The day after joining Chris and Tehlin and their children for a proper Cantonese dinner at Tsui Hang Village, Tawn and I met up with Tehlin and her son Sam for dim sum at West Villa, another Curry Puffy recommended restaurant.
Located in the Lee Gardens Two building in Causeway Bay just a few minutes away from the Times Square shopping center, West Villa is a nicer quality dim sum restaurant. What was interesting about it is that the food, while tasty, isn’t necessarily all that different (or better than) the cheap yet decadent dim sum at Tim Ho Wan. Let’s take a look at the dishes we enjoyed.
Chinese “donuts” wrapped in rice noodle skin. These are unsweetened sticks of dough fried just like donuts. They are often served (unwrapped) with rice porridge called jok.
Chao fun – Rice noodles with shrimp inside with a sweetened soy sauce. Similar in quality to what we had at Tim Ho Wan although I think the noodles were thicker and less delicate here. Compare here.
Deep fried spring rolls. This dish and the next one illustrate the risks when eating dim sum of choosing dishes that leave you feeling heavy and full.
Fried taro paste puffs. Better than it sounds.
The signature West Villa dish – char shu – barbecue pork. These was really meaty and tender. Great flavor.
Tehlin and Sam. Oh, wait! What’s that outside the window? Where did Tawn disappear to?! Ha ha…
Braised veggies, kind of like lettuce. Very tasty. The clay pot lends a wonderful smoky, slightly charred flavor.
Steamed glutinous rice with pork and shitake mushroom in a lotus leaf. Compare this to the version with large slices of pork served at Tim Ho Wan.
Fried fish with a slightly salty and spicy batter. Very light and not at all oily.
Beef “meatballs” sometimes called Chinese hamburgers.
Siu Mai– pork and shrimp dumplings.
Fried pork spareribs with a sprinkling of a salt and white pepper.
Overall review: good quality dim sum with the barbecue pork and spareribs being the highlights. Service was good although there was a fifteen-minute wait even though we had reservations. This wasn’t necessarily the best food we had in Hong Kong but if you are in the area and are looking for good dim sum, West Villa would be a good choice.
christao408 
Your posts are getting me more and more excited every day! The har gow looks interesting here–almost like siu mai (pork dumplings) they do here. hmm…I do think the other places looks better!!
The food pictures are very vivid! yummy, in this case, food porn is even better than porn, lol.
@lil_squirrel4ever – You know what – I misnamed those dumplings. They are siu mai. Good catch, thanks.@stevew918 – Is it better? You SURE?
I miss hk food! ❤ Nice pics
@Got_Takoyaki – Glad you like them. There are four or five other entries I’ve done over the last week with other HK eats. Have one or two more coming up to complete the series.
Oh! I’ll check them out. ^_^ Do you like HK?
Mmm… very nice. It’s so interesting how food connects instantly with so many readers. I love those fried taro puffs and the sticky rice. But a few helpings of them and I’m stuffed! It’s good that you can get around so easily and feel comfortable doing it as well.
Mmmm, this looks so good!
yum! chao fun is always delicious, and those taro puffs are excellent as well. mm.. and the glutinous rice is good, although i always pick out all the mushrooms. what is on top of the siu mai?
Dim Sum lunch……yummy……… cholesterol…. is surprisingly high though
@agmhkg – Between the fried foods and shrimp, no surprise there! That reminds me, I need to get my cholesterol checked and see if several months of exercise have helped.@kunhuo42 – Some type of fish eggs, I think.@ElusiveWords – Considering that Asian and particularly Chinese are well-represented in my Xanga readership, it is no surprise the HK entries have been so popular! As to why I have that particular demographic representation, I think it is a result of having been introduced to Xanga by a Hong Kong born friend who used to write under the handle of ToyPetFishes.@Got_Takoyaki – I lived in Hong Kong for awhile in 1998-99 and it remains one of my favorite cities.@TheCheshireGrins – Yeah, it was pretty photogenic food.
Love the first one. Don’t see it too often.Don’t care for the taro thing either.
@yang1815 – Oh, you don’t like the taro puffs? I think they can be pretty satisfying if they aren’t too oily.
@christao408 – Yeah but not too often are they not very oily. I’d rather just avoid it haha.
Oh these look really delicious…Maybe I should go to Koi Palace soon…My HK friends are really impressed with me whenever I order “zha lian” (the first photo)
On my way to India this winter, I may have to stop in HK and go to this village. Love the pictures Chris.
@Wangium – I’m impressed with you, too! Ha ha…@ZSA_MD – Wasn’t that stopover going to be in Bangkok? =D
@christao408 – Oh I already told M, that if we are flying through west coast we are definitely visiting Chris in Bangkok. Yes, I am hoping to.
@ZSA_MD – That would be fantastic.
omg 🙂 wish i could have such nice dimsum here in frankfurt =p
@lcfu – I imagine German dim sum leaves something to be desired!