the shanghai noodles. i love the rice cakes (similar to the kind they use for korean dduk-guk) in a soy sauce-base stir fried up with veggies and meat of your choice. i want to eat this dish (and soup dumplings) FOR-E-VER :P

online: http://dintaifungusa.com/locations_us/#orangecounty

hong kong pearl seafood restaurant

hong kong pearl seafood restaurant

86 arlington boulevard, falls church, va 22044

tel: 703) 237-1388

hours: monday-thursday 10:30a,-2am, friday-saturday 10am-3am, sunday 10am-2am

what was consumed: dim sum! 

dim sum has got to be one of the best things in the world. servers go around to all of the tables and diners pick and choose the various plate options - no waiting!. there are lots to choose from - meat dishes, starchy dishes, seafood dishes, veggie dishes, and everything in between. and then, if there's something that you want in particular, you can speak with one of the servers who goes around to make sure everything is ok and put in a special request. at the end of the meal, servers tally up all that you've eaten and you pay your bill, which is usually less than you anticipated.

during lunchtime on a sunny language training day at FSI, a bunch of us were talking about dim sum and about how much we loved it, where to go, etc. as we were talking, someone (whom none of us knew) came up to our table and gave us his opinion about the best dim sum in wdc. and while we thought it weird that he would interject himself into our conversation (though i've come to understand that that's just par for the course), i'm most certainly glad that he did! that's how we found out about hong kong pearl seafood restaurant. i'm sure hong kong pearl seafood restaurant does great stuff at other times of the day, but we made it a point to head out there during lunch.

on a sort of relaxed day, we decided to do an "off campus" lunch at hong kong pearl seafood restaurant. we head over, were immediately seated (hong kong pearl seafood restaurant is quite large with probably over 30? 40? tables, all covered in the regulation pink cloth (haha)) and the carts started to come over. we chose, ate, made a few requests, ate some more, chose some more, ate some more, and paid. and we did very little talking (we were on a mission!). it was totally worth it. i hope it's still there when i head back to wdc - a must go!