First Hong Kong Dim Sum Experience

OMG, delicious! For lunch today, my coworkers took me to the Super Star Seafood Restaurant for Dim Sum. People in HK eat at 12:30 for lunch so we left a little early to beat the crowd. I have been excited and anxious for Dim Sum since I found out I was going to Hong Kong. As some of you know, I had a TERRIBLE life threatening reaction to shrimp this summer. Since then I haven't tried to eat any crustaceans at all. As an adventurous and experimental eater I am super disappointed that I have to avoid shrimp, lobster and crab while on this trip. It is such a tease!

Anyhow, back to the dim sum. Naturally, Joyce who is from HK did the ordering for us. Afterwards, we realized we had way too much food for three people, but we wanted to try a variety of things. Dim Sum, and most Cantonese food, is enjoyed best as a group or family style. The dishes come out as they are ready and it is customary to dig right in or start serving each other. My chopsticks skills are in training so I did not try to serve Joyce or Jen, otherwise I probably would've spilled a lot of food on them!

OK, back to the dim sum for real now. The dishes...so good! I had always thought of Dim Sum as steamed buns and dumplings, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. First dish to come out was a BBQ pork in honey. Sweet and savory and tender. The second dish was called spring rolls, but as you can see they look nothing like the ones we think of in the US. The spring roll was crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside filled with chicken and taro. I had the most difficult time using my chopsticks with this one! The rice rolls are thin broad rice noodles rolled up into little bite size pieces in a savory soy-like sauce. So yummy!! The green beans were cooked perfectly and the pork buns were really the best I've ever had. I reluctantly passed on the shrimp dumplings, but I was told there was a whole shrimp in it surrounded by a hot soup liquid so it bursts in your mouth when you eat it. So jealous!! One of my favorite dishes was the fried fish pieces. This tasted like a fish chiccarone (pork rinds)! It was addicting and I popped them in my mouth like popcorn, dangerous. Another favorite was the stone fish dumpling you see in the bamboo steamer and chopsticks below. Stone fish is a specialty in this restaurant so we just had to try it. You may have seen a stonefish on a travel or animal show, it's an ugly fish as you can see and the most toxic and poisonous one in the sea! SO, naturally we ate it. It was delicious. It has a similar texture to shrimp or even monkfish (which is also an extremely ugly fish), but much more tender and juicier. It surprises me that such a rough looking fish can be so soft and delicious!

About half way through our meal I looked around and realized the banquet hall sized restaurant was completely packed! Dim Sum is definitely a lunch/brunch time thing and a very social experience. Thank you to Joyce and Jen for a great first time Dim Sum experience in HK! I will definitely be going to back for more! Oh, and I'll be eating the leftovers for dinner :)

Joyce gave me a couple of marshmallows this afternoon. Check out this Hello Kitty one with a strawberry jam filling, fun! The other one had a chewy strawberry filling, also yummy! And yes, Hello Kitty is everywhere and people love her. I even saw Hello Kitty cup of noodles at the grocery store!