Cute-as-can-be dim sum at Times Square - Superstar Seafood Restaurant

Deep Fried Meat Dumpling in Crab Shape - a must-try

 Animal shaped dim sum. There are penguins, ladybugs, crabs, pigs.  So cute that you will have trouble biting into them.

Steamed Shrimp Dumpling Rabbit Shape

Situated on the 10th Floor of Times Square, you are immediately welcomed by huge white birdcages decorated in a wedding gazebo motif at Super Star Seafood Restaurant.  Crystal chandeliers galore.  The tables are rather spread out so one does feel there's more elbow room than your average restaurant.

Gilded Bird Cages houses larger tables

You've got to give this restaurant chain points for trying to stand out.  They have invented these photogenic animal-shaped dumplings to put some fun into dim sum dining and it works.  Well, some taste better than others.  The few I would recommend are (minimum order of two):

Deep fried BBQ pork dumpling (ladybug)  $8 ea.- minced pork filling with diced water chestnut to give it a bit of a crunch
Deep fried Meat Dumpling in Crab Shape $8 ea. - very crispy batter hosts a creamy crabmeat filling, the batter is a little on the sweet side but the whole package works
Steamed Shrimp Dumpling in Rabbit Shape $8 ea. - fresh firm shrimp is very good with chili sauce

Deep fried BBQ Pork Dumpling (Ladybugs)

BBQ Pork Buns

I would skip the Steamed Dumpling in Penguin Shape and the Steam Sweet Sesame Bun (piggy shape).  They were OK but the penguin was ordinary and the piggy was a bit doughy.  Another miss is the Wonton with Chili Oil and Fresh Shrimp - get it at Ding Tai Fung instead, it's much better there.  But here their BBQ Pork Buns are good and their Poached Choy Sum are fine.

Steamed Dumpling in penguin shape, so cute but not the best choice

These little Steamed Sweet Sesame Bun are supposed to resemble piglets but reminds me a little of Fido

For dessert, save room for the Mini-Egg Tarts ($20) and the Serradurra Pudding (off the menu).  The tarts were melt-in-your mouth flaky and the custard was very soft, obviously freshly made.  The pudding was a deliciously creamy mix of almond flavor, fresh cream and biscuit crumbs.  You may need to ask for this especially because it's not on the menu but now you are in the know.

Mini Egg tarts on right made with shortcrust pastry

Serradura Pudding served in a demitasse, the Chinese literal translation is "Woodshavings pudding' because of the biscuit shavings inside

A healthier choice in dessert is their Sweet Bean Curd ($20) which is served warm and soft. The brown sugar crystals on top makes a delicious topping.

Sweet Bean Curd - with brown sugar crystals served warm

For kiddies, choose the Marshmallow Rabbit (with coconut shavings), they will love to pop these little delicacies into their mouths.

Marshmallow Rabbits, which part would you nibble on first?


On weekends this place gets crowded so try to be there by noon, otherwise you'll have a wait.  Lunch should run around HKD100 per person.

Super Star Seafood Restaurant
10/F, Times Square
(the left-most restaurant as you alight from the glass elevators)
Causeway Bay
Telephone: 2628-0886 (reservations)
Hours: 10 am - 12 midnight

Entrance looks like this

Treasure Lake Golden Banquet Restaurant - Sheung Wan

Restaurant at Street level - Entrance is at the left

Restaurant (Left) is within walking distance of historical Western Market

If you are at the end of the HK tram line and have arrived at Western Market and want some simple dim sum and a clean, more upscale environment, then Treasure Lake Golden Banquet is a good bet.

BBQ Pork (Char siu) - our best dish of the day

Upon entering, one can tell they do a lot of wedding banquets here.  Everything is neat and tidy and all tables are covered in caramel-colored tablecloths and all the furniture is still in good condition.  The neutral tones brings a modern touch to the place and the rustic chandeliers are a nice reprieve from all the crystal ones scattered around town.  There are high-chairs for toddlers and an abbreviated bi-lingual menu (30 dishes) for non-Chinese customers.

Bilingual Menu

When seated, you are immediately offered some delicious fresh and crunchy salted peanuts, which are added to your final bill anyway, so if you want more, just ask a waiter for more.  Also presented is a big white ceramic bowl in which you would wash your dishes, chopsticks and tea cups.  I ALWAYS wash the dishes if presented with the option.  Why?  What does it tell me if the restaurant is recommending that I do this? One, that they don't trust their dishwasher to make everything sparkling clean.  Two, maybe because of swine flu/SARS/name-your-latest-epidemic, their customers are asking them to provide the utensils to do their own 'disinfecting' at the table.  You may use the tea or hot water to do the rinsing.

Fried Chicken Wings smothered in Garlic - Jar gai yik

The food is fair to good.  The BBQ Pork ($68) was the best of the dishes we ordered.  The Garlic Chicken Wings ($38, item 214, not on the English menu) was also very tasty if you like deep-fried dishes.  There are no surprises here, Cantonese dim sum staples are what you get for dim sum lunch and it's pretty good.  The only dish that got complaints was the Chicken Feet with Preserved Soya Beans ($22) was not served in the usual black bean sauce and got a thumbs down from our 8-year-old connoisseur.

Chicken feet - Fung Jowl

*The meal came to less than $100 per person with drinks.

If you would like to take advantage of their discounts, you may go at the following times.
Mon - Fri if you pay and leave before 12:45pm or if you sit down after 2pm and leave by 4:30 pm, it's 40% off
Sat- Sun and Public Holidays, 10:30 - 2pm  - 40% off.
Note: The discount does not apply to the tea, snack or service surcharge. Nor does it apply to specially priced items.

Boiled cabbage

This restaurant does take telephone reservations for dim sum lunches.

Treasure Lake Golden Banquet 
1/F, Hongway Garden
7 On Tai Street,
Sheung Wan, Hong Kong
Tel: 2581-1683

*Delicious meal compliments of Bela and David Booth.  Thankyou!

Lin Heung Tea House - Travel back to old Hong Kong dim sum dining for the everyday man

Street level entrance, proceed upstairs for the tables *

What I love about Hong Kong is that there's dim sum for all budgets and all levels of society. You can find these morsels at a 'dai pai dong' (open air food stall) or a six-star hotel and everything in between.

Large Chicken Bun had to be split into 6 to share

This 80+ year established reminds me of my very first dim sum experience. What a trip back in time! No reservations allowed. Washing dishes at the table because there might still be some bits of food stuck to my chopsticks. Groups of strangers sharing tables and the hustle and bustle of activity as people try to elbow each other to get to the freshest offerings.

Fried Egg pastry (Dan so) with golden syrup

Arriving with a group of 12, it was pretty dismal because at 10 o’clock in the morning, this place was ALREADY jam-packed. The waiters suggested we split up into two or three different tables and share with strangers. This well-intentioned advice was not well-received as my multi-national Cantonese class wanted to stick together.

At last one table was offered to us, what luck! This table (with a red Chinese character sign) is reserved for the wait staff. But they made me promise to return the table by 11. ‘OK, I will try.’ ‘No try, we MUST have it back by 11 to eat our lunch!’ ‘Yes, sir!’

Would you believe, we got INCREDIBLE service after that because they wanted this huge table of 12 to eat our lunch in 45 minutes and pay and leave! We got fresh chopsticks right away when one of the pair decide to escape. We got food fresh from the kitchen before anyone else got theirs. We even ordered 4 more baskets of ‘Char Siu Bau’ (BBQ Pork Bun) steamed especially for our table. Excellent! This is definitely the way to go!

At this restaurant, one person from each party, armed with their paper ordering form, leave their table and descend upon the middle-aged ladies with the dim sum carts. The ladies show you what they have and you order and they stamp your card. Be quick because items often run out before the cart makes it to your table so it’s perfect acceptable to walk half-way across to restaurant and mob the kitchen door. Our table was special – we even got dishes that I didn’t even order. No harm done, we ate almost everything!
The waiter even advised us to order dessert as it was
approaching the magic hour.

Sticky rice in lotus leaf, the fragrance is intoxicating when you unwrap

Their signature dish is the Large Chicken Bun – it’s huge and filled with all kinds of goodies with un-boned chicken pieces and quail’s egg; the BBQ pork puff pastry got a nod of approval as well; the Shrimp Dumplings were quite large and the shrimp was large and fresh; Savory chicken and sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf was described as a Chinese tamale, very fragrant and the rice was hot and moist; Fried egg pastry was light and crispy but needed more syrup as it could be quite bland when served on its own.

For our table of 12 who ordered and ate non-stop and were full to the brim, the cost per person came to only HKD40! What a deal! (Take your order card and pay at the counter.) My companions said they would definitely come again. The food was standard fare, nothing fancy but fresh and tasty. My only gripe was that the Fried egg-shaped dumpling was cold. Otherwise, come for the history, for the atmosphere and for the good deal.

Lin Heung Tea House
160-164 Wellington Street
Central
2544-4556

*Photo of restaurant courtesy of Allison Matthei

Best Shanghai Dumplings - Din Tai Fung

Star of the show

I have to say, I am a HUGE fan of Din Tai Fung. With 52 branches all over the world and first class Japanese-style production techniques which maintains the high standards of every dumpling served, you can count on having a wonderful meal at every seating.

My favorite is their signature dish 'Steamed pork dumplings' ($48 for six). What most dim sum restaurants in this city fail to appreciate is that the paper wrapper that lines that bamboo basket is simply inadequate to deal with this 'soup dumpling'. How do paper liners spoil this experience? The dumpling's wrapper sticks to paper, therefore when you try to pick up the dumpling with your chopsticks, your dumpling rips and all the delicate juices are spilled before it is even close to its destination. What Din Tai Fung and restaurants in Shanghai has done is to serve the dumplings on CLOTH liners, thereby eliminating this unfortunate outcome. The focal point of this dish is that you dip the dumpling into the soy sauce/vinegar/ginger sauce and then put the whole thing in your mouth. Then as you bite into it, the dumpling explodes, releasing the 'soup/juices' to fill your palate with a combination of all the flavors. Ahhh, heaven. It is sooo good, it's literally impossible to stop at one.

Our other favorite dumpling dish is the 'Spicy Shrimp and pork wanton' ($45), served in a mild chili oil, it gives the shrimp and pork wantons a bit more heat but not so much that it burns your tongue. It's firmer than the steamed dumplings and is a great accompaniment to the meal.

Just a hint of chili

To cool things down, the 'Tossed sliced cucumber with chili and garlic' ($28) is fresh, crunchy and is the right size for a bite. In fact, all the vegetables are fresh and crispy, the 'Bok choy' ($40) and 'Sauteed Chinese white cabbage' ($40) were both adequate staples and bring balance to the meat-heavy meal.

Mix the noodles well to serve

Here are some more highly recommended dishes:
Egg fried rice with shrimp and shredded pork ($50) - very good flavor, rice not greasy, shrimps are a very good size
Noodle with minced pork and bean sauce ($35) - Mix it well then serve, the noodles tastes homemade - al dente
Boiled glutinous rice dumpling stuffed with pork ($36) - one of the weaker dishes, it's just that everything else is so delicious that this one pales in comparison, it is a dumpling that is similar to a Mexican tamale, it needs to be dipped in soy sauce for more flavor

Almond pudding always ends the meal on a high note

Our party tried out three delicious desserts:
The best dessert voted by my party is the 'Almond pudding with fresh fruit' ($28), served cold it's a gelatin and rice flour based dessert, very light and jelly-like. It is extremely refreshing after all the dumplings we ate. It comes in a medium size ramekins, it could be shared by two. The fruit are two slices of strawberry.
Chilled sago soup with coconut milk and fresh fruit ($28)- the coconut milk flavor is a hit and so are the melon balls but it's a little bland after the fantastic main course.
Boiled glutinous rice dumpling stuffed with red bean paste ($28) - only for those who like sweet red beans. It's standard fare, nothing to write home about.

Chinese people love chilled sweet sago soup

The overall impression is that this is a great place to go. There are two locations in Hong Kong. For a party of five who ate way too much (did we really order five baskets of Shanghai dumplings?), the bill came to $200 per person. Great food, good deal. Prepare for long waits in line!

Din Tai Fung
68 Yee Wo Street (ground floor of Regal Hotel)
Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
3160-8998

and

Shop 130, 3rd Floor, Silvercord Shopping Centre
30 Canton Road
Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong
2730-6928

First US review

Asian Fortune News serving Asian Americans in the greater Washington DC community featured my book. Big thanks to Editor Jay Chen.

(http://www.asianfortunenews.com/site/article_0710.php?article_id=12/)

RTHK 3 interview with Caroline Chan

Last week, my publisher from Blacksmith Media, Pete Spurrier, and I were interviewed by Caroline Chan on her program Connect2. Great fun to be interviewed on radio, if a little nerve-wrecking at first.

We talked about what it takes to put together a book and how publisher and author work together to make it happen, what it takes to get a book published and what it entails to get it in the bookshops and into the hands of the general public.

Click here to listen. The program is around half an hour long, fast forward 2 minutes to get to the main part of the program.
(http://programme.rthk.org.hk/channel/radio/player_popup.php?pid=4824&eid=112307&d=2010-07-18&player=media&type=archive&channel=radio3#/)

Hidden Gem in Wanchai Hopewell Center

Did you know that a lot of restaurants offer special promotions during the off-hours of the day to lure in customers?

Cuisine Royale is located on the 7th Floor of the Hopewell Center on Queens Road East. The dim sums are above average in quality and the prices are just right for everyone. 30% off for Monday to Sundays 9am to 12pm and after 2pm, except Saturdays when it's 30% ALL DAY. Yes, you read right, 30% off all dim sum dishes (not a la carte). Only exception are Public Holidays.

What's good there? Well, my favorite hands-down was their own specialty, which is not available elsewhere, the 'Crispy Rice Flour Roll w/Vegetable'. It's basically a 'cheung fun' rice roll stuffed with fried dough crispies and just the right amount of veg. You dip the pieces in soy sauce and it's heaven!

The 'char siu bau' (BBQ pork buns) were moist and delightful, very good version of this dim sum staple. The fried wontons were excellent, lots of prawns and very crispy.

They also offer 'Siu Long Bau' (Shanghai Soup dumplings) but they are just OK, not as good as in 'Din Tai Fong', certainly. Also OK were the Chiu Chow Fun Gor - (Chiu Chow Steamed Dumplings and the steamed spongcake.

Save up your appetite for the scrumptious mini-desserts. We tried four types, the Chilled Tofu & Minxed Fruits with Almond Flavour- very refreshing and light with some canned fruit. The Chilled Mango Pudding was a good staple. the Sweetened Grapefruit Soup w/Mango was a surprising chilled sweet soup - make sure you stir with soup before drinking as the grapefruit sinks to the bottom of the bowl. The Chilled Pomelo Pudding with Aloe Vera was a light jelly. At HKD8 a bowl and in cute little portions, you can try several different kinds and not feel guilty. There are a total of 13 to choose from, both cold and warm desserts.

Menus are bilingual, which is very helpful but no photographs. This is a 'mark down what you want on the order form and we will bring it to you' kind of restaurant. Also, in the morning they don't do a la carte so you must order from the dim sum menu. The ambience is 'luxurious' with lots of crystal chandeliers but the color scheme is in soft cream so it's not too overwhelming. It's clean, lots of elbow room and the staff speaks Cantonese only but try to be helpful so bring your Dim Sum Guide.

My party of 11 ate very well and the bill came to just HKD 60 per person tip included.

Restaurant
Cuisine Royale
7th FloorHopewell Centre,183Queen's Road East,Wan Chai
phone: 2804-1300

Specialty
Crispy Rice Flour Roll s/Vegetable
Char Siu Bau (BBQ Pork Bun)