Tom Bao King     湯飽皇  

Actually even though I kind of gave these shops 亞軍 or something, its not really true because I'm not rating them relative to each other. Every meal had good or bad things present !

*******************************

涼伴小黃瓜 -
This is the proper 用刀拍嘅黃瓜, not the sliced one, so the texture is a little bit better and also absorbs more sauce flavouring. This is refreshing but the sauce is weak. 4/5

湯包皇 -
A larger version of a Xiao Loong Bao, this had quite a bit of soup inside. The soup was quite weak though, nowhere near as sweet as the ones in other shops. The meat also had too much alcohol taste in it, and the pork meat wasn't very good. Overall this was just average. 3/5

SHANGHAI WONTON & TAN TAN MEIN -
The wontons are ok-good, very lean meat used too with some blended veggies. The Tan Tan Mein's broth initially looks very clear in my photo - yet, this is the older Hong Kong style of eating Tan Tan's. The sesame sauce is actually right at the bottom, so the customer needs to mix it from bottom up to let the sesame paste catch onto the noodles and also diluted into the soup itself.

The good thing is that it had real sesame taste here (not just peanuts). The bad news is that its not enough, as the overall soup was too thin in consistency. The noodles are Hand - Made in this shop, and they are very good indeed. Great texture and noodles taste. Overall this Tan Tan Mein is enjoyable, but not perfect. 3.8/5

排骨菜飯 -
The Porkchop are not good to be honest. Its dry and overly treated chemically, they were left unfinished. That contrasts with the very good quality 菜飯, which unlike the past when it was aromatic from all the additional pork oil mixed in, nowadays you'll be lucky to get ANY taste out of them. Luckily, they put in a lot of veggies in the version here, so it felt green and healthy. Not overcooked either, good bitey rice grains. Pity about the pork. 3/5

山渣水 -
This tasted like a 酸梅茶 in a way, as it had a smokey flavour! 4/5

****************
CONCLUSION:

Noodles here are hand made and worth a visit alone. The much lauded Large Xiao Loong Bao was barely ok compared to today's standards. Other stuff seem Hits and Misses. Nevertheless - its not a bad little shop.

Was planning to pay Yo bago another visit.. but came across this resturant on openrice.
was about 6.45 when we got there. Only two tables were occupied.

we were nicely greeted my the waitress.
We ordered the soup filled bun (xiao long bao)
steam vegetable dumpling and a DAM DAM noodles.

also a soy milk.
Soy milk tasted average, nothing special
First came the noodles, which looks quite different from the other we have tasted.
usualy the soup is veri dense and thick.
This soup is rather runny, and not as spicey.

湯包 looks good. 4 it comes in.
all 4 were fill with soup.
although one has already burst and the soup had run dry. The other 3 were filled with soup, and did not seem to break.was good indeed

The vegetable dumpling was very nicely made. i dont recommend this one if you are a meat lover or prefer your dumplings to be very juicy as this dumpling is very raw withvegetable.

Was in the neighborhood and decided to check out this restaurant recommended by HK Magazine in one of their Quarry Bay eats writeup. Their siu lung bao's, or aka tong bao dumplings were indeed very nice, big and soupy. The dumpling skin was just thick enough to hold the soup, not paper thin but definately not doughy.

We also had their hot and sour "pao" rice which is rice with soup. I really enjoyed it since there aren't many restos which serve this. Not spicy but prob two bowls of rice in the soup so I couldnt finish. A lot of pple ordered desert like rice wine dumpling soup and red bean crispy pancakes which I assume to be good too.

Keeping this relatively "short" as there is a long review already
Everything was nice, from service to the food, I would go again if I were in the neighborhood but prob wouldnt wait in line if there was one.

Quarry Bay has many small hidden joints. Here on the same street leading up to a few busy greengrocers, we could find an Indian place, a Western eatery and one that supposedly claim the trophy of "Soup Filled Bun...Anytime after 2:30pm is not a good time to visit, as the kitchen closes until dinnertime comes. I was here that day when the owner invited me in, only if I don't mind eating without the light on. I ditched the seemingly comfortable booths and opted for a table closer to the window. Luckily enough on a bright sunny day light or no light didn't seem to matter so much.

Noodle Soup with Braised Riblets was my prime selection after some considerations to unavailable dishes (the more elaborate ones). An order of steamed soup-buns is a must. The noodles arrived, broth steaming, with a lone spot of green in the bokchoy and a sharp reddish brown pile of riblets on the top, against a milky broth. To my surprise the broth tasted bland, but I found myself slurping up noodles by the bunch. The braised riblets were cooked through nicely through prolonged simmering on the stovetop, with a slight caramel sweetness in the finish, even the cartilage gave way to bite. If there was anything, they were too 'chopped', as I would imagine riblets to be a little bit more chunky. Soy-milk was the complimentary. It's housemade but tasted slightly sweeter and despite ordered 'hot', it's only tepid.

The anticipation of soup-filled buns was extinquished by the sight of a bamboo steamer arriving and being set in front of me. Uncovering the lid revealed 4 scrumptiously rich soup-filled buns so filled-up. The wrapper was thin and the juices ran clear from inside out, tasting of napa cabbage, chicken and pork. It's also lighter and leaner than most soup-filled buns. But the smaller lump of pork filling was the perfect size for a soup-filled bun as it's about the soup, and the thin wrapper, not a big chunk of meat the size of a baby's fist like the ones you see elsewhere. Tempted to dip into Chinese Black Vinegar with juliennes of ginger, I held my chopsticks against the pleaded wrapper, dangling on the soup filled bun to make sure the steaming soup didn't leak out...This, was surprisingly fun.

I also realized 4 ways of eating soup filled buns to prevent the soup from spilling.
1). You place the soup bun on a spoon, take a bite from the top and let cool slightly. Then you proceed with the rest of the dumpling, in small bites.
2). You carefully pick up the soup bun with your chopsticks, make a small bite on the side, tilting the dumpling on one side supported with the spoon. Then let cool slightly and proceed.
3) You flip the dumpling with the pleaded side (thicker) on the bottom, held by the spoon. Then with small bites you can swallow the soup before proceeding.
4). Let cool slightly, and put the entire dumpling -- soup and all -- into your mouth. Embrace the scrumptiousness altogether.

All in all, the dumplings were good -- structure wise the well-filled soup buns were remarkable, and what made it better was the balance it bears with thin wrappers, proportional pork filling and the soup as well. Now this place certainly deserves some recognition from lunch crowds here, and I'll consider coming back at some point, to try other dishes as well...