Cheung Hing Kee Shanghai Pan-Fried Buns — Restaurant in Hong Kong Island

Cheung Hing Kee Shanghai Pan-fried Buns started in TST but have expanded to several other branches around Hong Kong, largely as a result of being recognised by the Michelin folks as place to try cheap eats in HK back in 2016.

This branch at Lydnhurst Terrace opened up earlier this year. Opening hours are 9am to 10pm daily.

Basically, you come here to try the very good (pork, pork with black-truffle or prawn) pan fried buns, which are deliciously filled with soup, made at the shop and ready for you customers.

Take a minute to study the order menu. It is in English and Cantonese. Basically, you chose your set size. Main order is 4 buns of the same dumpling type. Alternatively, you can mix the choice to try more than one type. During our recent visit we opted for (4 black truffle dumplings) our favourite of those made by Cheung Hing Kee.

How to eat: This is important as you don't walk to scald your mouth. In short, the soup inside the dumplings is piping hot. If you try to take an immediate large bite, you will probably burn the roof of your mouth.

What I recommend is to use the chopsticks to poke a small hole in the top of the dumpling, lift up the dumpling with chopsticks or the plastic soup spoons also available. Suck some of the flavourful soup out. Then take small bites out of the dumplings, keep sucking out the soup while biting so it doesn't end up all over your hands or serving plate.

Lastly, enjoy...

Look, Hong Kong dim sum is overrated.

My hometown in Malaysia has a sizeable Cantonese-Chinese population, and the dim sum here is already just as good. There's only so many ways you can make siu mai and har gau special. You just need the freshest ingredients and a bit of heart.

Now, Shanghai pan-fried buns or 生煎包, they're a different kettle of fish. Basically what you get if you married xiaolongbao 小笼包 and potstickers 饺子, they are soup-filled pork dumplings with a soft skin on top and a crispy bready layer at the bottom from the pan-frying. Cheung Hing Kee happens to serve the best of all, and this is easily one of my top 3 finds in Hong Kong.

The first time I had them my mind was blown. The dumplings were made fresh to order, the skin easily picked apart by chopsticks so you can slurp the savoury, piping-hot soup from the incision. From there you move on to the juicy minced pork and the crispy bottom. The perfect snack on a cold winter's day, a box of 4 dumplings can easily be finished on the spot.

Owing to its immense popularity, there's often a queue. The waiting makes the heart grow fonder, but on my second visit the hour-long wait really tested my patience. Always try the signature first, before moving on the shrimp, crab roe, mala or truffle flavours. For an outlet renowned for one item, there are plenty of things to try, and worth the wait.

Highly...

Slightly larger than a ping pong ball, the pan fried buns may be small in size but they are big in flavors!

There were no lines and no free tables when we walked in on a Friday at 2pm. So we decided to order set D ($82, Jan 2025) to go based on other reviews. You can see how the buns are cooked thanks to the open kitchen so that's how fresh the buns are. It didn't take a long time to get 2x signature, shrimp and truffle.

The skin is thin and the texture is closer to the dumpling skin than an actual bun like BBQ pork bun. Yes the soup is super hot and you don't want to waste even a drop of it. I can still feel the soft top and the crispy bottom and the flavor that bursts out when you sink your teeth into the buns. Once you start you just can't stop eating until every morsel is gone. While they're all delicious, I would recommend to start with the signature first and save the truffle for last, because truffle is simply the best.

We didn't try any other food items so the 5* are all for the buns. They are so addictive that I'll probably stuff myself with buns only next time I visit hence I'm not sure if I will ever try the rest of the menu lol

I only had a brief encounter with the staff but interaction was...