China Kitchen is the Chinese restaurant of the Shangri-La hotel in Chiang Mai (I reviewed Shangri-La’s weekend brunch buffet in the past). I went there in February 2020, for a special promotion called “Dim Sum Festival”: an all you can eat dim sum lunch. Not sure if this promotion will be available in the future, but dim sum is one of the fixtures on their menu so you will be able to find similar dishes. It should be mentioned that China Kitchen is advertised as a Szechuan restaurant, while dim sum is part of the Cantonese tradition.
The visit
I had a reservation for a weekday (the day before, when I just showed up, it was too late and the dim sum menu was sold out) and my table was ready for me.
The package deal included all you can eat dim sum dishes, a soup of the day, fried rice, and dessert, but no drinks.
The soup (tomato and chicken) and the fried rice were particularly good. Then I had at least one dim sum per type:
The fried and baked dim sum were better than the steamed ones.
The dessert was a sweet soup with dragon fruit and jellies (quite refreshing).
The check
The final check was 509.25 THB (15.50 USD). What increased the check from the advertised 368 THB net for the food was a drink (a cup of Oolong); and I should emphasize that this was an affordable drink in comparison to what was on the menu. Since you will hardly eat without a drink, 510 THB was the real price of the set lunch. Still a good deal, even if the dim sum was not among the best I had for sure. The service was very good all around.
Warning: “popular” used in the title does not necessarily mean good. It just means that this is a place that is usually crowded. There are even people queuing on weekends, but I personally do not get it. I ended up at Dim Sum Square a couple of times mostly because I did not have much time before going to the airport.
The visit
Contrary to what you may find on some websites, the entrance is not on Hiller Street (perhaps the official address), but on Jervois street.
Even on a weekend during the protests of 2019, the place was pretty crowded. But no line. I could see a lot of tourists in the crowd.
Ordering was pretty easy thanks to a bilingual menu.
I had their siu mai with crab roe. It was just ok. It did not taste particularly fresh even if it was supposed to be steamed on order (and do not get me wrong, I am sure it was, just the result was not remarkable).
The rice rolls with mixed vegetables were ok.
I tried something different, a osmanthus flower coconut milk cake. It was basically a jelly cake. It was interesting.
The “lava buns” with creamy custard were difficult to eat, with the filling that was too hot.
The check
I spent 100 HKD (12.75 USD). Tea, as usual, was included, but there was a small cover charge (4 HKD). For what I got, it was actually not cheap.
The dishes were not bad, but just regular. I think a random cafeteria could do the same. I really do not understand all the rave reviews, unless they are coming from clueless tourists. I do not know, maybe I was put off by the touristy environment. but I found this place just average.
Dim Sum in Hong Kong can range from modern refined luxurious venues with waiters in white gloves and where people speak softly for no apparent reason to noisy diners where you will most likely end up sharing the table with strangers and where you will need to compete with other guests to grab the latest dishes flying out from the kitchen. Sun Hing falls into the latter category. An authentic experience that was recommended to me by a local friend.
The visit
Sun Hing is located in the Western district. It is the store with the pinkish sign in the photo above. It is a couple of blocks down Kennedy Town metro station and further down do not miss the view of the harbor. As most of these traditional dim sum joints, it is open from the early morning to just after lunch time (in this case, to be precise, from 3am to 4pm). At peak lunch time (noon to one) a queue is quite normal.
I arrived before noon and I did not have to wait long. I was seated in a table near the entrance that I would soon share with two unrelated senior citizens. The staff helped me to wash the bowl and cutlery with hot tea, a tradition in Hong Kong and Guangzhou.
They have a bilingual menu, but only on the wall… it can be a good idea to take a picture and use it to point what you want to order, just in case your Cantonese is rusty.
Honestly I am not sure how I got my dishes… it was mix of pointing, nodding, and smiling. The best is to just look at what is coming out from the kitchen and go for the freshest dishes available. A number of dim sum baskets are always available in a corner of the cramped and lively dining room.
My first dish was a selection of their fried dim sum. They were delicious. The best was the fried milk dim sum, absolutely sensational.
I had to have a second one.
The classic suo mai was solid.
The other classic, the shrimp dumplings (har gar) were rich and almost transparent, which is a good sign.
The big dumplings with minced meat were one of the signature dim sum dishes of the store. If not mistaken I had one with pork meat.
The check
It is just a pity that I could not taste more dishes. But what I had was filling, fresh, and tasty. I did not mind the noisy surrounding. The staff was friendly and compassionate with the only foreigner in the shop. A very nice experience.
The mysterious check indicated just around 10 USD. A steal.
For a more relaxed experience you can also consider my other favorite old school dim sum in Hong Kong, Three Minus One Restaurant. However Sun Hing should not be missed.
Where in Hong Kong: Shop C, G/F, 8 Smithfield Road, Kennedy Town, Western District.
Man Mo Dim Sum is the brainchild of Swiss-born restaurateur Nicolas Elalouf who wanted to create a fusion menu reflecting the multiplicity of Eastern and Western influences blending in Hong Kong. Dim Sum dishes were chosen as the target for this experimentation and the menu was created with the help of chefs boasting Robuchon and Ding Tai Fung pedigrees. The result is a charming bistro located in Upper Lascar Row (also known as Cat Street) behind the stalls of a curio market. It has been operating since 2014.
The visit
I had a chance to try the restaurant with three friends from Hong Kong on a quiet weekday in September. We arrived quite late, but it is an all day dining venue, so it was not an issue.
The restaurant offers different types of seating: bar chairs on the left, normal chairs/bench on the right, and a couple of armchairs and sofas on the front. Service was very friendly and they went above and beyond finding for us the right seating arrangement.
The set lunch menu attracted our attention. It was perfect to get an introduction to the restaurant.
The hot dish of the day was a delicious rice with chicken.
The bao (Chinese burger) was snack-size, filled with meat, and came with Thousand Island sauce that could be injected inside the bun with the dispenser.
Then we all chose different dim sum dishes to experience the menu. The first was a crispy wonton with shrimp. Quite good, it was the most traditionally-crafted piece of dim sum of the meal.
The ratatouille dumplings were quite interesting. Definitely good, but I would have expected more flavor coming from the ratatouille.
Then there was a very tasty dumpling with goat cheese.
Finally, included in the set menu, there was a chicken dumpling I did not taste.
We also added the foie gras xiao long bao. It was universally appreciated around the table and the foie gras flavor was distinct. I need to note that the skin of this dumpling was thicker than usual xiao long bao.
The set menu also included a dessert. Two of us chose a Nutella ball, resembling a local dish, but with a heart of Italian spread.
Other desserts tried by the group were Bun Tatin and Hong Kong style lemon tart.
The check
The final check was 865 HKD (110 USD) that included the extra foie gras xiao long bao. The individual cost for the set menu was 156 HKD (around 20 USD). All reasonable in the comfort of a nice environment.
Dim sum is everywhere in Hong Kong. This restaurant offers a nice variation on the theme and left me the desire to go back to text more dishes.
Where in Hong Kong: Wah Koon Building, 40 Upper Lascar Row, Sheung Wan. Website: manmodimsum.com.
I rarely enjoyed a dim sum meal like this. And it was not in a luxury location like Mott 32, the Swan Hotel, or Yi Long Court. It was an old-school dim sum joint in West Hong Kong with a quirky name: Three Minus One (Saam Hui Yaat 叁去壹點心粉麵飯). A friend explained me the story. Initially the restaurant was planned to have three owners, then one stepped down and the name was adopted.
The visit
The storefront with a sing using only Chinese characters.
The owner let me take a picture. He was a very friendly individual Luckily they had an English menu, so ordering was not an issue.
The classic shrimp dumplings were full of meat and super fresh.
The Chiu Chow (or Teochew) dumplings came with a perfect crystal skin and I could taste the aromas of the different herbs used. It is a vegetarian dim sum from a cuisine distinct from the classic Cantonese dim sum.
I am not usually a fun of these big steamed dumplings, but I enjoyed this one with a chicken filling.
Finally I had a pair of tasty meatballs.
The check
In total I spent 76 HKD (around 10 USD) including a pot of tea. It was a hearty and satisfactory breakfast. All the food tasted very fresh and was coming straight from the steamers. If you read this review and are visiting Hong Kong, send me a thank you for sharing this little gem.
Where in Hong Kong: 11 Pok Fu Lam Road, Western District. In Chinese: 西環薄扶林道11號.
Imperial Treasure is a chain of Chinese restaurants hailing from Singapore operating several formats: Fine Chinese Cuisine, Teochew Cuisine, Peking Duck, Shanghai Cuisine, Steamboat. The first restaurant specializing in Teochew Cuisine was established in 2004 in Singapore and the Shanghai restaurant that I visited was their first international location opened in 2012. It is a Cantonese restaurant and for some reason has two Michelin stars. They seem to do good business in Shanghai as they just opened another location using the Steamboat concept. You might encounter them also in Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Incheon, and London.
The visit
I went for a brunch on a Saturday. I made a reservation on the phone. The restaurant is huge and occupies an entire floor of YiFeng Galleria near the Bund (across the street from the Peninsula Hotel).
At 11am the place was already packed. It must be their busiest time of the week. It is really a local favorite. For lunch they have a special dim sum menu, but also the standard menu with more delicacies is available.
I started with my bellwether dish for Cantonese restaurants: the crispy pork belly. It was exceptional! On par with Ji Ping Court, better than the one from Lei Garden (the skin was tender, but still super crispy) and juicer than the one I had at Canton 8.
I had their Teochew dumpling, that has a vegetarian filling. I had better ones in Hong Kong.
Their super classic pork dumpling siew mai was also ok, but nothing exceptional.
The fried wonton with shrimp meat were quite good.
The pan-fried carrot cake with Chinese sausage was also pretty ordinary.
Finally, I found excellent their black sesame glutinous dumplings wit grated peanut. The sesame paste filling was particularly tasty.
The check
Final check (also including a bottle of Evian water and a juice) went for 377 RMB (around 52 USD). The value is there, prices were quite reasonable and the setting was high class.
Do not get me wrong, the food was very good, but the two Michelin stars will remain a mystery to me (same with Canton 8… looks like in Shanghai they give you stars if you make a half decent dim sum).
Having visited all the Michelin-starred restaurants in Shanghai with a sizable dim sum menu, I will say that Seventh Son beats all for quality while Yi Long Court has the best luxury dim sum.
Where in Shanghai: L402-403, Yi Feng Gallery, 99 Beijing Dong Lu.
Jardin De Jade is a popular Chinese restaurant chain with branches in Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, and Macau. The Hong Kong Wanchai Branch has been granted one Michelin Star since 2013.
Jade Mansion is the new fine dining concept of the group in Shanghai and their original location at the 4th floor of IFC mall has been granted the iconic Michelin star since 2017.
The visit
The location is very convenient. Sometimes I stop eating at IFC on the way to Pudong airport of Hongqiao station since the mall is directly connected to the line 2 of the subway that connects these two major hubs. It was one of those days.
The reception.
The evening before I went to the restaurant to make a reservation in person. Staff did not speak English, but the menu is fully translated.
The restaurant is very large with no shortage of private and shared dining rooms. Above the dining room where I was seated. It is a modern elegant environment (even if my sofa was a bit worn).
If you go for lunch make sure to ask for the “Guangzhou” menu, basically a menu of dim sum dishes available until 4pm.
I ordered some dim sum and one of their signature dishes. The first dish was three vegetarian dumplings with herbs. It was really good. Recommended.
Then I had a dish of Osmanthus and Water Chestnut Cake. I am very glad that I ordered this dish (first time) as it was really a nice flavor in a unique solid yet gelatinous texture.
The classic Sao Mai was not so classic… it had some big chunks of shrimp and abalone. Overall I did not particularly liked it.
The steamed buns with pork were very well executed. A perfect exemplar of this classic.
I thought that trying the just the dim sum would have not been fair. So I also ordered one of their signature dishes from the extensive menu. It was a hilsa herring (ilish) fillet boiled in a delicate soy sauce. Unfortunately the fish was full of small bones and very difficult to enjoy. However, there were so many interesting dishes in the regular menu: stewed turtle, duck in brown sauce, flatfish with scallion, crisp chicken with caviar and mango, a matsutake and watercress soup with Evian (sic) water, to name a few that caught my attention.
The check
Total check was 344 RMB (half for the fish, dim was very affordable). There was service charge, but for some reason there was a lunch discount. In the menu they have a lot of very reasonably priced dishes.
The dim sum was overall excellent and the menu is large and well curated. Dishes are well curated and executed. If this deserves a Michelin star, I am not sure though.
Where in Shanghai: 4/F, IFC Pudong, 8 Shiji Da Dao (Century Avenue) In Chinese: 世纪大道8号，国金中心IFC商场4楼.
Yi Long Court is the main Chinese restaurant of the Peninsula Hotel in Shanghai. It has two stars in the 2019 edition of the Shanghai Michelin Guide (and one in the 2020 edition). It is run by a veteran: Hong Kong-born Michelin-starred executive chef Tang Chi Keng opened this restaurant in 2011 before moving on to Hei Fung Terrace at The Peninsula Tokyo, and LiLi at The Peninsula Paris. Then in 2016 he returned and he has been at the helm since then.
A small tip: enter the Peninsula from the entrance on the Bund (precisely Zhongshan East Road). The restaurant is on the second floor.
The visit
I dined at Yi Long Court on a Saturday. I did not have a reservation and the restaurant was almost empty.
The main dining room was impeccably appointed and exuded understated elegance as you might expect from a Peninsula hotel. From the windows you can see Zhongshan road and some of Pudong’s skyscrapers at a distance.
I ordered the chef’s seasonal set menu reinforced by two dim sum dishes. The first was a trio of vegetarian steamed dumplings with mushrooms and truffles. The truffle flavor was quite distinct. Delicious.
The other dim sum was scallop dumplings with caviar. The caviar was probably unnecessary, but the scallops were meaty and tasty.
Then the first dish of the set menu arrived and it featured more dim sum items alongside two barbecued meats: glazed pork and chicken, a delicious spring roll with shrimps, and a classic shrimp dumpling.
At this point I also got the house spicy sauces: one based on tomatoes and one based on fish. Both only lightly spicy.
Finally I received a complimentary snack: sugar-coated walnuts. These were particularly addictive.
Then I was served a soup: the broth was based on dried scallops (conpoy) with shredded sea cucumber. The soup had a creamy texture and was enjoyable.
The next dish featured a wok-fried king prawn (yes, it was really big) with some scallops and vegetables. Perfect dish.
Next was braised minced pork with bean curd and hot chili sauce (known as mapo tofu). This dish marked a departure from Cantonese classics, introducing a Sichuan dish. The meat had a very good taste. It was a big dish to the point to be difficult to finish and markedly hot.
While I was still working my way through the mapo tofu I was served the last dish before the dessert, a bowl of Yangzhou fried-rice, particularly generous with shrimp. This is a simple dish but it was perfectly executed and cannot remember a better specimen anywhere else. It helped in finishing the mapo tofu (it would have been good to have the two dishes together since the beginning).
The last dish was a chilled mango pudding (with an almond cookie). I am not a big fan of mango, but this pudding was excellent (and also a big portion).
The check
Total check was 756.73 RMB (or 111 USD). The set menu alone was less than 500 RMB, the rest was an expensive bottle of water and the two dim sum dishes. The dim sum menu that I believe is available only for lunch has excellent value.
Overall I enjoyed the lunch very much and I was particularly impressed by the dim sum dishes. Thinking about the Michelin Guide, this restaurant is way above other Cantonese restaurants that I have visited so far in Shanghai, including Canton 8 (two stars as well), Lei Garden, or Seventh Son.
Where in Shanghai: 2/F, Peninsula Hotel Shanghai, 32 Zhongshan East 1st Road, Huangpu District Booking and menu on the hotel website.
As part of the Shanghai Michelin Guide Scramble, I headed off-the-beaten path to try Canton 8 in Runan street. The restaurant is located in an interesting part of town full of creative industry companies. Modern cafes share the space with traditional Chinese restaurants.
The visit
I went on a weekday without a reservation. I was a bit worried by a review posted by The Shanghai Kid that claimed to have waiting for one hour and half (but it was a weekend). No problem, I arrived at around 11.30 and I was offered a table on the spot. But the restaurant got busy quickly.
The dining room is not enormous (not a Chinese banquet room) and decorated with modern taste.
They had an interesting tasting menu for 500 RMB, but I preferred hand picking my dishes. At lunch, dim sum items are available.
I had the chef’s soup of the day: it was a relatively thick stock with pieces of winter melon, duck meat, and pearl barley.
In a Cantonese restaurant I usually order crispy roast pork. This was good, with the skin not too crispy making it a very tender bite.
The two classics, har gar (shrimp dumpling) and siu mai (marinated minced pork meat dumpling with crab roe) were ok, as many other I ate.
I also tried one of their “delicacies”: a Boston lobster claw in shrimp paste. It was a nicely presented dish, illustrative of their extended menu that is not just dim sum.
Finally I had the Hong Kong style pork “pineapple” buns (no pineapple used of course). The baking was perfect.
Finally I had a almond creamy soup as a dessert.
In the Shanghai Kid’s review that I mentioned service was bashed harshly. Service during my visit was impeccable. One member of staff did speak English and was particularly nice, to the point to ask if I needed fork and knife (me, the poor Westerner!) or a taxi at the end. That’s above and beyond most restaurants in Shanghai.
The check
This substantial lunch cost me 280 RMB (41 USD). Someone says that Canton 8 hold the controversial record of cheapest two star Michelin restaurant. Maybe. But it is not very important.
The dim sum was good (but not extraordinary) and the menu also sports many delicacies that could make an interesting dinner. The rating of the Michelin Guide defies logic, but I would have no problem recommending the restaurant for Cantonese food in Shanghai.
Where in Shanghai: 63 Runan Street In Chinese: 汝南街63号 Tip: there is a branch of Canton 8 in a more central location on the Bund.
The White Swan hotel is a 28-story luxury hotel overlooking the Pearl River. Opened in 1983, it is Guangzhou’s first truly five star hotel and in 2015 a massive renovation was completed. It is also a culinary destination in Guangzhou as it features a number of high-end restaurants including a Michelin-starred venue.
They even have a waterfall in the lobby.
The visit
In late January 2019, along with three friends I had a Sunday dim sum in the Hongtu Hall restaurant, the largest dining venue in the hotel overlooking the river. On weekends, they serve the same dim sum menu also in the Jade River restaurant located upstairs (it is the Michelin-starred one).
Dim sum is super popular in Guangzhou and Sunday morning is the busiest time for dim sum. We were handed our tickets and waited around half an hour to get a table in the busy dining room. Number progression was shown on a screen.
With a touch of class, the tea was professionally poured by a waitress.
Various dim sum dishes soon began to reach the table. One of the first was stewed chicken feet. It is an extremely popular dish, but I had to give a pass. I yet have to become acquainted with chicken feet, even if they seem to enjoy a great deal of popularity everywhere in East and South East Asia.
Then we had an excellent crispy egg tart (on the left) and a crispy crumbling pastry called sachima (on the right). This type of pastry originated in North East China and is now popular nationwide. It is made of fluffy strands of fried batter bound together with a stiff sugar syrup, but the result is not too sweet. It was the first time I had it.
Turnip cake. Always nice.
Classic shrimp dumplings. Very tasty.
Baked pork buns with minced pork. This dish had a delicately sweet backtaste.
Steamed rice flour.
The swan-shaped dim sum was a pastry filled with chestnut paste.
A very special dish that we shared was a portion of sun flower chicken. The chicken was served cold and what is special is that it is a chicken mainly fed with sun flower seeds. It is difficult to describe, but there is indeed something special about this chicken meat. Only drawback was that there was not a lot of meat.
The check
Total check was 1154 RMB (or 172 USD). That was 43 USD per person. This can be regarded as expensive for dim sum, but considering the five star venue the final price seemed quite acceptable.
All the dishes were excellent, I could rank them as one of the best dim sum I ever had. The menu is very extensive, so it is a very good idea to go as a party to enjoy more variety.
