Favourite Dim Sum - Har Gau

Dim Sum is a type of Chinese cuisine associated with a variety of steamed dumplings in bamboo baskets, fried dumplings and baked pastries. A proper Dim Sum restaurant can have up to 80+ mind boggling varieties to choose from. Dim Sum is often referred to as Yum Cha, which means drink tea, because it is a breakfast meal usually accompanied by Chinese tea.

This post is called favourite Dim Sum in a singular sense because I only order 1 out of the very limited choices of around 5. It's not the best dim restaurant, but my favourite nonetheless because proper Dim Sum cafes / restaurants are few and hard to come by in Kuching. So the one thing I eat at this coffee shop is the prawn dumpling - Har Gau

The interesting thing about people in my hometown is that they like to modify centuries-old tried-and-tested recipes and suit it to local tastes. The har gau here tastes nothing like the ones you get in major cities or the home of Dim Tum, Hong Kong. Even the sweet brown sauce that they serve tastes different. I've had Dim Sum from Sydney, Auckland, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Hong Kong. They all seem to stick to their standard original recipe, which is already good, so my favourite one here must be a different breed or a distant cousin in the har gau family. This is how the standard har gau should look like:

Here is a comparison of the standard har gau (top) and the distant cousin (bottom)

You can actually see the pinkish prawn meat in top picture, but the one on the bottom is more like a pork dumpling with a hint of prawn. Being different is what makes it special and my favourite prawn dumpling :) The rest of the offerings in the Dim Sum cafe is nothing to shout about...

The Har Gau sells out fast, so it's best to be there before 9.30am. My favourite Har Gau is located at the long-established Fock Hai Tim Sam Cafe:

Here's where you meet the real Fockers: (location map)