Eatery - NBC Seafood Restaurant (CA)
NBC Seafood Restaurant - 404 S Atlantic Blvd, Monterey Park, CA 91754
Pricing - $$ | Dining - Casual | Cuisine - Chinese | Reservations - Unnecessary
Keep in mind that this review is based off of the dim sum service at the restaurant. I'm sure they serve other wonderful things during the evenings, but I went during dim sum hours. I feel like it's hard to go wrong with the dim sum at this restaurant or anywhere in Los Angeles county where there is a good population of old-fashioned Chinese people! I definitely crave having some good dim sum whenever I come home so was glad that I got to go with my family as a pre-Christmas treat. We have frequented this place many times before and because I rarely get to have some, it was my choice to go here. As always, it didn't disappoint. We had 6 people there, and we all got full for $85 after tip - awesome.
It was quite busy, as always, and full. We waited for about 15 minutes before we could be seated and the waiters were very hurried as they set everything up. I can't say much else about the service because dim sum style dining is based on people walking around with carts full of food that you ask for...so no direct table service from one person. This totally explains the running around of the waiters because they aren't assigned to a particular table but sort of have to service all that ask...so don't expect them to be personable!
I will speak to each dish as I noted them while I ate but I don't really know their Chinese names so I will refer to them by what they look like to me. You should also be able to infer from the pictures I believe, haha. I tried everything we got except for the duck, which was eaten up quickly.
Pork blood & tripe dish (bottom middle) - I'm a fan of tripe but this one did not have enough seasoning and was definitely too soft. I couldn't enjoy the full texture of the tripe because it was too squishy. As for the pork blood, I've never been a fan and hadn't had some in years. For the sake of the blog, I tried some and it...still sucked in my opinion. There was hardly any external flavor (blood was the main thing) but it had a good, firm feel to it.
Seaweed (bottom left) - I hadn't had this before but it was EXCELLENT! It was pickled and crunchy with just the right amounts of both. I would definitely have asked for more had there not been so much food.
"Phoenix feet"/chicken feet (bottom right) - It had been a long while since I had chicken feet, mainly because it always tastes fatty to me. This one had that texture going on with it but in a good sense. The flavor was not too spicy or strong which was fine by me since I enjoy sparse seasoning. It was soft and easily separable at the joints.
Roasted duck (middle right) - I didn't get a chance to have any of this.
Taro bun (middle left) - My mom's friend ordered this, and I really liked it. The taro was so vividly purple inside; I wish I had taken a picture of how it looked. It was sweet with a shortbread-like outside and slightly fried bottom. The dough part was soft and chewy, and the inside was a good consistency.
Dan ta/egg tarts - This place easily had the best dan ta I've ever had. It was my favorite part of dim sum growing up and became my younger brother's as well; he agreed that it was heavenly. Even my dad said that he had never had dan ta as good as the ones we had this time. The restaurant bakes them there instead of outsourcing from another bakery, and we must have gotten a batch that had JUST been baked. The pastry was perfectly golden, crispy, and flaky. It was rich but did not taste fattening or overly buttery. The egg filling was very sweet and melted in one's mouth, having a slightly firm outside texture like flan. There was a thin layer of liquid (melted sugars?) on top that helped with the sweetness.
Shu mai (left) - The wrapper on the shu mai here was thick and great. I've always liked shu mai with good wrappers. There was shrimp in this one and not enough of mushroom for my liking but the meatiness was a good consistency (shrimp and pork). Instead of a red dyed dot on top, this place had a small sweet red date on top that added a nice touch. It was fine with and without soy sauce.
Shrimp and water chestnut piece (right) - Does anyone know the name of this thing? It had a sticky white wrapper that I liked though it was VERY sticky and hard to remove from the dish it came in. The shrimp inside was great, and the water chestnut added a nice crunch to it all.
Ha Cheong Fun/Shrimp Rice Noodle Roll - Now we've come to my favorite dish of dim sum. Without a doubt, I will eat plates and plates of this whenever we have dim sum; my parents always make sure to get a lot. The flour was thick enough to give a lot of substance to the bite and the consistency was spot on with little oil in it. I wish that there was better shrimp; NBC usually does a good job with their shrimp but it was a little lacking this time. The sauce was a bit light for my liking but manageable. Anyhow, the flour stole the show, and the bok choy on top was a fun bonus.
Rice noodle rolled Chinese donuts - I have no idea what they're really called. Anyhow, I've had this dish before and so, I was excited to have it again but it was way off this time. The donut inside had gotten soggy so that almost no one at the table wanted to have some. My dad forced my brother to finish it off, hah. This dish came with hoisin sauce as the dip.
Har gow - This is one of the most basic types of dim sum dishes you'll see. The shrimp inside was good but for some reason, they failed on the wrapper this time. It was too thick and almost tasted like the wrong flour was used. I wish that the shrimp here could've replaced the one in the ha cheong fun because then my favorite dish would've been nearly perfect.
Chinese broccoli - I didn't manage to nab a picture of this one but it was too salty anyway. It was strange because the sauce was watery but they still managed to have put too much oyster sauce in it. The vegetable itself, though, had a fantastic crispness about it.
Tea - Chinese restaurants tend to have a standard pot of green or jasmine tea for every table. NBC had green tea, and it was very basic...nothing to be wowed over, but I always find tea as a good palate cleanser after a big meal of delicious dim sum!
1 comments
heeey I just had dim sum yesterday with my family toooo!!! although this place sounds better haha. The place we went to had some other dishes like pork wrapped in dried tofu sheets, calamari, and steamed pork ribs (black beans and pumpkin at the bottom! yummy)
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