Dim Sum Garden
1020 Race St
(215) 873-0258
12:27 p.m.: Arrive. They don’t know where to seat us as we glance at a few options.
12:28 p.m.: They put us at a table across from the cooks. Too much eye contact. Why do I keep looking up?
12:29 p.m.: We face the realization that this place offers menus, not carts of ready–to–eat food.
12:30 p.m.: The waitress wants to take our order. We are still baffled by the menu. We need more time.
12:35 p.m.: We can’t find pork buns. They are out of vegetable steam buns. Waitress recommends egg and scallion buns ($3.25). This will be our only spontaneous decision of the day.
12:36 p.m.: We are bored. Seriously why are there no carts? We wanted immediate gratification.
12:38 p.m.: The bok choy ($6.95) is the first dish to arrive. I look up again. A giant pile of raw meat is sitting on a plate in the kitchen window.
12:40 p.m.: The bubble tea ($3.50) comes. Sweet relief on this scorching 50–degree day. Oh, they forgot the bubbles.
12:41 p.m.: I spend a full minute trying to slurp up an extremely long piece of delicious, garlicky bok choy.
12:43 p.m.: They use fresh honeydew in what we will now call a smoothie. It nicely washes away the saltiness of the bok choy. The waitress brings over boba to add to my drink.
12:44 p.m.: We salivate at the sound of a rolling cart. It’s dirty dishes.
12:45 p.m.: The pork soup dumplings ($5.75) arrive looking steamy and amazing. Molten liquid sprays out upon the first bite, but they most definitely do the job.
12:48 p.m.: Amidst the plethora of dumplings on our table, we decide to Google if what we’re getting is in fact dim sum. First, another pan–fried beef dumpling ($5.75). Why didn’t we order more of these?
12:49 p.m.: Googling scallion pancake ($3.50). Oh my god these are good. Some kid throws a storm trooper mask at me.
12:49 p.m.: This table is way too tiny for this amount of food. The lack of space is disturbing.
12:54 p.m.: Egg and scallion buns are just not doing it. Where’s the pork?
12:58 p.m.: We try different methods of successfully extracting soup from dumplings. They are now cold, but as scrumptious as ever.
1:03 p.m.: But why are there no pork buns? These chive and egg buns are wrong. Just wrong.
1:05 p.m.: My plate has become a mixture of sauces from the different dishes. Perfect for dumpling dipping. We keep trying the veggie buns. They don’t get better.
1:06 p.m.: We call Mayflower Bakery to see if they are open. They are.
1:08 p.m.: We re–glance at the menu. Though the majority of our dishes were tasty, we decide to move on elsewhere.
1:10 p.m.: On the way out, we learn it’s a BYO. Good to know. By now a long line of hipsters have taken over the restaurant. This new, modern location is very different from its old spot in the sketchy bus terminal.
1:11 p.m.: We walk by Ocean Harbor and Joy Tsin Lau, envious of the bustling carts. C’est la vie.
