Silly garnishes on Chinese food

I received an invitation from my friendly neighborhood broker wanting to catch up over lunch, and she has a habit of picking out nice restaurants.  In fact, we like some of the same restaurants.  So I was a little surprised when she chose Ying Jee Club (營致會館).  It's a place I really haven't had much desire to visit, but I was curious.

As she is more familiar with the restaurant - and she's buying - I let her choose what she wanted to eat.  It's lunch and we're having Cantonese cuisine, so it seemed natural to start with some dim sum.

Pork dumpling with shrimp and flying fish roe (蟹籽鮮蝦燒賣) 

 

Scallop dumpling with shrimp and Chinese celery (金箔芹香帶子餃) - yes, we all need more gold in our lives.

Shrimp dumpling with pork and matsutake mushroom (松茸鮮蝦餃) -   the matsutake (松茸) didn't really register...

Pan-fried crab claw with shrimp paste, crispy conpoy and caviar (黑魚子煎釀鮮蟹拑) - meh.  Nothing special, and I don't care for these tiny little crab claws without much meat on them.  And the stupid caviar was completely unnecessary.

Sautéed sea cucumber with roast duck, celery, yam bean and chive (遼參家鄉炒鴨絲) - this was very, very good.  Loved the heavy flavors of the duck and the sea cucumber.  Best dish of the meal.

Steamed eel with garlic and plum sauce (蒜香梅醬蒸鱔球) - I generally find the eels with too much muddy flavors, and the sauce did an OK job of trying to mask them.  Still not a real fan.

Noodles with ham in superior broth (上湯火腿麵) - this was pretty decent, as it's just about the clean and pure flavors.

Crispy seasame ball with banana and lotus seed paste (香蕉蓮蓉芝麻球) - pretty decent.

I'm glad I finally had a chance to come check this place out.  Not seeing enough magic to warrant those 2 macarons, though...