Tropical Chinese! Finally!

My search is over. It took almost 4 years, but I have found fabulous Chinese food in Miami. JAM's birthday was quickly approaching. JAM is my brother in law and fellow food enthusiast- and the lack of decent Chinese food had been a recurrent conversation topic between us. A trusted co-worker recommended Tropical Chinese and just in time for a birthday dinner!

The Dim Sum:



Ground pork, shrimp and vegetables. Almost the texture of a matzo ball- light, but bursting with flavor. Steamy and soft. Magical. These were my personal favorite.



Shrimp dumplings. Delicious, perfect texture- how do they make these so right, not gummy? I could have stuck to the dim sum and wine for the rest of the meal.



Crispy shrimp roll. Hands down the best spring roll I have ever tasted. The inside was pure shrimp. At this point, I was already looking at my calendar and picking a date to come back to eat only dim sum (during lunch hours, 7 days a week).



Our first entree was Peppercorn Spiced Prawns. Dusted with pepper salt sauce, flash fried and wok tossed with fresh jalepenos. The peppers were so spicy that they flavored the shrimp enough without having to even eat them- but of course, we did.



Shredded Pork in Spicy Szechwan Sauce. Not spicy enough but very good- TLMM and JAM both declared this their favorite entree...



...and my favorite entree- Sizzling Black Pepper Beef. Amazing. Could have been spicier, but maybe I was spoiled by the jalapenos in the shrimp dish.

The wine list has something for all tastes and price ranges. Among the menu items are such delicacies as shark's fin soup, abalone, several duck dishes and roast squab (which must be ordered 2 days in advance). They have hot pots, a long list of vegetarian specialties and all kinds of noodles, including lo-mein, pan-fried and chow fun noodles. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this restaurant to anyone! It was one of the best Chinese restaurants I have ever had the pleasure to patronize (I have been to hundreds- everywhere from Corpus Christi, Texas to Richmond, Virginia to Eilat, Israel.) It is often said that when a Jewish family moves to a new town, they find a temple first and a Chinese restaurant second. In my family, we found the temple first only because my father is a Rabbi, and it would have been his new place of employment.

As fortune would have it, Mayor Carlos Alvarez and his party were seated at the table next to us just as we were served.

We're going back for Dim Sum- the date has already been set! This restaurant has my highest recommendation of any so far- Four Golden Eggs. Or, in this case, Four Thousand-Year Old Golden Eggs...and the eggs.