There's a new take-out dim sum vendor, Dim Sum Village, in the Maunakea Marketplace in Chinatown! It's a family-owned and operated by a husband and wife team, together with their son, Jessie. Jessie noted that his mom worked for many years at a local Chinese restaurant. The family is very friendly and accommodating.
Always welcoming new dim sum places, Dim Sum Village opened in late May 2021 and is a welcome addition for anyone who loves dim sum!
We ordered the following:
· Half moon (kok jai). The filling included finely chopped pork, mushrooms, water chestnuts, dried shrimps, green onions, and seasonings. We really enjoyed this, as the filling was flavorful and generous, with the pi thin and not overly thick.
· Pork hash (siu mai). This was similar to pork has offered by other dim sum restaurants. Dim Sum Village added a great touch by a topping garnish of tobiko (flying fish roe). The pork hash pieces were inconsistent, as a couple of them had large pieces of fresh shrimp in the middle; whereas, the other pieces did not have any shrimp. The ground pork was dense and wished that it could be chopped finely to improve the texture.
· Mochi dumpling (ip jai). These steamed mochi dumplings, wrapped in banana leaves, offer three different fillings: pork, coconut, and azuki bean paste. The pork filling is very similar to the half moon filling, and is just as flavorful. The finely chopped coconut filling is very flavorful and also includes peanuts. The azuki bean paste filling is tasty and very creamy. The fillings for all three varieties were very generous in amount, and the mochi wrapper was perfect in consistency.
· Shrimp dumpling (har gao). Solid chunks of shrimp with a slightly thicker pi, but yet still delicious!
· Steamed char siu bao. The bao was soft and fluffy, and the filling included chunks of char siu. Both the bao and the filling were very tasty; however, wish that there would be more of the filling.
· Taro cake. With a topping of chopped dried seafood and green onions, the taro cake appeared more on the bland side. I personally felt that it could be made with deeper colors to make it look more attractive and additional ingredients to make it more flavorful.
· Fried sesame ball (jin dui). Very similar to those offered at other dim sum restaurants, the thick-skinned jin dui was filled with a pork filling and was flavorful. On a personal note, I prefer a thin-skinned crust, but this is more an exception to the normal, as only one other dim sum restaurant makes it like that. The thin skin results from continuous "rolling" of the jin dui when frying in hot oil and is labor intensive, so I can understand why most restaurants offer the thick-skinned jin dui.
· Fried mochi with pork (hom sui gok). This was perfectly done, with the crunchy batter with a filling of coarsely chopped ground pork, mushrooms, green onions, water chestnuts, and seasonings. The texture was good, and it was not oily.
I had ordered a variety of items the first time that I was there. I initially had requested half moon, but that was not included. When I requested one order of pork ip jai (3 pieces), I was told that they didn't have any on-hand, and that if I could come back about half hour later, which was not a problem, as I had other shopping to do. Upon my return, I was given the ip jai, and when I got home, I noticed that it was not pork ip jai, but 4 pieces of azuki bean paste ip jai (not 3 pieces as requested), which I already had. The dim sum were placed in a number of small containers, but it would have been more efficient instead if a larger container was used for the steamed items and another container for the fried items. If you do order a number of items, it would behoove you to check your items before paying to ensure that you are given the correct items and are accurately charged. Perhaps it's just ironing out the kinks in the beginning or a misunderstanding in language barrier, I'm not sure.
On the whole, the various dim sum items were good, and the half moon and ip jai were excellent in taste and texture! It's a small place with a small kitchen, so they will run out of items until they prepare more of them. Go early in the morning if you want certain items. And don't forget to ask for the complimentary mustard/shoyu sauce.
Located in the Maunakea Marketplace's food court in the same complex as Mei Mei Chinese BBQ. Metered street parking or municipal lot parking available.
I'm hoping that because this is a new business, once they iron out their opening jitters, they'll be fine. Always good to have alternative dim sum options, and Dim Sum Village looks promising! read more