Emeryville, CA - East Island Hong Kong Restaurant

June 14, 2016

I actually shot a wedding at this restaurant before and loved how good it was. I made a mental note to come back some day and eat here again. A few years later, I finally made it for dim sum (when your "To-Eat" list is as long as mine, it really takes a while!).

We had a great seat with a view of the city. We got there around 10:30 on a Saturday so there was still plenty of parking close by and a fair amount of seats with unobstructed views. You have a choice of ordering from their dim sum menu, or their regular lunch menu. It was hard to choose. We picked some things that we regularly would order (chicken feet, pork ribs, shrimpy items), along with some specialties (pea leaf, Japanese crab).

Most of the items we ordered were amazing. I loved the pea leaf and abalone. The abalone, as always, was tender and flavorful. I think a few of the pea leaf stems were older (read: harder) but still good. I loved the radish cakes (also called daikon cakes, everyone has their preference) in the stone pot with XO sauce. The stone pot made some of the edges nice and crispy for a good contrast with the softer texture of the cake overall. Perfectly savory, not too salty. The only item that didn't wow me was the shrimp dumplings. I prefer the ones at Koi Palace. Either way though, dim sum at East Island is fantastic and I already anticipate going back for more!