Heavenly Har Gao

Heavenly Har Gao

Review of: Ton Kiang Restaurant

By: Avery Glasser

Rating: 4

Read review on Judy’s Book.

It takes two buses and over 40 minutes to get to Ton Kiang from where I live, and it’s usually followed by at least a 20 minute wait for a table but once inside, any hassle is immediately forgotten.

The dim sum here is certainly not the best in North America – Lai Wah Heen in Toronto currently holds the top spot in my book, but I’m not about to take a 5 hour flight just to get some of their heavenly dumplings.

However, as dim sum restaurants in San Francisco proper go, it’s a perfect balance of quality and price. I’ve never had a bad piece of dim sum there, and the mochi filled with coconut custard is one of my favorite desserts regardless of cuisine.

Standout dishes: snow pea shoots with garlic, rice noodles with char siu, crab claws in seafood mousse, shrimp with snow pea shoots, har gow, mango pudding and the mochi-custard. The Pu Erh tea is good, but not outstanding.

On top of that, four of us ate until we almost burst and it only cost us $20 a head, half of what we would have paid at Yank Sing. Expect a wait, but it’s worth it.