Lannae's Food and Travel

I hope you like my food and travel blog.

August 9, 2010

Luckily

shrimp and chive dumpling

It had been a rocky start for lucky bamboo, the first few months were tough because the food was not up to par for months, but I believe things have made a turn for the better for the dim sum. Dim sum is served on Saturday and Sunday only, and the Lucky Bamboo folks have some carts, tray and you can special order as well. I am guessing that Dim Sum is only a morning and brunch thing on Saturday and Sunday, and dim sum is usually not served during the dinner hours in most anywhere.

The last time couple of times we were there for dim sum, we got chive and shrimp dumplings, chestnut and sweet potato dumplings, red roasted duck, green beans in fermented black bean and chili sauce, lo bak go taro cakes, har gau shrimp dumplings, soup dumplings, char siu bao red pork buns, and winter melon with shrimp and scallop to name a few, and I am missing a few. The owner claimed that all the dim sum besides the char siu bao red pork buns were made in house. It is unlikely they are making the duck, rather I am guessing they are importing from somewhere else, and they have figured out how to re-heat the duck to serve it. The last time we were there, everything tasted good, except for the industrial made frozen char siu bao red pork buns. Don't get those red pork buns at Lucky Bamboo because the frozen ones they are buying are not good. You and I could get better frozen pork buns from Wang's Market on 3rd Ave N in Germantown, and steam them myself..

Chinese winter squash topped with shrimp ball and scallop

I was told that the husband and wife owners are Asian, but neither of them are from the Hong Kong or South China which is the origin of dim sum. He is from Shanghai and she is from Korea. Shanghainese and Korean food are completely different than Hong Kong dim sum. It is akin to me trying to make Mexican food. Mexico and the USA are neighbors, and both are a part of the Americas, so I must know how to make Mexican food... NOT. It is like saying Korea and China are neighbors and on the same land mass, so Koreans should know how to make Chinese food or Chinese should know how to make Korean food... NOT. It was apparent that the dim sum they originally offered a month after they opened were all frozen pre-made food that they microwaved to heat up (not good at all) because they had no idea how to prepare and serve dim sum. Now, I believe they have gotten some help by someone in the know about Hong Kong dim sum, they have some form of steamers now. The roasted duck now is nice and roasty red with crispy skin and a nice glistening fat layer on top of smooth duck meat. Most of the dumplings are made with rice flour noodle covering which I like because of the sticky and stretchy dough quality. There are dishes that are not traditional dim sum dishes, but are house made and are delicious. The winter melon with shrimp and scallop was served on a small plate, tapas or dim sum quantity, and was tasty. I love the savory winter melon which melts away in my mouth. The shrimp meatball is always good, and the slice of sea scallop is a treat.

For the only dim sum place in Nashville, Lucky Bamboo has come a long way in a short amount of time. I appreciate that Lucky Bamboo is trying hard to keep improving the dim sum. I believe they have hit a stride that is appropriate for Nashville, and accessible to most.

Lucky Bamboo on Urbanspoon

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7 Comments:

At 8/9/10, 3:48 PM, Anonymous ModFruGal said...

Still haven't gone...but am less afraid now!

 
At 8/9/10, 4:24 PM, Blogger Pete said...

Thanks for the update...I feel it's finally time to pay them a visit.

Which reminds me, I'll be in Toronto in a month...hopefully a visit to Lucky Bamboo will get me ready for the trip.

 
At 8/9/10, 5:42 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Mod, there are some dishes that are not traditional dim sum, but are tasty. The only issue is delivering the food hot to the table. If the cart or tray is circling for a while, the food may be cooled down. Take food that just came out of the kitchen.

Pete, let me know what you think about Lucky Bamboo. It is what Nashville has for dim sum. See my comment to Mod, strike early as the food comes out of the kitchen, so you can get hot dishes. Also, I think you should start a blog about the food you eat in Toronto! I would love to read about your trip!

 
At 8/10/10, 8:39 AM, Blogger Francisco Tovar said...

If you need some Mexican food recipes, I will be glad to share some with you. Very Special ones.

 
At 8/11/10, 1:31 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

What's odd about this char siu bao situation is just how easy they are to make - especially at a Chinese restaurant. I have found at least 3 extremely detailed methods for the whole process, and in a Chinese kitchen, only the dough would not be something always at hand. Char Siu? Roast Pork. I've always secretly wondered why the Alpha bakery never got on that bandwagon either....

mIKES

 
At 8/14/10, 10:05 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

miKES, my guess is that no one in the kitchen has ever made the dim sum steamed white bread. As for Alpha Bakery, the couple spent many years in Japan learning their craft, so their delicious food is more of what was "in" in Japan at the time.

 
At 1/2/11, 3:59 PM, Anonymous ModFruGal said...

So we finally went...and I'm SO SAD. It was a disaster. We waited until 1:15 to go in hopes of it being less crowded and it was, we got a table fine, but the cart NEVER CAME! The steam cart came twice and we finally ordered apps off the menu to hold the kids over thinking the main cart would come..and when it got to our area of the table it was empty so never came to our table. At that point we'd been there ages and just left a little hungry. Service was terrible...staff was super nice, but very disorganized, and we couldn't even get water for over 15 minutes. I SO wanted to have dim sum Sundays and it's not going to happen in Nashville unless I make it myself or someone else gets a place going...boo.

 

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