Review of 'Mong Kok Dim Sum'

Located at the back of the wonderful “Renshaw Street Food Market” at the corner of Renshaw, Berry and Hardman streets, Mong Kok serves up surprisingly good dim sum. We visited the market on a cold and rainy Sunday afternoon. Looking around at all of the other vendors we settled on Mong Kok, named after an area in Kowloon, Hong Kong, as it had a good selection of dim sum dishes we have always enjoyed. The menu does also feature single portion roast (meats), and noodles dishes, as well as the sharing dishes of dim sum and rice-based stir-fries. Prices are reasonable but not what you might call cheap though portion sizes are very generous.

We started with spring rolls (£5.76) which were served in a small paper cup, which is just as well as they just came from the frier so were extremely hot. We chose the “meat” option (they also had prawn or vegetable offerings) but they were mostly bean sprouts with very little meat (chicken) in them with no dipping sauce provided so they were a bit, well, bland.

It took a while for our steamed dim sum to be prepared. After ordering we were given a buzzer which went off 10 or so minutes later but the order was still not complete. Not wanting to wait any further they brought the first two steamed dim sum dishes to the table: Har Gau (£5.76; prawn dumplings) and Char Siu Bao (£5.52; steamed honey roast pork bun). Again, piping hot, the Har Gau were delicious though needed the crispy chilli sauce that I picked up from the counter for a bit of texture and contrasting heat. The Char Siu Bao were a good size but the filling, I am told, was not as tasty as have had.

A few minutes later our next set of dishes arrived. The “Siu Long Bao” (£5.76; Shanghai-style pork “soup” dumplings) were served in individual tin foil containers which the dumplings tended to stick to, tearing the outside letting out the delicious broth within, but, nonetheless, were very good. I was pleased to find the more unusual “Honeycomb Tripe with Black Pepper Sauce” (£5.76) on the menu, one of my favourites, which was very tender, only slightly chewy, with a wonderful pepper sauce. The tripe, of course, has very little flavour on it's own, this is all about texture.

The final dish was “Pork + Prawn Dumplings” (£5.76) which were as good as I have ever had, tender but with the slightly more dense flesh of the prawn in the middle. Again, the spicy dipping sauce was my friend.

At more then £30 for our six dishes and a single serving of oolong tea (all teas are served in a large disposable paper cup but with LOADS of flavour) it was not cheap but delivered completely on flavour and portion sizes. All of the dishes would not have been out of place in a standard dim sum restaurant so surprising to see in the middle of a food court. All dishes were prepared to order so we did have to wait but that is absolutely fine.

Will be back to see what else to try on their menu and perhaps try some of the other vendors. The ambiance is quite fun and feels a lot like what you experience in Asia.

Note: Prices taken from the “Deliveroo” menu.

Rating: “Nearly perfect, but not quite”

Review Date: 2023-12-03

Cuisine: Chinese

Address: Renshaw Street Food Market, 85-97 Renshaw St, Liverpool L1 2SP ENGLAND

Location: Liverpool (England) - Ropewalks

Map:

Telephone:

URL: https://www.renshawstmarket.com/?page_id=1098