Fung's Kitchen (Dim Sum)
I've gone to Kim Son (Sugar Land) for dim sum for so long and have been so disappointed in so many dim sum restaurants (Ocean Palace, Golden Palace, etc) that I didn't sexpect Fung's Kitchen to shine. But shine it did.
They have a wide variety of plates available including things you don't usually find in dim sum restaurants in Houston: duck feet or salt and pepper shrimp. Their carts come often enough and the restaurant is big enough to house the masses that come.
I especially enjoyed the siu mai which I know is fairly basic as a dish, but it is usually a good indicator of the quality of a dim sum restaurant. The shu mai had a wonderfully moist wrap. The pork was just cooked and not overdone. The salt and pepper shrimp had a crunch so good, you could eat the whole darn shrimp--including the head. The chinese broccoli came tender, green and crunchy. The fried items like the shrimp in taro had the taste of the product and not the oil.
A wonderful experience. Though I'd recommend sticking with the less expensive chicken feet rather than the less flavorful duck feet.
Labels: Chinese
17 Comments:
I searched back through your blog because I wanted to find out if you had ever tried Yum Yum Cha Cafe. I've read in the Houston Press that they serve Dim Sum good enough to rival Kim Son.
Your thoughts?
July 12, 2005
Yum Yum Cafe just opened a few months ago. I've been meaning to go there, but will wait until the drama has died down a bit. Apparently, the Houston Chronicle or Houston Press did a favorable piece on them and they got crushed with people. But Yum Yum doesn't have the carts which to me is part of the experience of a dim sum place.
July 13, 2005
Hey Huan,
Just wanted to mentioned I tried Fung's Kitchen dim sum today , based on your review. Excellent food(especially the pork ribs) We got there at 11am and just beat the crowd. By the time we left you could barely get out of the parking lot...
Your review right on the money.
July 16, 2005
Hey Boz. Thanks for trying one of these restaurants. If you've got suggestions, I'd love to hear. I'm always searching for new places to try.
July 16, 2005
Checked out Yum Yum Cha today.
Would not recommend Yum Yum Cha if you are in a hurry as it took about 15 minutes for my order to arrive. I don't recall exactly what I ordered, but one was sweet red bean, another was chicken & shitake mushrooms, and a third item was steamed vegetable dumplings. The steamed dumplings were a bit overdone, but the sweet red bean things were a treat. The chicken & shitake was good, but seemed to lack something.
Staff was very friendly and the place was busy the entire time I was there (early Saturday afternoon). The menus are cool because they feature a flip book of photos of the food along with a brief description. Parking is a challenge, but what’s new if you’re in the Rice Village area?
I should try it again and order completely different dishes, but I’m not sure how soon that will happen. While I was there, a lady took photos of her food with a digital camera. I wonder if she too was some kind of critic.
Also tried Blue Fish Sushi on Richmond this evening. Excellent sushi that doesn’t pack too much rice around the ingredients. You know what I mean? Some places skimp on the ingredients by packing a lot of rice into the sushi. Not this place. This place now rivals my all-time favorite sushi hang out here in Clear Lake, Tokyo Bowl.
July 17, 2005
hey governor... great review on Yum Yum Cha. You're not the first who has noted the wait time. Try Fung's Kitchen... You won't need the picture book as the food will always be seen on the cart before you order it.
Hmmmm... I've got to try Tokyo Bowl. I have to say I was pretty disappointed in Blue Fish though. Sushi seemed more Thai/Chinese than Japanese. Maybe it was the non-traditional menu that threw me.
July 18, 2005
Okay - I'll seek out Fung's!
For future reference, perhaps you could post a web link or an address of the restaurant? I found Fung’s web site (and it’s pretty darn slick) but some places, like Yum Yum Cha, don’t have a web presence yet.
The sushi at Blue Fish did indeed have some non-traditional selections (as well as several non-Japanese items on the menu), but I think that's why I liked it. One of the rolls featured quail eggs, which I think I’ll try on my next visit.
Lemme know when you plan to try Tokyo Bowl and I’ll join you.
July 18, 2005
I'm a fan of Yum Yum Cha. Yes you don't get the cart experience but you do get fresh made to order dim sum. Yes sometimes the wait can be long but hey, good food takes time. The 1st time I went, after they just recently opened, they were very slow -- just the dad in the back doing all the cooking and the daughter in front serving and taking phone calls etc. But now they have more help. I haven't dined in again, but have called in take out orders and taken them back to my office in the med center to eat with friends in our break room.
January 27, 2006
Excellent, love it!
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July 12, 2006
I just had Yum Yum Cha for lunch today. It was terrible. I wouldn't have cared that the portions were ridiculously small if they had actually tasted good. The lotus-wrapped chicken rice was more or less impossible to eat--the rice was hard and difficult to chew. The siu mai wasn't flavorful or textured like Fung's. The service was sullen even though I was the only customer. The only redeeming feature is the cha siu bao, whose pork filling, while not plentiful, was better than Fung's.
January 29, 2007
Where did you find it? Interesting read » » »
April 26, 2007
Just got back from Fung's. The restaurant was reminiscence of my childhood growing up in New York City. Our family visited New York City Chinatown once every week throughout growing up there. The interior is very typical of the style of larger tea houses throughout NYC Chinatown. The dim sum variations was excellent. The looks of the dishes were great. However, the taste department was a little disappointing. A couple of their dishes typical of dim sum was a bit bland compare with other dim sum restaurants. I was expecting a very flavorful dish of chicken feet, but it was not in the same style I was acustom to. Their tripes with tendon and turnip stew was missing any traces of Anis Star which is the primary spice that makes up that particular dish. It was as if they simply boil the ingredients and just added corn starch, salt, sugar and food coloring to make it look good. The flavor was simply not there for me. I may give it another try just because of the reminisce factor hoping that this time was just a fluke that the taste didn't turn out like it should. For me the bottom line was blandness overall on the dishes I selected. Perhaps I'll have a better experience the next time. I'll just give it one more chance.
July 07, 2007
I went there a few years ago. The food was pretty bland, and there was a dead cockroach in one of the stir-fry dishes. Management simply and matter-of-factly replaced that one dish, leaving me with the distinct impression that this was not an unusual occurrence, and that I shouldn't have bothered to bring this to their attention. I refuse to go again, even though lots of Chinese colleagues say it's the best place for dim sum.
August 17, 2007
nice blog!
September 02, 2007
nice blog!Nice information
September 03, 2007
:-) ochen\' zaebatyj blog!
September 04, 2007
Keep up the great work. It very impressive. Enjoyed the visit!
September 09, 2007
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