Monday 4 October 2010

Hong Kong is my Dim Sum heaven

Dim Sum at Saam Hui Yat
If you know me well enough, you will know that my holy grail is to find restaurants serving the best Dim Sum. Although I have tried many in London and have strong opinions about which are the best, I must admit I am not that knowledgeable about the quality of Dim Sum in the rest of the world.  Though I must say that that the Sydney Dim Sum or Yum Cha has been top of my list for quite a number of years now.

Being in China a trip to Hong Kong was inevitable, not only to arrange my Chinese working visa but to experience the home of Dim Sum. Going over the border crossing at Shenzhen, I was practically salivating at the thought of trying some authentic har gau or siu mai. I had done a little research on the best places to eat Dim Sum in Hong Kong and for my first experience, I chose a small locals place that was near my hotel in the Sai Wan area called Saam Hui Yat which had rave reviews. When my friend Will and I eventually found the restaurant we were surprised as we were expecting somewhere bigger, a bit less rundown and a bit more approachable. It was tiny, seated probably only 15 people maximum, and full of oldish men who eyeballed us as we were ushered in by the cook manning the towers of steaming Dim Sum baskets in a small cubicle next to the front door.

Once seated, I was given the menu and hardly surprisingly there was no English translation or pretty pictures we could point at - just Chinese characters. So I went ahead and ordered the most popular Dim Sum dishes, har gau, siu mai, cheung fan, and then went over to the steaming baskets and pointed to a few of those for good measure. Whilst waiting for the food, the waiter arrived with a bowl and hot water for us to rinse our dishes, teacup and chopsticks, it seemed like less of a tradition and more an actual necessity.

Cheung fan, har gau, siu mai, sticky rice, stuffed bean curd
However the proof was in the eating and once we were eating the Dim Sum we couldn't care less what the restaurant looked like - it tasted wonderful - real homemade stuff that you would imagine your grandmother to make - every delicious mouthful of it. Will was impressed too and declared it to be much better than any of the Dim Sum he'd tasted in London.

In my opinion, the meal was excellent but I was still determined to discover more tasty dim sum eateries. Therefore when my friend Anne suggested we go to her favourite Dim Sum restaurant, Tim Ho Wan, the cheapest Michelin starred-restaurant in the world, I jumped at the chance. Anne warned us that the queues to get into this tiny establishment were legendary. Many people flock far and and wide to experience the skill of the chef, Pui Gor; a former chef at the Four Seasons Hotel's Michelin-starred restaurant Lung King Heen, he is now serving five star dim sum to the masses.

Tim Ho Wan - world's cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant

As Anne lived round the corner from Tim Ho Wan in Mongkok she kindly offered to queue up at 10am to hold a table for us. At 11.30am when we arrived, she was still waiting. The outside of this restaurant caught me by surprise - it was certainly not what I expected of a Michelin-restaurant. Beyond the large congregation of hungry people outside, the restaurant looked small, ordinary and unassuming. I would have by-passed it in a second if Anne had not have mentioned it. 

It was only another 20 minutes to wait and like others outside the restaurant we did not mind much. Once our number was called we hurried inside like eager children and the waitress pointed to a space between diners for us to slot ourselves into. The restaurant was so small and tightly packed- probably about 30 covers - that she had to pull out the table for Anne and I to sit behind. However, it was of little consequence and we ordered quickly and soon our steaming baskets came out covering our entire table. Elbow to elbow with our fellow diners we ate and ate.
Chicken's feet, cheong fan, dumplings on our tiny table
The Dim Sum was outstanding - all the traditional dishes we ordered were a cut above what I had previously tasted elsewhere in the world. Tim Ho Wan didn't just do it better - they took Dim Sum to a higher lever. For example, the beef meatballs were tender and more importantly good quality beef with the aroma of dried mandarin peel and corriander. Anne raved about the cha siu baau and insisted we try them. It was a sweet pastry version of the traditional barbecue pork-stuffed buns which I was not overly keen on in the past. But the pastry on this bun was divine; flaky, light and utterly delicious, it went well with the sweetness of the pork. Will also insisted on getting chicken feet. I have never been a fan of this aesthetically displeasing dish - but here they actually looked appealing and I decided to bite the bullet and try it. To my surprise it was quite tasty, lots of juicy meat and not much bone/cartilage as is usual for this dish.  

Anne told us that every dish is made to order and it clearly showed. I was impressed with the the chef's mission to create amazing Dim Sum dishes in relatively small quantities and not sacrificing the quality by opening a large eaterie. Our bill for the three of us came up to HK$150 which is about £14 in total. Not bad for a Michelin-starred restaurant!

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