Fung Shing Restaurant, Jumbo Soup Dumpling that represents Hong Kong 鳳城酒家香港傳統灌湯餃
When it’s about soup dumpling (soup filled INSIDE the dumpling), many people would think of Xiao Lung Bao, but actually it is from Shanghainese cuisine. There is another type of soup dumpling which is truly Cantonese style (Hong Kong is part of Canton). It is called “Kwun Tong Kau”.
Kwun Tong Kau means “pouring soup dumpling”. The meaning of pouring is from the process of making which chefs will need to pour soup inside the dumplings before sealing it, so the soup is inside the dumpling when it is ready to eat.
However, because this type of dumplings is easy to break when served, many chefs nowadays make it look like a stew, so the soup is outside the dumpling and people will not notice whether it is broken or not. This style has become the standard whereas many people do not know the original style of it.
Fung Shing Restaurant is one of the few restaurants remained to keep the tradition. They usually serve it during lunch time.
Each order has two dumplings. Make sure you eat it quick. Do not spend too much time on taking photos because the dumplings get dried up and stick to the spoon underneath quickly so once you take it out you may break it and lose the soup.
You can just eat it to taste the original taste, or add a little bit of red vinegar because the dumpling skin has a little bit of alkaline.
The main ingredients of the stuffing are mainly prawns, mushrooms, minced pork and meat soup.
“Kwun Tong Kau” is considered as a luxury item in dim sum cuisine because usually dim sum has 3-4 pieces but mostly there is only one dumpling per serving. Many locals people may feel shy to order that because it is hard to share the dumplings with others. Therefore usually locals won't order that often.
This original Kwun Tong Kau dumplings can be found in Fung Shing Restaurants. Here are the addresses of the branches:
Hong Kong Island
Causeway Bay - G/F., No. 30 Leighton Road,, Causeway Bay
North Point - G/F & 1/F, Goldfield Mansion, 62-68 Java Road, North Point
Sheung Wan - Seaview Commercial Building, 21-24 Connaught Rd W, Sheung Wan
Kowloon
Prince Edward - 1/F-2/F, European Asian Bank Building, 749 Nathan Road, Prince Edward
Whampao - 2/F, Gourmet Place (Site 8), The Whampoa, Hung Hom
Tsim Sha Tsui East - Basement, South Seas Centre, 75 Mody Road, Tsim Sha Tsui