Cai Hok Seafood Restaurant: Current Fave HK-Quality Dimsum in QC

We love dimsum, but lately, it’s been difficult to get Hong Kong-quality dimsum. The dimsum restaurants we’ve tried have just left us disappointed.

During the past year, we’ve tried some dimsum promos from different places like hotel restaurants and expensive Chinese restaurants in Greenhills, but few come close to the dimsum restaurant that will forever be #1 in my heart, Li Li.

Unfortunately, Li Li is indefinitely closed.

One day, we were craving dimsum, but the usual restaurants have left us disappointed, so I asked friends to recommend a good dimsum place, and my friend B suggested Cai Hok.

B lives in Binondo and she’s in the know and I trust her judgement when it comes to Chinese food.

Cai Hok Seafood Restaurant is located on the 2nd? 3rd? floor of Z Square Mall (take 2 escalators up). Z Square Mall is at the corner of Banawe St. and Del Monte Ave. It has basement parking, FREE PARKING for the first 3 hours, just have your parking ticket validated.

Don’t be scared of Z Square Mall – first impression is that it’s dark and gloomy – they seem like they are saving money on electricity. If you look around, most of the mall spaces are empty. Their main tenants are Robinsons Supermarket, Sumo Niku, and Cai Hok. However, I do hope the mall keeps afloat, I’d hate to not have Cai Hok available at such a convenient location and with easy and free parking. If you’ve ever dined along Banawe, you know finding parking is based on luck, and a big reason why we always end up somewhere else. Z Square Mall has ample parking and we can always find parking space there.

There are also guards at the entrances and parking.

The set up of Cai Hok is like a typical Chinese restaurant you’d find anywhere.

The Dimsum!

This is our fifth visit to Cai Hok for dimsum.

On our first visit, they were just opening for their evening hours (5:30 pm), we were the first customers, and we were so impressed with the dimsum!

The cheung fans were made with care – the thin, tender, bouncy, slippery cheung fan skins were amazing! The chef even added some wansoy (cilantro) to the inside of the cheung fans and that provided a nice flavor contrast to the cheung fan. It was amazing! We were instant fans!

Many dimsum restaurants do not offer cheung fan (rice rolls) anymore, so finding a dimsum place that still offers really good cheung fan is a genuine find!

On subsequent visits, they didn’t add the cilantro anymore, so we specifically requested that they add wansoy to the inside of the cheung fan. Most of the times, they can accommodate the request unless they are extremely busy. We also ask for extra wansoy on the side.

We also loved their Hakaw – again, superb bouncy skin – along with fresh shrimp. Most Chinese restaurants that have dimsum usually use frozen hakaw – you can easily tell the difference because the skin of frozen hakaw easily breaks and the shrimp doesn’t have that fresh, springy texture when you might into it.

Another one of our must-orders is their Xiao Long Bao. Just like Taiwan – and only P213 per order of 6 pcs. It used to be P205 but now it’s P213. The skin is thin but doesn’t break unless you intentionally break it, and it’s SOUPY!

Since we were so impressed with the dimsum, I asked the manager about their chef, and found out that their dimsum chef is from Hong Kong! Aaaaaah, so that’s why the dimsum is so good!

Ham Suy Kok – skin was good but there’s not enough filling 🙁

Steamed Spareribs – also good

Beef Balls – on its own, it’s just so-so. But once dipped in the sauce it comes with, it transforms and becomes really delicious with the flavors of the beef ball and the sauce complementing each other. Beef ball has some cilantro, which is fine by me!

Bean Curd Rolls – sister’s favorite! Their bean curd rolls are done well, the skin is nice, the filling is delicately flavored, nothing too strong. Best dipped in soy sauce.

Salted Egg Yolk Pao – the filling is like salted egg yolk lava, not too sweet, it’s delicious, but the bread is too thick.

I wish they offered Chiu Chao dumplings, because I miss those.

Here’s a pic of their menu so you get an idea of their dimsum prices. Prices are around P123 to P203.

Problem with Consistency

First visit – amazing dimsum!

Second visit – we went a bit later, and it was on Sunday evening, the restaurant was busy, and the dimsum, while still good, wasn’t as good as our previous visit’s.

So this left me thinking, was the dimsum chef the one who actually made our dimsum? Was it a trainee?

Third & Fourth visits – dimsum was still good. It was our fault for going there during peak hours (7-8pm) and on a holiday, too 🙁 but you can tell they were busy and the dimsum wasn’t made with that much attention.

Fifth visit – Saturday, non-holiday, and we were there before 6pm!

Some experiences from our 5 visits –

One time, for our first order of cheung fan, they were able to accommodate our request to add wansoy to the filling, our cheung fans were made to order. We ordered from the Filipino-Chinese lady who was taking orders.

Of course we had to order another round of cheung fan, but this time we just ordered from a waitress and the cheung fans that arrived just had cilantro put on top as garnish 🙁 It seemed like a pre-rolled cheung fan that they just reheated 🙁

Just order dimsum. Every visit, we tried ordering a dish that is not dimsum – green beans & pork, taro duck, peking duck, etc… and we’re always not impressed. So, just stick with dimsum. Dimsum is the one I’m recommending for this restaurant.

So, the lessons we learned are:

• only go there during non-peak hours, preferably when they just open for dinner
• for any customized orders like adding wansoy to cheung fan, order from the Chinese lady managers
• keep track of the dimsum chef’s day off (haha, stalker ba? It’s all for good dimsum) – we asked and his day off is Tuesday(for now), so don’t go on Tuesdays

When I asked the waitress about the day off of dimsum chef, she said a lot of people have also commented that their dimsum was really good. See? We were not the only ones 🙂

Service

Service from their staff is very attentive (as long as they’re not extremely busy). Except for one time, which was during Father’s Day, the staff refilled our tea non-stop.

They have a 5% service charge.

They accept credit cards, etc… But best to pay in CASH for additional discount 🙂 As of our most recent visit, they now accept GCash (considered as cash, so you can get a discount, as well). Previously, we had to withdraw cash from the ATM downstairs.

Summary & Recommended Dimsum

Cai Hok is our current go-to place for dimsum in QC.

Best to go there during off-peak hours, we’ve had best success going there Saturdays when they open at 5:30pm. Going later usually results in dimsum that is not quite as good. Chef’s day off is Tuesday (for now).

Our must-orders every visit:

• Xiao Long Bao (P213) – as good as, maybe even better, than xlbs in Taiwan!!!
• Cheung Fan (shrimp or char siu, P203), request to add wansoy inside the roll. Request extra wansoy on the side that I tear up and add on top, and add to my soy sauce dipping sauce!
• Hakaw (P173) – can’t go wrong ordering this

If you plan to order two of something, for example, we usually order two xlbs and two hakaws, don’t order two of each right away unless you can eat them right away. They will get cold and won’t be good anymore. Best to order one round of dimsum, then order a second round, so the second orders arrive hot & fresh.

Add a tiny little bit of the Xiao Long Bao ginger/vinegar dipping sauce to the cheung fan sauce – makes the cheung fan taste so much better!

I used to add chili oil to my soy sauce dipping sauce because that’s how it’s “supposed” to be, but I realized I much prefer just plain soy sauce with some torn up cilantro as my dipping sauce, no chili oil. So feel free to play around and find your preferred dipping sauce, you don’t have to stick with what others consider “standard”.

If I had to pick only one favorite, it would be the xiao long bao! This has been consistently good throughout all our visits!

The cheung fan and hakaw would be very close second & third!