$1 Cheap Dim Sum vs $500 Luxury Dim Sum

Going to one of the oldest dim sum restaurant in Hong Kong. They opened since 1800. We're gonna check out the dim sum. See if still the quality is the same. I wanted to see the old school dim sum because it's very traditional. It's called Lin Heung Lau. So what can we expect? We're gonna expect the cart that they're pushing. They will be serving really traditional style dim sum. That's where I begin. We're planning on going to expensive dim sum as well. What are some differences that you'll assume? The techniques and also the model of the technique they're providing with the dim sum. You know how small this streetcar is, right? You know, this is the density of how people travel every day. Jeff is having a problem even standing up because this is so freaking huge. See, you know, the difference between, you know, if you look at Hong Kong, everybody who's sitting here, they're going somewhere. There's a mission. It means they're going to work. You know, this, when they go back, they can also use this size too. So they don't do a big turn, you know. Can we get this on record that I'm showing my dad where we're going? Well, son, you know what? I'm good at certain things and you're good at very, a lot of different things, okay? And that's why we are good partners. Follow me. Now, this is the area, it's a financial district. Come. Those are prawn shops, you know? People running out of money. You know, if they want to take their watches, their, you know, their gold, that's why you're going to get money right away. Did I say prawn shop? Prawn shop. How do you say that? Lien Heung Lau. Oh, what is this? Lien Fa Gai. Huh? Lien Fa Gai. It has pork skin, steamed chicken. No, that's the beef stomach. And also, this is duck feet. And also with the duck feet. This is Teochew style dumpling. It has peanut inside. One of my favourite. Black bean sauce, steamed with berry. My father used to take me to dim sum and this is what I always love to order. And of course, there is bao, char siu bao and chicken feet. That's what I'm going to go for, chicken feet today. Hong Kong, as you know, how dense it is, right? They use every single inch of space to use their production here. Look at the tables here. There are two layers, so they can put things under. So this is the paper that they market, like they have a large one, small one, so they know the prices when you pay for it. We're going to order some beef. One pork belly roll. Oh, one char siu bao, one duck feet roll. I think we start with this first, okay, son? All right, before we continue the video, we want to give a big thanks to AG1 for sponsoring today's video. So we've been drinking AG1 every morning to help replenish daily, commonly under-consumed micronutrients. Especially traveling, it's very hard to stay on top of things. If you don't know what AG1 is, it's a daily health drink. So just one scoop, cold water, that's it. And it helps support energy levels, gut health, immune health, without overthinking it. One scoop, easy done. AG1 Next Gen has over 75 plus vitamins and minerals. Plus five probiotic strains. And it's clinically shown to fill common nutrient gaps. And you drink your first thing in the morning, very easy, walk the dog, drink AG1 and coffee. It helps us stay consistent when everything else changes. If you want to try it, AG1 have the best offer ever. Head to drinkag1.com slash IronChefDad or scan the QR code right on the screen here. You get the welcome kit, a morning person hat, an AG1 flavor sample, and even their new sleep supplement, AGC, all for free. That's $126 in free gifts for new subscriber. Thank you to AG1 for sponsoring this video. The first order, they come in for customer opening for dim sum is 5.30 in the morning. You know what time is the dim sum chef comes in in the morning, right? So how it used to be, the wagon would come to you because it's short of labor in the food industry, in the world. So everybody actually go and get their own dim sum. We even get my own chili sauces, mustard. So that's a change of our industry, short of labor. Is it guai lo that this is my favorite thing? No, I mean the Chinese love it too. This is barbecue pork bun. This is probably my favorite dim sum thing. Parsley pork inside bao. That looks good. That's juicy. I like the star anise they use, and also the pork doesn't taste old. I feel like the North American ones are more sweet too, like more like American flavor. But this one is not overly sweet. It's like a deeper flavor of spice. And also the bun is very fluffy. When it's hot, it's the best sweet. Can you show them how to eat chicken feet? You know the way how I always eat? I never eat the first layer. I always start from the bottom because this is the juiciest. You see? It's like two fingers, like peace. That's like a peace finger right there. Because they have different section of the bones, right? I always start from the bottom, which is where the joint is, where the knuckle is. You always eat with the front teeth because you can find your way to divide the meat and the bones, which is the difference between the West and the East. Very seldom, Westerners actually use the front teeth to find bone. Most of the time, they don't like that bones in their food. The second layer, you're doing the middle finger. Feeding out bones in Asia is not good at all. That's the way to eat it. Thank you, bye. Bye. Can I get me a fork and knife here? Okay. I'm gonna try this one. What is this one? This is a Chiu Chow dumpling. Chiu Chow is another area of China. Inside have peanuts, and also pork, celery, and also shrimp. In Asian cooking, you like to mix with sea and land. This is my favourite, the dipping with this chilli. This is like a Chiu Chow-style chilli, and it's a perfect match. So smooth, huh? You know, this is a very style between the old-school dim sum, the portion size is so big. Now, if you go to a high-end dim sum restaurant, you will see the difference. What is the wrapper? This wrapper is made out of wheat starch, corn starch, and also sometimes they put water chestnut starch. That's why it makes it a little bit gelatin and transparent, and that's how they make this dough. This is steamed, essentially, meatball. Very juicy. This is one of my favourite wontons. I've never seen this one before. I want to dissect it a little bit, and I want to ask them, is that actually traditional? You open the bao, the northern-style bao, and then they put the taro in the bottom. I'm not so crazy, but it looks very, in Cantonese, I find it very chow. It's very rough. This is one of my favourite dishes. We used to call it skinny things, but what's the real name for it? The cheong fun is actually using wheat starch, corn starch, and rice flour. So combine it with water. Very simple process. And then you put it in a sheet of a towel, and then they steam it, and make it into a very thin noodle, and then they put the beef on, and then they roll. And they cover it in what? They cover it with a little bit of soy juice. Soy juice? I want the soy juice. The difference between soy sauce and soy juice, the juice is they already have sugar. Sometimes they put a little bit of sesame oil, and sometimes they boil it with a cilantro, which is coriander, to give a little bit more of fragrance. You know, when the cheong fun is nice and smooth, and a little bit authentic, let's call it a good cheong fun. Very smooth. Dim sum, one of the most focused on the chef technique, and what we're having now. Pa gao, it's not about just the stuffing. Also, the wrapping is important, and how thin the dough should be, and how many wraps it should be. So the more wrap they have, they're actually more refined. Again, you know, you can see a lot of white dough in dim sum, because they are very versatile with that dough. They can steam, they can fry. I would just give them soy. This soy juice is good. I find the screen a little bit authentic to me. So we're gonna compare some refinement of other really good dim sum restaurants today. So we're gonna get some answer. Is this like the most famous dim sum dish? Pa gao siu mai is like a wrap. It's like people wrapping a song. Pa gao siu mai, you can make a song out of that. And that's really the Hong Kong saying. Hong Kong dim sum is the world famous. Pa gao siu mai. So how often would someone eat dim sum in a week? You know, old couples spend time in Hong Kong. They almost come here every day because they can see their friends. Very nostalgic, right, of feeling back in the old days. You know, they could be like, that's where they met. You know, if you look at the old couple behind, they are just enjoying dim sum, sitting around. That's why I'm talking about old people in Hong Kong, you have always a company. So you're saying the older generation goes to dim sum more than the younger generation? That's an interesting thing to say. I don't know, actually. I think more knowledge, definitely, the older generation, in terms of knowing what dim sum a good one is. So how many times a week would someone go to dim sum? I would say at least twice. You know, they would have, not dim sum is not only breakfast, right? They can come for lunch too. You know, this is like the fried gluten rice dumpling with sesame. There's nothing inside except the sweetness and texture. This is like the Portuguese influence from the Natash. And of course, there's the Saigo pudding. That's a very Southeast Asian dessert. Again, you know, they call it street food, but it's not fast food. They already prepare ahead of time. It's called convenient. You know, from fried rice, steamed rice with Chinese sausages, chicken. Take a look at that shop right there. All right, let's try it. So we had the $40 dim sum. Now we're doing the $1 dim sum. $1 dim sum. Let's compare. So the wrapper of this one is better than the other one, but the inside is worse. The other one, the inside is better. The pastry, this one is way better. It's a lot thinner. Yeah. But the shrimp is not as good as the other one. Wow. But this is more important, I feel like. Wow, you really know your ----, eh, son? Your Chinese Hong Kong heritage is really shined. All right, it's the next day. We went to the Four Seasons and it was closed, but now we have a reservation. We're going to head there now for the expensive dim sum. Yeah, we're going to compare. We're going to find out, you know, because we had some really old school and now maybe we're going to see some new school. So I'm going to learn something today. So it actually has two-star Michelin, which is cool. I've never had Michelin dim sum. We wore shorts because it's like 30 degrees. I didn't realise it was so fancy, to be honest with you, and I should have. So they gave me a stress pants. I'm tall, I don't know if they'll fit me. A lot more here, just because we have four people. So we're going to try a lot more. We did order some of the same things that overlap with the other restaurant. Maybe almost 20 years ago, you know, there was a chef, a dim sum chef. His name is called Tim. He got Michelin by working over here because of his dim sum. And after that, he decided to say, okay, I'm the status of a Michelin chef. I'm going to open a small dim sum restaurant so I can serve, you know, most people in the neighbourhood. I think that is a brilliant idea. This is the chef of this Long King Hin restaurant. So we have the sea star grouper dumpling. Our chef putting some of the crab meat inside and also use a dry prawn roll on the top of it, bring some of the seafood paste texture in between. Food in Chinese culture, they also like to connect it, earth and water, because of the nature of food. So they wanted to make things look like if it's fish, they want to make something look like fish. It looks like, you know, like a little tail. Like the little tail is swimming. It's cute. Yeah, a little eye. It's like a little goldfish. So cute, huh? Actually, it's very cute. It's a tart. And secondly, there's a baby abalone. And also they use a little bit of that, what they call abalone and soy sauce and oyster sauce glaze on the top to keep it nice and moist. You can see the high end. It's like eating the caviar. This is something very new. I've never seen it before. Mm. This is a big comparison we could do. Yeah. Can't read the front page of the book. We gotta go in there and taste it. There's one thing about Chinese chef, what they call, they want to rinse out their seafood, especially shrimp, when they make dim sum. So sometimes the over rinsing in water, they actually take the nature of the shrimp taste. I like the folding, how refined that folding is. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12. There's a 12 folding here. I think the other one is only maybe six or seven. So the refinement of this, it's the technical is right. And also the size looks pretty good. So here we go. Soy sauce. Mm. Differences? This one is way more refined and the skin is just perfectly al dente but soft at the same time. And also they use bamboo shoots to give another sort of a little bit of quiet taste for really very much like a Hong Kong Cantonese taste. And the shrimp is more chunkier so you can taste like actually a whole shrimp. You know, eating something like that, it's all about texture. You have the very crispiness crust outside. Well, char siu bao, as you know, we had char siu bao many times. The traditional Cantonese char siu bao is made out of like flour, water, yeast, and let it rise. Very simple. It's like a bao, steamed most of the time. Hong Kong chef invented since the British have influence with European buns. So came up with this idea using a little sugar crust with flour, with vanilla, and also now they're starting to use matcha and pistachio. So yet I'm going to find out it's almost like they inverted the har gow the way they fold it. Mm. There's a lot more pork. Yeah. They actually put pistachio nuts in it. Look, good chef to think about, you know, change it up the idea of the original char siu bao. I know when I'm looking at this, I know it's going to be sweet. The saltiness really coming from the char siu, from the stuffing. I really like the pistachio in there because it gives a little bit of nuttiness. It's not crispy because the pistachio have been steamed with the juice of the barbecue pork. So they combine very nicely. You can taste more of a pork flavor in this one. I like the bun better from this one. It's sweet, right? The other one tastes more traditional. Oh yeah. I like the invention, but in terms of taste, I do like the traditional buns better. Now we're having siu mai. You know, we have ha gow. Ha gow siu mai is almost like a mother and father, a man and a woman. So you must have both of them. If you don't have both of them, you're not tasting it in Hong Kong. Dim sum. Cheung fun nui, you know, it's like a Chinese answer to the Italian. It's like a cannelloni, but made out of rice flour, wheat starch, corn starch, and water. This one, the elevator, they're using ingredient like lobster. And also I think they put a little bok choy in there, give a little bit of lightness and not so heavy. Nice and thin. I love the idea. Eating something like that, sometimes you just have to take one bite. Suckling pig, first of all, dip it in, open up the suckling pig, like completely flat. Then they pour hot water, get rid of the first layer of oil. And then after that, they marinate the pork inside with the ribs. They put sugar, five spices, and also with some bean paste. Then after that, they let it dry. Poke it a little holes. They put a malt syrup, Chinese wine, and water, and vinegar, as sort of like a brine. Just kind of like put it on the top. The best way is always roast it on top of a fire of a barbecue. So the chef would use a very big fork, inserted the whole pig. Then they start roasting. It's a very patient job. I like the idea. They put a little very thin piece of bread. They call it a steamed bao. And then they cover it back up. It means they take most of the fat and just decrease the skin. Put it back and make it into a sandwich. A little bit of sauce, the hoisin sauce, put it on the top. I won't do the sugar. I like a little bit of saltiness. One bite, you can have the texture of softness, crispiness, and very porky. Mm, the barbecue goose. When you eat goose and duck, always have a little bit of sweetness, which I love because it takes a little bit of that gaminess, that fattiness. Now you have the classic Chinese plum sauce. Look at the fat of the goose. It's very little. Mostly it's on the skin. Good work. Mm, you know one thing about the Chinese chef, the way how they cook this, they walk fry very quickly. At the same time, the oil not very hot, not very cold. So the meat not overcooked and not so dry. Let's check this out. Mm, the tandoor is perfect. What's the worst thing and best thing about traveling with each of us? Jet, the worst thing about Jet traveling, he mumbles. Sometimes he's like, he doesn't get a story, things that he want to ask me. Always that bad. What, what story, what bad? So that really drives me freaking crazy. And furthermore, his voice so low. Where's your bag? It's like, that is really irritating. I haven't finished the worst thing. I travel with you a lot. You really navigate a lot of things that I would never navigate. Like for example, the pastry place. I would never find it. Yeah, I enjoy traveling with you. But Kai, the worst thing is like, oh, the hotel, this is not good enough. Oh, can I go to this a little bit better? Always something, oh, the smell, oh, the allergy. But you know, there's a, you know, great quality about Kai, you know, easier to travel, light spirits, curious. Worst thing about Levi, timing. I call you 500 times, nobody answers. You don't answer the phone at all. Yeah, sometimes I don't. I don't. Look, look at me, somebody calling me. You know, a moment, oh, I got to go. Even today, I thought he was going to be staying another few more days here. But no, suddenly, oh, I'm leaving at six o'clock. He wants my room. When he texts me, dad, you want my room? I said, what? How did it happen, wants my room? But you know, eating here is great because you enjoy food, you know, sharing with the family. And also, you know, very upbeat. And one thing I really love, also take me to the gym and show me different techniques. So I'm your personal tour guide, Levi's your personal trainer. My shopper, yeah. All right, we didn't film an outro in Asia, but we're back here in our home base of Toronto. We want to give a review of our mid-tier, very cheap and then very expensive. The first one, Lin Heng Lau. Well, you know, that restaurant is almost 100 years old, since 1926. There are a lot of nostalgic moments. I wanted to take Jack to see, you know, the old school, you know, what is that feeling like? But you know, the dim sum was okay. Well, you know, I got a very authentic experience. Yes. As in- Culturally. Culturally, even though I've had dim sum, obviously, plenty of times, but it was definitely very unique. So the $1 one that we just stumbled by, I like how available that is. Yeah, you know what? That was right in the neighbourhood where I grew up too. Yeah. You know, it was just right on the street, you know, literally like, what, seven feet long table. All the dim sum, everybody wants. Lift it up. That was the best har gow we had for that trip. I have to say that. And the Four Seasons, what was your favourite thing? You know, Four Seasons have many, many nice dishes too. I liked the suckling pig. You know, it was crispy. It was just perfect amount of fat, perfect amount of meat. When you bit into it, just a little bit of fat squeeze. The things you'd expect, like the technique of the Four Seasons, obviously it was amazing. The fish. And a little bit more adventurous, like not so traditional, like the matcha char siu bao. Oh, I forgot about that. I forgot to wear my quarter zip. I wouldn't say skip out on any of them. No, they're all like unique experience to their own, whether it's street dim sum, traditional or fancy. I gave our viewer with the experience what it might taste on as a Hong Konger grew up there and also introduce it to my family. And I think that is something that is special.