Hong Kong East Ocean Restaurant

(Steamed BBQ Pork Buns and Shrimp Dumplings)

Fresh dim sum with a great view of the beautiful bay and the San Francisco cityscape is a great way to spend lunch time in Emeryville, California. This was my very first time trying dim sum, and although some of the locals didn't know anything about this restaurant, I decided to give it a chance with an open mind. Hong Kong East Ocean is discreetly located near the end of Powell street which is by the bay and a yacht dock. I highly recommend taking a nice long walk by the water after enjoying lunch at the restaurant.

I've been told that a typical dim sum restaurant has waiters/waitress pushing food carts throughout the dining room and customers get to look at the food first and decide what they want to eat. For this restaurant, each table receives a copy of the menu and a pencil so that they can indicate how many of each dish they wish to order. You later add more dishes if needed as long as you let your server know that you want to order more food.

The dishes are served in steamer baskets which makes the presentation of the food much more appealing and interesting.

I ordered shrimp dumplings, steamed BBQ pork buns, crispy fried shrimp puffs and siu mai (pork and mushroom dumplings). Everything was absolutely delicious! The shrimp was very fresh, and the pork buns were soft, tender, sweet and they seemed to simply melt in mouth. Mmmm, mouthwatering. The fried shrimp puffs were little shrimp balls that were battered and deep fried. The shrimp was very moist, but a bit oily. I think some sort of sauce would have made these better. Maybe soy sauce? Perhaps, but I'm not a fan of soy sauce, so I opted not to use it.

My favorite? Sigh! I want more pork buns and shrimp dumplings! They are very good, hearty, and simply unforgettable. I can't wait to eat dim sum again. I think that eating at this restaurant is a great way to be introduced to the wonderfulness that dim sum is.

So what is my overall rating?

Price: $$$ (Inexpensive Fine Dining)
Service: *** (Adequate service)
Food Presentation: **** (Simple, but beautiful)
Taste:**** (Very delicious)
Overall: **** (Anything with shrimp is pretty good)

For more information:
3199 Powell St
Emeryville, CA 94608
(510) 655-3388