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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

King Hua Restaurant (Dim Sum) - Alhambra

King Hua Restaurant (Dim Sum) - Alhambra 1

My childhood friend and I recently started a tradition of meeting up for the lunar new year. Last year was the fancy afternoon tea at Tres by Jose Andres at the SLS Hotel. Two years before that was dim sum at Sea Harbour Seafood Restaurant - Rosemead. So for the Year of the Dragon we decided to sort of go back to the beginning. Rumor has it that some of the chefs at Sea Harbour jumped over to King Hua Restaurant in Alhambra. We were hoping for the upscale dim sum like at Sea Harbour but without the upscale prices.

Every time I passed by the restaurant, I always wondered what the inside was like. The interior was a lot nicer than I expected with the gold brocade-covered chairs and the pretty Chinese frog buttons down the back.

King Hua Restaurant (Dim Sum) - Alhambra 2

The dim sum prices ranged from $2.48 small, $3.48 medium, $4.48 large, and specials were $5.88 and $6.88. A low price point of $2.48 sounded good until I realized that nothing good was for that price. Or well, none of the savory dim sum, just mango pudding and almond pudding. So not as cheap as I'd hoped.

We started off with my usual order of chrysanthemum tea, petals only, $1 each person.

King Hua Restaurant (Dim Sum) - Alhambra 3

Char siu bao (Chinese barbecued pork buns), $3.48 medium. Soft, sticky bun and savory filling.

King Hua Restaurant (Dim Sum) - Alhambra 4

Lotus leaf-wrapped sticky rice, $4.48 large.

King Hua Restaurant (Dim Sum) - Alhambra 5

Siu mai (Chinese shrimp and pork dumplings), $3.48.

King Hua Restaurant (Dim Sum) - Alhambra 6

Har gow (Chinese shrimp dumplings), $3.48.

King Hua Restaurant (Dim Sum) - Alhambra 7

Deep-fried lotus root puff, $4.48 large. These looked really nice, but unfortunately the frying oil was a bit old-tasting. Blech!

King Hua Restaurant (Dim Sum) - Alhambra 8

The filling was crunchy and a bit savory. Would have been really good if the frying oil was fresh.

King Hua Restaurant (Dim Sum) - Alhambra 9

Shrimp cheorng fun (Chinese rice noodles), $3.48 medium.

King Hua Restaurant (Dim Sum) - Alhambra 10

Deep-fried egg tofu with scallops in abalone sauce, $4.48 large. Very soft tofu, with yummy umami-rich seafood filling and sauce.

King Hua Restaurant (Dim Sum) - Alhambra 11

Steamed shrimp and scallop dumplings with shark fin, $4.48 large.

King Hua Restaurant (Dim Sum) - Alhambra 12

Visible pieces of shark fin too.

King Hua Restaurant (Dim Sum) - Alhambra 13

Steamed shrimp and pea tips dumplings, $4.48. I loved the cute arrangement of the tops of the dumplings.

King Hua Restaurant (Dim Sum) - Alhambra 14

I love seeing pictures of all the dim sum plates on the table.

King Hua Restaurant (Dim Sum) - Alhambra 15

King Hua egg custard tarts, $3.48 medium. These were fine, but I had hoped for Macanese egg tarts, which are better.

King Hua Restaurant (Dim Sum) - Alhambra 16

The bill was $45.46 before tip for two teas, five medium, and five large dim sum. Ouch! Part of that was because we splurged on fancier dim sum such as the shark fin and scallop dumplings. But, the whole time, I kept thinking, the presentation was slightly better and the prices were slightly lower at Lunasia Chinese Cuisine (Dim Sum) - Alhambra. And it's just down the street, so I'd rather go there. But that's just because Lunasia is my favorite dim sum at the moment.

The dim sum at King Hua was perfectly fine, but having no good savory dim sum in the small plate price range tipped me away.

Other dim sum restaurant posts:
Capital Dim Sum & BBQ - Monterey Park
Capital Seafood Chinese Restaurant (Dim Sum) - Monterey Park 
CBS Seafood Restaurant (Dim Sum) - Los Angeles (Chinatown)
Dim Sum Express - Monterey Park
Elite Restaurant (Dim Sum) - Monterey Park
Lunasia Chinese Cuisine (Dim Sum) - Alhambra
NBC Seafood Restaurant (Dim Sum) - Monterey Park
Ocean Star Seafood Restaurant (Dim Sum) - Monterey Park
Sea Harbour Seafood Restaurant (Dim Sum) - Rosemead
Yum Cha Cafe - San Gabriel

King Hua Restaurant
2000 W. Main St.
Alhambra, CA 91801
626-282-8833
Monday to Friday 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Saturday and Sun 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.

*****
1 year ago today,
2 years ago today,
3 years ago today, I Ate What? 2008 Eating Out Roundup.
4 years ago today, Tom Tau Hu Ky (Vietnamese Shrimp Paste Wrapped in Bean Curd Skin).
5 years ago today, Pumpkin Curry and Toasted Pumpkin Seeds from the sugar pumpkins I grew in my garden.

2 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for posting dim sum I've never seen before!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dawn,
    The lotus root and the colorful clear dumplings were new to me.

    ReplyDelete

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