Author: jean komatsu
Last saved by: ENU

Mayflower Chinese (dim sum, lunch)
51 Millbrae Ave. @El Camino Real, Millbrae, CA
http://www.mayflower-seafood.com/
Review date: April 2012

Carlos and I met with his aunt and uncle, who live in the South Bay, for lunch. Mayflower is straight down the hill from their house, so we picked them up and drove down, managing to grab one of the last two parking spaces. It's a popular restaurant – originally it was the Hong Kong Flower Lounge, and some of their menus and part of the website still call it that. The underground parking lot is small, although there's a lot of street parking and the Millbrae BART station is right across the street.

The dim sum is sized large, a little on the salty side but good. But most of what they had that day was shrimp in various forms. There was shrimp in rice noodle, shrimp 'eggrolls', shrimp har gow, chopped shrimp extending the chopped scallops in the scallop dumplings, lots of shrimp overwhelming the pork in the shiu mai, shrimp in the fried potstickers. 

Carlos was in heaven, but it was a little hard on his aunt, who is suffering from gout. She contented herself with the steamed black bean sauce spareribs, baked BBQ pork pastries, and steamed BBQ pork buns.

We also had the sweet egg puffs that rival beignets. This last dish is the one worth coming to Mayflower for – all four of us agreed it's better here than anywhere else. If served hot instead of pre-made, they would have been sublime! But even cold they were wonderful.

Carlos was the only one who ate the "salt water dumplings" (hom sui gok) with their ground pork filling. This is the pounded glutinous rice dough shaped like a football around either a savory or sweet (red bean) filling, then deep-fried. It's one of his childhood foods, and he's very fond of it. He said it was okay, but not great. Everything else, although not quite as good as Lee Garden Seafood/Pleasanton, is fresh and good enough to satisfy anyone. 

The lack of variety, however, was rather puzzling. We've come here with Carlos' relatives several years ago, and there was greater variety as well as a few more staff then. Either we hit them at an in-between time, or they're pulling back on weekdays. Since we don't often get to the South Bay, it's hard for us to tell.

Four people: eleven dishes, with tip $72.