Sunday, June 24, is San Juan. People go swimming in droves when this day comes around, and this time, they did not disappoint. This also happens to be my mother's birthday, so we decided to go out for lunch. She liked dimsum, so after a short debate between Lab-as and the Dimsum Diner, we set out to see which one was open on a Sunday. Turns out  Lab-as was closed (staff outing) so off to Dimsum Diner we went.

I cannot deny that I also have a soft spot for Dimsum Diner. I don't know if a lot of people like  the food there, but I do. The food there is perfect if you want to stay away from fried food and want some healthy seafood for a change. I love the garlic steamed fish,for example. The squid curry is also  a really tasty treat, especially when eaten alone. The dimsum platter is always a must, since the platter has all the siomai you would want to eat for the day.

What I like about the steamed fish is that it is soft and there is none of the fishy smell that you often associate with fish dishes. The squid curry was swimming in a flavorful yellow sauce, and I had a great time picking at the slices of amazingly-soft squid meat and eating each with a spoonful of sauce.The chicken was also wonderful--soft  and piping hot on the inside, crunchy sweet on the outside. 

It goes without saying that we ordered all the food we usually order when we eat there:  garlic steamed fish,  spicy honey chicken, squid curry, the dimsum platter, the chop suey, and fried rice.We had the unfortunate experience of seeing the waiter trip over, spilling three glasses of iced tea all over my brother, but after  a good wiping, we were ready to eat. There's the small issue of the music that I noticed--Sitti was playing through the speakers, and I thought that they should have at least played something more Chinese (although that is just me, and I really have no idea what music 'that is more Chinese' sounds like, so perhaps I should probably let my observations on the music go).

The service is fast, by the way, considering the amount of food we ordered since we ordered two of most of the dishes. They had everything ready in less than 30 minutes, which is fast compared to some restaurants in the city. I would definitely go back to this place when I get my dimsum cravings again.

For a relevant post on Siomai in the Philippines, view my Suite101 post here.  :)