Review Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ (Average)
Address: No. 138號, Section 2, Gongyi Rd, Nantun District, Taichung City, Taiwan 408
Google Map Link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/Erf7ANY2u5kZhZJi6
(Please refer to the Timings provided in the Google Map Link for the Operating Hours.)
酥皮焗叉烧包 Baked Flaky Bun with BBQ Pork = TWD115
魚子燒賣 Steamed Dumplings with Crab Eggs (3 Pieces) = TWD105
水晶鮮蝦餃 Steamed Crystal Shrimp Dumplings = TWD128
臘味蘿蔔糕 Pan Fried Turnip Rice Flour Cake with Dried Pork = TWD76
1 Free Flask of Pu-Er Tea Included in the Price
Service Charge 10% = TWD42
Here is the Full Chinese Menu of the Eatery/Restaurant.They also have an English Menu which you can find later in the Review because of how interesting it was. Prices are Accurate as of the Date of the Post.
As I was doing my Research on Eateries to eat in Taichung, I came across this HK Dim Sum Restaurant so hey, I thought I'd give it a try and see how would Taiwan interpret HK-Styled Dim Sums. 🇹🇼 🇭🇰 🤔
This was a Large Dim Sum Restaurant, Not Particularly Atas, but Nicely Renovated and Airconditioned. 👍 I was slightly amused that the Background Music they played here are Still Contemporary Taiwanese Pop Songs. 🎵🎶
I do appreciate their Cute Attempt to paste Faux HK Street Signs on the Walls as Decoration. 🪧
TBH these Stickers were abit Cheap Looking, 😅 but I appreciated the Effort nevertheless.
There were a Few Customers within, Not Crowded at around 2.00pm on a Weekday Afternoon. 🕑
All of the Customers look like Locals, not much Tourists around. 🤔
The Staffs are mostly Young Folks who are Friendly, Welcoming and Polite as are Every Taiwanese Eateries. 😄 Upon Entering and shown to your Seat, they will explain some things to you. I thought the Speed at which they spoke was a Tad Fast, 😅 but I caught the most Important Ones at least:
1) There will be an Additional 10% Service Charge added to the Final Bill. 💵
2) Food Items that have a Leaf Logo 🌿 on the Menu indicates that Coriander 香菜 is a Component within the Dish that cannot be removed. 🤔 I get that some people dislike Coriander 🌿 but this is the First Time I'm seeing it so specifically mentioned like this. I'm guessing Most Taiwanese hate Coriander? 😅
3) Rice and Noodle Dishes are served until only 2.30pm in the Afternoon. 🍚🍜 So if you want to order these, do take note to come before 2.30pm. 🕑
4) Perhaps the Cutest Thing they informed is that unlike Regular Eateries where you put a Simple Tick at the Item you want to order, you write a Stroke of the Chinese Word 正. 🖌️ This is a Very Cultural Thing. 😄 Let me Explain for any Non-Chinese Readers.
The Chinese Word 正 is made up of 5 Strokes. 🖐️
Some people write this word as a Numerical Representation. 🔢 Refer to this Photo to see what I mean.
So what about Foreign Folks who have No Idea about this 正 thing? 🤔 Well actually they do have both a Larger and Smaller Menu that actually has English Wordings. 📷 This Special English Menu is Laminated so you can use a Provided Dry-Erase Marker to simply tick what you want as normal. 🖊️ I also find it especially Amusing that they have 2 Sizes of their English Menu maybe this is for Presbyopia 老花眼 Older Folks like Me? 👓😅
As per my Usual Test for a More Atas Level of Restaurant, I did request if they were able to Serve Up All Dishes to me at the same time. 🤔 They weren't able to do it, but I appreciated that they at least tried. 👍
It took 6 Mins for the 蘿蔔糕 Turnip Cake, 8 Mins for the 叉烧包 CSB, and Strangely 21 Mins for both the Siew Mai and Har Gao. In Total it took 21 Mins for Everything to be Served Up.
No Idea why Siew Mai and Har Gao took so long. 🤔 And its not as if the Eatery was Full House when I was there. I mean if its going to take 21 Mins, wouldn't it be possible to keep the Turnip Cake and CSB in some Heater Rack while waiting for the 2 Items to be Ready? 🤔 I thought thats abit strange they couldn't serve all of them up at the same time.
🍵 1 Free Flask of Pu-Er Tea Included in the Price
I liked the fact that a Flask of Pu-Er Tea is included in the Price. 🍵👍 This Aspect indeed follows Hong Kong Style where a "Tea Charge" is included in place of Service Charge. 🇭🇰 So you can basically treat the 10% Service Charge in this Place as their Version of Hong Kong's "Tea Charge" then. 🍵😅
Now i'm not a Tea Connoisseur and I don't drink Chinese Tea often, so I don't recall how does Pu-Er Tea tastes, 😅 but I thought the one they served here tasted Decent and Not Dilluted. 🍵👍
It has a Noticeable Earthy and Woody Taste. Served Hot, 😋 I liked that there is a Whole Flask available to Self-Service Pour as Much or as Little as you want. 👍
Review of the Available Condiments
Soy Sauce
The one they have here has a Good Quality Atas Taste suitable for a Restaurant. 👍 For some reason, it also reminds me of the Type of Soy Sauce that is served in our Expensive Kopitiam Franchises used to eat Half Boiled Eggs with. 😅
Chilli Sauce
The Chilli Sauce has an Intense Salty Taucheo Taste. 🫘 This Taucheo type of Chilli Taste Profile is very commonly found in Many Eateries in Taiwan (at least from the ones I've eaten). I reckon this is their Equivalent of Garlic Chilli Sauce 🌶️ used in Most Malaysia JB Eateries?
This Chilli Sauce is Spicy and will Kiss your Tongue abit, 🌶️ but the Spiciness doesn't linger very long. The Saltiness is more Prominent than Spiciness in this. Not Bad and is a Decent Sauce to use with Dim Sums. 👍
And now we finally come to the Review of their Dim Sums. 🤔
Each of them are listed under as their Top 10 Signatures. I liked that both their Steamed Dim Sums come in Authentic Bamboo Containers, 🎍 Nothing Special about the Layering, they use Standard Parchment Papers.
魚子燒賣 Steamed Dumplings with Crab Eggs (3 Pieces) = TWD105
Standard Size and Decent Looking, although I thought the Amount of Crab Roe Topping on top feels Noticeably Less compared to others I've eaten. 🤔 The Siew Mais also do Stick Together. Biting into it immediately had a Taste of Noticeable Porkiness 🐷 which is immediately Mixed with some Bigger Pieces of Prawn. 🦐 The Whole Thing had a Sweetish Meaty + Prawny taste to it. 😋
The Texture is Juicy and Slightly Bouncy, but for Some Reason I thought the Texture also tasted like Chicken Thigh. 🐔 Could this be using Taiwan Pork? 🤔 Because this Particular Breed of Pork tasted like Chicken Thigh to me from the Other Eateries that I've tasted so far. 😅
This Siew Mai tasted like a Proper Siew Mai, but I feel the Porkiness was abit much 🤔 and I got Quickly got Jelak after eating the 1st One. 😅 Adding the Chilli Sauce or Soy Sauce helped alot to hit away most of the Jelakness. 🌶️ Actually I thought Soy Sauce worked better because of its Saltiness. Acceptable as a Siew Mai, but I'm not a Fan of this Rendition of Siew Mai mainly due to its Overly Porkiness. 🐷🤔
水晶鮮蝦餃 Steamed Crystal Shrimp Dumplings = TWD128
I loved the Beautiful Orange Glow on the Har Gao. 👍 Skin was Slightly Thickish and Noticeably Doughy to the Bite but still Passable for me. Amount of Folds while not Top Class, were also Passable. The Whole Taste is Completely 100% Prawn, 🦐 and I'm glad its not Overly Prawny. Firmish Bite Texture. 😋 For some reason though, I also thought it was also Noticeably Oily. 🤔 This is the 1st Har Gao in which the Filling tasted Oily for me. Strange but still Acceptable Tasting although a Unremarkable Har Gao. 🤔
When Dissecting it, I could see a Whole Prawn within 🦐 and also interestingly what looks like some Onions or Soft Radish Roots? 🧅 Perhaps the Oil that I tasted were the Oil used when using to Sweat the Onions? 🤔
Clever Technique, this is the 1st Time I've see a Har Gao Filling do it this way. Culinary its a Good Idea, but in Practice I thought it 出油 abit much resulting in a Slightly Oily Filling. 🤔 Still a Good Idea though. Again, the Condiment Sauces helped alot here.
臘味蘿蔔糕 Pan Fried Turnip Rice Flour Cake with Dried Pork = TWD76
When this was Served Up, I initially thought that the Amount of Kueh given felt abit Small. 🤔 The Sauce that comes with this has a Deep and Earthy Sweetness that feels like its powered by Honey. 🍯 Not Spicy at all.
Although it took 21 Mins before I started eating this, I am impressed that it still maintained a Soft and Creamy Texture and didn't go Firm and Dry. 👍 I Absolutely Love the Instant Hit of Haebee and a Solid Prominent Taste of Turnip/Radish in Every Bite. 😋 This tastes very good and is indeed worthy of being considered as a Dim Sum Level of Turnip Kueh. ♥️
Dipping the Kueh into the Provided Sauce provided an Additional Level of Deep Earthy Sweetness to its Soft Creamy Texture. 😋 This was so good, that even when the Kueh is no longer Freshly Hot due to the 21 Mins I waited, I still found it to be Delicious. 😋
酥皮焗叉烧包 Baked Flaky Bun with BBQ Pork = TWD115
The CSB they have here is the Tim Ho Wan Baked Style, not the Soft Fluffy style. 🤔 When it was served up, there was a Delicious Baked Aroma wafting from it. 😋 What I found Amusing and perhaps you can also see from the Photo are that the CSBs are all Not Uniform in Size and Shape. 😅
Abit Ugly Looking, one even had an Uneven Coating which you can actually see how its made. 😅 So this Type of CSB is actually a Regular Bun coated with a Batter and then Fried. This Uneven Imperfection betrayed how the Actual CSB is made in this case. 😅
Now although the Appearance of the CSB were Ugly, the Taste luckily made up for its Imperfections. 👍 When biting into it, the Outer Skin Texture was Soft and Crispy Crackly and the Inner Bun had a 松松软软 Soft Texture. 😋 For some Reason, biting this CSB reminds me of biting into a Malaysia Rotiboy. 😅 Almost Exactly the Same Taste, that I felt this is like biting into a Mini Rotiboy actually. 😋
The Meat Filling within was Impressive because instead of the Mashed Up Type, there were Big Fat Chunks of Char Siew and they filled the Entire Bun. 🍖 They comprised of a Good Mix of Fat and Meat, all Coated with a Sweet and Sticky Char Siew Sauce. 🍯
Not Overly Sweet and Not Overly Porky, this Filling was Well Executed. 👍 Imagine biting into a Bread Dough that tastes like Rotiboy followed by Thick Soft Tender Pieces of Meat and Fat 🍖 soaked in a Sweetish Sticky Char Siew Sauce and you will get an Idea how this tastes like. NGL They're Ugly but still Delicious. 😅
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Conclusion and Closing Thoughts
Personally I feel the 2 Iconic Steamed Siew Mai and Har Gao were not to my Taste 不适合我的口味. 🤔 Siew Mai was a Tad Overly Porky 🐷 and Har Gao was a Tad Doughy and Oily. Although I do appreciate the Clever Technique of attempting to Incorporate Fried Onion into the Har Gao like this although it didn't work for me. 🧅🤔
At the Price of TWD105 (S$4.50) for the Siew Mai and TWD128 (S$5.50) for the Har Gao, they also didn't feel Very Affordable for what they are. 🤔 That said, while the 2 of them didn't suit my taste, maybe someone else might like it better.
CSB at TWD115 (S$4.70) was also Not Particularly Cheap. Presentation wasn't Perfect with alot of Imperfections such as Unequal Size and Uneven Coating of Batter resulting in an Uneven Look. 😅 But despite the Flawed Presentation, I found it Delicious to Munch because of How Generous, Meaty and Fatty the Large Sized Char Siew Pieces were. 🍖😋 This really felt like eating a Rotiboy with Char Siew Fillings. Delicious. 👍
At TWD76 (S$3.50) for the Fried Turnip Kueh was the one that Impressed me, 👍 especially when it could still retain its Soft and Creamy Bite Texture and not go firm even after 21 Mins. 😋 The Haebee and Turnip Slices within were Gao Gao making this taste Authentic. 😋 If I had eaten this Fresh when it was first served up, this would have been Even Better. 👍 This one is worth to try especially if you like Fried Turnip Kueh Dim Sum.
Overall, this wasn't a Very 100% Authentic Hong Kong Dim Sum Eatery as you can see there are many Flaws and Imperfections. 🤔 Despite that, I could tell there were at least some Effort done and even some Surprising Attempts at Innovation 👍 especially when I saw how they tried to incorporate Fried Onions into a Har Gao like this. 🧅👍
The Unique "正" style of Ordering Dim Sum was also something that I'm Super Amused with. 😅 This is the 1st Time I've encountered such an Adorable Ordering System that actually incorporate a Very Chinese Element like this because this "正" thing is a Very Cultural Thing that only Chinese People will understand. 😄
I have Zero Issues with the Customer Service Level and I liked the Very Polite and Friendly Staffs who I felt tried to go out of their Way to make my Dining Experience a Very Good One. ♥️ They do keep the Dishes when you're done Eating but of course they are Very Polite in doing so. 👍
Don't let my Average Score deter you. If you're in Taiwan Taichung and feel like having some Dim Sums and don't mind that it will not be 100% Authentic and want to see how a Taiwanese would intepret Hong Kong Dim Sum, 🇹🇼🇭🇰 I can recommend this place because I still enjoyed my time here. 👍
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