Dim Sum At WK Restaurant

Yes, groan, another dim sum post! I have to blog this, so you guys can hurry there and keep the place running. Not many people know that WK Restaurant near Dowish Restaurant (now what kind of a name is that?? Do I say "Dow-ish" or "Do-wish", or just "Dowsh"?), Bundusan/Swamp Road in Penampang has new chefs, rumored to be from a Brunei restaurant and from Promenade Hotel, and all-new menus for dim sum, lunch and dinner. I've only been there for dim sum, twice, but I'm told dinner's very good too.

Early last year, we had a flurry of new restaurants when Warisan Square opened. There were also a couple of good dim sum places I blogged about, HK City Restaurant and Royal Palace Restaurant. HK City Rest. has since kaput and Royal Palace seems to be following suit too, which is sad because their dim sum when they first opened was so good people lined up for months to eat it. On a recent visit, Royal Palace wasn't even opened for dim sum breakfast until 11 am. Such is the state of affairs in KK when it comes to restaurants. I sure hope with 1 Borneo up, Warisan Square will have a wakeup call. The place is crammed and cheapened with side stalls left, right and center and recently they've put up a glass cage in front of Times Bookstore, right on the road. I can't understand how they got the approval (if they got one at all) to erect a clear glass section right on the road. There's always bound to be some clumsy, reckless (men) drivers who can't tell especially at night that that's glass walls sticking out. My dog ran into our glass slding door, so did my brother and they weren't strangers to my house.

Whenever someone tells me they like the dim sum at Foo Ping, I put them into a Foo Ping dim sum lovers box. I've only been there once and it was enough. Nearly all their dim sum were deep-fried and most of their items such as siu mai seemed factory-made (I know somebody who gets them from the same supplier in Kolombong) and the golden test, the ha gow, failed miserably. The ha gow skin was mushy, the prawns were powdery and minced and mushy, and that made me sulk all the way home (at my age, you shouldn't eat anything not worth eating).

Forget about hotel dim sum. Dim sum without pork is like curry without spices. So, as far as I know, WK Rest. has the best dim sum in town. For now. Although the dimsum is not served in a steaming trolley, which I prefer for that nostalgic traditional feel, your orders will arrive piping hot and freshly made. Another thing I love is that they serve mustard sauce which is a must for ha gow. Funny thing, mustard sauce with dim sum must be a Sabah thing because I don't find it anywhere else, not even Hong Kong. Oh, another nice thing is the dim sum size--not too big or small.


Medium-thick cheong fun (rice flour rolls), the way it should be, with prawns. The cha siu cheong fun was too thin.

Sui gow/dumplings in superior soup with (fake) sharks' fins. Despite all the hype, it didn't taste so special.

Siu mai. Good size, not too big or small.


Ha gow, my favorite. The prawns were crunchy and skin soft yet slightly chewy.

Prawns in tofu skin.

Steamed beef tripe. Soft yet chewy.

Tuaran mee, RM12 for a small portion that was more like medium.

Hum sui gok (salty water corners??) are deep-fried glutinous rice puffs with a meat filling. Light crisp outside, soft sticky inside, very tasty.

Steamed chicken feet with black beans. Fun to eat.


Oh I love this for the texture of the wrapper, which is supposedly bamboo pith although in Sichuan I read that it is a type of fungus.


Ah, steamed pork ribs with black beans. This always reminds me of my father, and his special treat for me whenever we go for dim sum. Because I was a skinny child, he'd always order "pai guet" (bones) for bony me, and me only, and my 4 other siblings could only look on...

All that, plus a few more baskets of dim sum, for RM73.10 for 4 people.