Capital Seafood Restaurant 金都 (jin1 du1) - Irvine, CA : Dim Sum

There's usually a lot to eat at dim sum if you're a meat eater, but for a vegetarian there's the usual fried desserts and steamed vegetables...or you can order off the menu. Here are a few things you can eat at Capital Seafood that are in the carts that they push around.

Bean Curd Roll

The skin is made out of beancurd sheet 腐皮 (fu3 pi2) or tofu skin. These sheets are obtained when you boil soy milk. There is a thin film that develops on the top...kind of like when you boil milk and let it cool. These films are removed and dried and turn into yellow sheets. They also can be sold fresh but I usually see them dry (and you have to soak it in water to make it soft again) or frozen here in the USA. Anyway it's a great alternative to wonton wrappers as the soy provides more nutrition than flour and water.

Vegetarian Dumplings

The steamed bean curd rolls and steamed vegetarian dumplings were very filling. I did share the bean curd rolls, but ate all the veggie dumplings myself. I thought the bean curd rolls were a bit salty...and the dumplings were just right.

Inside of vegetable dumpling and bean curd roll

Inside both items were mostly black wood ear 木耳 (mu4 er3) or cloud ear fungus in Wikipedia. It is a type of fungus known for its slightly crunchy texture no matter how long you cook it and is pretty much tasteless. This is often used in Asian cuisine. I like the slightly crunchy texture of wood ear.

Sweet Dessert Bun

I forgot what the inside of the sweet dessert bun was made of, but it's a sweet paste. Not red bean or taro...might have been lotus seed paste. I could only eat one...I was kind of getting full. They were just like any other dessert bun.

Baked Egg Tart

I saved room for an egg tart. Haven't had one of these in a while. This is also a dessert dish and it's basically egg custard in a tart. I took the remaining two buns and egg tarts home. Just these few dishes were quite filling. So if you wanna try decent dim sum in the Irvine area try this place out. They're also opening one up at the Irvine Spectrum in Summer 2011.

Capital Seafood Restaurant
http://www.capital-seafood.com/index2.php
Location this was eaten at:
Diamond Jamboree
2700 Alton Parkway #127
Irvine, CA 92606
(949)252-8188
Hours:
M-F 10:30AM - 10:00PM
Sat-Sun 9:00AM - 10:00PM