Friday, February 29, 2008

Hong Kee Tim Sum Restaurant

Changes are for the better, I always say.

How can the beauty of spring be enjoyed if winter’s snow would not go away? Okay, we live in a springless, snowless, humid, sticky, gaseous society but I'm sure you know what I mean lar.

So, instead of frowning over the moving-on of the beloved dainty dim sum called Xiu Long Bao, a group of fellow dim sums.....

....I mean food bloggers, gathered to celebrate this joyous occasion.

Hong Kee was the choice. Great, I said. The endless praises for the Sang Chow Lor Mai Fun or fried glutinous rice got me really interested in this otherwise out-of-my-radar dim sum restaurant. And did it live up to my sexpectation? Well, yes. Though slightly undercooked, the rice was a celebration of all wonderful flavours. The sweetness of the lap cheong (waxed sausage), the aromatic scrambled omelette, the piquant scallions, the inevitable MSG and most importantly, the fragrant, heavy dose of oil. Lardy lard. A sinful, smooth indulgence.

Imagine Heidi Klum in a 2-piece Victoria Secret. Now, put on her a puffy winter jacket (no skin exposed). I'm not sure if any guy will call this picturesque, but the Kai Wor Pau was certainly not my idea of a creative dim sum. It was basically an elaborated lor mai kai (glutinous rice with chicken) covered with a thick layer of steamed bun skin. The skin was dry too.

I like the egg tart for 2 reasons. One, for being an aftermath relief and two, it was good. The filling was sweet with a hint of egginess while the pastry skin was crisp and not dramatically oily. Giselle Bunchen it was not but could still pass for a feature in Sports Illustrated.

The Crispy Pancake With Lotus Paste Filling was generically good as the filling was optimally sweet while the skin was crispy. With a description like that, I could not think of a supermodel that I could relate to.

The Steamed Glutinous Rice Wrapped in Lotus Leaves was quite tasty as there was good resonance between the blandness of the rice and the savouriness of the filling, which included pork and shitake mushroom. Unlike the fried version, the rice came warm and soft. Love the fragrance of the steamed lotus leaves. An oriental touch. A Maggie Q.

The other typical dim sums (served in bamboo steamers) tasted rather generic. The consolation being the freshness of the ingredients. No strange taste nor texture detected.

And there were desserts. Sid’s macaroons were a nice twist to the dim sums. The first thing that caught my attention was the size of the macaroons. Huge. There were many flavours to choose from. Even green tea. I had the one with chocolate and crushed peanuts. The shell was slightly crisp and light while the filling was dense and sweet. Thanks, Sid.

The celebration ended with goodbyes and promises of trips down south.

Here’s wishing XLB every success and joy in the roaring city.
Enjoy the change for an opportunity like this does not come by often.

Especially today, this date.

Hong Kee Tim Sum Restaurant
No 18 & 20
Jalan SS22/25
Damansara Jaya
47400 Petaling Jaya.
Tel: 012-6069787

Check out these links for more information on Hong Kee:
Precious Pea
Masak-Masak
Lyrical Lemongrass
WMW
Jackson
Teckiee
Ekeng


20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Now I'm wondering if I'll think of supermodels the next time I have dim sum, or will I think of dim sum the next time I have... ?

Ahem. Nice post, dude. Definitely got me saliva glands a-flowin'... hehe.

toni's blog said...

together with that mighty king crab in kelana/mayang pj , surely this one must be the place for floggers meet ! though we did not detect any of the glorious aftersensuals from the many delectable hopefuls that came and went

Xiu Long Bao said...

Today, this date.

I thought you should do that thing at 2.29am on this date. But passed already lar. So wait till next year...haha

Anonymous said...

Fried glutinous rice, very interesting ler...Usually have the Lor Mai Kai nia...

ling239 said...

i love the egg tarts!! ^_^

Hazza said...

So many blogs about this place and each time I read one I get more impatient about my next trip to Malaysia. A definitely "must visit" on my next trip, hopefully, in a few months!

Lyrical Lemongrass said...

Your constant association of
food with supermodels
Are obviously indicative of
Edison and his "morals"

Well-chosen is your nick
Your friends are so perceptive
They clearly read your thoughts
Which revealed your innermost motive

So if a murder you are planning
You'd better think twice, Nic
They're smart, you can't deceive them
Coz they're all effing psychic.

JOjo said...

Is egg tart again!!! Argh... I want to eat nice nice one (typical M'sia english =p)

Haha!

Back at home studying,
Saw your post salivating,
Got mum's cooking,keep eating,
That got my tummy Ballooning!

Gosh, how i wish i can be back at home all the time.

ekeng said...

hey bro,i never imagine Heidi Klum..i only imagine Sasha Singleton in a 2 piece Victoria Secret..hehe..Nice Post bro !!

Sugar Bean said...

The dim sum looks delicious, feeling really hungry at this time. The Crispy Pancake With Lotus Paste is my all time favourite but I haven't have that for a long time.

ai wei said...

i whish i could have dim sum in few hours time...
aiks, i m so out dated. havent pay a visit to hong kee!~

wmw said...

Here's to more food gatherings! Food always taste better when dining out with floggers! Though the food might have gotten cold ...LOL!

"Joe" who is constantly craving said...

bugger..can someone pls take me here!!!

Jun said...

a maggie q?? dude. she is far from being close to glutinous rice @_@

fatboybakes said...

i have to lodge an official complaint with the floggerorganiser of this event....where was my invite? mutter mutter grumble grumble...it BEETTTER not be someone i've invited before, snort...heh heh...drat, another missed chance to meet the culinary wordsworth.

love the glutinous rice thingie. that really is THE highlight of hong kee.

~Christine~Leng said...

I just can't think of more words to describe your write-up. correlating it with other subjects.. and models? whoa.. you're great man!

I would love to try the kai wor pao ;P

Big Boys Oven said...

Happy Belated Birthday! Nic aka foodblogger's Edison Chen!

May see you in Sg this April!

Big Boys Oven said...

I thought those buns look like madonna's wonder bra!

teckiee said...

hmm you think like BSG...haha

HairyBerry said...

kenny: thanks for the compliment, dude. haha, both ways work fine, i guess. i forgot to mention about the dippings...hehe

toni: they are, indeed. perhaps it's the location of the restaurants. that makes a lot of difference. then, come the food, i guess. :)

xlb: *sigh* what bad timing, eh? i have no one to blame but my own sleeping habit. dead pig, dead pig. hehe...

mylittlecottage: yupe, usually it's just lor mai kai. i think of fried glutinous rice as fried rice with glutinous rice as replacement lor, i guess. better texture.

ling239: yeah, the egg tarts are nice. i think we had a few helpings of that. but a bit small lar, right? hehe...

hazza: you are coming down to malaysia? cool! well, better be sure to come by early as the fried rice is usually sold out quite early, i heard.

lyrical lemongrass:

the supermodels we love
are sent from above
which guy could resist
i bet, zero in the list

i am just a glutton
of bad hair and fashion
wanderlusting, who doesnt
camming, i wouldnt

Superhero, he's effing not
An pure mind, he's got
Afraid of being caught
Is something he has never thought.

jojo:

dont worry about eating
keeps you awake and kicking
after your exams and tests
it's time for some exercising...

yeah, wish i am back at home too....

ekeng: aiyoh! Sasha Singleton! ok, so know i now...hehe...the next time we have kfc, we'll trade what we have, ok? hehe...

wenching & esiong: the pancake at hong kee is just so-so. good ones are hard to come by and most are only available in restaurants. sigh...

ai wei: dim sum for breakfast is nice, eh? dun worry, next time call christine, chris and ME! and the rest, of course. we'll go there!

wmw: i agree 100%. the gatherings part, i mean..hehe...yupe, i agree the food has gone cold. someone was late, remember? hehe..someone's gonna kill me...

joe: aiyah, easy job. drop me a line or a mail lar. now i know how to get there already. can call ffb along also..hehe...

jun: yeah, that's true. i thought about that for a long time. but since i cant think of any asian models, i was left with no choice...hehe...

ffb: this happened quite a long time ago, if i remember correctly. well, lets go there when i'm back in kl. drop me a line or mail lar. or lets start a nigella fans club...and that's where we'll hold our first meeting..haha!

christine: thanks, thanks. my mind wanders very far. i sometimes think of math as literature..hehe...try the lor mai fun instead lar...

bbo: thanks for the wishes! hehe...you coming down to sg? let us know! and i agree with you on the wonder bra thingy! didn't realize that earlier or less the post will be even saucier...hehe

teckiee: BSG? wow! i take that as a compliment! hehe...they are the masters of descriptive and imaginative posts...if only i'm half as good...