I had only been to Ocean Jewel twice before in my life. On the day after Christmas, I convinced my parents and younger sister to brave the crowds to get dim sum at Ocean Jewel. Their name and management has changed quite a few times and currently they are called Jade Asian, which I still think is a great Cantonese/Dim Sum restaurant. It was right by the huge municipal parking place on 39th Avenue. When I was a kid, my favorite dim sum place was called “KB Garden”. Not to say there isn’t “good” dim sum in Chinatown, it just can’t compare to all the creative dishes I’ve seen and had in Flushing. I thought with Chinatown’s huge Cantonese population, I’d find superior dim sum, but I was soon disappointed. I was surprised to find that the dim sum in Chinatown pales to Flushing. Once I moved out to Manhattan, Flushing became quite a trek, so I resorted to Chinatown. I have distinct memories of spending my Saturday mornings at dim sum in Flushing or Boston. Okay, I’ve been to many dim sum places in Flushing. If I knew Cantonese, wouldn’t I be asking in Cantonese? Most of the time I have trouble understanding them because they always answer me back in Cantonese when I asked in Mandarin. I like having the opportunity to ask the cart pushers what is in their dishes. This eliminates many Chinese/Taiwanese dishes for me. I only eat certain seafoods (no sea cucumber, abalone, clams, shark fin, bird’s nest, geoduck, etc.) and I despise mushrooms. For a Taiwanese-American, I’m quite a picky eater. Also, I love that I can see the dishes before I order. I think that the main reason I am a big fan of dim sum is that most dishes max out at 4 portions and this allows you to order many little dishes. In Cantonese, most people say “yum cha”, which means “drink tea”. Anyhow, for those who don’t know what dim sum is, it literally translates into “snack” in Chinese. I’m sure it’s awesome in Hong Kong as well. I’ve heard great things about the dim sum in Toronto and Vancouver, but I have yet to experience it. Dim sum is the only thing I haven’t had in Taiwan that is better than New York. I seem to enjoy dim sum only when there are many carts filled with all sort of little dishes.
The NYC sanitation grade was B.I admit it. One peculiarity - the dark brown sauce in the bowls was Worcestershire sauce - I asked for soy sauce several times and never got it. The only problem was that the servers never described what we were eating beyond 'vegetable' 'shrimp' or 'pork'. The shrimp-pork-clam people were equally happy. We had a number of vegetarians in our gang, and the veggie options were great. The servers all carry scissors and cut the dim sum pieces in two so everyone at the table could have a taste. Because there are so many things to choose from it is best to go with a gang of people - the tables mostly designed for seven or eight people. The place was very crowded, but because the tables are far apart it was not overly noisy. it is a cart dim sum place - the servers wheel carts each of which has a few types of dim sum. You can also drive there - it has a parking lot - but because of construction the traffic even on a Sunday was insane. The Asia Jewels Seafood Restaurant (new name?) is in Flushing's Chinatown, within walking distance of the 7 line.
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