When White Girls go to Dim Sum: Tea Garden
If you live anywhere besides in the International District, Dim Sum has just gotten a little bit easier to get to. Located at the corner of Ranier and Dearborn, Tea Garden is a mere block off the freeway and has its own parking lot, making access easy for those of us coming from the north. Despite the difficulty of getting to dim sum in other areas with a bad hangover, I have had dim sum many a time. We always joke that they treat non-asians differently, giving us lots of water, or offering us a fork, but I have never felt like I was treated so differently until Tea Garden. Unfortunately, like an abuse victim, I know I’m going to overlook this downside and return many times because the food was so good.
As we walked in, all eyes in the place fell upon us, including a conspicuous glare from a table near us. It was an odd feeling, like I had walked into a secret meeting that was actually about what a horrible person I was. We were seated quickly at a table set with our tea cups and chopsticks, but shortly thereafter a pile of forks and knives were uncerimoniously dropped onto the table. The service was prompt, and they offered a choice of tea, which while common in other areas, I have not seen much in Seattle. Carts came by quickly and we could see them being refilled in the kitchen often, despite the fact that there was fewer than ten tables of customers at the time. However, towards the end, I realized that one of my favorites, Phoenix Claws (chicken feet with a brownish-red sauce) had not come by. As I saw another type of chicken feet go by on a single tray and be offered to every table besides ours, I had a realization. Sure enough, as I walked out, I saw that every table of Chinese people had their delicious Phoenix Claws on the table.
Aside from missing out on a favorite dish, I found the food to be some of the best that I have had in Seattle. The common items, like Sui Mai and Har Gow (pork dumplinks, shrimp dumplings) were as good as anywhere else. I declared the shrimp and scallop roll one of the best dumplings I have ever had. The inside allowed for tasting the texture and flavors of the individual ingredients, and the wrapper was just chewy enough to hold the dumpling together, but not interfere with with the textures inside. Similarly, I found the flavors in the sticky rice, the salty sweetness, to be the most tru as any I had tried. We were unable to try anything more interesting, I’m begining to suspect that this was due to them not offering it to our table of white people, as oppose to them not offering the dishes at all.
However, the food I tried was delicious, and next time I will take a hint from a friend of mine who is a white dim sum connosuier in Hawaii, and first thing I do, order Phoenix Claws and Tripe. She claims this assures you that no dish will pass you by for matter of whiteness.
Tea Garden is located at 712 Ranier
I am Asian myself and have dined out for many a dim sum. Even being Asian, you can get ignored by the people with the carts. You have to really just ask for what you want. I have Chinese friends that speak fluent Cantonese/Mandarin and they know this. No turnip cakes? No Gin Dui (sesame balls)? Flag someone down and ask, they are most likely more thank willing to make it for you if it’s not on one of the carts. And yes you may have to be aggressive, but the more they know that you want something, the more they know you aren’t just being leery of some of the food you are seeing, and the more willing they will be to share what they have.
If you are waiting for someone to offer it to you, one thing to note is some places will push on you the “Special” of the day not because they think you will like it, but because it happens to be the most expensive dish on the cart!
I love having dim sum. i bring my own tea leaves. :) i am very fussy with my tea. fav tea for dim sum would be lao cong shui xian from http://www.teacuppa.com
Do they actually grow tea the the tea garden? I would love to try some actual fresh picked green tea
We got some looks, but they didn’t bring us forks. We went early (for breakfast…they open at 7:30!). The carts weren’t out yet so we ordered a few things from their dim sum menu and then we had a hard time getting away because they kept bringing us things we hadn’t ordered. Oh, they do more than dim sum, by the way, including Chinese and Western “breakfast special”, Chinese lunch specials, and lots of other Chinese and Vietmamese items…the menu goes on and on. I hope they do well…the food was good and they’re within walking distance!
Tea Garden is one of the best places to have dim sum! The manager, Cindy, (she was so patient with me, since i had difficulty deciding on what to try), she kindly introduced me to the ‘Red Bean Icy’, it was very tasty and thoughtful of her. If anyone goes to Tea Garden, both Red Bean and Mixed Fruit Icy is a must try!!! I would grade this restrant at 11/10. Wonderful customer service! A++++!
I love dim sum. The last time i went there I actually tried the Phoenix Claws, it was interesting and the sauce was extremly tasty. Overall, the dim sum was impressive, defiantly take a try at Tea Garden the next time you go to China Town.