One of the things we definitely wanted to try this visit to Hong Kong was Hello Kitty Dim Sum. Despite bending parenting rules and dealing with jet lag, ultimately we needed to take this trip to the restaurant for the kids. (Is what I tell myself). I cannot tell you why this restaurant exists, but I can tell you a little bit about it. So let’s take a quick look at the Hello Kitty Dim Sum restaurant. I’ll also toss in a bit about the pop up Hello Kitty supermarket at the end as a bonus!
Location and Ambience
If you’re coming via MTR, either take the West Rail (purple) to Austin or the Tsuen Wan line (red) to Jordan. We actually hung out at Ocean Terminal and Harbour City beforehand, so we just walked up Canton Road. It’s possible to walk a long portion of this inside the Harbour City mall, so if you’re prone to overheating it might be worth budgeting a little extra time to navigate that maze.
I’ll be honest, I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I wasn’t really blown away by the decor and ambience of the restaurant. I found it…fine? I don’t know what I expected I guess! More pink, maybe? The tables and chairs have nice Hello Kitty decorations and the restaurant features a couple big Hello Kitties but nothing wowed me. Just don’t expect to be taken to a dreamworld of magic or anything like that and it will be fine, haha.
Food and Price
Simply put, the Hello Kitty dim sum restaurant offers good (but not great) food at a bit of an upcharge. I didn’t find the prices exorbitant, maybe $1-$2 USD more per dish.
What really impressed me was the presentation. I expected the dishes to be cute and the definitely were. But everything is just done so clean and neatly – it really is amazing to see. Obviously the steamed pork buns (char siu bao) stand out the most but everything looks pretty. And even though I prefer fried turnip cake (lo bak goh), I can’t say I minded the gigantic Hello Kitty shaped one. Those two dishes plus shrimp dumplings (har gao) I would recommend everyone try. Other than that, order what you might normally get at dim sum.
My dad also ordered this like ground meat thing that was shaped like a Hello Kitty bow. It tasted fine but um…let’s just say ground meat is better off misshapen. It looked weird!
Anyway, I definitely enjoyed the food, flavor did not take a back seat to presentation. You can get better dim sum, for sure, but you’ll probably need a Michelin starred dim sum restaurant to surpass this by a large margin. If you’re into Hello Kitty or quirky food, the food quality and presentation definitely justify the upcharge.
Hello Kitty Pop Up Supermarket
Very quickly, currently Hong Kong features a pop up Hello Kitty supermarket at YATA. It’s right outside of the Hong Kong University MTR station on the newly expanded Island line (light blue). You can buy regular groceries but you’re probably there for the specialty Hello Kitty items. You can buy cookie cutters, molds, lunch boxes, Hello Kitty Pocky-like snacks, ET CETERA. Honestly, it’s pretty awesome. Check it out before it pops…down?
Final Thoughts
One thing I love about Asia is you get these crazy things that are tough to find in the U.S. (though there was a pop up Hello Kitty food truck by my house a few months ago!). If you or your kids enjoy Hello Kitty stuff, do yourself a favor and go check out the dim sum and the pop up supermarket. Like everything in Hong Kong, they’re easy to get to. Unlike everything in Hong Kong, neither was super crowded! The products sold at both are good quality and worth checking out. Enjoy!
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