I hadn’t come back here for dim sum for a long while now though this stall which has been in operation for almost 30 years is just less than a 10-minute walk away from my house. How convenient!
One of the Sundays, the husband and I decided to wake up early and head here for yum cha. The dim sum wasn’t spectacular but decent enough for the price paid with expectations lowered, lol. We actually came back the following weekend too so this blog post comprises my reviews on both visits.
Kow Loon Hong Kong Dim Sum takes up 2 stall units in a coffee shop at ground level of Blk 151 Ang Mo Kio Ave 5. While the unit on the right handles orders, payments and takeaways, the other unit on the left is their kitchen area where the dim sum are hand-made and then steamed or fried on the spot.
The folks in action. Freshness guaranteed, lol.
This is the full menu which is not bad for a coffeeshop dim sum stall. They have all the essential dim sum items that we will normally get. Prices are cheaper probably by up to 40% than most dim sum restaurants and they do not charge GST or service charge so this is definitely an affordable option for dim sum.
When you arrive, just grab a copy of this order chit and a pencil, write down your table number and tick off whatever you’d like to order. Bring to the counter to make payment and they will serve the dim sum to your table.
The stall doesn’t offer tea so you’d need to order it separately from the drinks stall next door.
This was what we had on our first visit.
The BBQ Pork Cheong Fun ($2.80 for 2 rolls) wasn’t as smooth and silky as some good ones I had elsewhere but the sauce was well balanced in sweetness & saltiness and was pretty flavoursome.
The Beancurd Skin Roll ($3.00 for 3 pieces) was very tasty. Well marinated inside out, flavoursome and savoury. They were quite oily too as they were first fried before being steamed.
The Minced Pork & Shrimp Dumplings ($3.00 for 4 pieces) were standard. I wished the filling had more crunchy prawn bits so texture wise it wouldn’t be so flat.
The Pork Ribs Rice ($3.50) was more like serving their Steamed Pork Ribs over plain white rice so there wasn’t any flavour to the rice itself. And due to the lack of sauce, overall this dish was a little dry. I did like the pork ribs though that were tender and flavoursome.
We also ordered the Sesame Mango Shrimp Rolls ($3.50 for 3 pieces) that took a long while to arrive but at least they came fresh and steaming hot. The outside was crispy and not overly greasy. I loved the combination of the sweet mango and crunchy prawns. Gotta dip them in mayo. So shiok.
The Egg Tarts ($3.80 for 4 pieces) were flaky and the custard was wobbly – exactly how I like my egg tarts to be. These tarts came in a size that was between a mini and a standard egg tart so I thought for the price, this was actually quite worth it. If the custard could be a little less sweet, I probably wouldn’t mind having a few more.
On our second visit, we tried different items starting from their Century Egg and Pork Congee ($3.00). This congee was so humble looking but it tasted awesome! Full of flavour with a nice hint of ginger. The crispy bee hoon on top gave a good crunch too since there were no fried dough fritters. And though this wasn’t a really big bowl, it contained ample ingredients of century egg and pork bits.
Aren’t ha kau supposed to be served in fours? Lol, that was my initial reaction when this arrived on our table. And these morsels might look ‘big’ on picture but it was because I did a close up. These Shrimp Dumplings ($3.80 for 3) were actually much smaller than the regular ha kau. Taste wise, nothing to shout about as they were just bland and the portion of filling in each was a little miserly too.
The Shrimp Beancurd ($3.20 for 3 pieces) was steamed plain with just soy sauce. Very disappointed with this as we felt something more could be done to make this dish more exciting.
The Coriander Dumplings ($3.00 for 3 pieces) fared slightly better than the rest of its steamed counterparts. This filling was a little more flavoursome and better seasoned.
The BBQ Pork Bun ($1.80 for 2 pieces) were more on the drier side. Filling was also quite sweet but overall, they weren’t too bad though not the best I had.
The Special Dairy Salted Bun ($3.80 for 3 pieces) was what we were looking forward to.
The salted egg filling was flowy and it tasted good. While the bun was quite fluffy, the bottom part which met with the baking cup was quite hard.
I would recommend their Century Egg & Pork Congee (one of the best!), Egg Tarts, Liu Sha Bao, Mango Shrimp Rolls, Cheong Fun, Steamed Beancurd Skin Rolls and Steamed Pork Ribs (without rice) which I wouldn’t mind coming back for. I liked that the dim sum were all hand-made on the spot so everything was served hot and fresh but in terms of taste, most of the items were more on the bland side (maybe because many customers were the older folks who like plain food?) so if you’re someone who prefers heavier flavours, you might need soy sauce or chilli sauce to boost them up.
If you’re coming by public transport, you can either walk to here from Yio Chu Kang MRT (about 15-minute walk) or take Bus 138 from Ang Mo Kio Interchange and alight at the bus stop right in front of the coffee shop (Bus Stop no. B54459).
Their newest outlet has opened at Blk 210 Hougang Street 21 #01-261 so if you’re residing near Hougang, you can go check them out.
Kow Loon Hong Kong Dim Sum
Blk 151 Ang Mo Kio Ave 5
#01-3030
Singapore 560151
Tel: 9685 9371
Facebook page
Opening hours: 7.00am to 9.00pm daily