Yum Cha on a Saturday Morning

New East Cuisine Manor (新東方), 37-02 Main Street, Flushing 11354 [site]
formerly Gala Manor(東麗宮)

It was Alice’s Birthday weekend and the family decided to go for morning tea, a ritual that is very common to the Cantonese and Hong Kong natives: yum cha (飲茶). We decided to go to my regular, Gala Manor, only to realized that management has changed and they have renamed themselves to New East. The food? More or less the same. First things first, my favorite Bolay tea(普餌茶), or more commonly known as Pu-erh tea (普洱茶). Second, we need my two favorites, shrimp dumplings(蝦餃) and shrimp rice rolls(蝦腸).

As the carts roll by, I never saw the rice rolls come through again, but we did get to try the fried stuffed tofu(煎釀豆腐) and the snow pea leaves dumplings (豆苗餃) which were very good. I was surprised at the snow pea leaves dumplings, healthy and yummy.

My mom got abalone sauce chicken feet(鮑汁鳳爪) and I got some thousand egg and lean pork congee(皮蛋瘦肉粥). I thought the congee was a bit watered down and not as flavorful, and my mom didn’t like the chicken feet sauce too much (she should have gotten the regular instead).

A cart lady came by and started naming everything she had.  My face lit up with the pearl chicken(珍珠雞), which really isn’t pearl at all but sticky rice with chicken and other miscellanies wrapped in lotus leaf. I always like sticky rice.

Alice got some fried tofu(炸豆腐), and we all love fried tofu, preferably not stinky. Tofu always taste good.

Here are some chinese broccoli sprouts or leaves. Alice decided we needed some form of veggies to make it healthy. It was a bit bitter at the tips. My opinion? It’s been stir-fried. =P

Daddy’s not much of a dim sum person, so he ordered his favorite, Flat rice noodles stir-fried with seafood(海鮮炒河). What was really interesting about this one this time was that there was no scallops, and they replaced it with some sort of shellfish that’s a bivalve mollusc (yes I’m being technical… look it up). Nonetheless, it tasted decent.

I was getting full, so I order my regular ending treat, the almond tofu(杏仁豆腐). No almonds and no tofu, almond tofu is actually artificially almond-flavored agar-agar gelatin. Throw in some mixed fruits, and you got yourself a dessert. Jade Asian and Tung Yi Fung actually makes this dessert better, but the taste here has improved since the last time I ate this here.

I had to take a picture of the tally card since I was going to forget Gala Manor’s new name (I like the old name better). All their tableware still says Gala Manor, and the name awning on the building was only half-changed.

I recommend this place because I’m biased that this is my comfort zone. Also, due to the recession, dim sum here is having a special! Mondays through Fridays, all dim sum small through large (special not included) is $1.50 each. Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, small through large is $2. Hooray for recessions (unless you lost your job)!

Lobster Thermidor

City Crab & Seafood Company, 235 Park Avenue South, New York 10003 [site]

It was the end of Restaurant week, which sort of turned into Restaurant month, which I’m not surprised due to the recession, but I wanted to go to City Crab for a special item on their menu, the Lobster Thermidor. Frank didn’t get one of the Restaurant menu prix fixe because his original choice, the Crab meat stuffed Idaho Rainbow Trout, ran out (I guess there was no more trout). Frank got a lobster bisque for an appetizer, but it was a bit too salty.

My Crab Cake Trio was actually quite nice, albeit small. It consisted of Maine peekytoe, Maryland and Louisiana crab cakes, with a bacon in the middle (really odd, but tastes good). I’m not sure which is which, but one of the crab meat does taste a lot better than the others.

Helen’s appetizer was a creamy lobster dish in a puff pastry shell. She didn’t seem too enthusiastic over it.

Helen loved her main dish though, it was the perfect salmon for her. I didn’t like the taste of ginger or salmon, so I’m not really really good critic for this dish.

Frank’s dish taste good, but he seemed a little disappointed. Maybe because he anticipated rainbow trout.

And then, my Lobster Thermidor came! It tasted really good, aside from the fact it was probably a little bit overcooked, which made the meat a little tougher than usual. It wasn’t as heavily creamy as the lobster thermidor from London Lennies, so I don’t feel too overwhelmed by it at all.

My key lime pie was a bit on the sour end, but I guess that’s how key lime pies are suppose to be.

Frank’s cheesecake was delicious though. I kept picking at his dessert, which probably isn’t good table manners.

We didn’t try Helen’s sorbet, but she didn’t seem able to finish it, so it was probably a bit too standard for her.