LAFAYETTE, CALIFORNIA – The San Francisco Bay Area is known around the world as one of the best locations to get dim sum. One local restaurant, Koi Palace, has defined the Bay Area dim sum scene for almost 30 years.
I still have fond memories of heading to Koi Palace’s South Bay location with a friend and expanding my dim sum horizons by trying things like fried chicken feet (delicious!) and durian pastries (an acquired taste…)
Koi Palace’s locations are always packed, and the big tanks of fish swimming around in the front are a testament to the freshness of the food.
Now, this legendary Bay Area dim sum spot is selling select items from its menu right here in Lafayette, California. They’re available only for a limited time, so you’ll have to act fast!
Koi Palace Pop-Up
The Koi Palace items are available here in the 925 courtesy of Local Kitchens. We love the variety of foods that Local Kitchens offers, and we’ve recently featured their falafel and sweet onion burgers.
For this edition of Cozy at Home, we ordered the new Koi Palace items, which Local Kitchens was kind enough to send us to test.
The Koi Palace menu at their signature Bay Area restaurants is massive. Like most dim sum places, waiters push carts around featuring a huge variety of items, which you can grab as you like.
Obviously, for a pop-up, that wouldn’t work. Instead, Koi Palace is featuring two of its popular – but also accessible – items: shrimp dumplings and vegetarian spring rolls.
So, no chicken feet on the menu here! But these selected top-selling items give you a perfect opportunity to get a literal taste of Koi Palace without leaving your house.
Trying the Food
On a weekday night, we ordered Koi Palace items through the Local Kitchens website. They arrived at our door about 45 minutes later.
The shrimp dumplings have a unique look – little half-moon-shaped pockets of dough with a wavy design. It’s clear that someone put a good deal of effort into making these both tasty and visually appealing. Inside, you’ll find big chunks of cooked shrimp.
The dumplings are served with a side of sweet-and-sour sauce, chili oil, and soy sauce.
The outside of the shrimp dumplings is slightly crispy, and the waves mean you get a bit more dough than you would with a typical dumpling. The shrimp inside is well-cooked, and the juices from it combine with the dough to create a middle layer that has a pleasant chewiness.
These taste different from the kinds of dumplings you might get at Dumpling Time in San Ramon or Dumpling Hours in Walnut Creek. They feel more like traditional dim sum, with a stronger shrimp flavor and a simpler design.
Similarly, the vegetarian spring rolls are crispy and fried on the outside, with traditional Chinese vegetables filling the inside.
These were especially good dipped in the sweet-and-sour sauce. The chili oil and soy sauce provided a nice contrast to the chewy and powerfully flavorful dumplings.
You can order Koi Palace items directly through the Local Kitchens website or app, or stop by the Lafayette location to pick some up.
Because Local Kitchens lets you order from multiple menus at once, you can also get non-dim sum items for any family members with simpler palates.
I was able to order Koi Palace items for myself and my family while also getting Proposition Chicken and Square Pie Guys pizza (a review of that is coming soon!) for my kids.
It’s very cool to see a legendary Bay Area dim sum place trying something new. Check out their pop-up while it’s available, but also try to stop by one of their big restaurants for the full dim sum experience.
Local Kitchens, 3455 Mount Diablo Blvd, Lafayette, CA 94549
Website: https://www.localkitchens.com/order/store/lafayette/popular
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