dim sum, again

I recently read Mpls.St.Paul Magazine's essential guide to eating in the Twin Cities right now: 50 Best Restaurants list, and Mandarin Kitchen supposedly has the "most authentic dim sum brunch in town" [not according to some reviewers on other sites, but I'm willing to give any place a chance], so of course we had to go stuff our faces. All these Chinese places are located in the most dingy-looking strip malls...

That is some random Asian guy, not Jamie [even though it kinda looks like it could be him]

As with most other dim sum places, Mandarin Kitchen only offers dim sum on Saturdays and Sundays, from 10am to 2pm. We had planned on going last Saturday, but Gracie had her seizure, so we ended up staying in all day to be with her, and made the trip to Bloomington the next day instead.

We got there around 10:15am, had a hard time trying to find a parking spot, and this was the scene inside the restaurant...

All the tables were full, and it's a decent sized restaurant. But this line isn't so bad, totally manageable. The hostess took our name down, and asked if we were okay with sharing a table. Yeah, Hong Kong-style! I said yes, and we waited by the indoor water feature - they have a fake mountain with some koi...

We drooled over the roasted meats...

And admired the size of the lobsters...

And um, various other seafood...

So... those are totally horse penises... right?!? Whatever they are, gross. And I thought geoducks were bad. 

After about 10 minutes, our table was ready, and the hostess led us and two other groups of people to a large banquet table that probably seats about 15. We were seated in the interior of the communal table, and were trapped between one group and the customers in the table next to us. A rather unfortunate location to be in, since we couldn't really see what the dim sum carts had to offer, and had to reach over other people when we were handed the plates / metal steamer baskets.

No matter, we still managed to get what we wanted, and the majority of the dim sum were better than those served at Yangtze. We even out-lasted / -ate our table companions. Everyone else left before we did, and we looked a little funny, two people sitting at an otherwise empty banquet table.

By the time we left, the crowd waiting for tables at the front of the restaurant had tripled in size. It was a struggle to get out the front door. I'm happy we found another decent dim sum place!