牡丹庭粵菜食府 Mu Dan Ting Chinese Restaurant

Having dim sum at Mu Dan Ting made me think twice about the title for best dim sum place in all of Hong Kong, and whether this honor rightfully belongs to Mu Dan Ting instead of Crystal Harbour Restaurant. Let's let the food be the judge though...

蘿蔔絲酥餅 lohbaahksi soubeng (silky threads of turnip pastry)

This pastry has an outer shell made with paper-thin layers of delicious crispiness, and an inner goodness of piping hot silky strips of Chinese turnips that are crisp to bite into, but at the same time soft and chewy at its core. The perfect pinch of salt and seasoning on the inside makes for a tasty warm treat bundled in a simple yet aesthetic pastry.

黃金流沙飽 wohnggam lauhsa baau (golden egg custard bun)

This might very well be the best lauhsa baau in all of Hong Kong.

The egg custard is perfectly creamy on the inside, but smooth enough to flow out from its soft and moist bun to simply melt in your mouth. If there had to be one dish to symbolize dim sum perfection, this would be it.

家鄉咸薄撑 gaheung haahm bohkchaang

This country-style pancake made mostly using turnip, with scallions and pieces of meat spreckled within, is fried to a nice crispiness on the outside, but its core is left warm and chewy. It goes well with the spicy dip not just in good taste, but in colorful aesthetic too.

We also had a
灌湯餃 guhn tong gaau (dumpling in broth) that was pretty good, and some 香麻糖不甩 heungma tohng batlat (sesame-topped "sugar can't fall off"), a staple Hong Kong dessert of sweet mochi balls topped with sugar and sesame.

But this is the dish that crowns the Mu Dan Ting experience:

椰香燉鮮奶 yehheung duhn sinnaai. It's a dairy dessert cooked within a coconut. The milk, or duhn naai in Cantonese, is a special dessert that you're almost not sure whether to call solid or liquid, but it's the coconut that really gives this its unique flavor, an infusion of subtle coconut goodness. And what's more, after finishing your duhn naai, you're still left with a wonderful treat in the coconut meat, which is fun to scoop out, and is a mouthful of tropical sweetness.

In the end, Mu Dan Ting is a delightful dim sum experience that rivals Crystal Harbour's. But each restaurant has their own subtle uniqueness that we can definitely appreciate.

尖沙咀漢口道
28號亞太中心2字樓
2/F Hong Kong Pacific Center
28 Hankow Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui
MTR Station: Tsim Sha Tsui