It’s the evening and where could be a good place to get fairly traditional Cantonese style Chinese food? Dim Sum Palace! We originally visited the Midtown location pre-pandemic, and it was pretty decent. Recently, they opened another location in Long Island City in a dense new-aged Chinese area. We’ve been missing Cantonese-style restaurants, especially dim sum, in this very close quartered area of over abundant boba places and spicy cuisines. We were able to walk in without reservations around 5:00 PM on a Saturday without issues. This restaurant is located in the former Brooks 1890 bar next to the Long Island City court house on Jackson Ave.
We had some tickets to attend one of those Fever “Candlelight” concert events that was located at a church right next to the “Court St” R-stop in Brooklyn. There was not too many options in terms of food within close vicinity. I looked at the prices for this soup dumpling place, and to my surprise, Din Soup Dumplings seemed not bad. My partner was also in a dumpling mood, so it was convenient to go check this place out. This place is located right across the street from the church on the second level above another Chinese restaurant. We were able to walk in without reservations for 2 at around 5:30 PM on a Friday.
Knock Knock is a nearby neighborhood cafe that has a mix of Cantonese-style dishes. The decor and the style of the food reminds me a bit of the San Gabriel Valley in Southern California, where there are a lot of small cafe shops opening serving quick eats. My cousin had visited this a few weeks ago for breakfast, and they said they were pleasantly surprised at the coffee. That was a catalyst for us to check this place out to see how its actual food was. We were able to walk in with a group of 3 on a Sunday evening around 6:30 PM without reservations.
Summary
A friend was in town, and I saw that Tim Ho was near their hotel. This place was always on my list to try given that it had received Michelin recognition at its Hong Kong location. Given I’ve eaten at numerous dim sum places already, they tout themselves as the dim sum specialists, so I already have high expectations.
I don’t remember the drink on the left, but the right was some type of mango cococnut slush. It was pretty good as it wasn’t too sweet.