Some Dim Sum

Yes, I'm quite the jet-setter -- a weekend in Shanghai at the end of the month, a weekend in Hong Kong next week... And it's great that my call for help has resulted in some appreciated advice. Next up, reader Michel Lu with the following three HK restaurant suggestions:

Try decade-old M at the Fringe (2877-4000). Despite competition from other high-class eateries, M is still rated the city's best room by many Hong Kong foodies. Skippered by Australian owner Michelle Garnaut, the restaurant consistently offers excellent food and a cordial atmosphere. Two people can easily spend $200 on mouth-watering lamb and one of the best dessert spreads in the city.

If you're looking for history, the Luk Yu Teahouse (2523-5463) on Stanley Street is your spot. The dim sum is tasty, but the grumpy, senior-citizen staff and raucous atmosphere are what draw the crowds. For a more elegant experience, head back to Happy Valley, to a restaurant simply called Dim Sum (2834-8893). Recently refurbished, the establishment has highbacked chairs, tall ceilings and antique prints that provide a suitably refined ambience for the 80 varieties of dim sum on the menu.

Lin Heung Tea House is a second floor Chinese tea and dim sum hideout favoured by mature gentlemen and businessmen (and chefs) for its simple, authentic offerings. Each round table can seat up to ten complete strangers who are given a slip of paper and the freedom to eat and drink as much as they like. At 7.30am on a weekday morning the place is packed, and the sounds of clinking chinaware, rustling newspapers and chirpy conversation fill the air. Service staff push steel carts around the congested floor, calling out the names of dim sum dishes available. Literally meaning 'point to what your heart desires', the tradition of dim sum is perfectly preserved in this boisterous restaurant in which it is perfectly acceptable to rinse your own crockery in a bowl of water before starting.  Serving a variety of Chinese tea along with typical, deliciously cooked dishes like siew mai (pork dumplings), chee cheong fun (rolled rice noodles), char siew pao (pork buns), har gao (prawn dumplings) and pai guat fan (pork ribs with rice), among many others, it is understandable why chefs recommend this place as the place to visit for a blissful, near-perfect Hong Kong meal. Though the tables are mostly littered, the washing area is right next to a dining table, and you will most likely have to endure some shouting going on during your meal, service here is indisputably efficient, seasoned, and obliging.

Lin Heung Tea House
160-164, Wellington Street, Central Hong Kong
Tel: (852) 2544 3284

I still remember my last HK dim sum experience: with no one there understanding any of our English or Mandarin, my wife ended up acting out the animals that she wanted to eat or avoid (her pig was quite good). The staff had a blast seeing her in action.