How many people know there’s Halal dim sum in Hong Kong, raise your hands! Not many I guess. So I’m now telling you; yes, there is a place that serves dim sum to our Muslim friends right in the middle of Wan Chai on the Hong Kong Island. Since the Muslim population in Hong Kong is not that big (about 250,000 in 2010 according to Wikipedia compared to the whole population of 7.2 million for the city-state as at the end of 2013), there are not that many food outlets / restaurants that are Halal certified.
From what I understand, the (in)famous Chungking Mansion along Nathan Road has some halal certified restaurants which serve decent, if not quite good food, including Indian, Pakistani and Middle Eastern cuisine. I have not had the chance to try them yet so can’t really comment.
But what if our Muslim friends are craving for dim sum in Hong Kong? (Read: my friends who lived in Dubai which had almost everything that is halal, including dim sum.) Lucky for them and all thanks to the Hong Kong Tourism Board website, we managed to find just the right place.
The Osman Ramju Saddic Islamic Centre situated at Wanchai is the home of the Islamic Centre Canteen which is “the only place for Cantonese Halal Cuisine in town” according to one of their posters on the wall.
The Islamic Centre a little bit of a walk from the MTR stations and about 5 to 10mins away from the nearest tram station.
The Canteen located at the 5th floor was crowded when we were there during lunch time and we had to wait for a table. It is not a big place with what looked it could accommodate about 5 tables for bigger groups and another 5-8 for smaller ones.
The place is run by Chinese and they have almost everything on the menu you would find in a non-halal Cantonese dim sum restaurant; they have the usual steamed food including siu mai (烧卖), har gao (虾饺), chicken BBQ bun, steam beancurd, cheong fan (rice rolls), and the fried ones like spring rolls, yam balls, etc.
We ordered a lot of food for 3 adults and 2 kids but gobbled them down without taking many photos. Really sorry about that!
The verdict – although there’s no pork or lard, which is an important ingredient in Chinese dim sum, the food actually tasted quite good and quite authentic if you know what I mean. They also serve fried rice and noodles for people who need the carbohydrates.
For non-Muslims, I guess the Canteen is nothing to get too excited about. However, if any Muslim friend out there is craving for dim sum and other Cantonese food whilst in Hong Kong, this is the place to go to!
About the Guest Blogger
Dariel Lim (@wheresdariel) is a Singaporean who lived in Dubai for 6 years before moving to Hong Kong in 2012. She has already travelled to 27 countries including Egypt, Lebanon, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Russia, Germany, and the USA and is still planning for more. She shares her itineraries and stories on http://wheresdariel.com.
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