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Oriental East

The dim sum experience

REVIEW AND PHOTOS BY PATRICIA B. GROSSMAN

Everything's excellent at the Oriental East: fast and efficient service, beautifully presented Chinese cuisine and trendy décor. With all the construction taking place in Silver Spring's Blair Plaza, Oriental East was forced to move from its location of 13 years to a new location–right across the street. Business has not let up in the six months since it reopened.

Kai Lee and his wife have been managing the Oriental East since it opened in 1990. Whenever you go, day or night, they are sure to be there. I asked Mr. Lee what regional cuisines the Oriental East specialized in–Mandarin? Cantonese? Hunan?

"Twenty years ago, Chinese restaurants specialized, but not today–our dishes come from all over China," he said.

For the less adventurous, the Oriental East offers basic fare such as chow mein, egg foo yung, seafood, or meats with vegetables. You may also enjoy a wide variety of combination platters and family, all moderately priced, consistently tasty, and beautifully presented at your table.

The truly adventurous can order house recommendations such as jellyfish and cold pig's feet, or crispy intestine stuffed with shrimp paste. My dining companion and I passed on both of these the day we went.

Among even the top Chinese restaurants in the area, none can hold a candle to Oriental East's luncheon treat: dim sum, Chinese appetizers. On weekends, when the restaurant opens at 11:00 a.m., there is always a 30- to 45-minute wait. But believe me, it is well worth it. Dim sum is served during the week as well, but for the most fun, go either Saturday or Sunday–and the earlier the better, because the more popular and delicious dim sum go fast.

Dim sum offers as much variety and substance as tapas, their Spanish counterpart. One dish usually serves two people. During the week dim sum dishes are prepared to order and you must ask for the dim sum menu.

On the weekends, the story is completely different. Three-tiered metal carts are pushed around the restaurant by friendly waitresses who stop at every table offering you a new selection of dim sum. (Tip: to get the freshest food, choose from a cart with all of the same dish. The carts come out of the kitchen with one dim sum offering, so a cart with many selections has been in circulation for awhile.)

Waitresses use an efficient system to price your dim sum meal. After you are seated, a waitress places a small white piece of grid paper on your table. Every time you get a dish from a cart, that waitress checks off a box corresponding to a price. Most dim sum is between $2.50 and $3.25–reasonable indeed. At the end of the meal, the last waitress to give you a dish tallies up the number of checks to give you your bill. For a feast such as this, the price can't be beat.

There are dozens of fried, steamed, or baked dim sum from which to choose, each with its own unique flavor, texture, and complexity. I can order from a menu without looking at the dish itself, since I have been a fan of dim sum for quite some time, but my advice to a beginner is to check out each cart and experiment by choosing the dish that appeals to you.

By far, the most popular dim sum is the baked roast pork bun. Two buns are offered for $2.25. A lightly sugar-glazed, golden-brown bun, the size of a large hamburger roll, holds inside a roast pork barbecue to die for. Every dining companion that I've ever brought to the Oriental East–and I've brought many over the years–has loved this dish. For those who prefer, there is a steamed chicken bun as well–tasty, but not as good. There is also a steamed roast pork bun and steamed Chinese sausage bun.

Another interesting dim sum is the roast duck with sweet rice in lotus leaves. Hiding in the mound of rice and duck are pieces of savory Chinese sausage. The stuffed leaf comes in a little metal or bamboo steamer, and once it arrives at the table, you open the leaf to reveal its contents. Simply delicious.

I like especially the steamed shrimp dumplings and the spareribs in black bean sauce. There are also spring rolls, shrimp or beef or barbecued pork rice noodle crepes, fried meat dumplings, crispy shrimp balls, and taro dumplings, to name a few others. And there's chicken feet (phoenix feet, they call it) and beef tripe, for the more adventurous. Sometimes the Oriental East offers stuffed duck feet as one of their dim sum and I do eat that, much to the dismay of some of my friends.

Another fun part of the dim sum experience is ordering chrysanthemum tea. A teapot full of steeping chrysanthemum flowers is brought to your table, with a small dish of crystalized sugar for sweetening. The tea is delicious alone or with one or two sugar crystals stirred in.

For dessert, sweet pastry dim sum is served, and sweet almond jelly is a favorite amongst dim sum partakers. I'm usually can't manage dessert, unless it's a baked bun with egg custard.

No matter how many times I go to the Oriental East for dim sum I never tire of it. Just thinking about it makes me want to go there now. And fortunately it is offered every day of the week. Oh, heaven.

The Oriental East is located at 1312 East-West Highway in Silver Spring. 301-608-0030. Visit them on the web at www.orientaleast.com. Hours: Monday through Thursday, 11:00 a.m.-10:00 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11:00 a.m.-11:00 p.m., Sunday, 11:00 a.m.-10:00 p.m.