Want the best dumplings but short on time? Board Hong Kong’s dim sum bus

It’s my third visit to Hong Kong, and as an aspiring dim sum connoisseur, I’m here to experience the local fare in new ways beyond what’s served at my closest Chinatown.

First, to reacquaint myself with the city again, I’m combining getting my bearings with on-the-go feasting onboard a dedicated “Dim Sum Bus”. Yes, such ingenuity exists, perfect for time-poor travellers and double-dipping activities.

On board for a taste bud bonanza… Hong Kong’s dim sum bus.

I board the double-decker Crystal Bus, aka dim sum bus, near Kowloon’s Tsim Sha Tsui Station. Upstairs are eight tables with booth-style seating under strips of fluorescent purple lights. Given it’s a late lunch, the neon-glow ambience feels a bit premature, but it’s still fun. I’m allocated a prime position in the front row with unobstructed views of Hong Kong.

The 2½-hour tour passes 20 attractions, and soon after departure, I receive my version of a Happy Meal: a dim sum set by Michelin-rated casual eatery One Dim Sum. It opens like a chocolate box and features easy-to-please steamed shrimp dumplings, siu mai, barbeque pork bun, and sticky rice in lotus leaf. I gorge as we blitz by some of the city’s lesser-known sites.

Food as art… Dim Sum Library.

Two stops for a leg stretch are included. Walking uphill to the Lantau Link Viewing Platform to see the convergence of the city’s architectural marvels, Tsing Ma and Kap Shui Bridges, feels like a big task on a full stomach. But I do it anyway to lessen my guilt and slow down my inevitable metamorphosis into a human dumpling. If not for the bus, would I have seen this side of Hong Kong? Probably not.

Hutong main dining room.

My dumpling standards continued to be raised at Michelin-selected restaurant Hong Kong Cuisine 1983. The British-born Chinese head chef, Silas Li, is like the Heston Blumenthal of yum cha. He adopts French techniques, innovative pairings and a playful approach to Hong Kong gastronomy.

“It’s only the beginning,” Li says as I’m served a lone deep-fried dumpling in the guise of ruby-red lychee fruit. The rough-textured ball is filled with cuttlefish and lychee and topped with small green leaves. It’s beautiful, and I’m almost apologetic for demolishing this artful morsel.

The dim sum degustation persists, and one by one, I’m dazzled by small bamboo steamers with Li’s bite-sized mastery: Steamed pork and prawn dumplings with runny quail egg and black truffle sauce. A lone steamed fish mousse dumpling shaped as a sesame seed-eyed fish swimming in an amber-coloured lobster broth, its tail flecked with gold flakes. Fresh crab-meat dumplings lightly drizzled with homemade roasted crab oil from a mini-glass dropper, its red claw peering from the razor-thin dough. This is my euphoria.

Trio of quail eggs.

Thankfully, Li is willing to share his kitchen secrets in a private one-hour dim sum workshop (must be booked in advance). It includes three demonstrations, and my menu includes prawn hargow, Shanghainese pork dumplings and a dish I’d unlikely attempt at home, a trio of runny quail eggs. Using a syringe to inject soy sauce into an egg appearing as a tulip lollipop would be a once-off. I fumble as I do zig-zag folds of the “easy” prawn dumpling. Let’s just say I won’t be stealing Li’s job anytime soon.

I continue to expand my dumpling knowledge (and waistline) at Dim Sum Library. Located in the premier shopping mall Pacific Place, the trendy Chinoiserie tearoom offers two hours of unlimited dim sum. There are almost 30 cooked-to-order dishes to choose from, each prepared with a contemporary twist, and I hardly hold back.

Book in… Dim Sum Library.

There’s also dim sum delivered with spectacle. Hong Kong Island’s long-running “Symphony of Lights” illuminates the skyline nightly at 8pm. And instead of watching it along West Kowloon’s waterfront promenade along Victoria Harbour, I’m enjoying it 18 floors up at the sleek Northern Chinese restaurant Hutong. After being served a series of colourful dumplings, a chef emerges, pan in tow, to finish cooking the restaurant’s renowned Peking duck as if it were theatre. Flames emerge as he continuously slides the half-duck across the pan, securing its golden glaze. It’s hypnotic. I don’t know where to look – the vivid skyscraper show or my personal cook-off. I can’t get this at home.

THE DETAILS

STAY
Rooms at The Langham are from HKD1650 ($311). See langhamhotels.com

TOUR
Hong Kong Cuisine 1983 private dim sum workshop must be booked in advance. See 1983hkc.com

Crystal Bus “Dim Sum” bus departs every Saturday and Sunday from HKD398 ($75). See crystalbus.com.hk

The writer was a guest of the Hong Kong Tourism Board.