Thursday, November 13, 2008

Luk Yu Tea House, Central, Hong Kong

After our invigorating hike to Victoria Peak, I was definitely looking forward to dim sum.
We were to Luk Yu Teahouse, one place famed for dim sum...
I had read about Luk Yu even before SF mentioning it and what I read was that
1. Luk Yu is famous for it's dim sum,
2. It's a very popular haunt for local actors/ actress for breakfast
3. A businessman was gunned down in the tea house a few years back.
Luk Yu has been opened since 1933 and I guess most of the decor has been retained since then.. The facade oozes old charm, stepping in seems to warp us back to 1940s, with the dark wood furnitures, the carved windows, stained glass which has seen better times, the old stern looking waiters and even an area for mahjong (it's that divider you see in this picture).

Ordering was really prompt as SF was rushing for another appointment..
We had the siew mai..
This was, by far, the tastiest siew mai I've ever tried. Looks so plump and juicy eh? The pork was extremely fresh (it had the very "seen" taste as cantonese would have described it), the meat was so sweet and yes, it was very juicy. Delicious.

The har gau looks rather sad
Taste wise, it's yummy- huge prawns, well marinated and springy in texture. But if I had to choose between these 2 ubiquitous dish, the siew mai wins, hands down.

The huge beef balls definitely caught my eyes...
This was absolutely scrumptious. The beef, steamed to perfection, had a pinkish centre; oozing with beef juices. The beancurd sheet at the bottom of the plate soaked in all the flavours and was delicious too.

Those who read my blog often would know that I love steam spareribs.. Tummythoz, fellow steam spareribs lover, you would love this to bits! This was so, so lip smacking. The best so far. Gosh, as I'm writing this, I'm missing it already :(. Rather than the conventional bean paste sauce base, Luk Yu's version was with chinese wine and other sauces. The result? Tender spareribs, well marinated and succulent to the bones.
A plate of veggies... Choy sum is a common veg to eat with dim sum in HK. Very sweet and the stalks were not fibrous at all, unlike Malaysia's.
The only mediocre dim sum we had that day..
The char siew bao..
The dough was a tad compact and dry; the stuffing was rather sweet for my liking.
We also had some steamed prawn fish paste mix on mushrooms.. Extremely fragrant and super yummy! Fantabulous. Heck, think this was even better than the siew mai. The seafood ball was so tasty and springy; the texture was just right. The sparse looking sauce, though seemingly non existance, was absolutely heavenly, especially eaten with the sliced mushroom.
When we heard there's boon tong gao, I ordered it immediately..
I missed having the delicious huge dumpling in superior soup and I was looking forward to it..
Imagine my surprise when I saw this..
We didnt order this, I said
But this is boon tong gao..
Wow, steamed version of boon tong gao. Definitely a first for me. So we get this huge ass steamed dumplings, filled with soup. Same concept as xiu long bao, but 3 times the size and the skin is made of dumpling skin. The filling was totally different though. Rather than mince pork, the pork filling was mixed with seafood, and a very obvious ingredient in the filling was crab roe. The combination was potent, it was a tad softer that pure pork filling, hence, it sort of melt in mouth with every bite. And how deliciously sweet the soup filling was! The soup flavour was very different from xiu long bao, this was very rich and thick broth.
While SF left mid lunch, Amy and I continued enjoying the dim sums...
Total bill was HKD395, which was approximately RM180. Yes, having dim sum in Luk Yu does not come cheap :p

Luk Yu Teahouse is located at 24-26 Stanley Street, Central, Hong Kong. Dim sum starts at 730 am until 530 pm. They also do dinners, serving cantonese dishes.

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10 Comments:

Blogger Precious Pea said...

This is one of my 'must visit' in my next trip. Heard their famous chicken pau is a must try. So you didn't manage to bump into any celebrities?

14 November, 2008  
Blogger sc said...

pea: yes you should, food is yummy. chicken pau? no wor, didnt hear about it.. or was it lin heung? i recalled lin heung's famous for some big paus. no celebrities, not even the old ones :(

14 November, 2008  
Blogger "Joe" who is constantly craving said...

wow..thats hotel price in KL..but then again with such a history..and such skill esp in that pun tong gao..shud b worth it la..

isnt this the same name as the dim sum plaace in star hill ar?

14 November, 2008  
Blogger choi yen said...

This place is "Choi Lan"-the food lover, recommended dim sum place~~

14 November, 2008  
Blogger J2Kfm said...

we chose LIn Heung over Luk Yu, due to price factor.

if i'm not mistaken, wasnt it Luk Yu which opened an outlet in Starhill as well?

14 November, 2008  
Blogger sc said...

joe: yes, definitely hotel price. and boon tong gao was definitely different.

mimid3vils: oh, i didnt know Choi Lan recommended there. the only time i saw choi lan, believe or not, was in Kayu Nasi kandar..cant recall if it's chow yang or aman suria though..wearing his signature all white outfit

j2kfm: cant deny that lin heung's definitely way cheaper, but i must say that luk yu's food quality is better. as for the luk yu in starhill, i doubt there's any affiliation as i googled YTL's hompage, there was no mentioning that it's a branch off this one in HK

15 November, 2008  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Girl, it's choy sum la, not kai lan :P.

17 November, 2008  
Blogger Tummythoz said...

Draw my attention to such succulent spareribs yet no 'tapau'. Bad sc bad bad sc. *Piak-piak*

17 November, 2008  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The name sounds so familar at first, then I remembered the same restaurant in Starhill.

17 November, 2008  
Blogger sc said...

sf: ooopss, must have typed it in without thinking..hahaha

tummythoz: ouch! ouch! :p

jason: yes, but i really dont think they have any link to this one in HK la..

18 November, 2008  

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