Stick Steam - Millbrae

We went for lunch on Sunday at 1pm after a friend recommended it for its great dimsum. We expected to wait but there were open tables so we were seated right away. The service was attentive and the food came quickly. The focus here is on the food, not the ambiance. The menu is not as extensive as other dimsum restaurants, but we enjoyed the variety. Our favorites were the crisp and flavorful string beans, the refreshing passion fruit aloe green tea, and the pork belly with charcoal buns - my son, who loves Peking duck, preferred these. The charcoal buns tasted the same as regular bao to us. The braised beef noodle soup with wontons was delicious, with flavorful shrimp wontons and a beefy broth. The pan-fried soup dumplings were tasty, with a generous filling and lots of soup. On our next visit, we would skip the vinegary cucumbers, the beef kimcheese rice which was more tomatoey than kimchee flavored, and the XLB trio where we couldn't really taste the truffle. We would prefer to order just the crab ones as the others were not as amazing.

We ordered the full Hainan chicken, the XLB Trio (original, crab, truffle, BBQ pork buns), typhoon ha gao, pork belly with charcoal buns, and Chinese broccoli. I particularly enjoyed the typhoon ha gao, which is one of my favorite dishes at dim sum restaurants. The original and truffle XLB were also delicious. Unfortunately, I did not care for the crab XLB, but my mother-in-law really liked it. I look forward to returning to try the other soup dumplings and regular siu mai. The pricing here is incredibly reasonable compared to other dim sum spots on the peninsula. For example, three pieces of ha gao can cost $10-$12 elsewhere, but here they are only $5.50. This place is definitely worth a visit!

There are plenty of fantastic dumpling spots in the Bay Area, but unfortunately, this particular restaurant's dumplings did not have enough flavor for my liking. I will be passing on this one.

If you are from SF like we are you will be disappointed. This is sort of mock Asian food. But if you want better than Panda it’s ok.

I came on a Saturday during lunch time and it was somewhat busy. My party got lucky with a table and we were seated immediately. The interior is not the biggest but it seems to seat around 30. The style is nice and modernized. Hainan Chicken (Full) 8.5/10 It tasted great but this is all you get in the dish along with sauces. There are no other additions such as rice or peanuts. I would get it again, but maybe in an order with other additionals.Typhoon Ha Gao 10/10 This was so good, it was crunchy and tasty. I'm not sure what those flakes were but it was really good with the ha gao and especially with the Hainan chicken. Felt like this added flavor to anything it touched!If I'm in the area I would absolutely come back, except I might not reorder the full Hainan chicken and instead something else. I would recommend the full chicken if you have a bigger party with other food too.