Perhaps this is Shangri-la. Taiwanese dim sum in Watertown.

i haven't had a sunday off since before i opened this store. which means no sunday brunches and no taiwanese dim sum. so yesterday, in honor of fall and apple picking season, i took the day off. and of course, i took advantage of this rare opportunity to finally go to the other taiwanese dim sum place in belmont.

now everyone knows about the taiwanese dim sum place in watertown. (no one really knows what it's called, it's just the taiwanese dim sum place) it's located on the corner of california and los angeles, so it's easy for me to remember. haha. it's always hard to get a table, so if you miss the first seating, you're screwed and end up waiting 45 minutes for a table. i'd heard about the taiwanese dim sum place, it's actually called shangri-la, in belmont from trusted sources and heard that it was even better than the watertown one. so off we went. me and arti.

we arrived about 11:15, and promptly found out that the place didn't open until 11:30. so we decided to wait in the car since it was a chilly morning. unfortunately, a line started to form. so i made arti get out of the car and we waited with everyone else outside. i was not going to miss the first seating. at 11:30, as everyone waited outside impatiently, the doors were opened and a big rush ensued to grab tables. arti and i got a 2 top in the back. and we were happy to have lined up, cause those tables filled up quickly. oh also, your whole party needs to be there before you get to sit. (when we left, there was a large group of ppl waiting at the front of the restaurant)

since this was arti's first trip to taiwanese dim sum, i did most of the ordering. but she did a great job in ordering this tofu roll up thing which was very yummy. here it is:

and then i ordered a bunch of stuff for us to share. here's my bowl of sweetened soy bean milk and fried dough. in taiwan, you get this stuff from vendors on the street. and it's fun watching them make it. i have great pics from my trip last year.

then there's the chive pocket

and the scallion pancake

do you notice a pattern of fried foods? i also ordered arti an order of little dragon dumplings aka soup dumplings. i didn't know that it'd be her first time eating pork. but i think she liked them ok. those are one of the foods i miss most after giving up pork myself.

i also ordered arti beef in a sesame bun pocket thingy. big ed loves those. but since arti just started eating beef recently, i think it was too much for her and she didn't like it very much. however, she did enjoy everything else.

and after all this food, we had plenty to take home. and it all came out to $24 (not including the tip). so another great thing about taiwanese dim sum is that it's super cheap and of course. super tasty. at the end of the day, i don't know if i can say for certain that the belmont place is better than the watertown place. but the service was marginally better and i liked the fact that it was a little closer with more parking than the watertown one. if i ever give myself a sunday off again, i'll have to check out the taiwanese dim sum at wisteria house first. but i think i'll one day be back to shangri-la.