Saturday, January 18, 2014

Sad State of Dim Sum in Madison

What happens when 3 Asian friends plus Mike get together for weekend brunch?  The craving for dim sum becomes so overwhelming that we dared to try dim sum in little ol' Madison.

Bad idea!  We should have had logic win over our craving!

We had a choice between China One, which Bing and Jenny said they've tried before and were scarred by the buffet/dim sum experience, and the harmless but nothing special Hong Kong Cafe.

Bing and Jenny never tried Hong Kong Cafe and Mike and I never tried their dim sum so we bravely headed there the weekend after the "Polar Vortex."

Let's start with the positives.  The Saturday-only dim sum at Hong Kong Cafe has a good variety considering the Asian ingredients limitations in Wisconsin.  The service is attentive and friendly. 

Menu of Dim Sum Dishes rather than Carts

Now the one major negative that detroyed our taste buds: Over salting all the dishes!

We started off with the best dishes that we tried: Pork Congee, You Tiao (Fried Savory Doughnuts) and Chinese Veggies topped with Oyster Sauce (they didn't have the traditional Chinese Broccoli)

Pork-Filled Tofu Skin (drenched in an untraditional extremely salty sauce) and Shrimp Dumplings (frozen?)

Shrimp-filled Fried Eggplants (drenched in an untraditional and extremely salty sauce again) and Singapore Noodles (a better dish than some of the other ones we tried)

Shu Mai (better than some that we tried)

Daikon Radish Cakes

Chicken Feet (super salty)

Fried Tofu and Shrimp Balls (super salty)
 
 
It would've been a signficantly better idea to wake up early and drive 2.5 hours to Chicago for great dim sum!


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