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Samkee dim sum diners enjoy eating on the go

At Samkee, lunch literally rolls around the tables.

By Eric Drudis

Waiters, carrying carts filled with specialties ranging from barbecue pork flaky cake to suimai, a pork dumpling, stop at each table to offer the food. In the traditional Hong Kong style of service called dim sum, the waiters circle around the restaurant, advertising their selections and explaining the dishes to curious customers.

"Everyone likes dim sum," says Alan Kwok, Samkee's manager. "There are few dim sum restaurants around, so business is pretty good. About 1,000 people stop by for lunch or dinner every day."

Because of such heavy business, the restaurant has planned an expansion into the vacant lot they own next door. Construction will begin in October for the addition to the restaurant that will include VIP rooms for families and business meetings.

"We need to make the restaurant bigger," Kwok says. However, he says service will not be affected.

Currently, Kwok says, the four chefs working in the restaurant must work at high speed to keep up with business.

"We have 15 different dishes during lunch, but each plate takes only a couple of minutes to prepare," he says. With workers from Hewlett-Packard across the street and shoppers at Vallco Fashion Park and Cupertino Village, the restaurant staff must "work very hard and very fast," Kwok says.

During dinner the restaurant specializes in seafood but also has more traditional Chinese restaurant food.

"Our specialties include lobsters, crabs, big fish..." Kwok says. "Everything here is very good. We are something very special."

A typical meal will cost between $6 and $7 a person, Kwok says.

"It is very good for the cost," explains customer Marie Choi, who says she eats regularly at the restaurant. "They have a good selection and the fish they serve is very good. I recommended it to many of my friends."

Kwok says word of mouth has helped Samkee expand business, and that the restaurant has rarely advertised.

Samkee is located at 1686 S. Wolfe Road in Sunnyvale. The restaurant is open weekdays, 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.; weekends, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. 737-7718.

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, July 22, 1998.
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