Last week, when my daughter was still home for the holidays and her friend/coursemate was in town, I took them for a dim sum breakfast here…
I had tried it once before and was not too impressed by what I had. However, I had since heard a few people praising it to the skies, claiming that the chef was from China and the dim sum would be the authentic stuff yadda…yadda…yadda…but honestly, I did not think it was all that great. Still, I wanted to take my daughter and her friend and my missus as well there seeing that they had not tried the dim sum there before.
Of course, the place is very nice, three storeys altogether or is it four?
It is one of the more popular places in town where the local folks would host their grand dinner banquets for weddings, birthdays or anniversaries. We were early so there wasn’t anybody else around at the time.
I ordered the char siew pao…
…which I thought was all right the first time around. I wouldn’t say the skin was the best but I would think that the char siew filling had an edge above the rest. There was a little bit of something in the taste that made it seem a little bit nicer than those that we could get elsewhere.
The har kau was very nice…
The skin was translucent (though it is not that obvious in the photograph), very fine and of the right texture. They were also very generous with the prawns inside…unlike some places where one would find a solitary prawn, that’s all.
I ordered the three-style siew mai again…
…and I had the yellow one and I liked it very much. I wouldn’t know about the other two as somebody else had those. I wish they would not serve it in a set or combination like that as I would prefer to order more of the one(s) that I prefer singly.
The chee cheong fun (with char siew filling) was good too…
…but the fried yam cake was a disappointment…
It was soft and wobbly, obviously the result of too much flour and too little yam…and besides, my mother-in-law makes much nicer ones.
The lor mai kai…
…wasn’t what I expected – something dark brown like those Chinese/Hokkien bak zhang. Instead, it was white…
– something like what I had here and even though it tasted all right, between the two, I would think the one that I had at the other place was nicer.
The captain who took our orders said the their Foochow-style fried noodles were very nice…
…and indeed, we thought it was good except that it wasn’t exactly like what we know it to be. For one thing, it had a lot of extra ingredients other than the usual few bits of pork and green vegetable. I remember once I was buying some home at one of my favourite places in town and I paid extra for some extras to be added – fish fillet slices, sotong and what not and it turned out to be less delicious than usual. I guess when it comes to these things, it would be best not to deviate from the original recipe.
All in all, the general consensus was that the dim sum was pretty o.k. (though I personally feel that they could do with a little less msg) and considering that the bill only came up to RM35.40 for all those orders and free flow of Chinese tea, I certainly wouldn’t mind dropping by for the same once in a while for a change.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
dimsum’s my dad favourite brekkie food!
up to date, i still couldnt find any decent dim sum place in penang. the ones that i been to were just mediocre. tsk
Never been to any in Penang but my daughter went to this one – said very crowded and seemed very popular:
https://suituapui.wordpress.com/2012/01/15/morning-has-broken/
I’m not a dim sum person but Simon loves it to bits…there’s a Chinaman hidden somewhere inside him.. Lol! We hv very good dim sum here but I guess u would only want ham and bacon for breakfast here, eh?
Ya…not really into dim sum as well though I love paos, char siew or whatever meat ones. Don’t mind the lao sar pao too. Others, I don’t mind having once in a while…but can live without them. Ham? Bacon? Yummmmm!!!!! LOL!!! 😀
wow why so good one got 3style siew mai in one plate!!
i always wanted to try each and every type but that only can happen when go out with a lot of friends.
Oh? But if only one is nice, you’ll be stuck with the other two… I guess there are both good and bad in having the 3-in-1… 😉
oh my…har kau…i love it all times. how much it cost?
Don’t know individual prices – should be around RM3.50-4.50 for a basket of 4, I think. I know the noodles, RM5.00.
Ohh..this restaurant looks quite grand oso. Agak-agak how much is that ‘siew mai’? But I see the total bill is quite okay oso.
See my reply to Jocel Jo Jo… Didn’t take note of the prices of the individual items.
The dim sum looks pretty good but the lor mai kai looks different from the KL ones. For the Foochow fried noodles, it would be nicer if they are more generous with the greens, meat and prawns but still I love the noodles.
Yup…I had the lor mai kai in Miri, 2020 the name of the coffee shop selling dim sum – very very nice. Would tapao home whenever I went there. You’ll love the noodles – very nice, just that it was not like our usual Foochow fried noodles.
Much cheaper than the syabu restaurant punya wor. Te chee cheong fun is over flowing with char siew. That is loh mai kai? Over here we call it hor yip farn. Yes, its similar to zhang
Cheaper eh? But I like some of the things at the other side more – no Portuguese egg tarts here, no baked sweet potatoes… Oh? So that’s supposed to be a different thing altogether then – no wonder it’s different. But I ordered lor mai kai…and got these… 😦
The chee cheong fun certainly looks good. Wow..this restaurant looks so grand.
Ya, it’s a very impressive place. We can come here when you come to Sibu again – very near the hotel where you stayed…about 1-200 metres away only.
AH! So this is the dim sum place that my mum went the other day with all her uncle and aunty, a day after i left Sibu. She called me, told me the food is good, maybe is special arrangement one? Because she said she is having those very typical Sibu old school breakfast…like sibu type siew mai, yam ( or nee ) and don’t know what else, she said it is really good and bring back all the old sweet memory.
The lor mai kai that you mention, maybe it is not lor mai kai? It’s look like we call it “hor yip fang” – glutinous rice in lotus leave here, sometime they serve this at dim sum place.
The char siew pau look very good…fluffy skin..i like.
Yes, this was where your mum went. Or nee? I love that…must see if it’s the menu next time. Ya…that’s what Kathy said but I prefer lor mai kai, not this. 😦 The char siew pao is nice…
Yumz!! So I supposed it should be a good review from you right? 😉
Ok…there are good moments and not so good ones…and there are many other things that I did not order so I can’t sum it all in one sweeping remark, good or bad.
Good to know that there’s good dim sum in Sibu again. Used to be Li Hua Hotel when I was younger but that died a natural death. The food scene is definitely getting exciting in Sibu.
Oh? They had that at Li Hua? Gee! I didn’t even know that… LOL!!!
Three storeys high! Sounds like a crowded place, worth avoiding…
On good days/dates during peak seasons – weddings on every floor. Otherwise, it is ok…
I see not the eeeeyew claws?? Loh mai kai is heaps nicer than this lotus leaf sticky rice. Lao sar pau – a big yes, all that happiness ooozing in one’s mouth, heh heh…nice!!
They do have those feet that have been stamping on the chicken shit on the menu. I can order them for you if you come to Sibu and you can suck ’em, all of them, to your heart’s content. Muahahahahahaha!!!!
not bad huh .. sibu dim sum looks equally good as ipoh dim sum..
o boy make me craving for ipoh dim sum now…
so much of balls activities .. and i shall catch some PAUS .. kekekeke
Ya, don’t play-play! Sibu’s not too bad lah… Nice and cheap! 😉
Wah, reasonable price…..some more got free flow of Chinese tea…..
Not bad eh? I thought you get free flow of Chinese tea at all dim sum places? Ok, you may have to pay for a pot – say, RM5.00 and after that, you can drink as much as you want and they keep pouring hot water in the pot, no?
Wah, that bill is for 4 persons right? I should say is damn cheap. For me I’m happy too.
Yes, it certainly is not expensive. I thought it would be as the place is kinda grand but no, it’s pretty reasonable, I must say.
Now I’ve got some serious food envy… I miss Asia
Yes, where it’s food…food and more food. Thanks for dropping by Jon.
Good Happiness Restaurant….. I like its name.
The sister restaurant here is called Golden Happiness – of course so very happy, business is good, money rolling in… LOL!!!
All those for just RM35.40? I wouldn’t mind eating there, too! Dim sum looks good. The loh mai kai you mentioned…from the photo it looks like hor yip fan (glutinuous rice in lotus leaf). I like 🙂
Yup, that’s what everybody tells me. I’m not very familiar with those Cantonese names for everything and dim sum is not that common here. RM35.40, 4 persons…cheap kah? Not too bad, I guess… 😉
wow… the dim sum look so good especially the chee cheong fun, yum yum. The noodle look delicious too. Price also very cheap for all the above. 🙂
Have a nice week ahead.
Weekend, you mean? You too!
Cheap eh? I really wonder how much people in the peninsula pay for dim sum. Looking at the crowds, I would think it must be pretty cheap as well….
the dimsum looks good (except the siew mai looks a bit not appetizing).. i didn’t have a lot of dimsum when i was in HK actually, because there are just too many other things to savor, and i only had dimsum twice, haha~~ 😀
Oh? Lucky you! The original authentic dim sum in HK… Bet after that, you would not want to eat those in KL again…
I have not had dim sum since I come back. Your dim sum photos make me want to go now. They all look so yummy. I can eat them off the screen.
Hahahaha!!! Lots of good dim sum all over KL and the surrounding areas, no problem at all. We have limited choices here… 😦