Heavenly Har Gao
Saturday, April 29, 2006
It takes two buses and over 40 minutes to get to Ton Kiang from where I live, and it's usually followed by at least a 20 minute wait for a table but once inside, any hassle is immediately forgotten.
The dim sum here is certainly not the best in North America - Lai Wah Heen in Toronto currently holds the top spot in my book, but I'm not about to take a 5 hour flight just to get some of their heavenly dumplings.
However, as dim sum restaurants in San Francisco proper go, it's a perfect balance of quality and price. I've never had a bad piece of dim sum there, and the mochi filled with coconut custard is one of my favorite desserts regardless of cuisine.
Standout dishes: snow pea shoots with garlic, rice noodles with char siu, crab claws in seafood mousse, shrimp with snow pea shoots, har gow, mango pudding and the mochi-custard. The Pu Erh tea is good, but not outstanding.
On top of that, four of us ate until we almost burst and it only cost us $20 a head, half of what we would have paid at Yank Sing. Expect a wait, but it's worth it.