Dim Sum is an absolute treat to the unfamiliar and familiar alike. There are no menus here. The waitresses push trolly carts around, each with a different type of food. Some have steamed dumplings with your meat or vegetable of choice, others have steamed buns, others have the decadent deep fried item of your choice. All of the food is served on small plates or in small steamer racks. The steamed dumplings are amongst my favorites which you can get with all kinds of filling from pork to shrimp to mixed vegetables. M.E. and I always get a plate of steamed Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce to finish the meal with. They even have Chinese deserts if you like (I like the sesame balls with sweet bean paste filling). For the daring, you can even order a plate of roasted chicken feet. If there is something that you want that is not coming around in the carts, a waiter will happily bring it to you.
I recommend that you arrive early to avoid the crowd - they open at 8:30am. We even met a couple that drove down all the way from Ventura just for brunch at Empress Pavillion.
Empress Pavillion is located at 908 N. Hill St. LA CA 90012 inside the Chinatown Bamboo Plaza. They are open seven days a week and serve Dim Sum daily. Check out their website for their hours:
