Today's post is on dim sum yet again. I know I've made many dim sum posts but no worries every single one is a little bit different. Aside from dim sum though, I also visited the Chinese New Year Fair in Hong Kong. It's the thing to do during the lunar new year but the fairs in LA kinda suck and just cause traffic so I stopped going after age 5. Above is a collage from my time there. As you can see it's going to be the year of the tiger, hence the people dressed up in tiger outfits. Although it's nicknamed "flower market", there's a lot more to buy aside from beautiful flowers and tiger outfits. There's also food and gadgets!
Box 1 is some awesome coconut skin candy. Box 2 is Dragon Whisker Candy. It's basically like peanut candy wrapped in cotton candy. Box 3 is sugary awesomeness that is melted inside crackers. Think smores but Hong Kong style. Box 4 is a guy making fresh sugar cane juice.
Here's a picture of me holding a sun dried quail. If you look closely you can see I'm holding a string attached to the beak. The whole body is hanging off the string. It was delicious by the way if you're wondering.
The fair was lots of fun. There was food and lots of crap to buy and see. Now onto the food! I had dim sum at the Jockey Club where you need a special membership to get in. They are so hardcore you can't have your cellphone on while inside or they fine you. Crazy! Anyways for those who have read my blog before, you know that dim sum means touch the heart. I love that. Awesome name because food touches my heart all the time!
Here is our order of bamboo shoots. It was yummy.
Next was our order of steamed tofu topped with okaka fish flakes. Definitely not your typical dim sum dish but it was yummy nonetheless.
Here's one of my favorite dishes. Crispy pork with the Chinese mustard sauce you dip it with!
This is also delicious but it's hard to find a restaurant that does it right. This is a newer dish that has been added to dim sum. This is baked bbq pork (cha siu) in a pineapple bread bun. No it doesn't taste like pineapple. They only call it that because the top looks like a pineapple's skin. The skin breaks off and melts in your mouth. It's the best combination.
This is completely black in color and I don't like it. It's definitely an acquired taste that I have yet to acquire. It's black vinegar pork with egg. It's very good for your body. Women that have given birth always have this.
Here are the most popular dim sum dishes. Left is Shau Mai which is pork dumpling with little shrimp seasonings on top. Right is Ha Gow, shrimp dumplings.
Left is a picture of a dim sum made with fish stomach. Right is a mushroom rice noodle. If it looks like it's half eaten... it's cause it was. I couldn't wait for the camera. I was hungry.
Left is a picture of the egg tarts we had for dessert and right is a picture of a sponge cake.
Overall it was a yummy, yummy day. The Chinese New Year Fair was definitely something I have never experienced before. There's nothing that compares. The ones in the US just can't even come close to measuring up with it. As for dim sum, it's always a good meal. There's always the general dim sum and some specialities each restaurant has. Just make sure you go to a legit place! It doesn't matter if you're in HK or L.A., there's a bunch of great dim sum places.
Happy Eatings!