1023 Race Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
This particular review is going to be a bit difficult to write because I am still not really sure what I ate, but boy was it good. My girlfriend had been talking about going out for Chinese breakfast or Dim sum for some time. She met someone at her job when she started working that told her about a place in Chinatown in Philadelphia called Ocean Harbor. We walked down on a Saturday morning and got a table for two. I did not really know what Dim Sum was, so I just went along with everything that she told me, allowed her to order, and kept my mind open to everything.
The place was completely packed. We also noticed once we were seated that we were the only people there without someone Chinese or who wasn’t themselves Chinese. I love knowing the authenticity of a place simply by looking around and seeing that you are the oddity in the picture. For those of you that do not know what Dim sum is, I will explain as best I can. Dim sum is small portioned dishes, usually in steamer baskets…sort of like Chinese tapas. The servers walk around with carts full of food and stop at each table. They then allow you to choose whatever you want off of the cart and the amount that you want of each. They charge you by what you order and what quantity of it you get. I took pictures so you can see, but I do not know what anything is called because the menu and bill was in Chinese, without any English descriptions.
The first thing that we had was a crispy dumpling stuffed with bok choy and pork. It was probably the favorite thing of mine that we ate all day. It was nice and salty on the inside, and crispy on the outside. The greens really had a ton of flavor.
The next thing we ate was steamed shrimp dumplings served in a bed of soy sauce. They were really delicious as well. The dumplings were nice and soft, and the shrimp were tender and flavorful.
Next up was a sesame seed pastry stuffed with taro root and something else, possibly tamarind? It had a very strong flavor, and I wasn’t super keen on it. The pastry was great, but the filling became overwhelming in taste after just a few bites and I had to stop eating it. My girlfriend on the other hand thought these were amazing.
We had another fried ball of something after that. The inside was gelatinous, and had a small bit of something similar to the previous pastry. The texture was a little difficult for me to get through, but it was so interesting that I wound up eating the whole thing. It was like a mixture between taffy and marshmallow. It was really odd, but pretty cool at the same time.
Last we had these pork dumplings with a thick exterior that was much thicker than a traditional dumpling that I have had. The pork filling was very good. It had a stir fried flavor to it, and the dough of the dumpling was sweet and delicious with every bite. These were my girlfriend’s favorite, but I have to say I was still partial to the first dumpling we had because of the crispy texture and wonderful greens stuffed inside of it.
If you have never been to Dim sum before and you like eating, I would recommend you go try it. It was one of the coolest experiences I have ever had in my life, and I cannot wait to go back. There had to be hundreds of things we didn’t try, and I cannot wait to try them. My girlfriend’s coworker suggests the chicken feet… so there could be an adventurous post in the future. You should go now! Cheers!
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