Luk On Kui 六安居 @ Hong Kong

They used to be on the Michelin Bib Gourmand list before the employee takeover and had a name change from Lin Heung Kui 蓮香居 to Luk On Kui 六安居.

If you are not afraid of chaos or a subpar dining environment, Luk On Kui will give you one of the most authentic and old school dim sum experience in Hong Kong. Named after the dark colour tea with funky flavour, Luk On Kui was formerly Lin Heung Kui and that did cause some confusions with the tourists when they come and thought the former has closed down like its sister Lin Heung Teahouse in Wellington.

It’s one of the few places that still uses dim sum trolleys. Once the most common way to serve dim sum which became the icon for Cantonese food around the world, these aunties would parade around with a trolley full of steaming hot dim sum in their bamboo baskets with a variety of freshly prepared dim sums.

Lin Heung opened in 1927 by the Yim family and had since served traditional Cantonese dim sum. Its main differentiator from other dim sum restaurants in Hong Kong was that they served only steamed items. But all that has changed with new management. However, they continue to sell tea by “chaajong” 茶盅 traditional tea cup with cover.

But some of their best steamed dim sums are still available thankfully. Like this “cotton wool” chicken 棉花雞, a classic steamed dim sum of chicken thigh, dried mushroom and deep fried fish maw that you seldom find in other dim sum places anymore. The fish maw has been steamed to a marshmallow like texture. The umami from the mushroom combined with fish maw and chicken was most delectable.

Another classic dim sum is the beef meatballs with Worcestershire sauce 牛肉球, which is literally what it is. The minced beef with 80/20 mix of fats and lean meat is mixed with chopped scallions and water chestnuts, rolled into a ball and steamed on a Chinese tofu skin. The finishing touch is the Worcestershire sauce, which the local calls “gippjapp” 喼汁, which the trolley auntie will ask before squeezing some onto the meatballs. Never eat without the sauce, you are missing a gourmet experience unique to Hong Kong.

Not to be confused, there’s also a non-beef version using fish. Carp fishball 鯪魚球 is made from a freshwater fish and can be quite muddy in taste so the Worcestershire sauce helps to eliminate that funky taste. But here they used very fresh (usually live) carps, and it’s amazing how they have deboned the fish and made them into these bouncy fishballs. Because it was so fresh, the sauce was optional.

My Western friends know this is coming if they eat dim sum with the Chinese. Called 鳳爪 or “phoenix claws”, these chicken feet are deep fried and then steamed with a sweet and sour sauce that has a tangerine peel taste with savouriness from fermented black beans. We nicknamed it Chinese chewing gums because we love working on them for those little amount of skin and meat.

Not to be left out, the goose feet 鵝掌 with a hoisin sauce and shiitake mushroom comes next. Usually an accompaniment with abalone on the fine dining table, Luk On used them instead of the duck feet as a special dim sum. I love this more than the chicken actually.

Beef offals 牛雜 came last and I was glad I didn’t miss it. This is seldom served in other dim sum as it takes a lot of effort to clean these offals. The small plate of offals included all the parts that I love – lungs, tripes, intestines. I can finish a whole bowl of rice with this savoury delight.

Luk On Kui also served Cantonese/Shunde cuisine and has many famous dishes on offer. During the dim sum hours, they also have the Cantonese roasts, like this roast goose 燒鵝. It was rather wet, but still very tasty and no gamey taste. Of course it cannot be compared with the famous ones like Yung Kee and even my recent favourite Tin Lung, but it showed the variety this restaurant offers besides dim sum.

What stood out was the charm of the place. It was as if time has stood still in this shop. All the workers were above 60s, the clientele was mainly that range too. In recent, due to the Internet and social media, the median age of the place had dropped a couple of notches.

However, gone were the friendly and loud banter between staff and customers, the yelling for food and the general buzz of the place. In its place, Mandarin speaking customers shouting without getting any response, sour-faced people and general chaos. Nostalgic, but this age will past too so go before its gone.

Luk On Kui (formerly Lin Heung Kui) 六安居
40-50 Des Voeux Road West, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong
Tel : +852 2156 9328

Visited Dec 2024