Kow Loon Hong Kong Tim Sum

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Char siew chee cheong fun is a must try. If you prefer your Xiao long baos and har gao to be thin then I'm afraid you'll be disappointed as the skin is rather thick. Affordable and ok for an eatery situated in the neighbourhood overall. continue reading

Kow Loon Hong Kong Dim Sum is a humble dim sum stall located within the heartland of Ang Mo Kio. This stall is easily missed if you are not a resident of this estate. Manage to drop by this place on a weekday afternoon and I notice that most tables were having their dim sum.The kitchen occupies two units space, and the workers were busy wrapping dumplings and buns and steaming them on the spot. Extensive picture menu Crispy Taro Dumpling, Egg tarts and BBQ Pork Puff (4 for $3.80) - These are sold these items separately in quantity of 4 pieces for each type. But you can always ask the nice auntie whether you can mix and match the types that you want to eat. I like the BBQ pork puff, its crispy with sweet filling. Taro dumpling tasted normal, no surprise. It is filled with small amount of taro paste with peas and carrot bites. As for egg tarts, taste just right for sweetness and the crust is not too hard too.Salted Egg Yolk Bun ($3.80) - This Salted egg yolk bun ooze out readily once you took a bite. Nice balance of butter and salted egg yolk. Eat it as soon as it is out from the steamer as the bun hardens after few minutes. I must say although this is not one of the best buns that i taste but it is really very good. A must order dish!!oozing in action!!Yummy yellow sauce that ooze out after taking a biteFresh shrimp cheong fun ($3.00) - Each chee chong fun (rice roll) contain 3 prawns and the chee chong fun are really big in size. Light soy sauce with sesame and garnish. It get harden quite easily hence better to eat it hot too.BBQ Pork Bun ($1.80) - These buns look like those that can be found in Hongkong cafe. Soft and chewy outer texture of the bun and you can find sweet and delicious pork filling once you tear open the bun. Wooooo, Yummy!! It's a pity that the amount of pork filling is lacking; otherwise this will be a wonderful bun. Mouth watering pork meat waiting for me to eat!! :'( Shrimp dumplings ($3.80) - 1 and a half prawns are wrapped in each of the steam dumplings. The prawns are fresh and crunchy, sweet juice can be seem dripping out from the dumpling after taking the 1st bite. The thickness of the dumpling is thin and i tasted more prawn than the flour after the 1st bite. Recommended for this dish!!!Pork dumplings aka 'Siew Mai' ($3.00) - Another generous filling dish. This Siew Mai does not really look big, but the pork meats are stuffed fully in each dumpling. What's more, you will be able to taste the sweetness of the pork meat too. I won't say that this is the best Siew Mai, but the freshness and generous amount of filling at such cheap price is really worth ordering.Chicken big Bun ($2.00) - This is a super big bun!! Lots of chicken meats are wrapped in the bun. This version of chicken bun is slightly different from the usual chicken bun that can be found outside. There are no slices of hard-boiled egg in the bun but you can find a piece of Lap Cheong (Chinese sausage) on the big chunk of chicken meat. Unique and yet somewhat mouth-watering.Spot the difference ------------> on top of the bun...Steamed Pork Dumplings ($5.00) - Yes, you didn't see any typo error here on the price. For only $5, you get a taste on the renowned Xiao Long Bao (Steamed Pork Dumpling). Sweet pork juice can be found wrapped in the dumpling. The meat is fresh and tasty too. Pour some vinegar and put some ginger slices when you are taking a bite on the juicy dumplings. Lots of juice wrapped in the dumpling. Tasty sweet juice which I couldn't bear to waste.Ginger slices and chilli sauce Verdict 3.5/5I like the food served here and the price is affordable too since they are located in a coffeeshop. I will certainly recommend to everyone and will come back again. continue reading

When it comes to dim sum, custard bun is one of my favourite item. I'm so used to the oozing kind so when i tried the ones from this stall, i was surprised it's not oozing at all! But luckily taste wise it's still not too bad. The portion was decent and the skin of the bun was pretty soft. I may try out the rest of the dim sum items for my next visit as i usually come to this coffeeshop mainly for the fishball noodle which is just next door.Even though this coffeeshop only has about 4 makan + 1 stall but it's always crowded. Worth coming back to try out the zi char stall too! continue reading

Away from the buzzing town area hides a awesome Hong Kong Dim Sum Stall in a residential place in Ang Mo Kio.What's the amusing thing? According to my sister who bought the Dim Sum, the food seems prepared by vietnamese instead of the typical chinese or even HongKongers. And what's more surprising is that the food taste really not too bad at all.I would recommend their Special Dairy Salted Bun AKA custard bun. You can really taste the sweet and salty taste of the Salted egg flavour in the bun and it is the liquidify kind and bursting out when you take a bite from it.Their Shrimp Dumplings is not the kind you will see one large prawn inside kind but more of chunks of shrimps with those minced shrimp paste as inner fillings.What I dislike is probably their Chee Cheong Fun. If you have eaten authentic CCF in Hong Kong before, you will really prefer one which the rice skin is really thin and a little towards the translucent kind and those are the ones who made the best tasting CCF. And apparently it is not like this here. The rice skin is too thick and eating too much of those will give off a jelak feel. The sauce is also a little on the salty side for the Char Siew CCF that we've ordered.Overall, It's a place good to try for the first time. But if given a choice? I'll rather go swee choon. (Unless I have a Die hard craving for their custard buns theh perhaps. Till then, we shall see.)FYI: We Ordered 1 porridege, 1 Char Siew CCF, 1 set Shrimp Dumplings, 1 set Coriander Dumplings, 1 set Special Dairy Salted Bun, 1 set pan-fried Turnip cake, 1 set sesame Mango Shrimp Roll(Thumps up! best eaten there. 2nd love other than the Special Dairy Salted Bun) for 3 person. IT'S ABUNDANCE OF FOOD FOR 3 GIRLS.1 set comes in 3 pieces. continue reading

A hidden gem in the estates of Ang Mo Kio, this is a family-run store coupled with the famous chain of Hong Kong Street Chun Kee (香港街珍记) in an ordinary coffee shop. By a friend's recommendation that this place has one of the best 流沙包 (flowy custard egg yolk bun), it was definitely a place to check out. Don't belittle it because of its location, I was surprised to find snaking queues and every table occupied twice that I visited. Even at supposed off-peak hours of 8plus in the night, it was still as packed.Cheong Fun with Char Siew ($2.80)An absolutely disappointing plate of Cheong Fun, despite me starving by the time this first dish arrived. The 'fun' was too thick and it seemed as though we were eating kuehs instead. There was too much 'fun' surrounding the dish, such that the Char Siew bits were like a side dish sprinkled onto it. The sauce was also too salty, a tad too strong for my liking. Last but not least, I thought the presentation of the dish was quite bad, making it look like a pile of leftover 'fun' put together for our serving. Cheong Fun with You Tiao ($3.00)The youtiao version was alot better. There was alot more fillings inside, with better proportion as opposed to the charsiew one. The youtiao went better with the sauce but could have been better if it was toasted and crispy before wrapping, so that it could have been slightly crispy upon serving. Just like the previous dish, it was too salty and the 'fun' was too thick for my liking. Carrot Cake ($3.00)I usually don't fancy carrot cake but this one caught the attention of my taste buds. It wasn't too sticky and I like the pan-fried surface. There was an added crisp to every bite, adding to the texture of the otherwise soft and boring carrot cake. It was well-blended inside, making it softer than usual. A little too oily, but the crisp sure made up for it. Special Dairy Salted Bun/ Flowy Custard Egg Bun ($3.50)The reason for me visiting in the very first place, well, it did satisfy my cravings. A super major fan of 流沙包, I often have random cravings and am always on the lookout for good ones around. So if you know of any, do let me know! Anyway, this was a decent one recommended by my friend. I like the fillings, it had a good blend of sweet and savory and had right balance of milkiness. Call me picky, I thought it was just a little too sweet. As you can see, there are still some parts that aren't flowy too. Perhaps there was a bit more custard used in the blend. I thought the bun could have been finer too, it was a little too airy for my liking. Nonetheless, that is just me on the search of the best bun. I thought this was quite a good one, worth making a trip there if you happen to be around the area. Steamed Pork Ribs ($2.50)Seeing how it was soaked in oil, I was put off initially but decided to give it a shot for review purpose. Very tender pork ribs, it was well marinated. A little too bland for my liking though. It was quite a large portion considering the price, but don't expect anything fancy. Special of the Day (Seaweed)A special concoction, it was a complimentary dish as my friend knew the boss' daughter. As someone who's anti-vegetable, seeing this was my nightmare coming alive. Different types of seaweed marinated and out together in a dish, the curious and adventurous side of me decided to give it a shot anyway. It was an acquired taste, a mix between jellyfish and raw vegetables. It had the texture of jellyfish, except this is harder and more chewy. There was also an odd twist to its taste, with a full shot of raw vegetables essence and an added flavour that I couldn't quite identify. According to the boss, this dish is full of nutritional value as it helps lower blood pressure and in detoxification. It wasn't to my liking, but definitely recommended for those who are adventurous and well, you'll probably have to like vegetables in order to enjoy it. Steamed Shrimp Dumpling/ Har Gao ($3.00)Impressed by this, I thought this was one of the rare places that managed to do hargao well. With its ordinary looks, it surprised us by how good it simply was. Fresh prawns used, you can taste the natural sweetness of the seafood, complemented well with its seasoning. The skin was of the right thickness, it was chewy enough to add to the texture of the dumpling, yet it managed to hold the piece together well and it didn't feel like you were just chewing on thick bland skin. Minced Pork & Shrimp Dumpling/ Siew Mai ($2.50)An apparent lack of QC where you can see one siewmai lacking the toppings. This was a rather decent dish, it had fresh shrimps and succulent meat, retaining its natural sweet juices within each dumpling. There was just a little too much skin and it could have been better if the meat used were minced together better. Some pieces seemed to be dislodged from the dumpling upon biting, making it seem like a mixture of meat used over different batches. Sesame Mango Prawn Roll (not listed on the menu)Be sure to hunt for this dish or ask the service staff there. It is a very addictive one in my opinion. Combination of fresh succulent prawns and juicy sweet mango, wrapped in thin crispy sesame skin, the different layers of texture never fails to surprise with every bite. Perhaps it was the season of mangoes when I visited, they chose the right type where it was very sweet and complemented the savory prawn and skin well. Don't belittle the sesame skin, it gave that extra oomph to the dish with its distinct flavour. It's definitely a dish that I will return for!With its very affordable prices and rather decent food, it is quite a good find that I will return. Despite several misses in the list, I think it's still worth a visit given how the family-run stall exudes a friendly and warm feel. There might be a little miss in its QC efforts, as some of the dishes tasted slightly different for both visits. They are rather open to feedback and the boss is extremely friendly and it's interesting to hear more about the special concoctions he has. continue reading