Chinese Food Hits Close To Home

Having lived my entire life within 10 miles of downtown Los Angeles (and predominantly in a 7 to 9 mile range to the south or west), I have never been convenient to really good Chinese food.  This has especially the case for the last 30 years living in the Hollywood Hills, as Hollywood has always been one of the biggest wastelands for Chinese food, in a Los Angeles metro that has historically no lack of Chinese food wastelands.  Fortunately, there recently have been a few authentic Chinese restaurants that have opened up in Hollywood maybe within 2 to 3 miles, specifically iXLB, Northern Cafe and  Hui Tou Xiang, which led me to write HURRAY FOR HOLLYWOOD Chinese Food on this blog, which I'm pretty sure is the only article in existence on Chinese food in Hollywood.  But these new restaurants are in the heart of Hollywood with no parking in sight.  

But then in the middle of March, I saw this incredible signage come up in the shopping center on the northeast corner of Hollywood Blvd. and Western Ave.  KINGDOM DIM SUM.

At first I thought it was a joke.  Or perhaps a movie or TV show shooting location.  A quick Google search did show a Kingdom Dim Sum in the UK.  Was a British dim sum parlor opening up in Hollywood?   It didn't look that the space would be built out for a while, yet by the end of March, Kingdom Dim Sum actually opened up.  No, it wasn't British, but it did have a full menu of dim sum items.  Of course, the big question was whether Kingdom Dim Sum would be any good.  Would it sell dim sum provided by a food supplier like Sysco or HF Foods, would they prepare their own dim sum, or what?  This question was quickly answered when I saw these fish shu mai, a dim sum variety so rare that I can only remember eating this variety less than a handful of times.

The fish shu mai were excellent.  I also ordered another uncommon dim sum item, chicken shu mai, and their baked bbq pork buns.  Both were quite good.

 

 

 

But the most eye catching item of this first visit was something called deep fried fish chop.  I've never seen anything like this on any dim sum menu.  And frankly, it's not dim sum.  But it is a clever insertion, as many Chinese fast food restaurants in inner Los Angeles serve deep fried fish fillets, and this item is really consistent with this local tradition.   And it's quite good.

 

So after my first visit to Kingdom Dim Sum, it was clear to me that this was a legit dim sum restaurant that because of its convenience a little over a mile from my house, it would be someplace that I would clearly be patronizing.  But while obviously it wouldn't be a substitute for my favorite sit down dim sum restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley, would it be comparable to the next tier of San Gabriel Valley dim sum eateries?   So I went by a few more times in the ensuing two months to figure out where on an absolute scale Kingdom Dim Sum would land.  

As it turns out, Kingdom Dim Sum is better than I had imagined.  I mean, who would know that their egg tarts are as good as anything in the San Gabriel Valley, including the sitdown restaurants?

 

Their har gow would rank with the best of the San Gabriel Valley.

San Gabriel Valley dim sum restaurants seldom have two different types of baked bbq pork buns.  This is the puff pastry version at Kingdom Dim Sum.

And few, if any of the San Gabriel Valley dim sum places have chicken cheung fun.

Nor is it easy to find pan fried chicken buns there.

And I don't recall seeing anything like their shrimp and celery patties.

Personally I really like their crispy version of turnip cakes, though I know they're not for everyone.

They've even added a few rice plates.  The lemon chicken rice is excellent.

And the desserts are varied and top notch, like this mango sago coconut.

 

 

Kingdom Dim Sum far exceeds anything I could have hoped for in Hollywood, with ample parking to boot.  Indeed, if Hollywood is closer to you than the San Gabriel Valley, I would consider this to be a destination restaurant.  And even if it isn't, if you're a fan of their distinctive dishes or their awesome egg tarts, it could be a destination restaurant for you.