FoodMayhem

I’ve passed by Dim Sum Go Go 5 East Broadway, New York, NY 10038 countless times, assuming it was just another cookie cutter Chinese restaurant of Chinatown. I also don’t eat much in Chinatown these days, preferring the far away land of Flushing where everything is just a few notches better. I probably would never have visited Dim So Go Go had MH not told me there was something different going on here, a collaboration between a French American food writer, Colette Rossant, and Hong Kong Chef, Guy Lieu.

When I arrived, I was surprised that there is no mention of the chef.  No host or waiter will tell you about their star dishes. You would have to deduct from the little clues yourself, starting with the roasted soynuts instead of peanuts. You’ll notice that there was once a thought of decor here, though it’s starting to look a little shabby. There’s table clothe and even a motion sensored sink in an otherwise typical Chinatown bathroom. Yuck. The dim sum menu, presented as a list on a sheet of paper, is where you note how many plates of each dish you want. No carts for you to see the goods and no explanations or pictures. You’ll see many classics and some unfamiliar names, which made me wonder, would the traditional ones be done differently?

We chose a mix and started on an adventure of hit and miss. Duck dumplings, hit, though it did not taste like duck, the ground meat with vegetable filling is nicely spiced, a more pronounced flavor than typical dim sum. Shrimp and Chive dumplings, miss, the filling was not flavorful and the dough was too sticky. Snow Pea Leaf dumpling, hit, a classic done well, simply put, the vegetables were not over-cooked. Roast Pork Pie, miss, the ratio of dough to filling was too high, worsened by how overly greasy the layers were.

Pan-fried Turnip Cake, was a split. I thought it was gummy, but Lon appreciated the crispness of the outside.

After that round, Janny joined us, and we ordered our next round. Crab dumplings, hit, there’s a nice big chunk of crab meat in there and the dough finally had some spring. Shrimp in Rice Noodles, miss, the dough was soft mush. I feel bad here because it says on their menu that the rice noodle wrapped dishes are only served 11-4pm. I asked for it so he gave me one, probably a left-over of the day, so it’s my fault I guess. The shrimp and mango wrapped in a thin wonton skin, panko coated, and fried was another split. I enjoyed it but both Lon and Janny burned their tongues on it. I like things at a temperature that burns everyone else. The main issue was that the filling was not well distributed though. Janny didn’t taste any shrimp in hers while I had shrimp on one side and only mango on the other. The sticky rice in lotus leaves was pretty generic.

At the third round, pork spare ribs didn’t do so well, being a little tough. The Chinese Parsley (cilantro) dumplings were wrapped in another mushy dough, this time also pasty. The filling tasted like cilantro which ends up being not quite enough as a filling. The mango pudding was overly sweet but it did have fresh mango in it.

I was feeling a little let down, but then Janny reminded me that we were in Manhattan. Then Lon reminded me that we were having dim sum at night. So I guess, compared to Flushing, Dim Sum Go Go would be a complete fail. But all things considered, if you’re craving dim sum at night and you’re not leaving the city, it’ll do (but cost you, $120+ for this meal.)