Molly Marti
Audio By Carbonatix
For those looking for a dim sum experience complete with roving carts rapidly doling out piles of steaming hot dishes, Denver only has a few options. And now, one of those has a new name and new owners.
We’ve long been fans of Star Kitchen and the Empress Seafood, both of which have been serving dim sum for years. Another longtime go-to for dim sum cart service was Super Star Asian Cuisine, located at 2200 West Alameda Avenue, in a strip mall space next to what is now a Great Wall Supermarket. (It was formerly Pacific Ocean Marketplace before being sold in 2022.)
Super Star was a fixture for two decades, but this month, it debuted a new name and new owners.
The space is now Harbor Dim Sum & Cuisine. While some of the same staff and chefs stayed on board, the new owners are the former operators of Happy Cafe at 945 South Federal Boulevard, which recently closed after five years in business so the team could focus on this new venture in a much larger space.
Happy Cafe’s rice noodle rolls (cheung fun) with XO sauce has been one of my favorite dishes in town for several years — particularly when I’m craving a Chinese delivery fix. It’s always arrived piping hot with that perfect mix of bouncy, chewy noodles and crisp texture from a hot wok, so I made my way to Harbor to see if the dish still stands up to my Happy Cafe memories.
Molly Martin
A cart arrived at my table seconds after I sat down with a plate of cheung fun with XO sauce, as if they’d read my mind. But while the noodles were indeed bouncy and even wider than those in Happy Cafe’s version, the dish was missing the crisp texture and wok hei (“breath of the wok,” the almost smoky flavor that’s only achieved with very high-heat stir-frying) that I craved. Overall, the cheung fun unfortunately left me feeling a bit less than happy.
A plate of Chinese broccoli was on par with those at other dim sum spots — nothing memorable, but it did its job, adding some greenery to my meal. But the scallop dumplings were a treat, packed full with bits of seafood in a bouncy wrapper.
As a solo dim sum diner, I only made it through those three dishes, but I’ll be back for more after the team has some time to settle in — Harbor Dim Sum is still in soft opening mode, after all. It also offers an extensive menu of Cantonese dishes beyond its dim sum selections.
In the meantime, Happy Cafe’s former location is up for grabs, so we’ll be keeping an eye out to see what moves in next.
Harbor Dim Sum & Cuisine is located at 2200 West Alameda Avenue and is open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Online ordering is available at pos.chowbus.com/online-ordering/store/harbor-dim-sum-cuisine/22495.
