Rosemead: The Dim Sum Carts are Still Going Strong at 888

I recently revisited 888 Seafood Restaurant in Rosemead. I go back and forth on the dim sum carts vs ordering off a menu issue. While I concede the food appears to be freshly steamed when you tick off items from a menu, there’s no fun in it. I know I’ll just order all my favorites and leave. Part of the victory of ordering from the dim sum cart ladies are the surprises they might have for you. That’s why whenever someone asks me about dim sum, I point them to 888.

For this meal, I ordered up the usual siu mai (pork and shrimp dumplings) and har gow (crystal shrimp) to start.

Both were standard and good but I still wanted more dumplings.

888 has these great shrimp egg rolls that were still faintly hot when they hit our table. Crispy wrappers really make it.

I spotted the dumplings cart going around and ordered everything the dim sum lady had including the shrimp and leek dumplings, spinach and shrimp and scallops dumplings. I tend to like the dumplings with leeks because seafood really goes well with anything in the onion family. But straight scallops or spinach is good too.

I normally avoid buns so I don’t fill up but the Shanghai buns looked good this particular day. I thought it was funny one of the buns had an almost octopus-looking grill mark on it. Yep, that’s the one I ate. The buns were stuffed with a combination of pickled vegetables and pork. I ate these plain but you could dip a bit in black vinegar if you like.

The dim sum lady was pretty funny when she warned me the veggies wrapped in dried tofu wrapped was actually vegetarian– some versions come with ham. I didn’t mind until I tried to pick  one up. These had absorbed the broth and looked awkward. It didn’t affect the taste other than being really soupy.

While looking for chicken feet (never came around), I got one of the dim sum cart ladies to grill the daikon cakes I love so much. These can be filling so you might want to wait until the end to have these.

As usual we over-ordered which to be honest, I do with a la carte ordering but fortunately dumplings heat up well for snacking later!

I swear 888 used to have more dumplings but I was satisfied with the ones that I got after eating at Ocean earlier in the week and found their dim sum lacking. Perhaps dim sum houses in Chinatown during the week don’t carry as much. SGV all the way!

The egg tarts were the best I had in a long while. They were still warm and just melted in your mouth.

On a side note, I have also now been to two restaurants including 888 where the ladies are wearing half-masks. I guess it’s like the salad bar sneeze guard. Although someone mentioned maybe they’re protecting themselves from the public rather than the other way around.

Mini Dim Sum Guide in LA including the SGV

• CBS Seafood
• Elite
• Lunasia
• Monterey Park Palace
• NBC Seafood
• Ocean Seafood
• Sea Harbour
• Shanghai No 1

888 Seafood Restaurant

8450 E Valley Blvd., Ste 121, Rosemead, CA 91770  —  (626) 573-1888

 

© The Minty 2013