Dimsum at Golden Unicorn

Under food:

Golden Unicorn
18 East Broadway
New York, NY10002

To be honest, we did not really know of any dimsum joints in Chinatown. We did know that we wanted to try some new places below the Mott Street/East Broadway section, which always seemed "more authentic" to us. After some online searching, we found Golden Unicorn. This restaurant was on the third floor. The setup looks a lot like that of a Chinese restaurant hall, with drapes all around the perimeter, big round tables that sit eight or more, and a center dance floor which also had some tables.

We managed to skip the wait by agreeing to split our table with another group. We ordered the following:

Shrimp and chive dumplings. This was pretty good, juicy and scrumptious. Too bad it did not make another appearance in the carts later on.

Chinese broccoli. My personal fave. Lightly cooked, it was sweet and crunchy.

Veggie dumplings. I think they had mushrooms in them. Also juicy, was gone in a flash.

Chicken feet in chili sauce and peanuts. This was pretty good for snacking and the flesh was tender.

Shrimp in noodles with sweet soy sauce, UFC's personal fave. The noodles are almost gelatinous and just slides down your throat.

Congee (they forgot to put the scallions). Very mild in flavor, great for this spring day.

This is the dimsum cart with the congee.

Clams in black bean sauce. This was excellent; the clams were briny and sweet, with just enough of the black bean sauce to bring out the flavor.

Scallops wrapped in bacon, served with mayonnaise and Pringles potato chips.

Pan-fried pork dumplings. DJKung said that this was ok.

Not pictured was the soft tofu, which we had for dessert. It was warm, silky and satisfying.

Golden Unicorn was a fun excursion. It was great trying the many dishes they have. The carts are helpfully labelled with pictures and names of the dishes they carry, and you can always ask the wait staff about them too. It was too bad that they did not carry some of the dishes that they advertised on the carts; we weren't sure if the kitchen ran out of certain items or if it just stopped carrying them altogether. Other crowd pleasers that we like (crystal shrimp dumplings, fried squid) were not served either.

And one word on the carts--- some of them meander about in no particular fashion, so if you are seated in one corner of the room, some carts may not get to you at all. It is a good strategy to have the most assertive person in your group seated closest to the traffic

Silver Pond's Goin' for the Gold

Under food:

Silver Pond Seafood Restaurant

230-234 Main Street

Fort Lee, NJ

(201) 592-8338

We've enjoyed Silver Pond's dimsum for quite some time now. However for general Chinese food, we always ventured across the river to Chinatown. Recently, holiday traffic was enough to keep us put on the Jersey side despite a serious craving for Chinese food. We decided to give Silver Pond a try. Unlike their lunchtime bustle, Silver Pond was eerily quiet when we arrived at 8pm. An almost-empty restaurant is usually sufficient to deter us, but we persevered. It was worth it.

DJKung had no qualms about ordering a lot of food for just the two of us. The menu had a lot of higher-priced entrees (their seafood is fresh-fresh,is why), so we steered towards the more reasonable selections. One of their specials was shrimp in beancurd. We got that, plus our Chinatown standbys of salty fried squid, Peking pork chops, and Young Chow fried rice.

Steamed beancurd with shrimp, ringed with baby bok choy. The tofu was silky and melt-in-your mouth yummy. The shrimp studded on each tofu square was prepared the same way as the shrimp dumplings, with the sweet soy sauce. Overall a bangin' dish.

Salty fried squid. The squid had that distinctive, air-dried chewiness underneath its crispy exterior.

Peking pork chops. DJKung noted that the sauce was excellent---not too sweet nor too astringent (which happens if it has a lot of vinegar). Later on in the evening, Chibby chowed down on this with gusto.

Young Chow fried rice.

In typical Chinatown fashion, they provide you with orange wedges, fortune cookies and a wet towel afterwards.

Yes, the food was definitely Chinatown-style, but of course Silver Pond will not be supplanting our Chinatown spots any time soon.

As for their dimsum, we recommend going there around 11:30 or 12:00 for best selection. Silver Pond takes Amex and cash only.