Let's go dim-sum-ing!

I officially haven't had dim sum in over four months. I was going through serious withdrawal. So, on my first opportunity, I headed for dim sum with B. We hit up a place close to my house, since I had the day off. Now, I know it's not exactly the Kirin, but hey, it's been FOUR months, people, cut me some slack.

First dish to arrive, spare ribs with black bean sauce. Shockingly pale, right? But fortunately, the flavour didn't suffer from the lack of colour.

For me, it's not dimsum without the Har Gow (steamed prawn dumpling). I can live without the Sui Mai (pork dumpling), but desperately need the prawn one. I was delighted by these, firm but not dry shrimp meat inside, and light, transparent skin on these babies. Oh, and they're so big, they're more like toddlers...

They also have a few specials that you can order only one of, per table. I was slightly confused at first, but all this means is that there are about five things on special, but you can't have multiples of the same thing, you are only allowed to order one of each. We went the healthy route and got Veggies with Oyster Sauce. Other options included Soya Sauce Fried Noodles with Bean Sprouts, Deep Fried Chicken Knees, and a few others. Oh yes, the one standout that I wanted to try, had there been more than two of us, would be the Lobster Congee.

Ok, I know I'm missing carbs when I order plain rice noodle rolls. I didn't want shrimp, no BBQ pork, no beef, no nothing. Just give me the noodles the way I want them. These were steamed perfectly...not overcooked, and seemed 'made-to- order'. The soy sauce wasn't as salty as you would normally expect...could they be using low sodium here? And of course, it came with the mandatory hoisin and peanut dipping sauce.

Oh, another favourite of mine that I rarely get...Malaysian-styled Fried Turnip Cakes. As many of my readers know, I am a bean sprout fiend, so if you toss it on anything, I will likely try it. (see my pho and ramen posts). These were really good, nice doughy texture, with a firm bite and very crispy outer skin.

The last dish to arrive was the most disappointing...they clearly did not save the best for last. I normally love these bean curd skin rolls "seen jok guen" but the meat in this dish seemed a little off, and the flavour was just not right. We each took half, couldn't quite figure why we didn't like it at first, but we both agreed, it was "off".
One of my favourite things to do with the rice noodle rolls is to unroll a portion of it on my plate, apply the necessary sauces to the inside and then reroll it. Am I weird or do you do this too?