Dim Sum For One

With Siu Mai Guy out of town I was left to dim sum alone.  Taking advantage of his absence (Please hurry home, Siu Mai Guy. ;) Dim Sum isn't as good without you!), I headed to Clement Restaurant and decided to try an item that we never order...the forbidden pan-fried shrimp and chive dumpling!

Siu Mai Guy is a pretty healthy eater but he'll splurge if the food passes his calorie-taste analysis.  Most deep-fried and breaded things don't pass this test, and the pan-fried shrimp and chive dumpling is no exception.  Steamed shrimp and chive dumplings are my ALL-TIME FAVORITE so it just didn't seem right to continue living without trying it.  (And if you're starting to worry that Siu Mai Guy is cruel and controlling, he's the complete opposite.  If I really wanted to get these, he'd encourage it but wouldn't eat any - and since the fun of dim sum is sharing, it wasn't worth it.)

The filling was pretty good, but I much prefer the thin "clear" wrappers on the steamed dumplings. Siu Mai Guy was right - it's not a must order. :( It was quite greasy and the outer shell, which for some reason reminded me of the 'te doy' my ngae-goo-hoo (great-aunt) makes, kind of took away from the filling flavor by clouding it with starchiness.

I also picked up a box of steamed fresh shrimp noodle rolls, 'har cheong fun'.  As I kid, these were a real favorite of mine - and I think it's been deemed a 'must order' amongst every group of friends I've dim summed with.  After trying this dish at a few take-out spots, I've decided this is a dish best left to the sit-down restaurants.  The noodles are just really thick and the shrimps are generally not as large and plump as they are when you order this dish from a nicer restaurant.  What this take-out spot did nail is including a side of sweet soy sauce.  If they didn't include this in the box I wouldn't have bothered.  That's a mistake I made once and refused to make again.  Now apparently the sweet soy sauce is literally just soy sauce and sugar, but I'm pretty sure you have to boil the two together so it's not something you can just whip up.  Overall it was a shrimpy morning which means it was a GREAT morning!