Review: The Ming Room, Bangsar

3rd Floor, Bangsar Shopping Centre,
Bukit Bandaraya, 59000 KL
Tel: 03-2284 8822

Hailing from the same chain, this place is usually packed to the brim. To avoid disappointments, either be there early or to be doubly safe, call ahead to make a reservation; preferably one day in advance. Even with a reservation, we still had to wait for our table past our appointed time. 

 Twice my parents tried their luck but failed. Third time's the lucky charm. Calling the day before helped too. They had been raving about this place and it got me tempted to join them despite a late night the night before. My mother thought I was falling sick =B

 The many different chilli sauces to tantalize your taste bud. While the food here is generally good and there is no need for any sauces to make it better, the chilli does enhance the flavor.

 Steamed prawn paste dumpling. A not-so-traditional take on the humble siew mai, it is slightly spicy and you can tell they used fresh seafood to make it. Good start to a delayed breakfast.

 Steamed fish paste ball with cuttlefish. The cuttlefish gives these springy balls a slight crunch in them. A rather pleasant surprise to an otherwise boring  yu mai.

 Steamed fried fish ball. I used to hate this because they always have that fishy taste but these were delicious without so much a hint of fishiness.

 Siew yuk or roast pork was a good ratio of skin, fat and lean meat. Tad bit salty but these were rather addictive. One is not enough especially with the Chinese mustard.

By now, you're wondering if they server traditional dim sum. Well, they do. It's just that we wanted to try something special first. Moving on to the usual fare, their steamed pork bun or char siew pao were light and fluffy. Dainty little puffs, the fillings were just right on the sweetness level.

 Har gao or steamed shrimp dumpling has become a sad reminder of its former glory. Most places now just take the easier route of chopping up shrimp with fish paste with thick skin and call it har gao. Thankfully, here they make it the  way it should be: thin, translucent skin with very noticeable folds, fresh whole shrimps. One bite and the angels are singing praises away.
If you can really see them angels, pass me some of the good shit.

 Steamed chicken bun. What's the deal with this bun? The only saving grace (for me) is the hard boiled egg. Everything else was just too pungent with that herb. Even the meat isn't spared but that's what people like about it. 

 A Sunday special: pig's intestines stewed with bean curd and peanut. The nuts had been braised until just soft. The innards were a bit of a letdown as it still had that strong flavor that can be off putting to some folks.

Moving on to dessert, this is semi sweet as it is deep fried mango and shrimp spring roll coated with sesame seed. For someone who doesn't like mango (much), I enjoyed this very much. Partly because it was fresh out of the fryer so it was still hot and crunchy. The shrimp was also very sweet and juicy, thanks to its freshness.

 Deep fried shrimp dumpling. Anyone would say deep fried tends to mask the freshness (or lack of) but these were genuinely fresh shrimps. Doubly good with the crunchy skin and sinful mayo.

 The name of this eludes me at this hour. Google seems to think it is deep fried turnover meat. Just like how a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, these were great. I love the crunchy outer shell, the soft skin and the welcoming sweet pork filling. Maybe it's just glutinous flour that I really like since I also like mochi, pearl bubble milk tea among others =\ 

 Baked puff pastry sweet pork.

Buttery and flaky skin, they were crumbly with each bite so it was a bit messy to eat but well worth the trouble and effort.

 Egg tarts, while not the best, were certainly good. Flaky crust with sweet filling, problem is they were so small by dim sum standard and it didn't help that they used the standard paper liners =_= Optical illusion made them look so tiny.