House of Canton 翰騰閣

My blog entries are like buses as I'm publishing another one today after the first took ages to appear. Today's lunch was a dim sum affair at a restaurant within Cityplaza in Tai Koo on HK island. As with most places in HK it was busy and with it being a Saturday as well, even more so. We had 11 people eating today as it was an extended family pre-wedding gathering.
Dim sum is a communal food so there are no courses and everyone gets to try a bit of everything. Generally the dishes are served in the bamboo trays as they're predominately steamed dishes but some are plated or otherwise.

Because there was no order in which the dishes arrived I'll present the photos and describe them underneath. Popular ones (in the Western cultural sense) will be described first and the less well-known and more obscure latterly.

Har gow (prawn dumplings): Nice large pieces of prawn wrapped in a translucent pastry that was slightly too thick for my liking.

Siu mai (pork & prawn dumplings): A very pleasant dumpling with predominantly a pork filling with a sizeable prawn piece on top.

Char siu bao, (barbecue pork bun): This had a nice white dough and the pork filling was ok.

Pai gwut (Steamed Spare ribs): Bite sized chunks on meat (both lean and fat) in black bean sauce and chilli that was not too spicy.

Roast pork belly: The best dish I had. Lovely mix of meat, fat and a crispy skin.

Ma Lai Go (steamed sponge cake): Sweet and soft, if a little soggy.

Choi sum: Boiled Chinese vegetables served in a soup with rice vermicelli, which I thought was quite bland. 

Chicken fried rice with abalone sauce: Really nice dish with the right amount of sauce to make it moist yet not too runny.

Chicken's feet: this dish would scare most people off, Chinese or otherwise. This stewed delicacy is quite sweet and tasty but I am not be able to tell you the ingredients of the stew base, unfortunately.  Remember to spit the bones out, of which there can be a few.



Generally you mark down the dishes you want and the food arrived quickly after ordering, so the waiters' duties are mainly to bring the food over and refill your teapot. It's a fairly typical dim sum / local restaurant setting and a there must have been a couple who are likely to have had / will have their wedding banquet there recently as their names were placed on one of the walls (but it wasn't my fiancee and I). 


Overall it is a decent enough restaurant with some nice dishes. The good thing about dim sum is that if you don't like the portion you have just ate there's probably someone who will like it so wastage and guilt is kept to a minimum. Actually in Chinese culture no-one really finishes the dishes whole as they are saving the last portion for someone else out of respect. However, with me being brought up in Scotland I'll finish it off if it's nice!


Ratings:
Food: 4/5
Presentation: 3/5
Service: 3/5
Setting: 3/5


Overall: 13/20


The bill worked out to be around 100HKD a head. (At time of writing 1GBP = approximately 12HKD)

I ate: all of the items that were written above and more that have not been photographed.

I drank: Chinese tea of Iron Buddha  and Dragon Well (Lung Jeng in Cantonese) varieties.


I wore: Jeans and polo shirt.