Royal One (Dim Sum) 皇室1号 – Hong Kong Food Hunt

OK, despite all my tough talk about seeking a different side of Hong Kong, I succumbed to my craving for some good dim sum (and of course, for some finger-licking photos).

I ran a simple search and decided to go for a dim sum place that is easy to find, and does not require queuing or one to visit in a group (cos I was travelling alone).

Location/Directions

Royal One in a gist, is located at the basement of that Scout building at the corner of Kowloon Park (easy to remember, right?). The exact directions is as below.

It is a 5-min walk from Jordan MTR station, at the corner of Kowloon Park

Exit from C2, walk along the street towards the park at the end of the street (HK is all buildings, so it is easy to know where the direction of the park is)

The restaurant is located at B1 of BP International Building (serviced residence); the entrance of which is on the far end of the street. The over-the-top entrance cannot be missed.

Service

Typical of HK dim sum cafe, everyone is busy and devoid of TLC. However, service was quick.

2pm is change-of-shift. Therefore, no taking of orders 15 min before 2pm. However, one can settle down comfortably at around 1.50pm (and avoid the queue of the next wave of diners) and wait for the time to pass.

Variety

Very typical of a dim sum place.

Quality

Ordered: 香炒萝卜糕，虾饺，烧卖，特制肠粉，蟹丝小笼包 (Carrot Cake, Har Kow, Siew Mai, Chee Cheong Fun, Xiao Long Bao)

Loved the Carrot Cake and Siew Mai. The Carrot Cake was fragrant and can be eaten without the sauce. Despite being delicious, it was super oily, so one can only really eat 2 pieces at most.

Siew Mai was filled with meat (unlike those found in SG, which is all flour). The filling was with prawn, which was tangy and mushroom was fragrant.

The Xiao Long Bao was with ginger; dislike. The red vinegar provided could mask the smell, though.

Trivia: The first one was without soup inside, so I assumed this version of XLB is soup-less. So for 2nd one, I did not bite carefully and all the soup squirted out.

The Chee Cheong Fun was unlike typical HK Chee Cheong Fun. It was SG style (cake-style, instead of thin slurpy layers) that was pan-fried to have a crispy skin. The serving was meant for 3 persons and up. It was a nice dish, but it cannot be consumed in high quantity because it was heavy and oily.

Har Kow was the most deceiving of all. It was not the Har Kow I knew. It was actually an item with fried glutinous wrap (the wrap is thick and chewy), with 90% air inside, 10% mixed fragrant meat. This item was such a waste of calories, I did not finish the whole dish.

Specialty

The Chee Cheong Fun is worth a try, for sharing.

The Carrot Cake and Siew Mai is a must-try

Like My Review

If you find the tips helpful in deciding whether to visit this restaurant, or what to do when you come here, do go to Tripadvisor, search for “Zenov” and like my review. Thank yoU!