Vegetable Delight Buns

These Kimbo Vegetable Delight Buns are another Kam Man score, from the frozen aisle. I served these during a dim sum brunch at my house, and they were universally liked. These buns are big, with a good soft dough. The praise-filled descriptions included phrases like "pleasant earthy aroma" and "delicate mushroom flavor", which are pretty accurate to me. The filling didn't have much crunch, but there was a little texture. Overall, these were pleasant buns, with a pretty unique but gentle flavor. (Most mixed vegetable buns are cabbagy, which is not bad, but they are very similar to each other...)

Score: 4/5 - Dug'em! Wish there were more than three in a pack!

Scoring System

Someone pointed out that I ought to give the interpretation of the scale I am using for grading. She pointed out that it's hard to grade evenly without a meaningful interpretation of the scoring system, so here I give mine!

• 5/5 - Would actively want this every time I have dim sum. Secretly, could be happy eating just these for a meal.
• 4/5 - Perfectly happy to have this at every dim sum.
• 3/5 - Good enough to eat frequently, but not every time.
• 2/5 - Would be fine with having this every once in a while, but probably would never choose it myself again.
• 1/5 - Probably wouldn't eat it again even if other people chose it.

Vegefarm Vege Kim-Chi Roll

So I was hoping that these Vege Kim-Chi Rolls were going to be spring rolls with lots of kim-chi inside. They turned out to be a little stranger than that. The "skin" turned out to be a very eggy thick layer covered in panko crumbs, and due to the thickness of that layer, the pocket inside with the filling was quite small. The filling was definitely some sort of kim-chi-like thing, but the texture wasn't crunchy, and the flavor was very mild. The egg batter outside was almost a quarter of an inch thick and had a rubbery texture. These came frozen in one large hunk in the bag I bought from Kam Man, and I had to do a little work to separate them before toasting them. The toaster oven did do a good job of crisping up the crumbs on the outside.

Score: 2/5 - I just did not dig the texture and the flavor was bland. Probably not buying these again.

Vegetable Spring Rolls

These K Fat Inc. Vegetable Spring Rolls Cha Gio Chay are also from the Kam Man frozen aisle. These are still not "restaurant size" spring rolls, but they're getting close. The wrapper is a traditional thin flour wrapper, doubled over. The filling has a little bit of crunch from the veggies, which include jicama and carrots, but the pieces of veggie are thoroughly cooked. The pieces are larger, but not large enough that you get strings hanging out between bites. Again, I find myself requiring sauce for these. Even baking these in the toaster oven, these still get a slightly oily exterior. The claim on the package that these spring rolls are 16 calories each puzzles me. I wonder if that could possibly be true?

Score: 3/5 - Just average spring rolls. We will definitely keep buying them because Ross likes them in more of a 4/5 way.

Net Spring Rolls!

I got these Vegetarian Net Spring Roll Cha Gio Re Chay frozen at the Kam Man. These are another old favorite that we used to get all the time. I bake these in a toaster oven instead of deep frying them, and that ends up being OK. I love the net texture on the spring roll skin. Flakes of the net break off as soon as you bite in, but that's OK. The filling on these is a little weird. There's some kind of root veggie paste, probably from the "yambean root", that makes the filling stick together, so that the small, finely diced, pieces of carrots and mushrooms and cabbage and the like don't just fall out. Quite small pieces. The flavor of the filling and the roll are pretty mild. I always use sauce on them of some kind, pink chili sauce or dark mushroom sauce (which is a substitute for fish sauce and doesn't really taste like mushrooms) usually, but hoisin sauce would work.

Score: 4/5 - The filling is inoffensive and has a good texture, but I am really more into the crispy texture of the layers of net wrapper.

Guanpoh Vegetarian Char Siew Buns

Vegetarian roasted pork buns? Sign me up! These Guanpoh Vegetarian Char Siew Buns are medium size buns, with that sort of pinched texturing at the top. The dough is soft and fine, as expected, but the stand-out is the filling. The fake pork is textured to be a little chewy but not rubbery, and the pieces of it are small. The barbecue sauce is sticky enough that the pieces of pork stick together. The flavor is sweet and salty as expected, but not overwhelming in either direction, with the sort of orangy-pinky-brown color that is a little under-represented in the picture on the package. (Otherwise, I really like this packaging, the green and gold scheme looks really good.) Overall, this is one of my favorite buns. I used to buy these buns at the Super 88, but they stopped carrying them for years. Now that our local spot has changed into a Kam Man, they are back!

Score: 5/5 - What can I say, I like fake meat barbecue!

Phoenix Bun

These Phoenix Buns are kind of fascinating. The paste inside these is a slightly salted, slightly sweetened duck egg yolk. I don't know if they are claiming each one of these is a single whole yolk, but it's about the right size! If you like custard buns, you may think these are awesome too. It's like custard buns but at the extreme eggy level. I bought these frozen at the Kam Man in the South Bay Shopping Center.

Score: 4/5 - I like custard buns, and these were just like a stronger version of that egg custard flavor.

Red Diamond Hong Kong Style Dim Sum Red Bean A Te Bun

Red bean buns are a favorite of a good friend of mine. The filling in these Red Diamond Hong Kong Style Dim Sum Red Bean A Te Buns is pretty good, smooth and not extremely dry or pasty. The flavor is very mild, just a little sweet. Not so bean-y. The bun size is on the small side, but I think that's the way it goes with the dense, sweet buns. I bought these frozen at the Kam Man in the South Bay Shopping Center.

Score: 3/5 - These are a decent straight red bean bun, nothing exciting.