Tim Ho Wan at Olympian 2

One of my regular stops in Hong Kong is dim sum at Tim Ho Wan. The Michelin star recognized restaurant has opened several branches in the past few years and the original hole-in-the-wall Mongkok branch closed last year due to rent increases. On the most recent visit, we dined at the newest Tim Ho Wan branch at the Olympian 2 complex in Kowloon.

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The new location is a bit of a challenge to find, as it is an exterior restaurant and so you enter the interior of the mall from the MTR system and then have to find your way outside and around the building. Not too difficult, though.

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The interior of this branch is larger and brighter than any of the others, which means that the wait (which can be an hour or more at some locations like the Airport Express station at IFC) is much more reasonable. The four of us were seated in about fifteen minutes. The other benefit of the bright lighting is that pictures can much more easily be taken!

Speaking of which…

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On the left are steamed pork spareribs with black bean sauce. On the right are steamed beancurd skin rolls filled with meat and vegetables.

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On the left is steamed rice with chicken and Chinese sausage. On the right are pan-fried daikon radish cakes.

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On the left are the famous baked buns with barbecue pork – these I could eat several orders of. On the right are deep fried glutinous rice dumplings filled with minced meat. Hard to tell from the outside but both were filled with lots of delicious food.

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On the left is an interesting dish: quail eggs in dumpling wrappers! On the right is glutinous rice wrapped in a typical “bao” bread and steamed.

I didn’t take pictures of everything because dim sum just doesn’t photograph all that well. But we found the food to still be of a very high quality both in terms of ingredients and preparation. Dishes arrived quickly and service was efficient, if not particularly friendly.

In the future, this is the location I’ll return to for great dim sum while in Hong Kong.

Food in Hong Kong: Modern China Restaurant

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In response to my early posts about this recent trip to Hong Kong, some commenters expressed concern that I wasn’t eating at any Chinese restaurants.  Rest assured, I did eat a good amount of Chinese food while there.  One of the best meals was my final dinner, enjoyed at a Shanghainese restaurant called Modern China.

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Located in the Olympian City Mall in West Kowloon, right above the Olympic MTR station, Modern China blends in among all the other glass-fronted restaurant in a mall that, frankly, could be any other mall in Hong Kong.

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The waiting queue is very modern, with numbers posted on an LED monitor along with a map of tables and their status.  On a busy Sunday evening, Big Michael and I only waited ten minutes for a table.

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The interior of the restaurant is clean and spacious, although tables are packed pretty close together.  The wait staff was professional and attentive, although in typical Hong Kong style were not overly friendly.  The menu is accessible, offering lots of pictures and clear English descriptions.

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A small dish of sweet dried shrimp were served as a complimentary appetizer.  Very flavorful, although when I lived here it took a while to get used to eating shrimp with the shell still on.

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On the autumn special menu was an intriguing sounding dish: braised seafood in pumpkin.

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Sure enough, a beautiful orange pumpkin arrived on our table and upon removing the lid, we discovered a medley of fresh seafood in a rich pumpkin broth.  We also scraped the sides of the pumpkin to dislodge some of the cooked, but still firm flesh.  Very tasty.

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Can’t go to a Shanghainese restaurant without some Xiao Long Bao!  Very tasty, too, with delicate wrappers.  Really, though, will I ever like any XLB better than those at Din Tai Fung?  On the menu, these are rather cutely described as “Mouthful Small Steamed Meat Buns”.

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Braised noodles are always a favorite, especially these fried noodles with twice-cooked pork.

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Our final dish were these fried pastries filled with chopped beef and preserved vegetables.  They were kind of like turnovers, with a very flaky crust and a savory filling.

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There was a lot of juice inside and trying to cut them open neatly proved to be a chore.  But this will give you an idea, at least.

Overall, I give Modern China good marks for tasty, reasonably priced Shanghai style food served in a convenient location.  Good enough to be added to my Google Map of Hong Kong.  If you are looking for a break from the Cantonese food while in Hong Kong, head over to Olympian Mall.