Hong Kong Lounge Dim Sum

19 Aug

I have a new favorite place to get Dim Sum in the bay area, edging out my previous favorite (East Ocean Seafood in Alameda): the Hong Kong Lounge, in San Francisco at Geary and 18th Ave.

There were about 60 people in line, but a friend got there an hour early to put our names in:

The food was remarkably delicious and not heavy. We filled up this table with dishes three times over the two hours we were eating there:

I’ll especially praise the addictive taro cakes (rice flour, taro, and bits of pork, soft on the inside and slightly crunchy on the outside), the chive dumplings, another fried gyoza-like pork dumpling (not sure exactly what it was), a mushroom dumpling with a translucent wrapper (wheat starch without the gluten?), and the best dessert custard bun I’ve ever had. The chili sauce was also excellent, and many people loved the chicken wings, but I thought they were only “quite good” — after having had the San Tung dry-fried chicken wings it’s hard to give any other wings the time of day.

Here’s the dim sum equivalent of the obnoxious rich celebrities who post photos of their $50k caviar-and-champagne bar tabs online: 51 dim sum plates split between 13 serious eaters…