Crystal Jade La Mian Xian Long Bao

This would be my recommendation to ease into dim sum tour in HK. The place is clean, waiters understand English, menu is bilingual (with pictures).
Dim Sum and few soups really hit the mark. Lot of other dishes are quite forgettable.
And this is quite reasonable price wise compared to other HK eateries.

Went here nu coincedence but was really pleased about the good food. Only minor thing was that some of the foods were not available on the menu, but could be as it was in a sunday. Will come back in the 6 weeks i’m in Hong Kong

Love this place. If you’re a beginner to chinese cuisine this is the best place to start. The menucard is full with pictures what makes it easier to find out what you wanna try. Everything is freshly made.

This Crystal Jade is fast, clean and service is surprisingly warm. Had dinner here twice in two days!
Edit: I changed my initial rating of 4 stars to 5 stars. Five stars! One for each of the things that do it for me: Service, ambience, food, price and «Will I come back?»
Edit: Was Shanghai Hairy Crab Special! So tried the Crab Roe Xiao Long Bao, Shanghai Rice Noodles with Crab Roe, Glutinous Balls with Crab Roe in a light broth. All fantastic. All worth the price.
I had:
Double boiled chicken soup with lamian. Soup is incredible, rich but not overpowering. Savoury and subtle. This is my favourite. Paired with a bowl of plain lamian, pour the soup over the noodles and swoon.
Fried pork rib (actually a pork chop) with lamian. The noodles come in a bowl of savoury clear broth. This is so good by itself. The pork rib is deep fried and over cooked, so, meh.
Xiao long bao (XLB). Each order comes in a bamboo steamer. The 4 little dumplings are perfect, the skin is delicate encapsulating a spoonful of tasty gravy and minced pork. Be careful picking each dumpling up! You don’t want to accidentally break it, spilling and wasting all the juicy goodness. You also want to let it cool a bit first before biting into it.
Pan fried pao. Three pork paos are lightly pan fried, giving the bottom of each pao a crispy crunchy base. So moreish!
Pork jelly. Delicately pulled pork is set in a jelly and cut into cubes, served chilled. I dip each cube in a light vinegar before eating, so refreshing and light! Yum.
Gyoza. Really juicy gyoza. Nuff said.
Steamed pao. I tried the vegetarian version. Fluffy and light with some chopped vegetables wrapped inside. I should have just ordered the pork pao.
The service staff were attentive and kept the hot tea refilled. I like that!
The price of noodles are about HK$ 60 to $ 100.
XLB and other baos are about HK$ 40 to $ 50.
I may have found a new XLB favourite. Might even be better than Din Tai Fung. Will need to compare!

Crystal Jade is really great comfort food. I often come to this location later around 9pm without a wait. I’ve gone to many different locations but I have personally not noticed a difference between them.
Price is fair, I always order the Xiao Long Baos which I find very satisfying but I have heard otherwise. I like the skin being thin and it is meaty with lots of sauce. SOME say Din Tai Fung have more flavourful soup/​meat but I like the size of this more. The skin breaks easily though so try to go for it earlier.
Plus DTF menu is more limited and there’s less locations, so this is more of a no brainer to go to for me.
I also get their drunken chicken which is ok, but it leaves me content. I really really like their spicy sichuanese noodle and I tend to get that as well! Very few la mien are done with a broth this flavourful and spicy! I sometimes get their steamed fish which is very reasonably priced as well.
I find myself heading back to Crystal Jade over and over again if there’s nothing I really want to try and I want to save some $$.
***
Tips: order your XLB and eat them early! Each one comes with only 4 but are bigger than your average taiwanese/​shanghainese sizes
Favourites: Big Juicy Meaty XLB!
Meh: When the XLB breaks… sometimes the wait during peak dinner/​lunch hours
Last words: Good comfort food.