The last Chinese Bites Dim Sum Tour took us to Western Lake Seafood Restaurant over on Victoria Drive by 33rd. This was my first time here but it’s been on my list since reading Sherman’s blog. The place is packed so you’re unlikely to get a table just by walking in and even with your reservation you’re probably going to still have a wait. Western Lake is known for having generous servings of well made dim sum and it’s consistent. One thing I will say is that the restaurant is small inside so seating is tight and there aren’t too many huge tables so keep that in mind. We had a group of seven but ended up ordering WAY too many dishes numbering around 35, I didn’t sample them all but below is what I did devour. While the room was full, the service was still quick around the dining room, and the food was getting out quickly from the kitchen quickly.
Let’s start off with the Deep Fried Squid with Chili Salt. How can you go wrong with a heaping pile of freshly fried squid sprinkled with chili salt! The pieces were each coated in a light, crispy batter that wasn’t greasy yet really crispy and airy. The squid itself was still tender but still a bit toothsome and the chili salt was studded pieces of dried chili and fresh scallions which worked perfectly with the squid. This was the best deep fried squid I’ve ever had and is something I would come back for again and recommend to anyone.
Continuing with the chili salt dusted items, the Deep Fried Tofu with Chili Salt hit the table. Again this was piled high on the plate and sprinkled with the same mixture as the squid. Again they did a great job with this from both the preparation aspect and in the taste department. The pieces of tofu were cut on the larger side for my liking, but each piece was wonderfully crispy all the way around, and the inside was fluffy. The star in the flavor department was the chili salt, but the tofu was also great with some XO sauce added.
Next is the Pan Fried Radish Cake tossed in Spicy XO Sauce. I’m still trying to find my love for this dish; the radish cake tends to be on the wet side, but that being said this one wasn’t too bad. The pieces of radish cake could have been crispier, but they had enough texture outside to grab the XO sauce nicely.
Something new for me at dim sum was the Clams in Spicy Chinese Wine Broth, and honestly, I’m not a huge clam fan but when I caught the aroma of the spicy sauce I knew I had to give them a try. The clams weren’t overcooked so they were still nice and juicy. The Chinese cooking wine was just noticeable but the star of the broth was the spicy chili hit.
Next up is the Chef’s Specialty Shredded Chicken. This was a cold salad consisting of shredded chicken, jellyfish, pickled greens and vegetables, crispy wonton strips all tied together with a sesame dressing. The salad was all about the varying levels of crunch texture wise more so than about the flavor of the chicken and jellyfish which actually worked for me with the delicious sesame dressing.
Spareribs make an appearance at dim sum and Western Lake’s version has been my favorite so far with their Rice Flour Rolls in Hotpot with Spareribs. The meaty spareribs were smothered in a rich black bean sauce with the rice rolls on the bottom to soak up all the flavors. I ended up snagging some great pieces of sparerib that had a perfect amount of meat on them compared to other times I’ve had this dish.
For the soup course of our dim sum feast, we had the Minced Pork and Oysters with Rice in Soup. The soups I’ve had at Chinese Bites dinners have usually been on the milder side flavor wise with the exception of hot and sour soup, this soup was the opposite packing a briny punch from the little oysters. After tasting this initially we didn’t eat anymore for the rest of the meal, by the time we were finished the rice soaked up all the broth so if you order this make sure to eat it quickly.
Next up is the Pan Fried Eggplant with Shrimp Paste that is a familiar dim sum favorite. The preparation at Western Lake was top notch featuring a great delicate shrimp mousse that still held together nicely and a generous amount of delicious black bean sauce.
The Steamed Beef Meatballs with Bean Sheets made were a perfect addition to the table with all the seafood dishes we ordered. Western Lake serves up some sizable meatballs without argument, but they’re also tender and seasoned with just enough scallion and Worcestershire sauce.
One of my favorites dishes of the day were the Panfried Chive and Shrimp Dumplings. These babies were big and full of plump shrimp that again was cooked just right leaving a nice snap and sweetness with just enough chives to accent their flavor. They could have been browned more but I was alright with what I ate.
The Steamed Rice Flour Rolls with Chinese Donut were textbook perfect with a donut that wasn’t too chewy and rice roll that melted in my mouth.
As if we hadn’t had enough shrimp yet the Steamed Prawn and Pea Tip Dumplings hit the table. The wrapper on these was a bit thicker than I like but these were still great dumplings. The star of the filling flavor wise was the pea tips which accented the sweetness in the shrimp.
As with the rest of the dim sum staples the Haw Gow and Siu Mai were both on point at Western Lake. Both of the dumplings were large size wise resulting in 2-3 bites each. The fillings for the haw gow was seasoned with a good amount of sesame oil and the shrimp were of course, delish. The siu mai had a good ratio of shrimp to pork with just enough umami flavor from the shitake mushroom. I will say that the larger size of these dumplings they were definitely more filling and them with an another couple dishes would be more than enough to classify this as a meal worthy of fat pants.
The desserts we sampled were a bit hit and miss for me. We got the DeepFried Yam Balls, Goji Berry in Lychee Jelly, and Green Tea and Coconut Jelly. In all my Chinese Bites dinners I’ve only encountered a handful of desserts that have worked for me so given I have never tried any of these items before I went in really open minded. The yam balls were really heavy when I picked one up and the sauce was thoroughly soaked up by them by the time we got to them overall it was too dense and gummy for me. The goji berry lychee jelly was more of a winner for me, the lychee jelly was fragrant and the goji berry added more texture rather than flavor to this nor so sweet dessert. My favorite was the green tea and coconut jelly, the coconut was the dominant flavor with the green tea being on the subtle side with just the right amount of sweetness.
As if it wasn’t obvious, I really enjoyed myself at Western Lake Seafood and would come back in a heartbeat. I think their dim sum was absolutely delicious and totally would send ANYONE here who is looking for a solid dim sum experience. All the dishes were prepared well, the proteins all fresh and consistently cooked all served up in a generous portion size that won’t break the bank. You can get your dim sum on seven day’s a week at Western Lake but as I said reservations are recommended rather than just showing up even during the week.
**Disclosure, as a Chinese Bites reviewer my food was paid for by Chinese Bites, my opinions and experience are completely my own and were not influenced by the restaurant or ChineseBites.com**