New Beijing has been around for years, a typical strip-mall Asian restaurant putting out serviceable if unexciting Americanized Chinese dishes, complete with daily buffets. But a few months ago, ownership changed, and the new management did away with the weekend lunch buffet and replaced it with dim sum.
In doing so, it appears to have met some pent-up desire in the southwest suburbs. The weekend dim sum service has drawn large crowds, particularly of people of Asian descent, and there are often lines waiting for the doors to open at 10 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.
And for good reason. Who wants greasy, tired lo mein and deep-fried, sweet-and-sour something-or-other when you can have delicate little shrimp dumplings full of fresh chives and perfectly cooked shrimp? Or a tidy package of sticky rice with generous chunks of chicken and pork, stuffed into a lotus leaf? How about a delicate, lacy, fried taro root dumpling with a mild but flavorful savory filling? Even deep-fried items were not overly heavy and greasy; the crab claws, for example, had a wonderful crispness and were packed with chopped crab meat.
Language can be a barrier — the servers are much more comfortable in Chinese than in English, and in one case, we may have been scolded for politely refusing the eggplant, but otherwise, the carts roll through the restaurant frequently with fresh, new items. Prices seem to average about $5 per item (as best we can tell: the menu doesn’t detail prices), which is quite reasonable for the quantity and quality provided. Shortly after opening for the day, New Beijing was nearly full. Our recommendation: Go, and go early.
New Beijing, 962 Prairie Center Drive, Eden Prairie, MN 55344; 952.934.3455.
