Jaclyn’s Pick:

New Gold Mountain
6750 Mercy Road (Aksarben)
Fare: Chinese
Cost: $80 for 10 dim sum items
Reservations: We made one for our Friday evening visit, but we could’ve gotten by without.

Greetings, Eaters and Readers!

Did you know you can get dim sum in Omaha? Neither did I until I went on a quest to find it.

If you’ve never had dim sum, think Spanish tapas: multiple small dishes shared among family and friends. The Chinese version consists of steamed, deep-fried or pan-fried plates and is typically enjoyed around brunch time. We broke cultural tradition and had ours at 6:30 on a Friday evening.

Martha and I discovered our love for dim sum in Boston. We went to a large, two-story restaurant in Chinatown where the main floor served traditional Chinese dishes and the other was reserved for dim sum. We sat at a large, round table and all around us were servers with carts full of dim sum. Every cart was different and you picked items a la carte. We tried all sorts of things and thoroughly enjoyed both the flavors and ambiance.

Coming off a recent trip to Calgary, where I had a similar dim sum experience with family, I realized I’d never had it in Omaha. Could I even find it here? I reached out to Omaha Food Lovers, who came back with only two suggestions: Grand Fortune and New Gold Mountain. There was more love for the latter – so the choice was made.

Unlike our Boston experience, there were no round tables or push carts. And while we love that element of dim sum, it has no bearing on the quality or variety.

Not long after giving our lengthy order to our server, Kaitlyn, our plates came out one by one. It was a quick succession of arrival and we were happily overwhelmed by all the flavors hitting our palates.

Deep Fried Crab Cake ($5.75)

First to the table were the deep fried crab cakes. We thought this was either going to be a typical crab cake that happened to be deep fried, or their version of a crab rangoon. Wrong. What we got – and surprisingly enjoyed – was a hot and crispy fried wonton with a small amount of crab in the middle – sans cream cheese or anything else you might expect. The crab tasted fresh and paired surprisingly well with the sweet and sour sauce. These were gone in no time.

Singapore Noodles ($12.20)

When we were about to wrap up our order with Kaitlyn, Martha suggested we get at least one noodle-based dish to break up the numerous small dishes we were getting. She put me on the spot and told me to pick one and I landed on the Singapore Noodles. A heaping plate of curry-flavored noodles, accompanied by a good mixture of vegetables, shrimp and chicken, this dish offered a bit of heat with each forkful. In the end, we were glad to have something to break up the many bites of steamed buns and dumplings and rice.

Beef Teriyaki ($12.20)

What might just look and sound like another teriyaki skewer was just a teriyaki skewer – but it was incredibly flavorful and delicious. The beef was slightly cripsy on the outside and tender on the inside, each bite releasing sweet and juicy teriyaki flavor. Martha and I agreed this was one of our favorite dishes.

Steamed Egg Custard Buns ($5.25)

Our most-enjoyed flavor profile of the evening was the egg custard bun. The sweet, creamy custard makes this feel like a dessert. We’re not sure if it’s supposed to be, but we’ll both be finding ways to incorporate these into our life.

Steamed BBQ Pork Buns ($5.25)

I love love LOVE Chinese BBQ pork – and nestled in a warm, steamed bun is my favorite way to consume it. It’s a tender cut of sweet-and-zesty meat with a nice, subtle char on the outside. This was Martha’s first time trying a BBQ pork bun. She immediately understood why I love it.

Steamed Rice Noodle Rolls with Beef ($5.75) & BBQ Pork ($5.75)

We accidentally ordered both the beef and BBQ pork rice noodle dish. Neither of us remembered getting both, but we rattled off so many dishes in a row that it seemed we did. Regardless, we each tried a piece and agreed the meat was the best part of this plate. The rice noodle texture is pretty bland, if not also confusing. Try not to focus on it while you’re eating it or it might turn you off.

Steamed Pork Dumpling ($8.20)

These might be one of the most recognizable items if you’re new to dim sum, but looking for a familiar morsel. These dumplings were small, “poppable” almost, and stuffed full of pork. Martha would add this to her list of favorites of the evening. She also thought it had the tiniest hint of added broth – reminiscent of a soup dumpling. 

Sesame Ball ($5.50)

Knowing only that we usually enjoy sesame-focused dishes, Martha ordered this one without knowing what it would be. Piping hot, super crispy exterior and a middle that featured sticky rice flour dough – this was another item we enjoyed more than we anticipated.

Sticky Rice with Chicken in Lotus Leaf ($8.20)

This item caught Martha’s eye – she’s had different ‘sticky rice’ dishes and had high hopes for it. In the end, however, she didn’t love the flavor of the chicken – without a sauce to doctor up the rice – it just didn’t live up to her self-inflated hype. Given this was the last item to the table, I was too full to open my own lotus leaf. So I tried one bite of hers and agreed it was perhaps a bit underwhelming.

Final Bites

Well, Omaha Food Lovers, you did it again – coming in with solid a recommendation. We can’t recommend enough that if you try dim sum in Omaha, you give New Gold Mountain the opportunity to impress you.

If you’re like us, you’ll be very excited at the start of your meal. New dishes coming to the table every few minutes, you don’t know where to focus your attention. Eventually, you start to get full, but the dishes keep coming. And it’s not to say you’re not excited, but you do lose your momentum. You find yourself focusing more on the first couple dishes than anything else. It’s a good thing they’re just as tasty leftover!

Martha and I will be coming back to New Gold Mountain to enjoy some of our faves – egg custard and pork buns, steamed dumplings, noodles, teriyaki beef – and trying things on the rest of the menu we intentionally ignored this go-round.

I would love to see Omaha develop their own Chinatown and offer more opportunities to get dim sum. But in the meantime, we’re pleased to give New Gold Mountain two dim-sumptuous forks up.

Cheers!
The Good Bite Gals

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