Restaurant review: Jin Cheng in South Horizons – tasty dim sum that won’t break the bank

Eating dim sum is a quintessential Hong Kong experience. The bite-size portions of food are often paired with a cup of Chinese tea to aid digestion, so the act of eating dim sum is known as “yum cha”, literally “drink tea”.

At Jin Cheng in South Horizons, you can find tasty dim sum at a reasonable price, with swift service.

We arrived at 12.30pm on a weekday and the restaurant quickly filled up. The shop is spacious and has sleek, modern decor.

Dim sum range in price from HK$25 to HK$42, while tea costs HK$12 per person on weekdays and HK$16 per person on weekends.

We ordered the pu’er tea with chrysanthemums, an unconventional twist to the traditional tea of choice (pu’er is believed to aid digestion), but stuck to the classics for our food.

The baked barbecue pork buns (HK$38) arrived first and were delicious. The buns had a fragrant, buttery crust and the perfect amount of salty-sweet pork filling.

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Next came the steamed shrimp dumplings (HK$40), or har gau, which were big and nicely presented. The translucent skin was well made but the shrimp tasted fishy. Dipping the dumpling in spicy sauce helped mask the flavour.

We liked Jin Cheng’s steamed pork dumplings (HK$38), also called xiao long bao (or siu lung bao in Cantonese). They were delicate, satisfying and had a Chinese hua diao wine hint to the broth, which was a nice surprise.

The dish of steamed chicken feet in black bean sauce (HK$31) was another highlight of the meal. They had great flavour and were steamed until the meat and skin were very soft.

We were excited to try the fried turnip cakes in spicy XO sauce (HK$38), which had an appetising golden brown colour, but the texture was disappointing. They also did not have enough turnip.

Diners can order steamed rice until 4pm, while gourmet and chef-recommended dishes such as a half portion of chicken in soy sauce with spring onion and ginger (HK$98) and pork knuckle in black pepper sauce (HK$1118) are available from 6pm to 10pm.

We recommend going for lunch because the dishes are cheaper. Additionally, the stand-out baked barbecue pork buns are only sold until 4pm.

Diners can also use the Gulu app to remotely collect a queue ticket. Don’t forget to bring cash, as the restaurant doesn’t accept cards.

Jin Cheng, Shop G39A, Marina Square (West), 23A South Horizons Drive, Ap Lei Chau, tel: 2869 0798. Open: 10am-10pm (Saturday and Sunday from 9am).