Hong Kong Dim Sum

77 Kingsway
Glen Waverley, 3150 VIC

Happy Holidays! Even though this post won’t actually get released until about mid-January, we are right in the silly season at the time of writing. So to all my beloved readers out there: thanks for sticking with the blog, have a good break, and eat lots of fantastic food!

Speaking of eating fantastic food, I often find that easier said than done at this time of year. Although there are plenty of pot-lucks and family dinners to tighten that waistband, lots of restaurants are also taking a well-earned rest. This usually (but not always!) means that meals out are more or less restricted to the cheap and cheerful Asian restaurants, who tend to be keener on Chinese New Year than Christmas.

Hong Kong Dim Sum is one of the last few remaining restaurants that I’ve yet to try in Glen Waverley. Despite being pretty fond of yum cha, I’m always on my way to eat somewhere else when I’m in the general vicinity. But it looks like the stars have finally aligned just right. Anyway, you know those factory outlets for clothes? This is basically the restaurant equivalent of that. A large section of the restaurant is taken up by freezers selling take-away dim sum, whilst the rest is pretty bare-bones, consisting of mismatched chairs and wax paper laid over the tables.

The yum cha here isn’t served from trolleys; rather, you tick what you want on the menu and they bring it out to you. But none of that mattered, as we showed up at dinner time to find out that dim sum go to bed at 5:30. But I wasn’t to be deterred, and ordered a serve of Scallop and Prawn Dumplings ($5.5, 3pcs) off the al la carte menu instead. The wrapping on these parcels were on the thicker and slightly gluey side, but it was remedied by the tumble of plump prawns and scallops hidden within.

Meanwhile, Chris wanted some Steamed BBQ Pork Buns ($5, 2pcs). The sweet, fluffy bun held a mixture of pork and gravy that wasn’t a disconcerting shade of artificial red – always a good sign. I found that the pork lacked the deep mixture of smoke and spice that comes with a good pork bun, and the meat was in smaller pieces than I would’ve liked, but the overall effect was a positive one.

There unfortunately wasn’t enough dim sum on the a la carte menu to make a full meal, so we topped things off with the Chinese Mushroom, BBQ Pork and Bean Curd in Clay Pot ($18.5). This was all of my favourite things – smoky sweet BBQ pork, pan seared blocks of wobbly tofu, juicy shiitake mushrooms – stewed in a glossy, umami glaze.

When it came down to it, Hong Kong Dim Sum is what it is – simple Chinese food in a (very) casual setting. I’ll admit I was a little disappointed; not with the food, which was perfectly sufficient, but because I came expecting yum cha but didn’t get it. Based on what I did try however, a repeat visit seems to be warranted.

Rating: 12.5/20 – dim sum sadness.
This rating reflects my personal experience at the time of visit.