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Archive for Happy Harbor

DimSumQuest – Happy Harbor

Sep21

Restaurant: Happy Harbor [1, 2]

Location: 1015 Nogales St, West Covina, CA 91792. 626-965-2020

Date: February 14, 2021

Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese

Rating: Great cantonese

_

I went here for dinner in 2021 and had a great meal — so I had high hopes for our dim sum visit.
1A4A4460
Happy Harbor is a medium sized Cantonese located right next to Mandarin plaza, a “far east” (Hacienda Heights ish) area we have eaten at again and again.
1A4A4468-Pano
The interior is classic Cantonese.

1A4A4461
The infinite corridor.
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Grungy tanks.
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Le menu.

1A4A4478
Decent set of basic sauces.
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On request, they brought us peanuts form the dinner menu.
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And smashed cucumbers which were very pleasant.
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The lot.
1A4A4487
Chicken Feet in Abalone Sauce. People said they were okay.
1A4A4496
Jumbo Shrimp Har Gow. The insides were generous and pretty good but the shells were thick and sticky and broke apart on trying to pickup the dumplings. So just middling.
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Truffle Shrimp har Gow with Squid Ink. These were better as the wrapper retained its integrity. The inside was shrimp with a hint of truffle oil. Not bad.
1A4A4498
Fish Roe Siu Mai. The classic Siu Mai were huge and porky with a bit of whole shrimp. They were solid — both literally and figuratively — but not awesome.
1A4A4492
Chiu Chow Style Steamed Dumplings. With the peanuts inside. These were pretty tasty but the wrapper was fairly heavy.
1A4A4493
Mushroom Shrimp Dumpling. Pretty nice and certainly plump.
1A4A4507
XLB. Typical for dim sum XLB — aka not particularly great.
1A4A4504
Bean Curd Balls with Vegetables. The wrapper was a bit chewy but these were enjoyable.
1A4A4520
Steamed BBQ Pork Bao. The bun was over-steamed and the inside sickly sweet and not very pleasant.
1A4A4522
Inside.
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Baked Abalone Sauce BBQ Pork Buns. Very sticky and sweet on the outside with a sickly sweet red pork interior. Better than the steamed but not great at all.
1A4A4516
Inside.
1A4A4509
Deep Fried Spring Rolls. Stuff with shrimp. Very nice flakey/crunchy outside and some solid shrimp. Pretty good.
1A4A4527
Fried Chives Shrimp Pork Patty. I always try to order these when I see them. These were good, although not the best. They did have that nice texture and the pleasant greasy quality.
1A4A4526
Tofu with Spicy Chicken Sauce. Not sure what’s chicken about this sauce. The Tofu was the classic fried Egg Tofu and was good, even if the overall presentation was sloppy and ugly. The sweet and slightly spicy sauce was probably jarred. But I did enjoy them as I always do.
1A4A4530
Spiced Fried Shisamo Fish. Little dark baitfish DEEP fried. They were very strong and the fry was out of control thick. No one went for a second fish.
1A4A4549
Stuffed Morel Mushroom. Stuff with shrimp paste and topped wiht a bit of crab. While the mushroom was a bit rubbery this was one of the better dishes and is fairly rare.
1A4A4552
Steamed Shrimp Ball with Corn. Fluffy shrimp ball, a touch underseasoned but not bad, laced with corn kernels. The corn leant it an interesting and pleasant texture.
1A4A4536
Steamed Rice Noodle with Spare Ribs in Black Bean Sauce. We ordered these ribs on top of the chow fun in order to get a “2 for 1”. The ribs were the usual steamed ribs, a bit porky, but soft and reasonably decent. Not sure having a bunch of rice noodle underneath was much of a plus.
1A4A4539
Sticky Rice Wrapper with Lotus Leaf. The rice itself was under-seasoned, almost sticky white rice, although the filling was very pleasant.
1A4A4543
Inside.
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Live shrimp steamed with garlic. The garlic flavor of the sauce was potent but nice. The shrimp themselves felt a bit overcooked and small and shell dominated by the time we got to eating them. Could have been much better. AND they were like $80/lb!
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Crispy Durian Cake. The lard based “buttery” pastry was solid and the durian custard very durian-flavored and reasonably nice.
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Overall, Happy Harbor was very “B”. None of the dishes stood out as great. Most of the normal dim sum was okay, but not only below the top A tier, but also below the better (but not top) A-/B+ places in the SGV proper. Still, Happy Harbor was better than the meh places, they have a huge menu with many good options, so it would be enjoyable if the location was convenient.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Happy at Happy Harbor
  2. DimSumQuest – Lunasia
  3. DimSumQuest – Chef Tony
  4. DimSumQuest – ixlb Dimsum Eats
  5. DimSumQuest – Blooming VIP
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Dim sum, DimSumQuest, dumplings, Happy Harbor, Lunch Quest, SGV, valentines day

Happy at Happy Harbor

Jul08

Restaurant: Happy Harbor

Location: 1015 Nogales St, West Covina, CA 91792. 626-965-2020

Date: October 30, 2021

Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese

Rating: Great cantonese

_

Yarom discovered this place during the day (for dim sum) not too long ago and as it was really great in that mode we decided to hit it for Sunday dinner.
1A4A6826
Happy Harbor is a medium sized Cantonese located right next to Mandarin plaza, a “far east” (Hacienda Heights ish) area we have eaten at again and again.
1A4A6830-Pano
The interior is classic Cantonese.
1A4A6827-Pano
With the tanks.
1A4A6832-Pano
And the over-decorated private room which was where we set up shop.
1A4A6840
On table to start, cucumbers. A bit sweet.
1A4A6841
Peanuts.
1A4A6844
1A4A6846
The show off the live “creatures.”
1A4A6849
Cold plate. Roast Pork, Roast Duck or Chicken, Jellyfish, Macau style pork belly.
1A4A6862
Tofu with preserved egg. Oddly sweet and not one of my favorite versions.
1A4A6868
Lobster with garlic and ginger. Very tender.
1A4A6876
“Spot prawns” in a crunchy very fried Typhoon style. Not immensely garlicky but the prawns themselves were very well cooked.
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Quail. Excellent version.
1A4A6891
Peking duck skin. Not enough, but good. Buns unfortunately instead of pancakes.
1A4A6897
Peking duck meat/bones. Lots of meat here, more should have been cut onto the other plate.
1A4A6901
Duck letuce cups (from same duck). Good but no hoison at the time. Radically insufficient hoison.
1A4A6905
The actual lettuce.
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Chicken “Knees.” Great flavor!
1A4A6914
Beef ribs and egg plant. Nice.
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Vermicelli pancake with beef and eggy sauce. Delicious “pizza.”
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Pork chops. Very friend. Ok.

1A4A6932
Tripe.
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XLB. A little under-seasoned.
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Free custard buns. Nice.

1A4A6942Pistachio Cardamom Gelato — Sicilian Pistachio di Bronte with Cardamom infused milk — pretty awesome new flavor! — 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 #pistachio #cardamom #sicily

Happy Harbor was quite seriously good, definitely in the top tier of Cantonese kitchens (of the many) in the SGV. A bit further than most, but excellent.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

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Related posts:

  1. Happy Table 2X
  2. Fake Chard at Grand Harbor
  3. 888 Seafood – Banquet
  4. Tong Tak – Epic Cantonese
  5. Happy Duck – Double Duck part 1
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: BYOG, Cantonese cuisine, Chinese Food, duck, Gelato, Happy Harbor, hedonists, SGV, squab, Wine
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