Sea Food Online

Seafood World (Dim Sum Series) - Westminster, CA [Eating]

As promised, here's the next review in my Dim Sum Series. Given the length of this puppy, you can see why writing it was such a difficult birth.

The first two introductory paragraphs are the same in all articles in this series. Feel free to skip down to the first picture if you've already read them.)

Dim sum restaurants are a hotly contested topic amongst Orange County foodies. Every person has their favorite, and defends it with an almost rabid intensity on the message boards. Read any thread and you'll find that Seafood World, Seafood Paradise, and Dragon Phoenix Palace in Little Saigon will have invariably emerged as top contenders. It's a certainty that someone will mention China Garden in Irvine as an acceptable alternative, and bash other restaurants like Furiwa. If it's a slow day on the Net, you might even see armed encampments form, arguing vociferously as to whether or not Dragon Phoenix has fallen from grace and been surpassed by Seafood World, or if new dim sum restaurant X holds a candle to any of the perennial favorites. The answer is invariably "no".

The most passionate flamers are locals who grew up eating at a particular restaurant, delivering their judgments about all of the others as if their opinions carry the weight of the ages, and launching verbal tirades against those of different dim sum faiths. It's difficult, then, for a dim sum newcomer in Orange County to gauge the veracity of any of the statements and decide which dim sum restaurant to visit. This is why I chose to start my Dim Sum Series. As a relatively recent arrival to Orange County, I'm impartial when it comes to local dim sum restaurants. I don't have any favorites. I just want to give my readers enough information to make an informed decision when choosing a dim sum dining location. Take everything I say with a dab of chili oil. I'm just a guy who likes food. Ultimately, the best way to decide if a restaurant is worth eating at is to try it yourself.


(Really really white.)


Located in a sterile shopping center at the corner of Brookhurst and McFadden, Seafood World is a Little Saigon institution, and consistently touted as one of the top three dim sum restaurants in Orange County. Discussion boards are abuzz with comments about this restaurant, and about how the dim sum has gotten even better in recent years. In order to properly assail this purported palace of gastronomic delight, I assembled a party of doughty dim sum devotees.


* elonweis - Cantonese cuisine aficionado, dear friend, and my girl Friday, her dim sum expertise is invaluable. If I was an effete hobbit with an evil ring and a death wish, she'd be my faithful gardener.

* Alphanarf - Elonweis's younger brother, who happens to be cursed with a deathly shellfish allergies. If it's good enough for him to risk anaphylactic shock, it's got to be pretty damn good. Wants the dim sum, he does. Wants it, precious.

* Prinny - Elonweis's pet elf and significant other. His eating philosophy focuses on quantity over quality and value for money. Prinny is very handy when calculating ROI.

* Jpathomas (a.k.a. Stitch) - Our grumpy Gandalf with a heart of gold, Stitch is the biggest fan of small plates I know. His gastric bypass several years back means his ideal meal is one with tiny portions and endless variety. Dim sum is practically tailor-made for him.

* Angel - Stitch's heavenly wife has the patience of a saint. She also has the convenient habit of rolling her eyes and making rapturous noises when she eats something particularly good. I never have to ask her if she likes a dish.