New, Not So New Hong Kong

Ahh…..nothing better for Sunday brunch than Dim Sum. I went to the New Hong Kong restaurant, formally known as New Kowloon. The new owner is the former owner’s ex-wife, so pretty much the same ownership, just new a name. I love going to Dim Sum, the bustling restaurant with a team of Chinese people working hard towards the American dream pushing carts of steaming food, showing items on their cart to the customers in hopes to stamp your food bill. While passing each other they throw jokes or talk shit to each other in their native tongue. I wonder how many of the employees of New Hong Kong came over in a ship container. (Food for thought?)

Dim Sum is the definite cure all for a hangover, very greasy, salty, and lots of fried food. You are in HEAVEN!!! We first started with a sweet baked bun with bbq pork, one of my childhood favorites. I was a somewhat picky eater as a child, not that you would know that now since I am willing to try anything these days. So that was my staple during our Dim Sum outings. Then we moved on to orders of different dumplings. Sticky rice steamed in a banana leaf, fried shrimp, friend tofu, and other steamy or fried delights kept stacking up on our table. My family tends to order way more than we can eat, we just want a taste of everything.

On item we’re sure to get every time is the good old stand by of chicken feet. A family fave, we all can eat this stuff all day. Chicken feet may make the majority of the population squirm but we love them. I swear if you had a Vietnamese family compete on Fear Factor we would not only take first place in the eating challenges, but go on to be world champions. The chicken feet are braised in some kind of savory sauce that makes the skin so very soft and tender that it just falls off the bones. Some people argue that the skin of the animal is the best part (fried chicken skin anyone or pork rinds?). It is a little challenging to eat since you have so many bones to work around but it’s well worth the effort. I don’t know why I love it, I just do. It’s damn good.

I also tried something new, Duck Tongue. It’s pretty much the bottom half of a duck’s bill with the tongue attached. The tongue was battered and deep-fried. Again, anything deep fried crispy is good in my book. I was a little weirded out by it at first but quickly got over it after the first bite. It was light and crunchy. I really could not describe it more than very crispy fried chicken skin. Just a little bit more chew to it. It was seasoned well, I think with MSG.

When you are done, say hi to the new owner that (wo)mans the front desk and runs the cash register. She was camera shy, but I did take a sweet picture of a framed photo of her and our state governor, Christine Gregoire.