Great Eastern

About

After an uninspiring trip to Gold Mountain Restaurant, did a scan of Yelp, Chowhound, Zagat et al and skeptically came down to this place for Dim Sum. Having lived in Hong Kong for two years, I'm fairly particular about my dim sum and compare what I get here to excellent experiences there.

Great Eastern's dim sum is very impressive. The Cha Siu Bau (barbeque pork steamed buns) tasted freshly made with nice soft white bread around them. Rather than the gloopy, bright red pork which is often served here, and which has a too bold flavor for me, the filling was much subtler in flavor and slightly drier. The bau were a lot smaller than those in other restaurants which I often find overwhelming.

The Siu Mai (pork and shrimp dumplings) were different to ones I've had in Hong Kong, larger and slightly heavier on the meat. Again however, they tasted really freshly made and both the shrimp and the pork had an excellent flavor. 

The Xiu Long Bau (small dumplings with pork and soup inside) were some of the best I have had in San Francisco. They were small, unlike the crude offerings at some of the restaurants here, and they did not have thick wrappers. The soup had a warm, distinctive flavor - my only criticism is that there could be slightly more of it.

The glutinous rice wrapped in steamed bread was a surprise treat. As with the Cha Siu Bau, the bread was really soft and fresh, contrasting nicely with the sticky chewiness of the flavored rice inside, which is like the rice you often get in jung or leaf parcels.

We also had shrimp and snow pea dumplings. I was again struck by the freshness of these. They were small, but stuffed full of the different vegetables, demonstrating the real fresh, exciting mouthful which dumplings can give.

Although the waiter clattered down a pot of jasmine tea to begin with, he was happy to change it when we asked him what other teas the restaurant had. I was impressed that they offered black Bo leih, oolong, jasmine and sau Mei white tea. When went for the oolong, which was high quality and added to the general sense of authenticity given by this restaurant. 

Sitting downstairs, I also found the atmosphere in Great Eastern calmer than that of most Chinatown restaurants I've been too. When the check came, we were surprised at the reasonableness of the price considering how much we had eaten.

Directions

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649 Jackson St
San Francisco, CA 94133
(415) 986-2500