\”I just wanted to let you know, we will never come back again,\” one person in our group said as we were leaving the chinese restaurant.

For Jack\’s birthday, we opted to go to a restaurant on the other side of the river for dim sum. They only served dim sum once a month. All the pieces are handmade. And these were the selling points as 9 of us went.

Note though, I have never been fond of dim sum in the first place. Some may say that I am rejecting my Chinese heritage. But ultimately, it\’s the fact that I just don\’t enjoy dim sum. The food doesn\’t attract me. Perhaps it\’s because I have had it almost every other week when I was younger. Or perhaps I felt like I was in the position of an unstated children are meant to be seen, not heard rule in my family. Or perhaps, a yearning to be like everyone else and not an outcast created this dislike.

The dim sum at the restaurant surprisingly came very slow. It took at least 10 minutes between each dish to arrive. And furthermore, we split all the items on the dish to the 9 of us. My usual favorite–egg custard tarts–were nowhere to be found. I don\’t know what it was but the other tables next to us seemed to be getting more food. I wasn\’t sure. The pieces were somewhat small and unfulfilling. Most dishes lacked the pungent flavor I was used to in the places in California. But I am biased.

Of any Chinese food, my favorite places have been noodle houses (won ton noodle!) and Shanghainese places (those fried steam buns–ung see gurn)

The comment my friend made seemed a little bit cruel, but it was true. The likelihood of us returning was nil after the experience. Yet, everyone has a bad day right? Maybe someone skipped out on work and made the entire process of dim sum incredibly slow. Perhaps there was a family emergency that caused the staff to start later than they normally would have on this first Sunday of the month. I just can\’t accept that a restaurant chose to give bad service. After all, the hostess and servers were nice to us, apologizing for the wait.

But if I had a choice of brunch, I would trade dim sum any day for fluffy crepes filled with fresh fruit filling and hash browns.