chinese brunch
march 18, 2006

almost everyone knows that a chinese brunch is really...well, dim sum. it's the standard thing to do come saturday around 11am. the best type of dim sum is having it with friends and over small dishes of this and that, you get to try out a plethora of morsels while chatting over....well, sometimes yelling over the din of a typical chinese restaurant.

although i've professed over the years on this website that i'm not a BIG fan of dim sum, i actually do like it from time to time. ever since finding out that i'm allergic to MSG, i really try to take heed of what my body is telling me. i try not to over-indulge and push it to the point where i'll be er..hospitalized. :p so now, i go prepared and take some antihistamines before dining and i drink a ton of tea to wash all the oils awwaaaayyyyy!

today, i met up with some of my friends for brunch in monterey park at MPV. i haven't been there in ages and was pleasantly surprised to find that the crowds weren't too bad and the food was really good. and i could find a parking space (although traffic in monterey park was horrible as usual).

MPV Seafood Restaurant
1412 S. Garfield Ave.
Alhambra, CA 91801
626.289.3018
$$ (for dim sum depending on what you get)

btw, the "dollar sign" thingie is a new request from reader asking me for a cost identification for the places i visit. what's hard to gauge is the cost of a "$" sign from one person to the next. so i'll just use a very broad basis:

$ = $10 and under
$$ = $10 - $20
$$$ = $20 - $40
$$$$ = $40 and up
* all are per person

of course i may trash this whole system and just type how much i paid for my meal that day. :p

^ roast pork with very tasty crunchy skin

^ deep fried tofu silos

^ fried chicken cartilage bits (kneecaps anyone?)

^ wok sauteed ong choy

^ jin dui (fried sesame ball filled with lotus seed paste)

^ washes the oil away

^ i haven't seen erin in about 8 years. we go way back with this group of friends but for some reason, we just haven't seen one another for ages! it was so great to finally see her again and to meet her hubby for the first time.