Sweeping the menu, again

There seems to be a constant flow of visiting foodie friends lately, and I took the opportunity to return to a restaurant that is beloved by tourists yet largely shunned by almost all local friends I dine with. With the handful of visits I paid to Lung King Heen (龍景軒) in all these years, I have never managed to grab a table for weekend lunch – when they supposedly have a larger selection of dim sum items. This time it wasn’t gonna be any different, as the restaurant did not have a table for me 6 weeks in advance… until The Great One stepped in and managed to wrangle us seats.

The dim sum offering on the weekends is slightly bigger than that on weekdays - I guess 15 items compared to 10 is a 50% increase - and the 6 of us contemplated whether it was possible to "sweep the menu (掃餐牌)"... meaning we would order every single item.  In the end we almost did it, but removed a couple of items with similar/duplicate ingredients.

I was spotted by Sommelier Bernard Chan on my way to the men's room, and soon after he dropped by our table and very kindly offered us a glass of wine.

2016 Domaine du Daley Blanc de Noir Grand Réserve - lots of tropical stone fruit, fresh and vibrant, with flinty notes.  Was this really a pinot noir?!

Steamed rice rolls with lobster and water chestnut in fermented bean sauce (豉汁龍蝦馬蹄腸粉) - this was pretty interesting.  The texture of the lobster was good, and the black bean sauce gave it a slightly spicy flavor.  The green shoots were nice.

Pan-fried rice rolls in X.O. chilli sauce (X.O.醬煎腸粉)

Steamed rice rolls with tofu sheet and dried shrimp (櫻花蝦素鵝腸粉) - this was pretty interesting, as we've got vegetarian goose rolled inside the rice rolls.  The vegetarian goose came with a crispy outer layer, and the crunchiness was enhanced with the addition of dried sakura shrimp (桜海老).

Steamed shrimp dumplings with bamboo shoots (筍尖鮮蝦餃) - the shrimps had very springy textures.

Baked barbecued pork buns with pine nuts (崧子叉燒菠蘿包) - one of the signature items here.

Plenty of diced barbecued pork drenched in sweet, tasty sauce.

Steamed scallop dumplings with vegetables and silver fish (銀魚菜苗帶子餃) - these were really, really good.  While the scallops and pea shoots were nice, the dried baby sardines really made the dish... adding another layer of strong flavors as well as texture.

Steamed mushroom dumplings with egg tofu (玉子香菇餃) - besides diced mushrooms, the filling also included small pieces of egg tofu (玉子豆腐).

Baked whole abalone puff with diced chicken (原隻鮑魚雞粒酥) - another signature item, with a small abalone on top.

Pan-fried beef dumplings with mushrooms and black pepper (黑椒牛柳煎餃子) - the sauce inside was surprisingly sweet.

Steamed Shanghainese pork dumplings with crab meat (蟹肉小籠包) - these were OK.

Crispy spring rolls with shrimp and garlic (蒜茸蝦春卷) - very tasty, especially with the delicious fried garlic.

Steamed dace fish balls (蒸鯪魚球) - this was the daily special, and while I normally shy away from the street version of dace balls because of the bones inside, these were much nicer as all the bones had been removed.  Surprisingly stuffed with diced carrots and diced Cantonese preserved sausages.

We finished with two petits fours:

Osmanthus jelly (桂花凍)

Sachima (沙琪馬) - surprisingly bland. Disappointing.

Overall this was a very good meal, and it looks like my feelings from 2011 still hold true - that dim sum here is much better than their regular dishes... and closer to what I would consider to be 3-star level.  If I had to nitpick and complain, though, it would be on the service side.  When The Great One and I chose to sweep the menu here for the first time, we were so impressed when the staff arranged for the kitchen to send out the dish in order of flavor intensity - starting with the steamed items, then moving on to baked ones, and finally the deep-fried items.  While we did start with some steamed items, the order today was a little jumbled up.

Many thanks to the hotel management for taking good care of us, and thanks to my friend for giving us a little sip.  It's too bad that my nose was too clogged up to properly enjoy wine...