Restaurant experiment: Oriental Garden

Oriental Garden

14 Elizabeth Street between Canal and Bayard Streets

New York, NY 10013

212-619-0085

http://www.orientalgardenny.com

I always get dim sum when the parentals are in town.  Last year we went to Ping’s, so this year I thought we’d try something new.  Oriental Garden was the winner.

The key to dim sum is going early.  As we walked down Elizabeth Street around 11:30, we passed Jing Fong first, and my mom spotted the mobs of people waiting out front, and she was concerned that we would have to wait hours.  To her relief, I steered her to the smaller Oriental Garden nearby.  Oriental Garden is just one main room, unlike the Bloomingdale’s that is Jing Fong.  No one’s ever recommended Jing Fong to me, just in case you were wondering.

The suited host seated us at a circular table across from a group of three women: two younger women flanking an older woman.  I didn’t realize we had to share soy sauce (and a menu), and I kept putting the soy sauce closer to our side.  I hate sharing tables.  Observing those women, the older lady never said a word, and the two younger gals talked across her.  Weird.

We ordered steamed veggies with oyster sauce off the menu.  The picture below even captures the steam, wow!  Slippery but cooked well.  The shumai and tripe were excellent.  They’re my personal favorites.  I was charmed by the bonus shrimp on top of the shumai.

I was stoked when steamed pork buns and shrimp noodle made an appearance.  Lots of other diners shared in my enthusiasm for the shrimp noodle.  The females across the table might have ordered some, and then the guy holding the tray with them quickly found himself holding an empty tray.  So I wish a greater diversity of dishes would come out more often.  But at least you could order whatever wasn’t making appearances.  In case you were wondering, the jasmine tea was fantastic.

When I picked up a business card at the front desk, the card’s appearance immediately seemed familiar.  Now I believe this is where Leslie and I ate before I became a New York City resident.  It’s just too freakishly familiar, and I know my business cards.  I believe it was tasty then, so that means that Oriental Garden’s still got it!  My mom says Ping’s isn’t as good as Oriental Garden.  I thought they were both stomach pleasers.