Happy Garden @ Sunset (best fast har gow & siu mai)

Ahhh...dim sum, where do I start? Well I guess, first and foremost the literally translation means "to touch the heart," and for those of you who don't know what this it, it is best explained as Chinese Tapas. We Chinese folks also call it "yum cha" which means to drink tea, because tea is usually served with it to wash all the oils away. Dim sum consists of bite size "food-bites" where each dish contains about 4-6 pieces, and it is best eaten with a group of people because you can sample everything, without having to commit to an entire dish to yourself. There's a variety of pork, shrimp, beef, seafood, and veggie dumplings that are steamed, and dumplings that are fried, as well as the weird chicken feet and beef tripe. Anyways, sometimes I just have a craving for har gow and siu mai (shrimp and pork dumplings respectively) and it's too much of a hassel to go all the way to a restaurant just to eat these two items. One of the things I love about SF is "Fast-Dim-Sum" food, where the food is right there in front, and you can point or just say what you want. The food is fresh, especially if you go to a place that is popular, and it's only about $1.60 for 3 piece item! When you go to a restaurant it can range from $3-$5. Anyways, the best place in SF to get "fast" dim sum, and specifically har gow and siu mai is Happy Garden on Irving and 23rd ave. These are the two I utmost recommend, and are my favs. What is also good there is the chew chow fun gow, which is a mixture of pork, veggies and peanuts. By all means, this place isn't "fine" dining in anyway, the food is supposed to be eaten there (then she will line a tray with parchment/wax paper and put the food on it) or to be taken home.

There is something about Happy Garden, where the little Chinese people in the back, they REALLY know how to make the wrapper for these dumplings, where it's the perfect amount of gelatinous texture (chewy yet firm). The har gow is crunchy and firm at the same time, and doesn't have the icky shrimp taste that some places do. The siu mai is just PLUMP! JUICY! and just delicious in every way. I can eat two orders (6 pieces) by myself. Panda one time wanted one piece of my 3 pieces, and well I couldn't spare because my stomach had perfect room for 3 pieces, so we just bought him an extra piece, the lady laughed. :D This place is honestly the BEST OF fast har gow and siu mai.

1 order of har gow & 2 orders of siu mai

Siu Mai
look how PLUMP! it looks!

Siu Mai
I think i want some more now too