[Irvine] [Chinese] 金都 Capital Seafood

Capital Seafood
金都
2700 Alton Pkwy, #127
Irvine, CA 92606
(949) 252-8188
http://www.capital-seafood.com

We found the Diamond Jamboree Plaza while apartment hunting down in Irvine.  This plaza was super busy when we visited, especially the famous Taiwanese bakery 85 Degree.  It was lunch time, and there were so many choices at this plaza.  After browsing through, Dr. P decided to have some dim sum.



Capital Seafood.  The name sounded so familiar.  Don't we have one in San Gabriel Valley somewhere?  I asked Google, and the answer was yes.  There is a Capital Seafood in Monterey Park as well.




The restaurant isn't too big, but very spacious.  The first thing I noticed about this place was there are quite a few young and pretty girls working at this restaurant.  I was used to seeing older and louder Cantonese ladies working at SGV's dim sum restaurants.  Another thing we noticed was the waitstaff and the dim sum ladies were so much nicer and friendlier in Irvine.  They actually smiled.  They didn't mind explaining to us what the dishes were in English.  And they said "thank you" at the end.


南翔小籠包 Steamed Pork Dumplings (4) ($3.25)

We started with Steamed Pork Dumplings.  I didn't really like it.  The dumplings weren't juicy at all.  The skin was a bit too thick.  I won't order those again.


鮮蝦滑腸粉 Shrimp Rice Noodle ($4.25)

Shrimp Rice Noodle was good.  But it was so oily.  How do they get rice noodle to be so oily?



I like the big shrimp inside the rice noodle.  We got 6 shrimps in this dish.


香煎韭菜餃 Pan Fried Shrimp & Chives Cakes (4) ($3.25)

Pan Fried Shrimp & Chives Cakes was my favorite dish of the day.  There were tons of shrimp inside the dumpling.  There were also pork and chives.  Very delicious.


蝦子燒賣皇 Pork Shiu Mai (4) ($3.25)

Pork Shiu Mai was alright.  It wasn't the best I've had, but not exactly bad.  Just nothing too special about it.


家鄉咸水角 Deep Fried Shrimp Dumplings (3) ($2.25)

Dr. P tried the Deep Friend Shrimp Dumplings for the first time and liked it.  Even though on the menu, they called it "shrimp" dumplings, but there was not shrimp, just pork.  I like the sweet chewy fried mochi skin.


蜜汁叉燒包 Steamed BBQ Pork Buns (3) ($2.25)

I don't like Steamed BBQ Pork Buns as much as I did when I was little.  This was THE dish I always have to get when I went to dim sum with my parents when I was a kid.  Now I still always order it.  Not because I like it that much, but it was more like a habit.



The BBQ Pork Bun was pretty good.  Sweet, and the bun was soft.


金蒜蒸排骨 Steamed Spare Ribs w/ Garlic ($2.25)

Steamed Spare Ribs with Garlic didn't have much of that black bean taste.  It actually tasted a little bland.  They cooked some rice noodle under the ribs.  The flavor was good, but it was drenched in oil.


豆腐花 Sweet Tofu Soup ($2.25)

We like the Sweet Tofu Soup a lot.  The tofu was placed in a ginger soup base without any sugar added.  Then they gave us a little plate of syrup to add to the soup according to our own taste.  The tofu was silky and creamy.  The soup had a really subtle ginger taste, which I like.  I hate strong ginger flavor!



This was our first meal in Irvine.  I've had better dim sum.  But the food at Capital Seafood wasn't too bad.  The price, however, was quite expensive comparing to SGV's.  But my OC friends did warned me already about the higher dining prices in this area.  I really like the service.  They smiling and friendly dim sum ladies had made our lunch so much more enjoyable.  We would be glad to come back again!

[ad#ad-unit]