SF Peninsula: Koi Palace

When our family friend wanted to take us out to Koi Palace, I was just about over the moon. I'd heard a lot about Koi Palace, you see. Just the week before, my ahyi told us that she knows people who drive out to Daly City every weekend just to get their dim sum.

Our family friend warned us about the wait - how if you miss the first wave you'll end up waiting for 2 hours to get in. Since the restaurant opens at 11:00am on weekdays, we were advised to get there around 10:45. We don't know Daly City all that well, so we left a little early and arrived around 10:30:

Lucky that we did because people were already pulling into the parking lot. As more cars started to arrive, my parents had my sister and I get out of the car to wait in line. We beat everyone else to it and ended up first in line right outside the front door. The restaurant opened its doors about 15 minutes before it opened so that we could all wait inside. By the time we marched through the lobby to take our place in front of the hostess podium, the line had become ridiculous. People just kept on coming!

The restaurant was empty when we finally were ushered to our table at 11:00am, but it filled up in minutes:



Koi Palace is a little different from most dim sum places because you order off a menu by penciling in how many orders you want of what instead of waiting for carts to come around. Their philosophy is to prepare the food fresh when you order:

We ordered so much and everything was so good that I don't have much to say about the dishes individually. So just sit back, relax, and enjoy some photos.

Duck tongue marinated in soy sauce:



Poached beef tripe:

Shrimp rice rolls:

Crab roe and pork soup dumplings:

Due to the fact that our family friend did all the ordering, I didn't realize how expensive the soup dumplings were ($22 for 10!) until I told my friend later about them. The soup dumplings were good, but were they worth $2.20 each? I'm not sure. But one thing is certain, if I had known how much they cost then, I would've taken more time to appreciate them.

Pork ribs in black bean sauce:

Phoenix claw:



Fried glutinous puff:

This is one of my favorite dim sum dishes. When I first cut it open I was a little disappointed by how...empty it was:



But once I took a bite, everything was clear to me. What makes Koi Palace so good is the quality of its ingredients. There doesn't look like much in the filling, but it's actually very meaty and flavorful.

Pan fried chive dumplings:

Shu mai:

Shrimp dumplings:

Bees nest taro puff:



I'm really starting to re-evaluate taro. I've come to realize that I can appreciate taro in certain forms. This being one of them:

The taro envelops a pocket of meat filling and is fried into this delicate, wispy ball. So very good. I'm a believer now.

Fried taro cakes:

More taro! Think daikon cakes, but substitute taro for the daikon. Even though you order off the menu, there are still a few servers walking around with trays. We got this baby off of one such server.

Shrimp in crispy tofu wrap:



Again, this is to show how great the ingredients are at Koi Palace. Just look at how plump the shrimp is:

Egg tarts:

Tofu in ginger syrup:

Since our family friend treated my family to this meal, we didn't get to see the bill. Despite that, we know that it was expensive. I got to peek at the menu while they were ordering and the prices for each plate of dim sum are more expensive than what you typically expect.

Was it worth it? My parents don't think so. They conceded that the food was good, but not good enough to offset the long drive, the ridiculous wait, the mob of people standing INSIDE the restaurant waiting for a table, the bad service, and the final bill. Plus, the lobby smelled like urine.

I didn't really mind all that. I'm used to waiting for food and battling with other people to get it. I have come to expect bad service when it comes to good Asian food (it's better to keep your expectations low so that you can be pleasantly surprised when they're surpassed). And I didn't notice the smell in the lobby. But would I trek out to Koi Palace again? Maybe if someone else invited me there and was treating...

Koi Palace

365 Gellert Blvd

Daly City, CA 94015

(650) 992-9000

http://www.koipalace.com/