Future Husband (“FH”) and I both enjoy eating chinese dim sum. Over the years, we’ve been to nearly every restaurant in San Diego that offers dim sum (the pickings are pretty slim). The one place we hadn’t tried was Pearl in Rancho Bernardo, though we had heard good things about it. We always thought it was too far of a drive for a casual weekend brunch.
After we went to Pearl for the first time a few weeks ago, we realized the drive wasn’t so bad, so this weekend we went back to check out the dim sum.
One of the best things about dining here, especially during the day, is the view. Pearl is situated next to Webb Lake Park, a privately owned park with flowers and a duck pond. I was going to take some pictures of it, but there was some wedding photography going on so I didn’t take any pictures, but here are some I took from my previous visit:
Pearl offers the traditional dim sum, with carts being pushed around offering an array of steamed and fried items. All their dim sum items are also listed in their menu, along with price listings.
Here is what we got:
Fried shrimp balls
Shrimp cheong foon/rice rolls (the shrimp is wrapped in these rice noodle sheets and then steamed)
Bell peppers stuffed with shrimp
Beef tripe stew
Steamed sweet rice cake
Pork shu mai
Shrimp shu mai
Shrimp har gow (shrimp is wrapped in a translucent wrapper that has a little bit of a sticky texture)
Pan fried bean curd wrapped (tofu skin is used a wrapper, and the inside is usually a mix of vegetables and meat and the entire thing is doused in sauce)
Fried sesame balls
Pineapple buns with custard filling
Fried dumplings (the inside is a sweet meat filling and the outside is a sticky, chewy mochi dough which is deep fried)
Overall, we enjoyed the food and the pretty view. The service was also pretty good here.
Pearl Chinese Cuisine
11666 Avena Pl
San Diego, CA 92128
(858) 487-3388
Dim sum is referred to as yum cha here, where yum cha means drink tea. I’m not sure why the difference, but if I’m speaking in Chinese, I’ll say we’re going to yum cha. In English, I’ll say we’re going to dim sum.
I guess the concept is that you socialize while drinking tea and having snacks.
Actually I was just thinking about this last night before I went to sleep! I was thinking of the Vietnamese place in Linda Vista calls it Yum Cha (which is why I thought yum cha was the Vietnamese pronunciation). but then I realized that in Mandarin, we say “Yin cha” (drink tea), and then it suddenly occurred to me that maybe in Cantonese it is pronounced “yum cha” which would explain where yum cha comes from. Hmm, where the heck did dim sum come from then?
I love dim sum. Interestingly, it’s called yum-cha her in Australia. The food you had certainly looks good, my favourites are those sticky, fried dumplings and the sesame balls. Can you tell I have a thing for sticky textures? 🙂
Ah the sticky ones are my favorite too! Hmm, in Vietnamese it is called yum cha too
My sis and I enjoy going there for DS on weekdays b/c all the DS dishes are the priced as ‘small’ items. I think the quality of their DS items are great WHEN they are piping hot and fresh. We’ve had some items that tasted terrible b/c they’ve been sitting there forever.
My favorite item is the cilantro/seafood dumpling. You have to ask for it next time – it’s soooo good!
Oh darn, I think we saw it, but FH wasn’t interested so we didn’t get it!
The shrimp noodle dish is shrimp cheong foon. Fun gor is more of a translucent wrapper that’s usually thicker and chewier than har gow. Now I want some dim sum!
Oh you are right. I knew the fun gor sounded wrong when I was doing this post last night, but I couldn’t seem to find the right translation on the menu! Thanks for the correction.
I always loved those shrimp noodle things but never knew what they were called. Now I know! I like the beef fun gor too. 🙂
I think the name varies from place to place. I’m trying to remember what other names I’ve seen, but my mind is blank. I did think that the name at Pearl wasn’t the same as the names I’ve seen previously, but I could be wrong.
Have I ever mentioned that my sister lives in Rancho Bernardo? I think I’m supposed to visit her soon (haven’t been since last august! oops!). I’ll check out Pearl! I looooooove dim sum.
I think Pearl is definitely one of the better options in SD, though not nearly as good as the places in SGV or MP. It’s really pretty though.