Lunching at Hung Sum

Andrew and I went to Hung Sum for a quick bite. We both went there with some dishes on our minds. Andrew was thinking steamed tripe and stir-fried rice noodles with beef. I was itching to order steamed beef balls and cheung fun with youtiao aka zhaliang. Once we arrived, we sat down to a free table by the window.

We already had an idea of what to order already, which is what I'd recommend when you dine at small establishments like Hung Sum. We kept it simple. The waitress/owner was busy with the occupied tables, so I brought up our order sheet and menu to help things along.

Not even half an hour after the cozy restaurant was open, the tables were all full of dining companions. There was a large group of 12, spread between two tables, that arrived to fill half the place in a blink of an eye. Throughout the meal, we noticed that one table of two had their order put on hold to serve the large party first. It seems like the restaurant could use some help in the front end and maybe in the kitchen as well. The wait was natural for a small place like that though.

The first item to arrive was the steamed beef tripe with ginger and onion (#37). The tripe was tender and wasn't overpowered by the ginger or onions. It was surprising how much I enjoyed it.

The plate of wu gok (aka deep fried taro balls with pork #5) arrived with the shrimp siu mai (#31) after we finished the last bits. I was again pleasantly surprised when I had the shrimp siu mai. I know it would taste better with an adjustment, but these were solid in my books. These had just enough bounce and were juicy throughout.

Did you know that the filling of beef cheung fun is the same stuff as the beef balls? I had an epiphany  finally clued in a few months back. The issue about not having enough filling in the beef cheung fun has been resolved. These were so good that I wished I ordered another serving. I probably should've because I wasn't happy with the pics that I took. None of the photos looked sharp to me. I must've had the HDR on or something.

We had to wait about 15 minutes between the beef balls and our last dish, the stir-fried rice noodles with beef (not pictured). It was an okay plate of noodles. I would've preferred zhaliang for my carb choice that day. In any case, we ended up packing two thirds of it, since we had to leave to get some bubble tea. We ordered and ate the perfect amount. Neither of us were hurting after dim sum. Even with the drinks we got at My Sweet Tea, we were able to briskly walk back to catch the bus at LeBreton Station.

On a related note, I upgraded my Motorola Razr HD to the Samsung Galaxy S5 earlier last month. My old phone took decent photos with window light. This was on a different level. I was very happy with how the one wu gok and siu mai picture came out. I spent the most time on that dish in particular. The pop of the green onions and bottle of worchestershire was hypnotic. I had a mini photo shoot; moved the steamer left, right, moved Andrew's tea cup closer, further, etc. Okay, maybe it was 3 minutes. I tried to take a few action shots of Andrew grabbing one, but it just didn't turn out.

I'm still thinking about getting a point-and-shoot camera -- have been for two years now. Do you have any suggestions?

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Hung Sum Restaurant

870 Somerset St

Ottawa, ON

613-238-8828