Hong Kong Flower Lounge, Millbrae Dim Sum Review

Reviewer: Foodnut.com Hong Kong Flower Lounge 51 Millbrae Ave Millbrae, CA 94030 650-692-6666 Hong Kong Flower Lounge Website

They closed 12/31/2022. RIP.

Hong Kong Flower Lounge is synonymous with Chinese food on the SF Peninsula. They are part of the Mayflower restaurant group that has 2 Chinese Cantonese restaurants locations in the San Francisco Bay area; Millbrae  and Milpitas. Several others have closed. We have eaten at their location in Millbrae many times.

Be sure to read:

• Foodnut’s Beginners Introduction to Chinese Dim Sum
• Best Chinese in San Francisco

This review concentrates on dim sum served only during lunch. They’ve been around a long time, over 20 years. Hong Kong Flower Lounge has an extensive menu and have lot of items are not on carts, thus needing to be ordered through a waiter. Our latest visit was in 2021 for takeout during the Pandemic.

• Safety Pluses – Online menu, Delivery services available UBEREATS, online ordering, Thermometer Kiosks
  Minuses – Crowded interior, lack of social distancing

Be sure to read our Introduction to Chinese Dim Sum.

Hong Kong Flower Lounge is a fairly busy and noisy Chinese restaurant with lots of families and friends eating together. We arrived on Sunday at Noon, and had to wait about 45 minutes to be seated, although we were given a 20 minute estimate. Carts are used for some items, but not all.

You can easily pick out Chinese Cantonese restaurants, as most have tanks of fresh fish, crustaceans.

Hong Kong Flower Lounge Menu

Their menu was much expanded in our 2020 visit. This is one of the main spots with a variety of classic old school dim sum dishes. Some modern dim sum dishes had been added as well as lots of cooked items.  Variety on par with Koi Palace. More options for vegetarians.

Not as modern as HL Peninsula or Dragon Beaux, Palette Tea Garden but more modern than nearby Zen Peninsula. $1.88 per person Tea Charge.

Food Picks:

Pan Fried Taro Cake ($5.68) is a modern take with chopped up taro cake, egg, and a spicy kicker. 8/10

Pan Fried Turnip Cake ($5.68) were a bit lacking in flavor. Reasonable size and char. 7/10

Pork Buns ($4.38) – 3 large ones to an order. Texture was fine. Meat was a bit sweet, and a little lacking. 7/10

Deep Fried Pork Dumplings (Ham Soi Gok) ($4.38) – Also Fresh and hot out of the fryer. Crunchy, huge. Good meat filling. 8/10

Chicken Feet in black bean sauce ($2.60) was above average in quality. Tender and fairly average sauce. Greasy.

Quo Ching Lotus wrapped glutinous rice is huge and filled with mung beans, mushrooms, and meat. It may not be on the menu, so ask for it. Sometimes it is available in a cart, a rare item around here.

Har Gow Shrimp dumplings ($6.28) were 4 good sized hot dumplings with lots of quality shrimp. Sticky, making it hard to remove intact.  8/10

Steamed dumplings with shrimp and pea shoots ($5.58) were nice triangular shaped dumplings.  A little better in quality than the har gow. 7.5/10

Shrimp Rice Noodle (Shrimp Chung Fun) ($6.78) – Giggly, normal amount of shrimp. Decent but not exciting. 7/10

Fried bean curd shrimp roll wrapped with rice noodle roll ($8.39) was more interesting than the previous one.  They don’t kick it up a level by using purple Panda like HL Peninsula. Comes with 3 sauces on the side. 8/10

Scallop and shrimp dumplings ($4) were topped with fish eggs, make them a bit crunchy and full of goodness.

Shrimp Egg Rolls ($3.20) were fresh out of the fryer, crisp, and solid.

Mushroom Rice Noodle ($7.50) was full of mushrooms and wood ears, you need to ask to get it filled this way.

Steam Sticky Rice Wrapped in Lotus leaf ($4) – Were smaller than our previous visit in 2020.  Solid rendition. 8/10

Grass Jelly ($3.20) was pretty bitter but balanced with the sugar syrup and condensed milk.

Sesame Balls ($5.58) – Warm, huge.  Lots of Filling making it a bit over done.  Very Good. 8/10

Sugar Egg Puffs ($3.20) were not as good as Koi Palace but decent and hot.

Food OK:

Steamed Dumplings Fun Gow – Chiu Chow Style ($5.58) were 3 large messy looking ones.  Very hard to get out of the steamer. 6/10

Steamed Spare ribs in Black Bean (pai gwat) ($2.60) – Tender meat but not a lot of flavor. Also oily and salty.

Shark Fin Dumpling Soup ($3.80) was average. Broth and dumpling not as good as Joy Luck Place’s.

 

Food Pans:
None

Service was about average for a place like this. You have hunt down the workers for most requests.

The breath of items was very good. Nearby places Zen Peninsula, The Kitchen, and Asian Pearl Peninsula offer better food.

Hong Kong Flower Lounge, with long waits, but reasonable quality, still packs them in over the years.

Restaurant Map: