Eating Hong Kong (continued)

Day 5

Lunch:  Jade

   Off to my brother's house I went last night after my friend had left for home.  My flight back wouldn't be until tonight so I still had enough time to fit in one more meal.  My sister-in-law took me to an early lunch at Jade.  I was still high from my suckling pig experience so i assured her that dim sum (once again) would be just fine.  No, I haven't tired of eating dim sum yet.  How can one get tired of eating dim sum when there's so much to choose from and most if not all, are good?

     Jade is owned and operated by the famous Maxim's group of restaurants.  It's located inside a shopping mall so arriving there an hour before noon was a good idea for us since the place gets full at meal times.  One nice thing about dim sum places in Hong Kong is the meal ticket.  It's a piece of paper listing all dim sum and once you see something you like, just check the box next to the item.  When the waitress comes, just hand her the ticket.  Easy peasy.  In this case, it was all too easy I think I had a checking spree.

                Barbequed Pork Puff Pastry - flaky pastry with sweet barbequed pork inside.

Deep-fried Minced Carp Balls - one of Jade's signature dim sum.  If you've had fish balls, imagine two or three times the flavor.  Had a nice firm bite to it. 

 Pan-fried Cakes (taro, turnip, chestnut) - I liked the turnip cake best. Root crop and chestnut with smooth texture.

                Crab Roe on Steamed Pork Dumpling - classic siu mai with crab roe on top.  

Purple Sticky Rice with Sweet Corn in Steamer - the rice had a slight earthy taste.  The pine nuts were a nice contrast to the softness of the rice.

Oven-baked Tartlets with Abalone - abalone is like squid:  if you overcook it, it would be rubbery.  This one was cooked just right.  In this case, combining it with tart-type pastry is quite an innovation.

Cha Siu Pork Bao - I find it a mystery how dim sum restaurants make their buns super soft and fluffy.  There's no substitute for sweet pork filling in these buns.

Steamed Flour Rolls with Scallops - scallops encased in fresh flour noodles, forming a soft roll and served with a dressing of soy sauce and sesame oil.  Flour or rice rolls are very common, hardly any table is without a plate of these.

Steamed Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf - glutinous rice with Chinese sausage and chicken steamed in lotus leaves.

     Dim sum in restaurants like Jade certainly have a lot to offer.  Being owned and managed by a popular restaurant chain will give you good food in all likelihood since their recipes have been tried and tested over time, on a large scale.  However, the "personalization" of the food is lacking so everything becomes clinical.  You get good if not great, food - without the personality.

Jade
1st Level, Maritime Square
Tsing Yi
New Territories