Lunch at Tao Heung

My friend Elizabeth asked the concierge of Intercon Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui were to find the best hot pot. He said Tao Heung so that’s where we went for lunch.

Tao Heung and Hak Ka Hut are owned by the same group with many other restaurants.

Unfortunately when we got there no one was eating hot pot. Everyone was eating dim sum. I guess they served hot pot for dinner only. We have to go back to try that next time.

I think this was the first time I’ve seen a dim sum restaurant with an open kitchen.

The turnip cake was one of the best we’ve eaten in Hong Kong. It was so tasty and didn’t need any soy sauce or hot sauce.

pan fried turnip patties

We ordered another one and this time it was even better. Turnip cake, also known as raddish cake in the Philippines and carrot cake in Singapore, is best eaten ‘tostado’ or well browned with a crisp exterior and a soft interior.

To order it this way in Cantonese tell your server “lo pa ko, sok ti.” Lo pa ko means turnip cake and sok ti means “tostado or browned to a crisp”. Even without any authentic Cantonese accent they will understand you. I promise.

Another big hit was the crisp fried beancurd sheet filled with shrimp.

fried beancurd roll

The crispy chicken was the house specialty and it truly deserved that title. The skin was very thin, super crisp and tasty. The meat was just as flavorful and very moist.

roast crispy chicken half – 68, whole- 128

I didn’t get to try the siu mai and xiao long bao but the kids gave it a two thumbs up. Just take a look at the whole shrimp on top of the siu mai.

premium siu mai

xiao long bao

These glutinous fried meat dumplings are usually my favorite but these were just average unlike the ones at my favorite dim sum place Chuk Yuen. Every where I eat dim sum I seem to compare with Chuk Yuen which is still the best overall for me.

fried minced pork dumplings

The spare ribs were just ok too. To die for at Chuk Yuen 😀

steamed spare ribs in black bean sauce

Another first was the super friendly waitress who gave us very good food recommendations. Super friendly servers are very rare in Hong Kong Chinese restaurants. She recommended the next three dishes.

The noodles was everyone’s favorite. It wasn’t oily at all the sauce was different from the usual and was very, very tasty. Maybe it was because of the fresh mushrooms and goose feet? It was the first time for me to try the webbed goose feet. It was similar to chicken feet but leaner and more flavorful.

noodles w/ fresh mushrooms & goose feet

If we knew the chicken feet was such a big dish we wouldn’t have ordered it because only 3 of us in the group of 9 ate chicken feet. I tried to eat as much as I could since it was delicious. It tasted like pata tim!

braised chicken feet

The last recommended dish was an acquired taste. The soup was very flavorful but contained Chinese herbs that not everyone liked.

double boiled soup

This was the ingredients used to make the soup. They presented it in another bowl. I don’t think anyone really eats this since there isn’t any flavor left. We did the 4 pieces of tender abalone on top. 

Another mediocre dish.

rice roll w/ bbq pork

Soft, mushy and blah. It should have been hot, crisp and flaky. Fail.

bbq pork pastry

Tao Heung dim sum menu (click images to enlarge)

Tao Heung’s dim sum was much better than it’s sister restaurant Hak Ka Hut. I would definitely go back for the yummy lo pa ko and noodles. And of course to try the elusive hot pot.

Tao Heung
3/F., Carnavon Plaza,
20-20 C Carnavon Road, 
Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
telephone: +852-2367-1328
Business Hours: 7:30am – 1:00am

other branches