四寶滑雞扎 - seibou waaht gaijaat ("4 treasures" bundled Chicken)
脆皮燒肉 - cheuipei siuyuhk (roast pork with mustard)
Ordering a "4 treasures" bundled chicken at your dim sum experience will surely satiate the hungriest of your party. The hearty "4 treasures" usually includes Chicken and fish maw as the 2 essential standard treasures. For those unfamiliar with fish maw, it's the fish's air bladder that let's them float contentedly through the waters, and it's a common ingredient in Cantonese cooking mostly because its texture absorbs tasty (and fatty!) juices, giving your tastebuds a pleasant treat of flavorful bursts of juices released with every bite! The other two "treasures" of this gai jaat are a big meaty chunk of ham, and a big stalk of baby corn. Overall a filling dim sum, the "4 treasures" chicken bundled together in a thin chewy tofu wrapping is a perfect hearty foursome of delicious magnitude. The second dish pictured above is the ever familiar siu yuhk, or roast pork. With a crispy yet moist skin over a tender and juicy chunk of meat, why haven't American Chinatowns thought of pairing this already flavorful delight with some mustard? This is the standard sauce of choice for roast pork in Hong Kong (unless you're at a Chinese wedding banquet which will serve more traditional fare). Actually, no sauce is really necessary because the pork is so juicy and flavorful, but the mustard does give a zesty zing to spice things up a bit. Definitely recommended.And what better standard dim sum dessert would one get in Hong Kong than the ever so wonderful egg custard bun.
流沙奶皇飽 - lauhsa laaiwohng baau (egg custard bun)
One bite into this yummy treat will send melt-in-your-mouth egg custard into your mouth. The Chinese translates literally as melting/flowing sand milk king bun. In other words, watch the melting creaminess ooze out from the soft and moist bun.
There's not much original that Crystal Harbour Restaurant can do with these three standard dishes above, but for the "4 treasures" chicken as well as the egg custard bun, Crystal prepares these in top-tier fashion. You usually wouldn't get such a full and meaty "4 treasures" at other places, and as for the egg custard bun, I personally rank this as the best one I've had in Hong Kong, but tied with the ones they've got over at 牡丹庭 Mu Dan Ting Chinese Restaurant, which I'll be blogging about here on TungChoiSt. sometime later this summer (for now you can find Mu Dan Ting at OpenRice).
But what one really comes to Crystal Harbour Restaurant for is the creative dim sum delicacies they create. Here are a few neat and tasty ones:
千絲蘿蔔絲酥 - chinsi lohbaahksi sou
紫米香芒卷 - jimai heungmong gyun
I can't seem to provide meaningful translations for these dishes. I take it as a good sign that these creative concoctions are unique beyond meaning! A character-by-character translation of the first dish is: thousand silk/threads radish silk/threads crispy. Basically, one bite into the core of this tightly packed crispy pastry will break open a "thousand" threads of piping hot baked Chinese radish that are themselves soft on the outside and subtly crunchy on the inside. The second dish pictured uses "purple rice" (the same used in this dessert I previously blogged about) for a mochi outer wrapping, a fresh mango inner core, and a dusting of shredded coconut to top it. Aesthetically pleasant, it's a nice, but not stellar, dessert.
Finally, I end with one of the most traditional desserts of Cantonese cuisine, 豆腐花 - dauh fu fa, literally tofu flower. Usually anytime you order this you'll get it in a personal bowl. But Crystal Harbour being Crystal Harbour, this wouldn't do of course! No, they prefer to give you the entire wooden vat that is traditionally used in making this dessert, a mini one of course. This basically transfers the responsibility of scooping the tofu out of the vat and into your bowl from the restaurant over to you, and this may seem like a sour deal to some, but personally I like it this way. It brings the food-appreciator in on one more bit of the food process, and the "tofu flower" itself is really good - bland by Western standards, but the soft tofu is smooth down the throat, and you get a combination of two subtle flavors, tofu, and ginger. A pleasant and simple way to end a meal.Here are some other recommended dishes:
蘋果叉燒酥 - pingguo chasiu sou (apple charsiu crisps)
葡式木糖布甸 - pouhsik muhktohng bouhdin (Portuguese Pudding...similar to the one I blogged about from O Porto Interior, but not as good, although this one at Crystal uses vanilla ice cream rather than cream)
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
