Back in Honolulu, Annie and I used to go produce shopping almost every Saturday morning in Chinatown. By lunchtime we were famished. If we didn’t have other plans, we’d often stop in at Mei Sum on Pauahi and Smith Streets. You could get pretty good quality dim sum at a more reasonable price than the fancier places like Legend in the Chinese Cultural Plaza.

Nowadays, dim sum is more of a “once in a blue moon” deal. There are some good places to eat in Milpitas and Cupertino, not to mention faraway restaurants like Koi Palace in Daly City. We’ve tried out other dim sum places (Hong Kong Saigon in Sunnyvale and East Ocean in Alameda) but our go-to dim sum restaurant of choice is Dynasty on Story and McLaughlin right here in San Jose.

Deep Fried Taro puffs. The taro paste is stuffed with a mixture of chicken and mushrooms before frying. Great texture contrast between the airy-crispy crust and the soft inside.

Baked Char Siu Bao. These are on the small side, not much bread, and baked with a sticky-sweet glaze on top. Irresistible!

Shrimp and chive dumpling that has been pan fried so the rice flour skin has crisped up. What I like the the load of shrimp they put in this, plus the garlicky-chive counterpoint to the meat.

Egg Tarts. A bit on the sweet side for me. The pastry was pretty crumbly. I miss the Golden Gate Bakery ones but we haven’t been up to SF in a long while.

In my opinion, Dynasty is one of the best places in San Jose for dim sum. Where is your favorite dim sum place near you?

Aloha, Nate
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