Minoo organised a Christmas celebration at HML Seafood Restaurant during one of last cooking session of the Richmond Community Kitchen.  The South Arm Community Kitchen had been to this location, also for Christmas celebration in 2007 but it was Kingford Seafood Restaurant back then.

Does anyone know why is this restaurant’s English name is HML Seafood Restaurant? I tried to ask the receptionist on my way out but just got a blunt answer that she does not know.

HML is a big restaurant and it was very busy when we were there at 10:30 am. Minoo had reserved a large table that fits 12 to 15 people.

But, guessed what? 19 people turned up for this gathering. We had to pull another table in order to fit everyone. There were members from various kitchens, i.e. South Arm Community Kitchen, South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors, Gilmore Park Church Community Kitchen and Caring Place Community Kitchen.

Click on the menu above to take a closer look. The prices are average and the good thing is tea is free and it’s 20% off their regular dim sum items all day, even weekends and public holidays. The dim sum menu is on the right hand side.

We ordered a lot of food. In fact, I’m glad the captain came to us to alert us that we ordered way too much and cut down on the quantities of some of the items. Yet, we still have leftovers to bring home. What Minoo particular like in this restaurant is …

… the Pan Fried Eggplants Stuffed with Shrimp Paste. Minoo, you should try this dish in Delicious Chinese Cuisine on Kingsway. They were huge.

For the steamed items, we had the Steamed Buddhist Feast Dumplings, Superior Steamed Shrimp Dumplings, Mini Steamed Dumplings with Pork & Radish and Steamed Beef Tendon. The dumplings were up to standard and the tendons were more chewy than expected.

Lorna picked the Dace Fish Paste in Broth which came in a cute bowl. I found that the Dace fish paste is too soft and not springy.

Someone picked the Deep Fried Bean Curd Rolls with Shrimp and Pea Tip. The bean curd skin is deep fried to very crispy while the shrimp filing is springy. This is served with a vinegarish dipping sauce.

I like the above Deep Fried Taro Dumplings stuffed with Scallop. The scallop is sizably big and it has a mild curry flavour sauce in it, kind of like Portuguese style curry sauce. It’s always a mystery to us how to make the  taro skin which is so brittle and crumbly.

Someone did pick a Steamed Rice Rolls with Shrimps and Chives from the 9 rice rolls on the menu.

Other than dim sum, we also ordered some specials (the left hand side menu) which are not entitled to the 20% discount. For noodles, we had the Buddhist Feast Chow Mein and Noodle with shredded BBQ Pork, Ginger and Green Onion. Between the two, I preferred the Buddhist Feast Chow Mein where the noodles are slightly crispy and the wood ears gives it a crunchy texture. I found that the second noodle dish is too soggy.

We also ordered some fried rice as fillers. The one on the left is Fried Rice with Dried Scallops and Egg White. This is a milder tasting and healthier fried rice. The one on the right is Spicy Fried Rice with Assorted Preserved Meat which I enjoyed more. This is very garlicky and has more flavour to it (in Cantonese, yeh mei).

We also ordered a large bowl of Congee with shredded Pork and Thousand Year Eggs. I think I missed this dish as there were so many items on the table.

For desserts, we had their House Special Baked Egg & Milk Tarts. These are good for a person who enjoy dessert like me. But we did noticed that the tart shell is not consistent as some looked very flaky with many layers while some were just flat.

The final dessert is Baked Durian Puff Pastry. No everyone at the table had this as durian is a love or hate affair. I certainly enjoy this, very flaky pastry and nice custardy durian fillings.

The bill came to $11.20 per person. Minoo, thank you for organizing this and we wished everyone a blessed Christmas and a happy new year.