Fortune Dim Sum

Sunday noon, made the trek WAY up north to the Chinatown complex to try the dim sum at Fortune. My previous trip up there resulted in slight disappointment when we got there to learn, no they don't have dim sum on weekend evenings, just daytime (I had misread their website). So another trip was warranted to see just how good their highly praised dim sum is. (See my June report on Fortune here.)

The "grand ballroom" as it were, is set up well for dim sum carts to maneuver. It's a huge hotel-like banquet room, with a ton of ornate chandeliers, and those stackable padded chairs. Right as we were sitting, a cart was passing, and we immediately jumped on it.

The crispy-battered, fried green beans were one of the best dishes of the entire meal. Clockwise from there, the pan-fried buns were something we had never seen before; they were a light breading that appeared to have been steamed then pan-fried, and had a good pork filling. From their menu online, these might be the "Shanghai steamed buns," an item not normally considered for traditional Chinese dim sum. The rectangular item above were contained shrimp and a cream cheese type filling; lightly breaded and fried, they were similar to crab rangoon. In the top left corner, was the pork belly with sweet and sour sauce. Unfortunately this was served room temperature, and thus very unappealing. While the sauce was good, this was one large miss. To its right, was the BBQ duck, which was quite good. The skin was crisp, not real fatty, and the meat had good flavor, including the use of Chinese five spice powder. On the right are taro dumplings, which were stuffed with pork & vegetables; I love the light & crispy nature of taro; these were good, but greasy on the bottom. 

I jumped at these steamed spinach & shrimp dumplings, because I have never seen them shaped like this. It almost looked like they had been made in a muffin tin; I think from their menu, this is one of their shaomai offerings with crab roe on top. Needed scallions or ginger in it. The oval shaped dumplings are the haam sui gau, a rice flour dumpling filled with pork & vegetables. These were tasty, though a little soy sauce & chile paste kicked things up. 

At the 3 o'clock position, we have the baked BBQ pork buns, or char siu bau; not bad, but not enough pork filling in them for my taste. My friend who eats dimsum at Chinatown (the restaurant) a lot thinks Chinatown's are better.  At 6pm, sesame balls, which were deceivingly still hot (temperature-wise) on the inside; these had a mung bean filling that I almost burned the roof of my mouth with. At 9 pm, pan-fried turnip cake (probably daikon), which I didn't totally love, but I was still fascinated by it's gelatinous texture. And at 12 o'clock, we have something the cart pusher described as an almond milk soup. It was different. It seemed like Pepperidge Farms puff pastry on top, and then a very strong almond-scented broth of almond milk, sugar, and raw almonds. We think they had a heavy hand with the almond extract in this one, as it was a bit off-putting. 

Our slightly less-adventurous eater was happy to see some salt & pepper shrimp and some meat (pork?) & spinach dumplings go by. At this point I was filling up, so I didn't try any of these last two, but he said they were good. As you can see these were the whole shrimp, heads, tails & feet still on! We didn't try any of the rice noodle rolls (filled with meat or shrimp), though I saw plenty of them, or the crispy squid, which I did not see, but it's listed on their menu; there was a bunch of crispy fish pieces going around though.

I have heard from two Chinese acquaintances that they think Fortune is the best dim sum in town. Don't know that I am thoroughly convinced. I need to get back to Shanghai (on Middle Fiskville Road), where I haven't been in almost 3 years, because I remember that being incredibly good. Looking back at my previous post on Fortune and with this dim sum meal fresh in my head, I find their food to be fresh, but bland overall (the almond extract being the exception); everything needs more garlic, ginger, scallion, chile, etc. So the jury's still out on the best dim sum spot in town!

Fortune

Two foodies and a wine guy went in search of dim sum on Sunday evening at Fortune, but upon arrival, discovered yours truly misread their website, as there was no dim sum in the evenings. But we easily decided to stay for dinner, and were excited by the variety on the menu. Our young, very efficient and knowledgeable waiter was a little surprised by the number of items we ordered, but we did decent damage. Overall we agreed that while everything was very fresh, some things were lacking in flavor.

The rundown, consumed with a bottle of Chateau St. Michele Riesling, which was at a good price at $24/bottle:

#13 -- Pan Fried Dumplings -- Great sear on them, the pork filling was bland, needed ginger, scallions, etc.
#18 -- Grilled Lamb Satay Skewers --Satay? Does that mean it comes with peanut sauce? Well no, because these came with hoisin. Meat had decent flavor & great texture, but the hoisin did pump it up a little. (Not as good as the lamb skewers at Chen's Noodle House, not even close!)

#21 -- Crispy Duck -- A decent duck, not the best ever, but nice crispy skin and not too greasy.
#39 -- Crab Meat & Sweet Corn Soup -- Probably the biggest disappointment of the meal. Apart from the sweetness from the corn, there was no flavor to it what so ever. My foodie friend noticed the longer the soup sat unattended in the bowl, the more it separated, with watery stuff on top and gelatinous on the bottom. Not really appetizing.
#110 -- Chicken w/ Hot Garlic Sauce (had wanted # 129, Chicken with Honey & Ginger, but they were out) -- really good, though certainly not "hot" in the spicy sense. Very fresh, not an overpowering garlic flavor -- could have used more garlic.
#165 -- Fried Crispy Bean Curd with Special Sauce -- Another disappointment. What might at one time actually been crispy tofu was negated by the sauce which is poured all over the fried slabs of silken tofu back in the kitchen, so by the time it reaches your table, it kills the crispiness. Sauce was nothing special either. Doesn't hold a candle to Java Noodle's Crispy Tofu with Brown Sugar Sauce.

#178 -- Malaysia Fried Flat Rice Noodle -- I love stir fried noodle dishes (and can't master the art of cooking with fresh rice noodles....), and we asked our waiter about this one. He said it was in a curry sauce with pork & shrimp, and we said sure! It turned out to be great! The noodles were a hair on the dry side, as in needed more sauce, but good flavor. I think I detected Szechuan peppercorns in it, because I had a little of that tingling on the tongue that I've experienced when eating dishes with them. (In picture, duck at the top, noodles to right, chicken to left.)

We asked what hamsur on the dessert menu was, as none of us was familiar. Our waiter told us it's the crispy fried fat from under a frog's skin. They were out for the evening, and will take advance orders via a phone call if you want it. I am completely curious about it, but not sure I would have been prepared to eat it that night! (And a subsequent Google search unveils that in some places hamsur can be the ovaries or the egg sack of the frog.... so not entirely sure which part of the frog it us, but consensus says it is frog.)

And though we didn't order it, our waiter brought over 3 bowls of a dessert porridge, a coconut milk base with little tapioca balls and taro root cubes. Decent flavor, but not in love with it. It was a nice gesture though, but still not sure WHY it was sent over. I know he saw me taking pictures of the dishes, and he may of overheard us talking about food blogging.

On a side note, the physical appearance of the restaurant is a little bit of a dichotomy. The entrance room has old wooden carved doors, dark flooring & tables, and a beautiful wall of ceramic teapots. You then enter the main dining room, which is filled with light, and 5 rather gaudy crystal chandeliers. My foodie friend who attended culinary school in San Francisco and is well acquainted with that city's dim sum establishments, commented on how the main dining room felt that it was set up for dim sum service -- plenty of room between the tables for the carts to maneuver. It reminded me of hotel banquet rooms. And by the time we left, the place was filling up, and I'd say 75% of the tables were filled with Asians.

So bummed there was no dim sum, and a little disappointed that the regular menu was kind of bland. It's certainly a trek for me to get up to Chinatown, but it is usually worth it, and I am determined to get back for dim sum, as I have it on the authority from 2 food people their dim sum is fantastic.