Enter The Dragon - Striving for the Pinnacle of Dim Sum Goodness! Dragon Beaux [Thoughts + Pics]

Koi Palace Dublin is definitely a great backup option. Just a note that it can be packed on weekends.

Went yesterday for the first time with some friends… I’m not very experienced dim sum eater (mostly just been to Yank Sing SF which Ive thought is trash past few times I’ve gone , but this was vastly superior to anything I’ve ever had… ive even sworn off that I didn’t like dim sum hahah.

Thank you for all the reports in this thread, made ordering easy… fried rice, pork belly, scallop shiu mai, XLBs…we ordered the roast chicken special that someone had earlier in this thread, it was fine but definitely a miss as they reported. Everything else great including the tea. Going to try to go again Tomorrow with my family.

And for the record, our har gow came out perfectly with awesome plump shrimp.

)

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Hi @skramzlife,

Nice! :slight_smile: So glad you enjoyed your first time Dragon Beaux!

Which of the 21 Teas did you try? :slight_smile:

I love their Roasted Pork Belly and the Gold & Silver Fried Rice, Egg White Fried Rice w/ Dried Scallop and if you ever see it come back on the menu, the Boss Abalone Fried Rice. :slight_smile:

Try one of their Rice Crepe Rolls and Baked BBQ Pork Buns, and for dessert Rainbow Taro Buns next time. :slight_smile:

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We got the golden eyebrow tea it was great! We also got the bbq pork, which was a big hit at our table. The fried rice was really great amazing wok hei.

Hopefully I get to go back tomorrow before i head home to La.

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How was the okra? Doesn’t look like the same prep as previous photos.

Finally tried Dragon Beaux during my work trip to SF last week. I’d been there a few years back for a hot pot dinner, which I thought was ok. This time, I mostly got dim sum staples and a few fusion items. My ratings below:

Very good, would get again:
Baked BBQ Pork Bun; Five Guys xlb steamed dumplings; Scallop Siu Mai

Good:
Roast pork with soy beans; Gailan steamed Chinese broccoli w/oyster sauce on side; Chicken knee (fried cartilage); Puer tea.

Fair: Chicken Paw; Glutin Pillow (hom sui gok).

Meh: Har Gow Shrimp dumpling (oversteamed so the wrapper was flabby); Steamed pork bun bao (dough too cakey).

Since I was dining solo and temporarily cutting back on carbs, I couldn’t order the fried rice @ipsedixit @Chowseeker1999 raved about in this thread so I mainly stuck to ordering staples and some modern dimsum @Chowseeker1999 recommended and all those were a hit.

I’m so glad I got those baked bbq buns. Those were stellar — the pork filling had just the right amount of Mei Kuei Lu Chiew (rose wine) and with the Dutch crunch like topping, it made for a perfect savory sweet final course.

I’ll probably go back at some point and take one of my SF relatives, but will probably skip the OG items. I’m a fan of the modern ambience, but still can’t completely erase my memory of their predecessor, 24 hour “Video Cafe” and the service was excellent— mostly young servers who were polite and efficient with none of the FU attitudes I occasionally come across in SoCal.

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Hi @foodshutterbug,

Thanks for reporting back! Glad you liked the Baked BBQ Pork Buns and the Scallop Siu Mai and Five Guys XLB. :slight_smile: The Roast Pork Belly is normally great (nice crispy-crunchy skin). Was this for lunch or dinner? (just curious.)

Bummer about the Har Gow - Yah twice we’ve had it way oversteamed and flabby and another couple times were actually steamed correctly with a nice outer skin. They’re too inconsistent with that particular dish it seems.

If you feel like something lightly sweet to finish off a meal, give their Rainbow Taro Steamed Buns a try (if you like Taro). Delicious! :slight_smile:

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Hi @Chowseeker1999 I was there for lunch trying to seek shelter from the rain. They’ve had quite a wet season.

Next time I’ll be sure to try the pork belly and the other modern stuff you recommended, thanks! :slightly_smiling_face:

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Thanks to @Chowseeker1999 and this tread, we went to Dragon Beaux two weeks ago when we visited to SF. It was only two of us, and there was a line of folks waiting, but they called 23, which I thought was our number, fairly shortly after arriving. I followed the host in, and told my husband, but husband said we were 26, so I told the host and he shrugged and said to follow him, regardless. So short wait.

We ordered a bottle of sake.

Overall, the service was very good.
We ordered wayyy too much food, but wanted to try so much.

Husband wanted these yam buns. They were good, but I prefer the non sweet items.

Killer pork belly. What do the do to the skin to get it like that??

My fave, fried taro. Delicious!!!

I find that this item, the fried doughnut stuffed with shrimp paste, is very hard to find, but oh so good!!!

Never had this one before, but it was a little sweet, but so perfectly fried, we couldn’t stop eating!

I didn’t try these, had way too much food!

I got what the waiter called non traditional chicken feet. People on yelp really seemed to like, and waiter said broth was good. They were fine, but I wouldn’t get again.

More deliciousness!

Got this for my husband, who loves duck. It was called a duck burrito. He liked, but I didn’t try. He said mild in flavor.

Husband felt it was best dim sum he had ever had. I asked about Chef Tony, in Vancouver, which was his fave up until this point, and he wavered. I thought it was excellent. Loved being able to have sake with meal. I wish Longo Seafood, my LA fave, would serve at least wine. And service here is best I’ve ever had at dim sum.

I look forwarded to returning!

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Those chicken feet were pretty nasty looking.

Curious why you wanted sake with dim sum. Interesting pairing.

We thought DB was outstanding and will hit it every time we’re back in the city. Mmm.

Just preference. I am happy with wine, also. :grinning:

Hi @Xochitl,

So glad you made it out to Dragon Beaux and enjoyed the meal. :slight_smile: Next time give their Baked BBQ Pork Buns a try (over the Steamed version). That’s the one that they are inspired by the famous one made in Hong Kong by Tim Ho Wan years ago, and we thought was better than the U.S. branch we tried. :slight_smile:

Yah we love that Roasted Pork Belly - that crispy skin! :slight_smile: When you’re back in L.A., give Ruby BBQ a try (or Monterey Palace). Both of them have the same level of amazing crisp-crunchy skin and fresh Pork. :slight_smile:

I love Fried Taro as well! Thanks for the reminder. :wink: And if you love Taro, give their Rainbow Taro Paste Bao a try. They were SO good! :heart:

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You poke holes on the skin and let it sit skin side down in vinegar for a while before rubbing it down with salt and Chinese 5 spice. Let the skin air dry and tightly wrap only the meat portion with aluminum foil leaving the skin exposed. Then roast it in the oven. Something like that…

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I’m going to try! We use the Nordic Cookbook recipe which has you score the skin, salt it, and refrigerate it for 24 hours, but it is not as crispy! I’ll post results!

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our method very similar to what @moonboy403 described. scoring, we find, doesn’t produce those tiny tiny bubbly holes that render the skin thin crispy–instead of hard and crunchy–if that makes sense. but let us know how it goes!

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Ahhh… I sometimes see holes in photos of the roasted pork belly and was wondering why. I thought maybe the meat was on some kind of skewer or hook before or during the drying process or when roasting. Mystery of the holes solved.

I love this thread. I’m learning so much.

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Medieval torture apparatus

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Here’s the result I got from ipse’s recipe:

And here’s ipse’s instructions:

It’s not as pretty but it was very, very good.

The holes allow excess fat between the skin and meat to melt and seep through. Essentially, the skin gets fried in it’s own fat from the inside out and creates lots of air pockets which means extra crunch.

I will def try both next time. We are going back with parental units in November and already told everyone we are going to Dragon Beaux.:grinning:

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