天澄閣 Crystal Harbour Restaurant

九龍 紅磡灣 紅樂道 12號
海韻軒酒店 3樓
3/F, Harbourview Horizon All-suite Hotel,
12 Hung Lok Road, Hunghom Bay, Kowloon
East Rail Line: Hung Hom Station

View Larger Map

Aside from the fact that Crystal Harbour Restaurant is a misnomer in more ways than one, (there's no view of the harbor, which isn't very crystal-like anyway!) this place redeems itself by being the best place I've been for yam cha (pronounced "yum cha") in Hong Kong, in terms of having the most aesthetically pleasant dim sum, and the most perfect balance of great taste and subtle detail, making for awesome dim sum plain and simple. There is a price to pay for this, however, and that's the wait. Each little container of Dim Sum takes excruciatingly long to come out from the kitchen, so be prepared to have no food on your table for intervals of several minutes. But I'm not hesitating to say that it's worth the wait! Slow and relaxed is how yam cha was intended to be anyways.

(note: English names of dishes are my own approximate translations)


龍太子御飯 "Imperial Dragon Prince Rice" (Lobster Congee)
Boasting a lot more texture than your typical porridge-y Hong Kong Congee, the bits of Lobster add flavor and colorful aesthetic to an otherwise un-aesthetic dish.


灌湯餃 (Dumpling in broth)
This is a common dish in Hong Kong - a huge dumpling basking in broth. When you proceed to take bites from the dumpling, the flavorful stuffing swims out into the broth making for a tasty mixture. Yum =)


蝦交 ha gaau shrimp dumplings
This is your classic shrimp dumpling, or ha gaau for those in the know. But check out how pristinely crystal clear the skin of this shrimp dumpling is! Beautiful. And tastes good too!


大蝦沙律卷 Shrimp Salad Roles
This is an innovation, and interestingly labeled sai sik. The outside is super-thin and crispy, holding in the subtly sweet, and subtly salty inside. Hard to describe, but tastefully interesting in a good way.


綠茶奶皇卷 Green Tea Milk Custard Roles
Wrapped in a green tea mochi is a creamy custard. The taste, unfortunately, was a bit bland, but aesthetically it's pleasing to the eyes, no?


紫米露 Sweet Purple Rice Dessert
A common traditional Chinese dessert, which for some reason I've never seen in Boston Chinatown, it's difficult to describe - sweet and warm, while the purple rice adds a soft yet strong texture.

New glossary terms:
yam cha: ('yam' pronounced 'yum') lit. "drink tea"; a morning/lunch time social event revolving around dim sum and tea; this is an event in itself more than just the great food, which is to be slowly and appreciatively savored in between sips of Chinese tea. Sometimes it may include seeing relatives you don't often get to see, but always involves pondering what role you are to play in the ensuing fight over the check, and how underhanded you're willing to get for it. With all these distractions, how's a food appreciator to whip out the DSLR and snap pictures of all the artistic and savory Dim Sums?

Recurring glossary terms:
sai sik: Western style