Hong Kong Cuisine 1983
Growing up with dim sum, Chef Silas Li had his favourites. “One of my favourite dim sum is am ceon daan siu mai, which is the quail egg dumplings,” Silas says. “But I never liked my eggs overcooked.” Luckily for him (and for us), this childhood gripe was something he was able to remedy with the creation of his new bespoke dish for Vogue Hong Kong’s November issue. The Trio of Runny Quail Eggs boasts three delectable dim sum bites each centred around Chef Silas’ ideal quail egg, which is soaked— not boiled— in hot water to achieve the perfect runny yolk consistency.
The first part of this dish is a spicy salted quail egg. Its egg is injected with the smoked chicken soy sauce used in Hong Kong Cuisine’s signature crispy chicken before deep-frying, giving the yolk a subtle smouldering flavour. Next, there is the quail egg shrimp dumpling— a take on the Cantonese classic that is brilliantly reinvented with the egg placed in the centre instead of on top. This allows the heat to cook from the outside first, steaming the wrapper, prawn mousse, and finally the egg. Lastly, there’s the quail egg spring roll topped with an opulent dollop of French caviar, crispy sakura shrimp, and spring onion. “We’re seeing dim sum move away from the traditional side a little bit; they’re using a lot more Western ingredients and there’s no wok-hei, no Chinese feel to it,” says Chef Silas. “It’s why I have dishes where I step back and not play around too much. The whole idea with this dish is to bring different textures, but the ingredients are still very Chinese.”
1/F, Elegance Court, 2-4 Tsoi Tak Street, Happy Valley; @hongkongcuisine1983
Man Wah
First opening its doors at the Mandarin Oriental in 1968, the Michelin-starred Man Wah has been delighting discerning diners with exquisite Cantonese fare for more than 50 years. At the helm of the kitchen is Executive Chef Wong Wing-Keung, who first joined as a sous chef in 2011 and now leads the restaurant with a passion for Cantonese cuisine and a line-up of standout signatures.
His dim sum menu celebrates time-honoured classics, often lending a playful touch to Hong Kong’s perennial favourites. Awash in split shades of bright pink and green, Chef Wong’s taro puffs feature a luxurious filling of taro, abalone and morel mushrooms, which are coated in a mixture of cornstarch and wheat noodles for that unique ultra-crispy exterior. “Whilst I wanted to maintain the traditional aspect of the dish, I strongly believe that using different ingredients can add a different texture to the overall dish,” he says. “Traditionally, this dish mixes “leftover or offcuts meats” that were not used elsewhere, so we wanted to elevate it using more premium ingredients.”
25/F, Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong, 5 Connaught Road Central; mandarinoriental.com
Ying Jee Club
One of Ying Jee Club’s signature dim sum dishes is a stylish take on the traditional shredded turnip puff. For those of us who have yet to purchase an Hermès Birkin for ourselves, Executive Chef Siu Hin-Chi has fashioned a delectable handbag beef puff that may help to curb the appetite. The flaky pastry is filled with juicy M9 wagyu beef that has been flavoured with spring onions, and deep-fried to crispy perfection. While it appears to be a rather straightforward dim sum creation, crafting the delicate ripples of pastry that make this dish truly stand out is a most impressive feat of culinary skill. “The process of making the pastry puff is complicated,” admits Chef Siu. “We use the same pastry crust normally used for egg tarts and it goes through a manual lamination process, rolling out the dough one thin layer on top of the other and repeating it many times. The more layers there are, the flakier it gets.”
Shop G05, 107-108, Nexxus Building, 41 Connaught Road Central; @yingjeeclub
Photography: Samantha Sin
Styling: Ella Wong
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Lead image: Samantha Sin for Vogue Hong Kong's November 2023 issue
