It is true that Hong Kong is not known for their dumplings, Cantonese cuisine focuses in other spectra of the Chinese-Style cooking. But whatever, I am a sucker for dumplings, specially "Soup Dumplings", so while there, and telling to myself that since I was already in the area, I might as well find some good dumplings, and after asking around on the streets (turns out that the locals love Dumplings as well, and how can they not?) everything was pointing towards "The Crystal Jade" for a hefty serving of these beautiful bastards.
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| Xiao Long Bao |
First things first, Xiao Long Bao are not your typical dumpling, they do belong to the same Baozi family, however they are filled with a chilled rich filling, at this temperature the filling has a gel-like texture, but during the steaming process, the filling melts down into a delicious soup-like texture which gets trapped inside the dumpling, giving you then an amazing spoonful of soup inside a delicate and almost paper thin wrapping, out of this world.
When we got to the Crystal Jade I realised that it is a chain restaurant with locations all throughout Asia (and very soon to be present in the USA, in San Francisco), this made me a bit uneasy, I am not a big fan of chain anything, but I was extremely hungry, so I decided to give them a chance. Fuck did they prove me wrong! I had since come back in multiple occasions and every single time I leave the place so incredibly satisfied.
They offer a great variety of dishes in their surprisingly large menu, but they do take special attention in their signature dish, the Xiao Long Bao, from which you have a couple of options to choose from, they also offer some other mouthwatering dumplings, amazing side dishes, vegetables and the noodles are pretty good as well.
As in many restaurants throughout Hong Kong, the tea is unlimited and will keep coming until you tell them to stop, the service is extremely fast and the servers are quite nice (as you will discover, around here servers tend to have an 'attitude' but I actually love that about them, the have that edge you want without being rude). The dumplings will be the first thing to come out of the kitchen, as they keep making them continuously so there is virtually no wait, it is a very efficient production line, the fresh veggies will come second, then the warm veggies and sides, and lastly any other main dish you ordered. Whenever I go out I usually order a few dishes and I like sharing everything with everyone.
The Crystal Jade was a pleasant surprise, chain restaurants are usually not this good, but then again, Hong Kong breaks a lot of stereotypes when it come to food. It is a great place to come with friends or family.
Crystal Jade
Many locations in Hong Kong and South East Asia
Price Range: 200-300 HKD pp.
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| More Xiao Long Bao |
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| A hefty portion of Chinese Broccoli |
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| Eel in a smokey sweet sauce |
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| It all looks amazing (From Left to Right: Chinese broccoli, eel, pickled cucumber and xiao long bao) |
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| Eel with Scallions. |
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| Awesome (From Left to Right: Eel and scallions, pickled cucumber, a lonely dumpling, my magic combo of soy, chilli and vinegar for the dumplings) |
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| Warm Greens |
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| Noodles in Spicy Peanut Sauce. |
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| More views of the goodness. |
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| Other type of Dumplings. |
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