The Han Room

March 2014

Dim sum is a game of creativity. It’s an opportunity for chefs to experiment with different ingredients and run with their creative impulses. Luscious shrimp usually come in the form of har gao and siu mai but if prepared with flair, the seafood can be a startlingly seductive filling in cheong fun, buns and puffs. The menu isn’t very revolutionary at The Han Room but the occasional stab at creativity livens up the serviceable dim sum fare.

Dim sum on a Sunday morning means war. The queue is longer and the ravenous crowd, angrier. Agitated servers are constantly shuttling small plates from table to table or hoisting trays of steamed chicken feet (they’re actually quite good). Forget the dim sum push-cart; by the time it gets through the sea of baby strollers you’ll be eating dessert, so always order directly through the waiters.

The selection of dim sum runs the gamut from char siew bao and dai zi gao (scallop dumplings) to baked desserts like mini egg tarts and wu gok (taro dumplings). These dainty morsels, albeit lacking in surprise, are structurally flawless – each of them had the perfect proportion of skin to filling, and plumped with fresh ingredients. However, things can get a bit dicier if you go beyond these fail-proof dishes, like the BBQ char siew platter I ordered that looked bad and tasted worse. The chef obviously took the ‘char’ too far as my meat turned out black – no pork should be mistreated that way.

But when the food does come into focus, The Han Room makes satisfying dishes worth going back for. Their pei dan sau yuk zhuk (lean pork with century egg congee), topped with chopped scallions and crunchy Chinese cruller, served as a great belly-warmer. The rice grains swelled deliciously in the stock the congee was cooked in, and each ingredient added its own character. The simple dish may not look like much but it had the perfect soupy texture with no sign of lumpiness. If you must have dessert, the thousand-layer cake and summer breeze coconut jelly are most reliable. Otherwise, suss out the à la carte menu (only on Sundays and public holidays) which boasts garoupa head, mutton bak kut teh and BBQ baby duck, if you’re into that sort of thing.

In terms of food quality, The Han Room pales in comparison to its outstanding sister outlet The Ming Room in Bangsar. But a greater enthusiasm and attention to detail in the kitchen might just turn the tables. Kong Wai Yeng