Monday, November 09, 2009

Sun Tung Lok Shark's Fin shop, 新同樂, Happy Valley, Hong Kong

It was a mid. winter time in 1996, one of my best business friends and I went to Sun Tung Lok for a dim sum lunch at Sun Tung Lok in Harbour City Tsimshatsui. We ordered a shark's fin soup dumpling 魚翅灌湯鮫 under a strong recommendation from the house manager, though I mentioned that I really didn't like soup dumpling at all. So the soup dumpling came. What I saw was a big bloating dumpling. Then when I used the chopsticks to break it, it was a bit tangy like shrimp dumpling. When I had a bite on the dumpling wrap, it was amazingly tangy and unlike the other soup dumpling whose wrap is usually quite mashy due to the soup being boiled and steamed at the same time. I thanked the manager for such a nice recommendation and by the way asked him why the wrap could be that nice. So the answer is very simple as its Chinese term - pour the hot soup inside the dumpling but it's actually injected thru' a needle. Then steamed it quickly. This way the dumpling doesn't need to be steamed for a long time until the soup gets hot inside. Unlike most others, the soup dumpling was just put in a small jar and steamed. The dumpling and soup were mashed into each other and you couldn't tell it's a dumpling actually. So about 8-9 years ago, Sun Tung Lok closed until 1 year ago I heard it was re-opened but didn't where it is. Then yesterday when I walked out of the hot food stall place in Happy Valley, there I found this place. BTW, their dim sum like shrimp dumpling and siu mai were very nice. Need to go to this place for a sampling.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I always think this restaurant is for tourist and the price is super expensive. the food may be not HK style. I think it's for japanese tourists. don't believe you like this restaurant. so how much for a dim sum - HK$50?

Stella said...

Har, Anoynmous 2:19 PM, you mean the dim sum here is $50 HK($6 US) per dish?
I heard about Sun Tung Lok long time ago. Mr. SEA, please kindly go there again and take some photos so we can eat some shark fin from your post. I think SF has one too. Not sure if it is the same one or just the name.

in the sea said...

Anonymous, $50 may be for the shrimp dumpling which is super good. The other dim sum is around HK$30-50. I think the prices are ok because they didn't give you cheap ingredients. I prefer this one to Lok Yue, as I can save the HK$100 for 2 orders of shrimp dumplings. OK, will try but not sure if this one is good as the one in Harbour City.