San Jose: Dim Sum at Ocean Delight

My last meal in the Bay Area took me to dim sum in San Jose. After a quick search, I found Ocean Delight. We walked in as they just opened and got the first table.

There aren’t many dim sum carts at Ocean Delight. You order from a photo album by pretty much pointing at pictures of the offered items. There was a cart for jook (rice porridge) so we got a bowl of pork and preserved egg. I found their fried crispies fascinating. The shape reminded me of Fritos. I like my jook a bit thicker, as in the rice is cooked but the kernels are still intact. Ocean Delight’s was practically soup. It was very thin. However, the flavor was good and you’d get full… with perhaps some dumplings as well.

 

As I noticed earlier at Peony Seafood in Oakland, the Bay area seems to pride itself on bamboo steam containers. Ocean Delight does a mixture of both metal and bamboo. I didn’t like the rubber around the bamboo though as it looked very worn.

I got the classics starting with siu mai and crystal shrimp. The siu mai were oversteamed a bit but they were still bouncy enough. The fake roe on top had disintegrated.

 

The crystal shrimp (har gow) were much better.

 

I didn’t see regular tubular egg rolls so I settled for these shrimp rolls wrapped in tofu skin that had been deep fried. They were my favorite.

 

My friend got her usual BBQ pork rice rolls. I didn’t try these but she seemed happy with them.

 

I went to town on the spicy tripe. Usually dim sum houses have a cart dedicated to offal. I probably should master what tripe is in Chinese because I never know if these carts have it. And looking in the murky depths doesn’t really tell you. Ordering from pictures can be liberating.

 

The chicken feet were also good. The sauce was great.

 

My friend though the crispy taro were too fried as it tasted a bit burnt. Some may like it though.

 

We couldn’t leave without egg tarts. Ocean Delight does a good version.

Overall, I was happy with the dim sum here. Some things may have been over-steamed but the number of good dishes outweighed it all. Plus, it was cute to see them training an older lady to run the front of the house who reminded me of grandma.

Ocean Delight Seafood Restaurant

5400 Monterey Rd., San Jose, CA 95111  —  (408) 281-3838

© The Minty 2014