Image
  • Writing
    • Andy Gavin: Author
    • About my Novels & Writing
    • All Writing Posts
    • The Darkening Dream
      • Buy the Book Online
      • Sample Chapters
      • Reviews
      • Info for Reviewers
      • Press Coverage
      • Awards
      • Cast of Characters
    • Untimed
      • Buy Untimed Online
      • Book Trailer
      • Sample Chapters
      • Reviews
      • Info for Reviewers
      • Press Coverage
      • Awards
      • Cast of Characters
    • Scrivener – Writer’s Word Processor
    • iPad for Writers
    • Naughty Dark Contest
  • Books
    • Book Review Index
    • Favorite Fantasy Novels
    • Andy Gavin: Author
    • The Darkening Dream
      • Buy the Book Online
      • Sample Chapters
      • Short Story: Harvard Divinity
      • Reviews
      • Info for Reviewers
      • Press Coverage
      • Awards
      • Cast of Characters
    • Untimed
      • About the Book
      • Buy Untimed Online
      • Book Trailer
      • Sample Chapters
      • Reviews
      • Info for Reviewers
      • Press Coverage
      • Awards
      • Cast of Characters
    • Naughty Dark Contest
  • Games
    • My Video Game Career
    • Post Archive by Series
    • All Games Posts Inline
    • Making Crash Bandicoot
    • Crash 15th Anniversary Memories
    • World of Warcraft Endgames
    • Getting a Job Designing Video Games
    • Getting a Job Programming Video Games
    • Naughty Dark Contest
  • Movies
    • Movie Review Index
  • Television
    • TV Review Index
    • Buffy the Vampire Slayer
    • A Game of Thrones
  • Food
    • Food Review Index
    • Foodie Club
    • Hedonists
    • LA Sushi Index
    • Chinese Food Index
    • LA Peking Duck Guide
    • Eating Italy
    • Eating France
    • Eating Spain
    • Eating Türkiye
    • Eating Dutch
    • Eating Croatia
    • Eating Vietnam
    • Eating Australia
    • Eating Israel
    • Ultimate Pizza
    • ThanksGavin
    • Margarita Mix
    • Foodie Photography
    • Burgundy Vintage Chart
  • Other
    • All Posts, Magazine Style
    • Archive of all Posts
    • Fiction
    • Technology
    • History
    • Anything Else
  • Gallery
  • Bio
  • About
    • About me
    • About my Writing
    • About my Video Games
    • Ask Me Anything
  • Contact

DimSumQuest – Monterey Palace

Aug18

Restaurant: Monterey Palace [1, 2]

Location: 1001 E Garvey Ave, Monterey Park, CA 91755. (626) 571-0888

Date: January 24, 2023

Cuisine: Cantonese Dim Sum

Rating: Many good, some great items

_

The DimSumQuest continues with Monterey Park classic Monterey Palace.
1A4A2740-Pano
It’s right there on Garvey with that classic 90s look.
1A4A2744-Pano
And the classic Monterey Park dining room.
1A4A2847
1A4A2848
Hanging roast meats.
1A4A2743
Menu.
1A4A2756
You have to pay for the basic sauces at $1 a plate.
1A4A2775
We ordered this twice and it cost $1. They were out of XO sauce! huh?
1A4A2758
Har Gow. Solid, but a little underseasoned. There was a real shrimp in there and the skins were just a touch thick.
1A4A2759
Shu Mai. Also a bit underseasoned. Not my favorite. Not bad or anything, just a bit meh.
1A4A2763
XLB. The standard “Elite style” pre-packaged tin foil thick XLB. Filling was underseasoned.
1A4A2767
Shrimp with Chives dumpling. Filling was a touch underseasoned and skin just a little thick, but certainly pretty good.
1A4A2770
Chao Zhou Dumpling. Peanuts inside this one. Better filling, same skin.
1A4A2774
Bean Curd Wrap with Oyster Sauce. A nice version of this dish, piping hot. Solid but not the best ever.
1A4A2762
Steamed Pork Spare Ribs with Pumpkin. Really excellent version of this dish. Little bone, very tender, and lots of flavor.
1A4A2766
Beef Balls with Orange Peel. The typical “dense” beef ball but quite nice.
1A4A2771
Sticky Rice Wrapped in Lotus Leaf. Solid enough, but not so much meat. Rice did taste very nice though. Not as good as the incredible 1968 version.
1A4A2800
The contents.
1A4A2788
BBQ Pork Chow Fun. Solid with the wrapper being a touch heavy but the pork was good. Sauce could have been a touch sweeter.
1A4A2789
Sauced.
1A4A2777
Flaky BBQ Pork Buns. Flaky laminated lard pastry was great but the filling was minimal and bland. Very meh.
1A4A2782
Baked BBQ Pork Pie (or possibly this is the flaky, hard to know). This pastry was great here and the pork pretty good, although not as red and sweet as some. The pastry was just a touch undercooked in the center but the outside and crackle was delicious.
1A4A2792
Pan Fried Spring Roll with Taro. The outside was nice and crispy/flaky but the blah taro interior was heavy and flavorless.
1A4A2795
Pork Dumpling. The usual glutinious bomb. These were actually a great example of the type with a nice thick, chewy, and slightly sweet skin. Could have used a bit more filling but what was there was delicious.
1A4A2802
The nearly hollow interior.
1A4A2810
Cantonese Roast Duck. Cold. Once a person adjusted to the temperature this juice duck — while very salted — was absolutely delicious.
1A4A2812
Chinese Broccoli with Salted Fish. Nice very salty green veg with lots of crunchy and umami.
1A4A2817
Roasted Squab. Solid, probably 7/10, but I have had better versions of this dish quite frequently.
1A4A2799
Live Turbot.
1A4A2825
Live Turbot, steamed with Garlic and Ginger. Absolutely first rate fish. This had nice flavor and that melt-in-your-mouth flesh quality that the best versions of this dish have. Almost as good as the Chang’an version — which is to say incredible.
1A4A2831
Bovon likes a good Turbot.
1A4A2779
Baked Snow Capped Bun. Inside was a coconut cream filling. The pastry was nice, but not that sweet and the filling lacked flavor to my taste.
1A4A2806
Yum.
1A4A2834
Baked Portuguese Egg Tart. These were probably the best example of this classic I’ve ever had. I think the “pastry” chef here is very good. The tart itself almost fell apart but tasted great and the filling was light, eggy, and very fluffy, not too sweet. Spectacular fresh out of the oven.
1A4A2836
Thai Durian Puff. Super crispy sprial pastry with durian cream inside. This was again the best durian puff I’ve ever had. That petrol taste was clean and lovely with a really great “creme pat” texture. Fabulous warm.
1A4A2838
Insanely good.
1A4A2842
Black and White Sesame Balls. Took 30 min to bake! I didn’t try but apparently they were good too.
1A4A2845
Overall, the dimsum was solid but generally just “good-” on the scale of SGV made to order dim sum. A couple dishes stood out. The baked pastries were excellent although the savory fillings hit or miss. The sweet baked goods some of the best Chinese sweet baked goods I’ve had anywhere. There was a general tendency to under-seasoning in the savory items. The non dimsum dishes were better, quite salted.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. DimSumQuest – Bistro 1968
  2. DimSumQuest – Blooming VIP
  3. OG Monterey Park – Dean Sin World
  4. Dinner at the Palace
  5. Capital Dim Sum
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Brunch, Cantonese Chinese, Dim sum, DimSumQuest, dumplings, lunch
All Things Andy Gavin
Copyright © 2025 All Rights Reserved
Programmed by Andy Gavin