Chinatown RotiPrata Onion

These Chinatown RotiPrata in Onion flavor were good! They were next to the scallion pancakes in the freezer at H Mart, although I'm not sure we can properly count them as dim sum. I made them to go with a curry. I had the idea to put them on my pizza stone in the oven, and I was pretty impressed at how fluffy and flaky they came out. I think they would have been slightly soggier if pan fried. They did stick to the stone some, I think this could be avoided with just a touch of flour. In terms of taste, these came out sort of halfway between paratha and a scallion pancake. They had a little bit of onion flavor, and a little bit of butter flavor. They did work for their intended purpose as bread with the curry. I would definitely buy them again.

Score: 4/5 - Flaky and crispy, these could use a little more onion flavor but were very very pleasant.

Ponto Crepe de Herbe Italian Herbs Pancake

These Ponto Crepe de Herbe Italian Herbs Pancake have been in my freezer for a while. It's not that they're not good, it's just that they seemed an odd choice for dim sum. Would you put chili sauce or mushroom sauce on it, you know? I think we bought them at Kam Man, on our last trip close to a year ago, and haven't managed to work them in. The Italian Herbs part is a standard Italian blend, marjoram, thyme, rosemary, savory, sage, oregano, basil. The herb flavor is noticeable but not overwhelming. The pancake itself is a pretty standard flaky and chewy pancake, but that's a good thing. We've been having them pan fried as a side with our last batch of split pea soup, and they work really well in that context so that's how I will likely use the rest of the package. A note on the pan frying, I did use just the smallest dash of oil, and the layers did puff up during cooking, which is always a good sign to me. Past Ponto pancakes had the same flaky quality, so I think I like the brand for their pancake offerings.

Score: 4.5/5 - While these Italian herb pancakes don't quite match up with dim sum, they are flaky and well flavored. Using them as a side worked out great.

Haioreum Korean Pancake with Sweet Rice

It's been a while! I have been busy as all get out, both at work and at home, and since our last move, we haven't been dim-summing quite as much! I can't say I think I'll be posting as frequently as before, as I do end up re-buying a lot of the same stuff, but I will make more of an effort in the next couple months!

So, these Cakes are again pretty much the same as the Green Tea and Corn and Barley versions. Chewy, slightly dense donut-y cake with a thin sweet and mild filling. The flavor for the filling of these is not as distinct as the others, but it's still good! I think my overall favorite has been the corn flavor.

Score: 3.5/5 - I can barely tell this flavor from the other equally enjoyable Haioreum pancakes, but yeah, it's good.

Haioreum Korean Pancake with Barley

So, these Cakes are again pretty much the same as the Green Tea and Corn versions. Chewy, slightly dense donut-y cake with a thin sweet and mild filling. I only detected the barley flavor because of the power of suggestion, but it's still good!

Score: 4/5 - I can barely tell this flavor from the other equally enjoyable Haioreum pancakes, but yeah, it's good.

Lam Shang Kee Frozen Sesame Pie

So, even though these Lam Shang Kee Frozen Sesame Pies are ostensibly a different brand than "Noodles House", the packaging is otherwise identical to that brand's packaging. I bought these sesame pancakes at Kam Man, where there are a variety of these frozen pancakes. Usually, I only try the scallion ones, and I am inclined to stick with that. The green onion pies are amazing, the sesame pies are just OK. They have the same crispy and flaky texture, but they are not as moist as the ones with green onions. They don't achieve the same rich, almost buttery flavor. The onions just add to the experience! The sesame seeds do give these pies a little sesame flavor, so these end up making me think of those sesame seed water crackers.

Score: 3.5/5 - Good, but just not as good as the green onion version sold by the same brand.

An Update on Cooking Frozen Sweet Potato Pies

So, this isn't a full on re-review, but after some experimentation, I've decided that pan-frying is the way to go with these sweet potato-stuffed pancakes. (And truly, all frozen pancakes.) Fried with a little bit of peanut oil or whatever you have on hand, these end up fully cooked and crispy, but also still fork-edge-cuttable. So, add these to your frying medley.

Noodles House Frozen Green Onion Pie

There's a huge assortment of "frozen pie" type dim-sum in the freezer case at Kam Man. Compared to the buns, there are very few flavors, hence I have never delved deeply into the "scallion pancake" section. There's also the problem that a lot of these things don't cook up so well. If you bake them, they come out unevenly done, while pan-frying usually creates a tough outer layer that requires heavy pressure to cut. (Perhaps you are supposed to deep fry them?) That's why these Frozen Green Onion Pies from Noodle House made me so happy. They came out perfectly with pan frying. You could use a fork to cut them on the plate, but they still were a little chewy, with crispy outsides. They weren't over-dense like some of the other brands. On top of great texture, the flavor was buttery with highlights of pleasantly cooked slightly sweet onion. Never had this before, definitely going to have this again.

Score: 5/5 - Chewy, flaky, buttery, not too dense, and some good onion chunks. As good as (or in some cases better than) the restaurant versions.