10915 Shawnee Mission Parkway
Shawnee Mission, KS 66203
Website
HOW I FOUND IT: It's right down the street from my house, and I had been told by a friend that their Dim Sum is where it's at. I have a soft spot for Chinese food, so it had to be done. This review is kind of a double review, both for the regular menu and their special dim sum menu, which is available all during the week, but on Saturday and Sunday, they bring out the carts and let you browse.
ATMOSPHERE (SCORE: ***): The exterior isn't much to look at, a typical southern Kansas City strip mall affair, but at least the sign is large enough you can see it rather easily off Shawnee Mission Parkway. The only downside is that it's on this weird frontage road that is kind of a pain in the ass to navigate. The interior is typical chinese restaurant fare, with random knick knacks in cases strewn about, and lots of those little kitties with their paws up. It feels kinda sterile in there, except when we went on Sunday for dim sum. Then it was packed full of large families, and there was a buzz in the air that is absent during normal service.
FOOD (SCORE: ****1/2): The regular menu doesn't have too many surprises, but what is there is executed quite well. This ain't your typical carry-out. They also have a section on the menu with "Authentic Chinese Dishes", items that you don't normally see in a chinese restaurant around here. I asked the waitress about some of the items my first time, because I honestly had no clue what the hell some of the stuff was. She would tell me certain things were more popular with the Chinese customers, not so much with Americans. I took it as a challenge, and got the spicy salty pork, which was like super thick, super salty bacon. Delicious and unique. The other chinese restaurant staples such as fried rice, lo mein, crab rangoons, and the ubiquitous General Tso's were all great.
The last time we went, though, it wasn't for the regular menu items. I had been informed of their dim sum menu, and had to go check it out. Dim sum is a Cantonese tradition of serving tiny plates of food that normally accompany tea. For our purposes, think of it as a Chinese version of Tapas: Small plates that are fun to share, and give you the ability to sample many different dishes. What adds to the experience is that there are various carts loaded with these dishes, and servers wheel this cornucopia of awesomeness by your table, so you can actually point to something and say, "That looks good, hook it up", and they hand it over. As the server hands you a dish, they mark it on your ticket, and at the end it all gets tallied up, most dishes being between 2 and 3 bucks a pop for 2 to 3 pieces of food.
When we arrived, there was about a 15 minute wait. I thought this strange since I didn't see very many people in the dining room. Our number was called, and the hostess took us to the back of the restaurant, which was jam packed with large groups of Chinese families. We were the only whitebreads in the whole place. Whenever you're eating at an 'Ethnic' restaurant, and you're the only American there, you know you're in for the real deal. I always take it as a good omen.
Now, on to the food! I wish I would have taken pictures or notes, because we tried so many things, there's no way I remember all of it, or even knew what some of it was. The beauty of dim sum is that there's bound to be something you get that you're not a big fan of, but it really doesn't matter because it's a small amount and you can move on to the next plate. For example, I got the shark-fin soup, and wasn't really as thrilled about it as I had hoped, so I set it aside and proceeded to shove into my gaping maw a whole steam bun filled with red bean paste. It had a springy texture on the outside, and kind of resembled a boob, being spherical, pale, and having a tiny red dot in the center. I immediately brought this to the attention of my wife and brother-in-law, who were not nearly as excited about that as I was. I am a child. Anyway, the red bean paste was a new experience for me, and I loved it. A vaguely umami taste of beans, but mostly sweet, almost like sweet potato puree. The star of the show was the 'sticky fried rice', a dome of not-so-great looking rice that happened to be freakin delicious. Cyndi's brother, normally not an adventurous eater (I'm pretty sure if he was on death row, his last meal would be chicken tenders. Not that there's anything wrong with that, Henry, I'm just sayin), ate the living hell out of it.
If I could hop into my delorian and fire up the Flux Capacitor, I'd go back and be a little more patient. I was starving for this meal, so I grabbed a lot of stuff off the first few carts. As a result, I pigged out like a fatass, and was actually sad when more and more carts came around with roasted duck, shrimp dumplings, and a wide array of desserts, but I was too full to try any of them. So my advice for this kind of meal is pace yourself, relax, and enjoy the ride.
SERVICE (SCORE: ****): When we've gone for regular service, the servers have always been polite and attentive. The dim sum is a little different because the servers mainly take care of drink refills (which they were on top of), and the others wheel the cart by and let you take what you want. Regardless, the staff is friendly and while we were in the waiting area, I took notice that there seem to be a lot of regulars, and the people at the front (an older couple who i assume are the owners), would greet each one as an old friend.
VALUE (SCORE:*** for regular menu, ****1/2 for dim sum): Their regular menu, while of a higher caliber than most chinese places, is just a tad higher than I'd really expect to pay for american chinese food. It's comparable to Bo Ling's in that regard. The dim sum can't be beat. You pay a few bucks for each plate, and get a metric assload of food for a very good price.
OVERALL: As a regular Chinese restaurant, Pine and Bamboo Garden is above average, but nothing to make me gasp in awe then experience a blowing of the mind. But when you go for Dim Sum, you are truly experiencing something special and unique. I know there are other restaurants that do Dim Sum, but in terms of Kansas City dining, it's something that everyone should try at least once. In terms of variety, quality, and fun it can't be beat for a sunday afternoon.
OVERALL SCORE: (***1/2 for regular menu, ***** for dim sum)
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