D is for Dim Sum @ The Phoenix Palace

For some of us this was the first time Dim Sum had been eaten like this. But what a place for them to loose your Dim Sum virginity.

I hadn’t really had eaten that much Dim Sum since we were in Hong Kong a couple of years ago. Too damn long if you ask me. Even with the Dim Sum being oh so fashionable recently with every blogger in London eating it on a regular basis, I didn’t go for any. Well I am so fashionable late to the party. As always.

As D posed a problem for restaurants in London, there are not too many Djibouti joints around that I could find. We were thinking Danish, but as two of us were in Denmark the week before, it seemed pointless to do it again for them. So Dim Sum came to mind, well it does begin with a D, ok ok I know it is a bit thin on the ground, but at least now we know this game has very flexible rules.

The Dim Sum menu is pretty good at the Phoenix Palace. It has been a while since I’ve eaten Dim Sum and chosen it from a menu, the last few times in Hong Kong, it has been picked from a trolley, as it was pushed around by old ladies, which is always good fun. So this was a little different.

We went straight into it and ordered several plates straight up. As Colombians out numbered us, a lot of fried food was ordered. As the old saying goes “you can take Colombians out of Colombia, but you cannot take Colombia out of the Colombians.” Well they are creatures of habit, but then again aren’t we all.

I’m not going to talk about all the 18 or so dishes we ordered, but just some notes on the highlights and lows.

Highs for me were the cold duck tongues. So so so good. Not everyone’s favourite I have to admit, but it rocked my world. I’ve actually found a shop selling them on the Pho mile. So some experimentation is gonna happen soon.

The Bar-B-Q Pork and Chicken buns were real winners. Very light buns with super flavourful fillings, just as I remembered them from Beijing.

The beef tripe in ginger was also another great dish. It’s been a while since I’d eaten any tripe, after been triped out in Colombia. It was lush, again not everyone’s cup of tea but it sent me into tripe heaven.

The briny pork croquette was good, but way too gelatinous, but oh they tasted oh so very good. Just had trouble opening my mouth after every mouthful though.

The lows were the so called rice pasta with mixed soyas. None of us got this dish at all. The texture of the rice sheets was too soft and gooey. The soya sauces were a welcome addition to an otherwise dull and unloved dish. Maybe a meaty filling might have provided a welcome addition to it.

We were all pretty ho hum with the mini ribs in black bean sauce. They were really just bone and gristle and not really much of a sauce. A real let down.

We had a lot of fried dishes, which for me was a few too many, pero latinos son latinos.

We shared a few puddings, which were egg tarts, cream custard tarts and a chilled coconut cream. The egg tarts were good, but were warm. I am not a fan of warm egg tarts, I prefer them at room temperature. The pastry was nice and flaky, and the flavour really good and custardy. The cream custard tart or buns threw me straight back to the streets of Bangkok where I used to live on these sweet delights. If I would have known these were on the menu I would have had these from the start and been oh so bloody happy. I made a mental note that I have to return to Bangkok and fast.

All in all the Phoenix Palace gave us a great afternoon of great food, great conversation and a great time.

At £13 or so a head this was a cracking choice and a lot of the dishes did touch our hearts. OK I am now officially joining the Dim Sum party.

Foto Friday # 27

I really miss Hong Kong

Foto Friday # 19

2 delicious char siu buns from Lin Heung in Hong Kong. They may not do the greatest dim sum in the world, but it has the best character and atmosphere.

To Dim Sum or to Yum Cha

You have to do it don't you. When in Rome. Dim Sum or Yum Cha is as Hong Kong as the Peak or the Star Ferry are. You think of one, you think of the other. We wanted to try one, but where. Do we go for one of the super slick Dim Sum Restaurants that serve immaculate and innovative food. Or one that was jammed packed with old friends catching up on daily events, picking different dishes off the carts being pushed around by old women. We choose the latter. 

I managed to get one recommended to us, luckily it was really local to us as well. As we walked in, we saw a huge room packed with at least a hundred people, all in true Hong Kong fashion making a hell of a racket. It was packed, and I think we looked kinda lost as one of the guys there found us two seats on a table being used by two other parties. The normal way, I observed afterwards, was to pick an area and hang around, and as soon as someone stands up to go, you pounce on that seat. 

So seated we were. We were given a pot of oolong tea, and then we waited for the trolley to come our way. There is no menu in these places, which made it more exciting. Bit like playing shotgun noodles again. The first trolley that came around had plates of steamed rice noodles filled with either fish or pork. We choose the pork ones, the woman poured over some soy sauce just to coat  the noodles. They were delish to say the least. The noodles were really soft and delicate to the taste, although meat was only at the ends not all the way through. 

Next up which seemed to be thrust upon us was some Steamed Pork Rolls. Lina reckons Beef, but I say Pork as they tasted like sausage meat. They were pretty good, but should have chosen the ones with shrimp as well. 

We were still kinda peckish, so we ordered some honey glazed pork and rice, that we had seen people eating and we liked what we saw. This had a real nice sticky glaze to it and went well with the rice.

We decided to have one more dim sum, so when the next trolley came around we ordered what looked like a Tamale. But turned out to be a Glutinous Rice Cake with Chicken Wrapped in a Lotus Leaf. It is a Chinese Tamale. Same type of thing. Really nice, but I really like Tamales, so this was right up my street. We are getting pretty good at eating difficult things with chopstix, even with those darn plastic things. Much prefer wooden chopstix, have more grip. 

We were just coming to the point of no more tea. Thee guy had filled up our tea pot with water countless times, then we saw a mad rush to a trolley over the other side of the room. The woman was mobbed with people, taking her delicious parcels of food. We had to wait before someone from our side came back with what she had. It was steamed buns. So I was up like a flash to grab me some Char Siu. Luckily she had some left. Phew. Me loves these little buns of barbecued pork. They tasted so good, I wish I could of had more, but we were pretty full by that point. The rice again.

Went over to pay for our hour of gorging, and the bill was HK$105. Unreal. I was expecting double that. 

We shall return in October.