All You Can Eat Dim Sum at Hullett House

Every time we go to TST (which isn’t that often) we take the opportunity to try something that’s new to us, as there’s a whole world for us to discover over there and we’ve only just barely scratched the surface. Last week we were heading over to the Dark Side for a preview of the new La Perla collection at their store in the Peninsula, so we decided to fortify ourselves properly before checking out all the models in their underwear, and there’s no better comfort food than dim sum as we all know.

We had heard rumours about a new all-you-can-eat Dim Sum menu at Hullett House restaurant, Loong Toh Yuen, so I called ahead of time to make sure we’d be able to take advantage of this deal. It felt a little embarrassing asking, “I just want to make sure we can get the all-we-can-eat menu?“. A little like admitting we are big pigs who are coming to eat them out of house and home, but the receptionist was very nice and reassured us that we would indeed be able to eat as much dim sum as we could handle for HK$165 per person. The only other place we know that does an all-you-can-eat system is Dragon-i, which while nice for socializing and tasty enough, is nothing special as far as dim sum goes.

Arriving at Hullett House is really like stepping back into time. This lovingly restored boutique hotel is the home of Hong Kong’s oldest pub, The Mariner’s Rest, as well as several other bars and restaurants, each with their own character. Loong Toh Yuen is right towards the back of the hotel, so you’ll walk through the lovely whitewashed corridors to get there, past a courtyard strung with red lanterns which is just begging to host a glamourous party. Loong Toh Yuen itself is small and elegant, furnished with dark wood and looking onto a tiny courtyard garden. The crowd seems to be mostly chic TST ladies-who-lunch, and we were definitely glad we made a reservation.

As well as the all-you-can-eat menu, there’s also a more formal Set Lunch menu, but we were focused on our goal and started ordering pretty liberally knowing that we were super-hungry. All the favourites are available – char sui bao, rice paper rolls, taro puffs etc. Then there are also some items that are a little more “fusion”, such as the rose champagne har gao, which were surprisingly good. All the dim sum comes in the exact quantity of how many people are eating, which means you get one per person which makes sharing very simple! Around half-way through the meal, we got a little cocky about our stomach capacity, and started to order some more items. This turned out to be a huge mistake, as somewhere around the rice-stuffed lotus leaf I started to hit my wall. Dishes just kept on coming and we were forcing ourselves to finish them. I heroically struggled through the one dessert item we had ordered – a deep-fried custard-filled ball of deliciousness then declared defeat. Maura had ordered one more rice paper roll which we think the waiter took pity on us with and just didn’t bring us. We ended up feeling like we rolled more than walked to the La Perla event!

We definitely would head back to Loong Toh Yuen again – the service is impeccable and if you come with empty bellies you can certainly get your money’s worth. The dim sum tasted freshly-made and light, and this is definitely a great alternative to Dragon-i, especially as Hullett House is a mere stone’s throw from the Star Ferry and MTR.

Sassy paid for our own meal at Loong Toh Yuen.

Loong Toh Yuen
Hullett House
2A Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon.
3988 0000