SGV: Dim Sum at King Hua

 

When I first started The Minty five years ago, I checked out King Hua but never really wrote about it. Unless you count this story about my dad managing the first incarnation of a Chinese dim sum palace at this location.

I thought it was time to go back to check it out. It’s still very clean, crowded and the service is fairly quick. The four of us ordered 17 items which can be considered a lot but I love leftovers.

As we ticked off the items, we had to get the favorites and a few specialty items as well. We really enjoyed the warm radish cakes and then prepared for an onslaught of dumplings.

We got the old standbys siu mai and har gow. The pork and shrimp dumplings were normal-sized with a decent amount of roe.

 

The crystal shrimp (har gow) had slightly too mushy wrappers which fell apart when you tried to pick up the dumplings. They still tasted great.

My friend really enjoys those giant soup dumplings. To divide this among 4 people can be rather tough. Just get your own.

 

 

We enjoyed King Hua’s lotus wrapped stick rice. The loh mi gai had a lot of meat which to the Chinese means luxury.

 

Good old reliable Chinese broccoli, the workhorse of Chinese vegetables. Add a little oyster sauce and you’re good to go.

 

When you start stuffing crevices with one corn kernel, one pea and one lotus seed, you know you have some fancy dumplings.

 

It’s been funny to me how I now have to fight people for chicken feet! This dish went very quickly. It could probably stand to have a few more fermented black beans (soy beans) but since I tend to pick those off anyway, this was good for me.

 

Luckily I was eating with people who love tripe. We first got the version with King Hua sauce. Loved the ginger and how fresh it tasted.

 

We loved the tripe so much we decided to get the other tripe dish on the menu. These were also very good but I liked the tripe with the King Hua sauce more. The XO ones were great but just couldn’t compete with the bouncy tripe with King Hua sauce.

 

The shrimp rice rolls (cheung fun) were standard. Slippery soft noodles with big pieces of shrimp.

 

I was sad about the tofu wrapped veggies. These were slightly dried out.

 

King Hua’s egg rolls were well made though I would have liked them a bit plumper. Still, very traditional.

 

One of my favorite dumplings are the Chiu Chow dumplings with peanuts and pork. These are especially great if you like a bit of crunch to counterbalance the soft dumplings.

 

Sometimes I just order all the dumplings to see what results. Although these were somewhat murky looking, they tasted great. I picked out lots of fresh cilantro.

 

 

One of our dining companions was so excited for these egg tofu puffs with chili sauce. I admittedly have never had them before because it’s not really a Cantonese dim sum thing. They turned out to be quite delicate and well done.

 

I can’t seem to leave dim sum without my favorite egg tarts. King Hua does a decent version with flaky crusts.

With so many new dim sum houses in the SGV, it’s nice to be reminded of a reliable one that has been chugging along for years. Sometimes Chinatown just can’t compete. Currently my picks for dim sum include Shanghai Seafood No. 1, Lunasia, King Hua and Atlantic Seafood.

 

King Hua Restaurant

2000 W Main St., Alhambra, CA 91801  —  (626) 282-8833

 

© The Minty  2014