Six years on

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I haven't seen the Hungry Tourist for more than 6 years, as that was the last time he came to Hong Kong. He's back in town for a few days scouting out locations for his next tour, and this offered me a chance to catch up with my friend. He was having lunch at Lung King Heen (龍景軒) today, and as it has been 6 years since I last stepped foot in the restaurant, I figured I'd join him today.

We decided to focus on dim sum today, although my friend had also pre-ordered the roast chicken from Chef Chan Yan Tak (陳恩德) that he loves so much. I relished the chance to see how they have updated their limited dim sum menu, but sadly we dropped from a party of 3 to 2, so we were limited in the number of dishes we could try.

Our amuse bouche was a crispy rice cracker with vegetables on top, plus a couple of deep-fried whitebait. I was honestly a little shocked at the sight of this. Yes, the crispy rice cracker was very, very tasty... but that topping, seriously?! It looks like the frozen mixed vegetables (三色豆) that one finds in every supermarket's frozen food section. Not befitting a Michelin two- (and formerly three-) star restaurant at all.

Steamed scallop dumplings with dried shrimp, cuttlefish and pork (櫻花蝦花枝帶子餃) - we had diced scallops and crunchy water chestnuts encased in a fluffy, bouncy cuttlefish mousse. This was delicious, and those dried sakura shrimp on top don't hurt, either...

Steamed shrimp and pork dumplings with crab roe (蟹籽蒸燒賣) - my friend insisted on ordering the classic, and the flavors definitely popped a lot more than I had expected. Surely this came down to the quality of ingredients used, which supposedly include Kagoshima Chami pork (鹿児島茶美豚). Oh, I know traditionally this is called "crab roe siu mai" but I seriously doubt those are crab roe on top... more likely to be flying fish roe (飛び子) instead.

Steamed mushroom dumplings with celery (荷芹雜菌餃) - very crunchy filling inside with different mushrooms and bamboo shoots, and the diced celery (which I could have sworn were leafy celery 唐芹 and not 荷芹 as stated on the menu) just filled my mouth with such incredible fragrance that I could picture a mushroom cloud rising up from my tongue.

Deep-fried turnip puffs with whitebait (銀魚蘿蔔千絲酥) - this is something I always try to order whenever I'm here, provided that it's on the menu, of course. But they're a little difficult to pick up with chopsticks.

I really love all the layers of puff pastry. I'm happy that there are still dim sum chefs practicing this craft.

Interesting that they added deep-fried whitebait in with the shredded turnip and spring onion. Definitely bigger punch on the palate.

Crispy spring rolls with shrimp and chicken (皇湯雞絲蝦春卷) - very interesting spring roll, as it's kinda like the dim sum version of the restaurant's superior pottage with shredded chicken (皇湯雞絲湯). In addition to having shredded chicken, shrimp, and shiitake mushrooms as stuffing, we've also got the condensed version of the soup, and it was definitely interesting to have that wet paste inside the deep-fried spring roll wrapper. Kudos to Brother Tak and the kitchen team!

Barbecued pork with honey sauce (蜜汁燒叉燒) - my friend chose the char siu over the restaurant's famous buns stuffed with it, which I thought was a really good call. Just look at how the honey glaze glistens under the sunlight!

I really do love the marbling. The texture is at once firm but not tough, springy and tender. All I need is a big plate of this and a bowl of steamed rice, and I'll be smiling in no time.

Lung King Heen roasted chicken (龍景脆皮雞) - here we go again... my friend's favorite Cantonese crispy chicken. In fact, he went into the kitchen with Brother Tak so he could film his usual video of the chicken getting cooked and chopped up. Well, I must say that today I thought the chicken was a little better than the ones I had tasted here in the past. Yes, the skin was crispy. Yes, the meat was tender. The difference today was that, at least for the few pieces I managed to taste, they didn't rub too much salt and seasoning to the rib cage of the chicken. I used to wince every time my tongue managed to come in contact with the chicken's ribs, because the kitchen wanted to ensure that the chickens were well-seasoned before being cooked, and as a result too much salt was being used. Not today, so that was a good thing.

That was just enough food without making me feel stuffed, which would have been bad for my upcoming meeting. I thanked my friend for his generosity, and left knowing that I might be seeing him again very soon.