Perhaps you’ve heard me mention that Ton Kiang is my favorite restaurant in San Francisco. I’ve heard and read more than once it has the best dim sum this side of Hong Kong. Having made it to Hong Kong, I planned to put that statement to the test.
I was hoping to score some good dim sum in the Central district, but that didn’t pan out. Many of the restaurants I saw there looked pretty low rent, or offered other specialties, or were just downright scary. Then I got lost and started to run out of time. Therefore I was limited to airport restaurants. However I'd done some internet research and found a couple of recommended prospects. When I asked around at the airport, my internet reading was confirmed, and I was directed to Ah Yee Leng Tong, which means “Auntie's Beautiful Soup”. Needless to say, they’re known for their soup, but are also reputed for dim sum.
I started with a couple of favorites, barbecued pork buns and shrimp dumplings. Auntie doesn’t make anything until you order, so it’s very fresh. But for flavor I have to side with Ton Kiang. Score one for the home team!
I also tried a couple of items I’d never had before. One was shrimp-stuffed bean curd, which I didn’t care for. There wasn’t much flavor, just shrimp and bean curd, and bean curd doesn’t really taste like anything. I did have one of Auntie’s beautiful dessert soups, made with red dates, longan fruits, and the fat from a snow toad. I’ll list a few things; you put them in order of weirdness:
- Snow toad fat is sweet
- Somebody put snow toad fat in a dessert
- Something possessed me to order it
- I found it rather delicious
It had a very delicate flavor, but its texture was rather like snot. I really liked the way it tasted, but in the mouth it felt like soft tapioca. In the photo above, you can see the berry like red dates and longan fruits. The snow toad fat looks like whitish, translucent globs.
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