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Archive for 888 Seafood

All Day at 888

Sep11

Restaurant: 海珍大酒樓 888 seafood restaurant [1, 2, 3]

Location: 8450 Valley Blvd, Rosemead, CA 91770. (626) 573-1888

Date: February 12, 2023

Cuisine: Cantonese Dimsum & Banquet

Rating: good not great, but awesome room and a lot of fun

_

As has become a bit of a tradition, Superbowl Sunday hedonist style is an all day affair at 888 Seafood. Not one but two meals!

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The frontage.
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Nothing like hanging out in the hall with the hanging meat!
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Jeffrey’s sauce bar.
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We have been in this giant private room both with a single monster table and with the current two large table configurations.
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Overall, dim sum here was very “meh.” It was certainly the worst I’ve had recently in the SGV (as I’ve been going to good places), but solid enough to be enjoyable. In general, skins were too thick and things were a bit overcooked. They do have a lot of variety but the “banquet” side of 888 is way better than the dim sum side.

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Jellyfish. Pretty meh jellyfish with a decent texture but no flavor. Jellyfish needs an acidic sauce/marinate.
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Cold meat plate. The pork was excellent, the duck solid, the chicken fine, and the pink pork “wurst” stuff incredible. Great “cured meat” quality.
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Steamed Chicken Feet in Brown Sauce. People said they were gross.
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Sparerib in Black Bean Sauce. Very piggy and unpleasant version of this typical dish. Texture was okay but the flavor was terrible.
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Premium Har Gow. These weren’t so premium. The skins were a little thick and over-steamed and the interior, while fine and full of solid shrimp, was bland and under seasoned. Still not bad or anything, but bland.
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Pork & Shrimp Siu Mai. A touch oversteamed but savory enough, so reasonably tasty.
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Chiu Chow Style Pork & Peanut Dumpling. These had a heavy wrapper but the filling was delicious with a mix of peanuts, meats, and various veggies.
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Shrimp & Chives Dumpling. Again the wrapper was a little thick and the inside okay but a touch underseasoned.
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XLB. Pretty decent actually for dim sum XLB. The pork itself was very tasty but there wasn’t really any juice.
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Bean Curd Skin Rolls in Brown Sauce. Actually one of the better dim sum here with a nice texture and decent flavor. Not as nicely white peppered as the best versions, but certainly enjoyable.
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Steamed Rice Noodle Roll with Shrimp. Solid Chow Fun with good texture and lots of shrimp. Sauce wasn’t sweet but did work.
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Steamed Rice Noodle Roll with BBQ Pork. Again, a pretty good Chow Fun as the BBQ pork here is good.
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Pan Fried Shrimp Rice Noodle Roll. I think I actually tried to order the Red Rice Noodle Roll and got this instead. It was pretty good though, being basically a dried shrimp and chive Chow Fun that was pan fried. Tasty in a greasy way.
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Steamed BBQ Pork Bun. THe pork inside was very sweet but there was a good amount of it. The dough was over steamed and soggy.
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Baked BBQ Pork Bun. Decent but sweet filling, so-so bun.
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Contents.
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Pan Fried Dace Fishcake. Dense and very fried with an interesting flavor. Not to everyone’s taste but I kind of liked it.
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Deep Fried Shrimp Spring Roll. Solid enough version of this with a heavy but crispy shell and lots of shrimp.
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Pan Fried Water Chestnut Cake. We didn’t know what to expect from this, and certainly not what we got, but it did turn out delicious. It was gelatinous and vaguely sweet — quite yummy.
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Eggplant with Shrimp Paste. The fried fish ball was good, but this kind of straight up baked or steamed eggplant not my favorite texture.
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Egg Tofu with Fish Paste in Brown Sauce. I like the soft egg tofu texture and the fish paste (which might have been shrimp paste?) was good, so this was a pleasant dish. Could it have been better with a stronger peppery brown sauce and a more seasoned fish cake? Sure, but it was pretty good anyway.
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Steamed Beef Ball. Solid and chewy version of this classic. Very stuck together.
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Mushrooms and vegetables.
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Sticky Rice Wrapped with Lotus Leaves. I didn’t get a chance to try.
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Custard Egg Tart. Very meh version. Eggy, and certainly not offensive, but not great.
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Wines.
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The coma.

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BBQ Suckling Pig. Absolutely awesome and probably one of the best Chinese pig’s I’ve had. It was porky in the best way with a crispy skin and that “sizzling pork fat” thing going on. Really delicious.
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100 Flower Chicken. Nice version of this relatively rare dish with the crispy skin and the luscious shrimp paste. Could have been a touch more seasoned but still delicious.
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Hot and Sour Soup. Just okay with a decent texture but wasn’t really hot or sour.
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Beef Brisket in Chili Oil. Tasty but not amazing.
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Crab in Salty Egg Yolk. I don’t love the salty egg yolk prep as it’s kind of heavy and has a grainy quality, but this was one of the best crab’s I’ve had with it. The shell’s were very tender and there was a lot of meat so one could crunch through and really enjoy the sweet meat.
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Lamb, onion, cilantro, and mushroom stir fry. I guess this was a variant on cumin lamb (without much cumin). It was soft but quite enjoyable.
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Typhoon Style Garlic Lobster. Really nice lobster with lots of meat and crispy garlic.
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Eggplant and String Beans. Okay but not my favorite.
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Cauliflower with Southern Chinese Sausage. Yum, that sweet porky sausage makes any vegetable good.
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Yang Chow Fried Rice.
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Kung Pao Fried Rice. Interesting.
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Piggy!
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New Flavor — Cherry Bakewell Tart Gelato — While watching every episode of the Great British Baking Show I was introduced to the Bakewell Tart, which I liked it enough to make a gelato — Sicilian Noto Romano Almond Custard Base is layered with house-made Honey Almond Graham Crackers and Cherry Preserves. For extra fun I made an Almond Icing and glazed the Grahams with it in the traditional pattern (first time trying it) — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Sicily #Almond #Cherry #GrahamCracker #BakewellTart #tart #bakewell #jam #icing

One of my earliest Signature Flavors —Tiramisu Gelato — The base is a highly technical Zabaione of Egg Yolk, Fresh Mascarpone Cheese, and Sweet Marsala with Fresh Brewed Espresso. It’s dusted with Valrhona Cocoa powder and layered with house-made Vanilla Rum Espresso syrup-soaked Lady Fingers — the final result is totally Tiramisu — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Tiramisu #Espresso #coffee #chocolate #Marsala #Zabaione #Eggyolk #Rum #Mascarpone
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Wines.

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Out in the main hall!

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Dimsum at 888 was solid, but not particularly interesting or super fresh. Definitely a notch or two down from the made to order places. Shells were a bit “sticky” which indicates they have been sitting in the steamers for a bit. Also, because we were starting at 2pm the dim sum kitchen was closing and so they brought EVERYTHING out all at once.

The banquet food was better, pretty good actually. It’s not the best Cantonese restaurant in the SGV for dinner, but it’s certainly way way better than anything further west and really quite good. Service is very nice and good for the SGV. And that mega banquet room rocks. They have a couple of them too but ours is the best. Really great private party space even if a little garish.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Ring in Tang Gong
  2. World Seafood is Elite
  3. China Red by Day
  4. 888 Seafood – Banquet
  5. DimSumQuest – Lunasia
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: 888 Seafood, BYOG, Cantonese Chinese, Chinese Food, Dim sum, Gelato, hedonists, SGV

888 Seafood – Banquet

Feb03

Restaurant: 海珍大酒樓 888 seafood restaurant [1, 2]

Location: 8450 Valley Blvd, Rosemead, CA 91770. (626) 573-1888

Date: December 8, 2019

Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese

Rating: Amazing whole pig

_

Sunday night is always the night for full on SGV adventures and December was a banner month. Tonight’s dinner starts off a run of four back to back Sunday Asian dinners.

First up is at 888 Seafood which is one of those “grand dames” of the SGV, being an old Cantonese Banquet hall serving dimsum during the day and Cantonese Banquet at night. It’s got some serious 1980s Hong Kong style decor. Ron was here recently and wanted us to return because he said the pig was amazing (which it is, as you shall see).
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Check out our ginormous private room and its Trompe-l’œil marble style — plus really grungy Vegas carpet. But the room was great. Tons of space and a HUGE round table!

Yarom, Jerome, and I dropped by a few days in advance and planned the menu personally with the manager, Lucy.
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Boiled peanuts.
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XO sauce.
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A bevy of other sauces.
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Cold appetizer plate.
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Zoom on the plate with cold cuts, jellyfish, pickled seaweed, vegetables, preserved egg etc.  The meats were good and interesting. This wasn’t my favorite jellyfish — it was fine — but it wasn’t as tangy or “snappy” as I like it.
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Spicy beef tendon. This wasn’t super spicy, and it had a chewy gelatinous texture, but it was really really good. Nice flavor and really fun to chew.
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Spicy hot and sour soup. Full of tripe. Super spicy. Actually, too spicy even for me. I could eat it, but it had this INTENSE green pepper heat that made your throat burn, your eyes water, and you want to cough. Seriously spicy even for a spice addict.
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Curry lobster. We meant to order Causeway Style Lobster but they goofed — glad they did because this “Singapore-style” curry lobster was very interesting.
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Here comes piggy!
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Suckling pig. Maybe full grown pig. haha. This giant pig was amazing. Super crunchy skin, super hot and succulent meat.

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He’s propped up on some kind of canister.
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And was served with buns.
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Plus hoisin and scallions.
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Afterward, the face came back to haunt us. Jeffery munched on it.
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Salt and pepper shrimp. Eat whole. Quite nice.
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Bacon wrapped scallop. Interesting.

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100 flower chicken. Pressed boneless chicken with layers of shrimp paste. I love this dish, although this particular version was a bit mild — it was hard to even taste the shrimp.
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Roast pigeon. Nice and livery.
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Meat balls with leeks. Very dense texture to the meat, chewy, almost rubbery. I liked the leeks though. A lot. Most people did not love this dish. I think they had a hard time with the black hole dense balls.

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Peking duck, buns, and condiments. A solid peking duck. One of these Cantonese style peking ducks — not incredibly crispy.
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Peking duck meat as lettuce cups. Served stir fried with water chestnuts.

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Lettuce cups.
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Lotus root, walnuts, snow peas and various other veggies. Plain, but nice crunch.
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Seafood over crispy noodle — great! I love this dish and this was a nice one.
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Mango pudding — a bit bland. I do love mango pudding, but this one didn’t have an intense mango flavor like it should.
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Toasted Almond Truffle Gelato (upper left) — My new egg yolk based nut formulation with Toasted Sicilian Noto Romano Almond makes a sublime base stacked with layers of house-made Valrhona Almond Amaretti Ganache — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Valrhona #almond #amaretti #cookie #ganache #ChocolateTruffle

Root Beer Float Gelato (lower left) — Sarsaparilla flavored gelato base with house-made vanilla cream cheese layers — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #RootBeer #RootBeerFlaot #Sarsaparilla #vanilla #creamcheese

True Tiramisu Gelato (upper right) — after long hiatus, one of my best flavors remerges for a holiday party — This is a genuine tiramisu in gelato form, with a Marsala Egg Yolk Zabaione, fresh Mascarpone Cheese, and real Espresso. Then it’s layered with Valrhona Cocoa and Lady Finger’s soaked in house-made Espresso Rum Syrup — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Tiramisu #Espresso #coffee #chocolate #marsala #Zabaione #Eggyolk #Rum #Mascarpone

Mint Meringue Strawberry Sorbetto (lower right) — An intense dairy-free base made from Avignon Strawberries and layered with house-made Spearmint Meringue — created by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #strawberry #sorbetto #mint #Meringue

Overall, this was a great meal. Execution was a bit mixed, with dishes varying from good to great. Pig was amazing. One of the best pigs we’ve had. Service was good. Room is amazing, being huge, with a table fit for like 20. Portion sizes were great too, as was pacing.

We decided to return for dimsum too and try it out.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

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Related posts:

  1. SGV Nights – Seafood Palace
  2. Szechuan Impression Tustin
  3. Noodle Harmony
  4. Không Tên – Brunch
  5. Shanghailander Arcadia
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: 888 Seafood, BYOG, Cantonese Chinese, Chinese Food, Gelato, hedonists, Peking Duck, SGV, suckling pig, Wine
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