The Ham Sui Gok (鹹水角) Chinatown in Halifax were stuffed generously, and were the best I had had to date. They got a Rating of 5 out of 5.
I have previously posted other examples of Ham Sui Gok in the Dim Sum Gallery, including one detailing those served at the Chu Shing Restaurant in Ottawa, in which I give a brief overview of this common Dim Sum delicacy. The Chinatown Restaurant in Halifax is not my favorite local establishment for Dim Sum, but their version of 鹹水角 were the best I have ever had up to that point.
Chinatown describes this dish on the menu as ‘Deep Fried Meat Dumpling’ in English, while the Chinese character entry, ‘家乡咸水角’, identifies them as ‘Hometown Ham Sui Gok’. There were only two served per order, which was a bit unusual as three is more common.
The dough shell was fairly unremarkable in appearance, having the characteristic ‘football’ shape (North American Football, not Soccer), and they were deep-fried to a nice golden brown. The dough itself was nicely moist, moderately sweet, and had a terrific, slightly sticky, chewiness. This quality is not to everyone’s taste, but I think it the best feature of 鹹水角, and they did it very well here.
What really put the Ham Sui Gok at Chinatown over the top was the quality and the amount of the filling. Most places are quite stingy when it comes to stuffing the interior, and I have had some versions in which the inside contained little more than a couple of grains of ground Pork. Here, there was a very generous helping of stuffing, which included the usual ground Pork, along with Scallion and a little carrot. It was deftly seasoned, and slightly sweet, and truly made these dumplings a real delight.
I haven’t always found the other Dim Sum offerings at Chinatown to be especially impressive, but these were absolutely top-notch.
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