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Bites Nearby: East Ocean Palace Restaurant

Authentic Cantonese cuisine with daily Dim Sum

The Bites Nearby column is starting to wonder if Forest Hills residents ever need to leave the neighborhood to enjoy top-notch ethnic food. For example, the March 8 column reported on 's, an Indian restaurant that rivals any eatery in Jackson Heights, a world-famous Southeast Asian shopping hub.

This week, Bites Nearby travels to , a Chinese storefront on Queens Boulevard which can compete in taste and price with any restaurant in Flushing, the borough's center for all things East Asian.

First, the daily dosage of dim sum, a Cantonese term for a meal consisting of small, individual portions of food, usually served on a plate or steamer basket. In total, there are about 60 items at East Ocean, such as Steamed Fresh Water Fish Balls, Duck Egg Salty Pork Porridge, Dry Meat Radish Cakes, Coconut Pudding, Baked Sweet Sesame Bun and Snail with Black Bean Sauce.

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Waitresses wheel the offerings around on carts and charge per item, keeping a running tab.

Just to mention a few more of the seemingly endless dim sum possibilities, the menu includes Fresh Squid with Celery, Braised Ox Maw, Watercress Pork Dumpling, Salt & Pepper Shrimp, Lotus Leaf Sticky Rice Dumpling, Fresh Egg Yolk Cream Bun and Almond Bean Curd.

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As Canton (aka Guangzhou) has been a trading port for centuries, its cuisine features spices and ingredients from around the world. However, seafood dishes dominate and thick soups are immensely popular. As such, appetizers include Cold Marinated Jelly Fish ($8.95) and Fried Eel Rolls with Salad Sauce ($12.95).

For $13.95 each, East Ocean sells Crab Meat with Fish Maw Soup, Winter Melon, Crab Meat & Dried Scallops Soup and Fresh Clams with Chinese Ribbed Gourd Soup. The Wonton, Hot & Sour and Egg Drop varieties are much less hearty, and at $3 a bowl, much less expensive.

There are more than 15 shrimp dishes (mixed vegetables, black bean sauce, spicy garlic sauce, etc) hover around $17.95. Chicken entrees are cheaper at $11.95 to $15.95, and there are beef, pork and bean curd options for mostly under $12. The huge Peking Duck meal is $35.

The chef's specials include Sauteed Sea Cucumber Meat in Hot & Spicy Sauce ($24.95), Sauteed Frogs with Vegetables ($20.95) and Thai Style Hot & Spicy Seafood Tom Yum ($19.95).

The ambiance is nothing special, except for the fish (read: daily catches) swimming in tanks. The walls are a bland off-white. The tables and chairs are almost industrial. But the clientele is mostly Chinese, a good sign that the food passes the "authentically Cantonese" test.

Address: 113-09 Queens Boulevard. Phone: 718-268-1668.

Hours: 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week.

Prices: Dim sum items run from $1.90 to $7.50. Lunch specials cost between $5.50 and $6.95. Dinner will probably cost $20 per person at least.

After 5 p.m., East Ocean provides free parking for two hours. Plus, the restaurant received an A grade in the city's recent sanitary inspection, always a good sign.

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