JFS_PA's Profile
Sun Penang for Dim Sum? Pittsburgh
P.S. they do serve sauce with dishes that are authentically served with sauce. That included the shrimp dumplings and the turnip cake, but not some of the other moister, more highly seasoned dumplings. Should they offer more? Let me put it this way. In Japan, a lot of Japanese have gone mad for mayonnaise. They serve it with all sorts of things, both Japanese-style foods and what they consider American foods. I noticed a couple of Japanese students were quite put out when they went to an authentically american, and the omlette came without a big stripe of mayo down the middle. Hey--where was the Mayo? I'm not saying it's bad to put mayo on an omlette, or have your own favorite dip for Dim Sum. But I'm not going to call out a restaurant for not providing them, when they seem to be intensely authentic in so many ways. (They bother to put candlenut chips on the appropriate Maylay / Indonesian dishes...and they reliably fry them golden but not browned. That's service.)
Sun Penang for Dim Sum? Pittsburgh
I've been there six times over the last year. They started out good, had a brief dip to decent, and have recently been incredible. They have Chinese Dim Sum chefs who are different from their standard Malay / Indonesian food chefs, so they do both sorts of food truly authentically (taste, texture, spices, all are the real deal). I wasn't thrilled by the absence of carts. However, they do now have carts for a short period on Sunday around mid-day. I went back today (after cart hours, when some places would have been glad to stick me with re-heated stuff) and it was...exemplary. Strikingly good. Better (fresher, plumper, more savory. more perfectly balanced--pick every term that could apply) than my favorite place in Seattle, better than our standard tourist place in Vancouver, better than anything I found in the D.C. area. And the bill was under $15 for two of us, as it should be with Dim Sum. (But I tipped $5--it was that good.) Have you ever had a shrimp dumpling that was amazing? I always eat one because someone ordered them, but this time, the shrimp were strikingly juicy but not soggy, and the dumpling had that perfect texture. Their turnip cake is velvety, savory, full of little pork, shrimp and other "treasures" (as it should be) and they have just the right level of golden crunch on the outside.
I'm sad they don't seem to have bible tripe. (There's a place on Murray that does decent Dim Sum, and has a "mixed tripe" dish, but they serve larger portions--too big for 1 or 2 person Diim Sum eating--and I'm not wild about the atmosphere or the price.)
I'm sad Sun Penang doesn't have the clientele to do carts for more of the week. But the wait was short, the chicken feet were unctuous, garlic-y goodness with a light hint of black bean, the turnip cake was pan-national comfort food, the shrimp rolls were nummy, and the final dish was also perfect. I didn't catch the name, bit it was deep fried dumpling with a little bit of intensely savory pork inside. I remember something like in in Singapore--not the hyper-seasoned and cured red pork, but little fatty crumbles of real pork. The dumpling part is a bit like the outside of those sweet bean sesame seed dumplings that glue your teeth shut--there's sweetness in the dough. It was a perfect "main course" dim sum plate, and it also quieted any sweet tooth we might have had.
In the past, I've had the stuffed eggplant, the shrimp / green peppers, and the tofu skin. They're all fine. I live less than a mile away, and I also go here for the non-Dim Sum menu (especially Rendang and Nasi. But that's another post. (The pork intestine is deep fried, unadorned, pretty good, and has enough calories to feed two.)
