New Hong Kong Snack Shack - Cheap Chinese

With the majority of the more popular restaurants already tucked away into the past on this blog, I had to start venturing into newer territory and into restaurants and establishments that do not necessarily meet my immediate standards. After all food is about discovery and once in awhile, a seemingly average meal turns out to be quite good. Such was the case when I ventured out to New Hong Kong Snack Shack for a quick lunch on an afternoon off.

I have to commend Urbanspoon Zomato for finding little hidden gems that I would have glossed over if I was patrolling the streets. Indeed, this restaurant is no charmer. A downright gawdy exterior houses the even shabbier interiors. The clash of the bright green with the red lettering screams amateur design while clashing with the incredibly dated interiors. Located on Notre Dame Avenue in the heart of Downtown, at least the restaurant conforms with the general appearance of the area.

Nevertheless it is simply about the food and New Hong Kong Snack Shack delivers homey snack (re: dim sum), rice and noodle dishes at incredibly reasonable prices. I was shocked to see the diminutive pricing here and wonder how in the world they keep themselves afloat. Staring at some of the other patrons, it was surprisingly busy for a midweek lunch, revealed reasonable but small portion sizes and high turnover are the main appeal of this restaurant.

Hot Pork Rice is simply a small bowl of rice topped with a few tender pieces of pork meat enveloped in a peanut sauce. The stewed pork had a nice star anise aroma which worked well to contrast the strong peanut and curry sauce. Simple but tasty, a favourite amongst many of the diners there.

Fried Peking Perogies feature a collection of pork potstickers served with a side of soy sauce. The dumplings themselves had a nice contrast of chewy plump dough and fried crispy bottoms. The interiors was rather pitiful though with only half of each dumpling filled with the pork and cabbage filling. Flavours were there and as you should but it was disappointing to be eating mostly dough.

Pork Sil-Mil is a dim sum variant that was new and unique for me: four pieces of non-descript meat (I think it is pork) is wrapped with glutinous rice and steamed to perfection. I enjoyed the glutinous rice as it soaked up the fattiness from the meat and gave the dish a slight crispy texture. The flavour though was non-existent with diners having to resort to the supplied hot sauce for any semblance of taste.

These Shrimp Dumplings were also average. The four dumplings were filled with a combination of shrimp and bamboo which gave it a nice sweetness and textural crispness. I have to fault them on the tough skins that were too thick for the amount of filling inside.

One cannot question the value of New Hong Kong Snack Shack. With each item being a few dollars each and flavours that were overall okay, it is no wonder why flocks of patrons stream to the restaurant for a quick bite of lunch. With that said there are much better dim sum and Chinese restaurants in the city and while they may cost a little more, the flavours much better resemble authenticity.