Grand Oriental Restaurant

 

Grand Oriental Restaurant. (Photo by Mike Simons for the Enquirer)

This restaurant in the Fields-Ertel area is your best bet for atmosphere and tea-time bustle. They don't make Chinese restaurants like this anymore, with an ornately carved ceiling, an entrance through a fancy lattice wall and murals and carvings on the wall. There are lots of big family groups eating here, and the servers pushing the cart stay busy.

The dim sum selection would appeal particularly to the adventurous eater: I went with someone who had spent a year in Shanghai, and he said many dishes took him back (though even he quit eating the chicken feet after one.)

But there's plenty for anybody. We especially loved the shrimp dumplings, a translucent skin pleated around a pretty pink filling. After pork and shiitake dumplings, beef fun rolls and delicious tender soy sauce chicken, we needed vegetables, and jumped at the steamed gai lan, or Chinese broccoli, with its appealing fresh bright green and strong broccoli flavor. $2.50-$5.50; noodles $6.95-$11.95.

Dim sum 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. 4800 Fields-Ertel Road, Deerfield Township.677-3388.