Hong Kong Day 2: Dim Sum

Dim sum must be to the Hong Kongers what roast beef and yorkshire pudding is to the British. You just can't go to HK and not eat dim sum. Although dim sum is very good in many countries, I still think it's best in HK. Even western food is supposedly better in HK than those in many western countries, I am told, because HKgers take their food so seriously and demand the best. Hkgers have the money to eat the best and they have been feted with the best for so long that they will reject anything not up to their standards. One resounding quality HK/Cantonese food must be is freshness. There's little preserved food and plenty of fresh veggies and meat. Chickens, fish, frogs and so on are killed on the spot in the wet markets.

6th Aunt and her hubby brought us to the new office complexes, Tai Koo Place I think it's called., where Super Star Seafood Restaurant is in one of the towers, Oxford House. Being in a classy area, the restaurant serves dim sum to order, unlike traditional dim sum houses where the dim sum is pushed around on a trolley, steaming hot. I like that better, for the fun and tradition of it, but also because I don't read Chinese and so can ask the waitress to open the steamer lids for me to choose.

Super Star Seafood Restaurant is one of those modern dim sum places so besides traditional dim sum, they also serve new creations. 6th Aunt's hubby ordered for us.


Hokkien fried rice

Deceptively simple and humble-looking but wow, this was seriously one of the best rice dishes I've ever eaten. I've never known of Hokkien fried rice. There were bits of water chestnuts, kale, dried scallops, crunchy prawns,mushrooms and egg shreds in a delicious dried scallops sauce that hit my palate and made me wanted to cry with satisfaction at the combination of flavors and tastes. Highly recommended!




Beancurd sheet rolls


...crunchy on the outside, tender-crunchy and delicious inside with prawn paste, made perfect with a dip of Worchestershire sauce. Hkgers like to dip fried stuff in Worchestershire sauce. Must be a result of their colonial days.


Super crunchy Vietnamese rolls. I found the 'skin'/coating too hard-crunchy and oily. The filling was good though. I thought I tasted bananas in the filling.


Chives discs. I didn't like this; too oily. I suspected that 6th Aunt's hubby was on a fried food rampage.


Steamed chicken feet. My hub just loves this. For the bite and work I think. He loves fish heads, chicken bones, crabs, all those fiddly food.


A Shanghainese dish, vegan duck. Made with beancurd sheets and filled with mushrooms, carrots, water chestnuts etc. Yummy. By now I was sure that 6th Aunt's hubby doesn't get to eat deep-fried food at home :)


Crunchy rolls wrapped in rice flour sheets. Oh this was SO yummy! The rice flour sheets was smooth and tempered the fried crunchiness of the filling.





If you don't read Chinese, it can be quite a problem ordering in HK restaurants. Tell you a secret: One criteria I looked for in choosing my hubby was that he must read Chinese. This was triggered by an experience in a dim sum restaurant in HK decades ago when my friend Wendy and I were totally unable to read the menu. She was able to read the Chinese character for 'cow' and we ordered that item but it wasn't what we wanted. It was so frustrating and embarassing. So now you know. Haha.

Since we didn't get to pay the bill, I have no idea how much the items cost but looking at the prices on the menu, the prices seem average for restaurants of this class in HK. I definitely would come back for dim sum here.