Shun Feng 順峰

My parents have been talking about this supposedly super cheap dim sum set lunch at Shun Feng in Parker Place. The only condition is that it is only available before 11:30 am, and customers who settle the bill before that time also receive a 20% discount on additional dim sum (not the combo). So naturally I was forced to crawl out of bed early to eat there with my family. I liked how the place was one big open space with no partitions.

Although the ambiance was satisfactory, my first impression of the restaurant was horrible. First we were seated at a table right beside the washrooms. Ok fine, I realize that somebody has to sit there, but not when there are other tables available. After I sat down, my attention was immediately drawn to the tablecloth.

It was tattered...

and stained...

My appetite was pretty much gone by this time. We did end up getting the dim sum set lunch for 4 ($20.99) which includes 1 pot of congee and 4 dim sum. (There's also a dim sum set lunch for 2 ($10.99) which includes 1 bowl of congee and 2 dim sum.) The pot of congee was a pretty big portion and it was my favourite flavour — dried bok choy and pork bones. Too bad the dried bok choy wasn't very good quality and had a mushy texture. And oddly enough there were a lot of black-eyed peas in there which I initially mistook for peanuts. I didn't like the consistency of the congee either, as I found it a bit too watery. But I was happy enough that it was hot and comforting and CHEAP.

When I saw fried smoke salmon stick (煙三文魚脆碟) on the menu, I was curious but knew it would be a bad idea to order anything with salmon in it at a Chinese restaurant. But then my mom said she saw another table order it last time and thought it looked interesting, so I took the bait. I shouldn't have. First of all, why was it called smoke salmon stick? It sure didn't look like a stick. The smoked salmon actually tasted great, but it would be pretty scary if it didn't, considering it was store-bought. And that was the only good part about the dish. The fruit salad underneath the salmon was made with diced melon and canned fruits. The pale yellow pastry cup was soggy, doughy and bland. It was so bad that I left it on the plate after eating the salmon and fruit.

As was usually the case, the dessert arrived in the middle of the meal. The deep fried taro rice balls (菊花芋茸炸湯圓) ($4.50 as this was our additional dim sum) were called "chrysanthemum taro paste fried rice balls" in Chinese, so I assumed they would either have chrysanthemum as an ingredient or resemble a chrysanthemum in shape. But neither assumption was correct. It seems like this restaurant is not very good with names (see "fried smoke salmon stick" above). Anyway the rice ball was very chewy and tasted exactly like 鹹水角 (a fried rice ball with savoury filling) except the filling was a sweet taro paste. It was very oily and filling.

The steamed dice octopus and chicken bowl rice (章魚雞粒飯) certainly didn't look very appealing, but was surprisingly quite good. I'm sure most Cantonese people have had some version of steamed meat patty (usually pork) at home, so to me this chicken patty with small chunks of octopus was reminiscent of childhood flavours. The rice was unexpectedly soft and fluffy as well. But honestly my mom makes better meat patties and we have better quality rice at home, so why come here?

Apart from the rice bowl, the steamed rice rolls with dried shrimps (蔥花蝦米腸粉) was also quite good. It didn't taste bland and there were plenty of green onions and dried shrimps.

The last dim sum to arrive was the fish soup dumplings (魚湯鳳城水餃). The dumplings were great, and the soup was remarkably tasty and savoury. BUT... it was not fish soup. It was MSG soup. When I stirred it up with my spoon, I could see a swirl of brown powder eventually sink and settle on the bottom.

Overall it was a mediocre experience. I guess the set lunch is cheap, but I probably wouldn't come back just because most of the food didn't taste that great.