Pearl Chinese Cuisine

Pearl is Emerald’s sister restaurant.  I went to Pearl during the Lunar New Year weekend, so they had extra festivities.  I was surprised to find a park behind the restaurant.

Pearl offers some traditional dim sum as well as other specialties.  Har Gow / Shrimp Dumplings (my favorite, but not the best here) and some kind of seafood dumplings.  Shiu Mai / Pork Dumplings, I think something with snow peas or broccoli (interesting and inventive, different from the usual variety of dim sum), more dumplings, and Rice Balls.  Fried Rice with Chinese Sausage and Shrimp Rice Rolls - I didn’t eat the fried rice, but the rice rolls were a little bland, even with the sauce!

Fried Taro Balls with Shrimp and Sesame Balls - I didn’t realize the fried balls had taro. I only ordered it because I saw the shrimp. Unfortunately, the ladies who push the carts around don’t always have the best communication skills, so sometimes they aren’t much help in figuring out what to get. (And they weren’t anywhere to be found when we were finished and trying to get the bill so we could leave.) The sesame balls are a tasty dessert.

Overall, most of the dim sum was delicious, but I don’t think it was such a great value. It was more expensive than Emerald or Jasmine, both of which I think have more reasonable prices. And at least those two restaurants are in an area closer to central San Diego and are surrounded with more shops…