Triumphal Palace

I'd worried that without roving steam carts the sense of discovery at a dim sum house just wouldn't be the same. But along with that sense of discovery can come the stress of getting the attention of the servers only to find they're pushing along yet another selection of chicken feet or various cartilagineous balls not meant for Western palates. In the end, you settle on another order of pork shiu-mai just to sate your hunger and dream of a restaurant with menus.

After finally making it out to Triumphal Palace yesterday, I'm that much more in the menu camp as far as dim sum is concerned. After lingering over the English-language menu while sipping our hot tea, my friend David and I made our selections then sat back and waited for the orders to appear. The kitchen started us with the amazing, crispy-skinned and succulent braised pork belly, then followed shortly thereafter with the shrimp dumplings with pea shoots, triangular chiu-chow style dumplings (stuffed with vegetables and seafood), shrimp har gow, bbq pork bao and the simple but satisfying wide shrimp rice noodles doused with soy sauce that I just love. Lightly golden fried crab cakes have no place on a steam cart at all and here they were perfect, served with pieces of sliced fresh papaya and mango. We waited at least a half an hour for a table when we arrived around noon but by 2 when we left the crowd had diminished considerably. Good to remember for next time since Triumphal Palace is open for dim sum daily till 3.

Triumphal Palace
500 W Main St
Alhambra
626 308-3222