Hong Kong Bakery And Bistro

Amazing dim sum and bubble tea! Great service, the staff was really nice and knowledgeable. The food was fresh and hot, really high quality. Blew my mind. 10/10 would recommend and come again!

May 8, 2016

Oh so much more than a “bakery!”

We came here once before for dim sum and were very happy. When I suggested after a day of shopping that ended up at Colonie Center that we try one of the new wood fired pizza places nearby, my wife was agreeable. But then I also mentioned how we really should get back to Hong Kong Bakery someday and she quickly jumped at the opportunity to do it now as we were approaching it in our car.

It’s a little difficult to identify their driveway while driving with all the traffic. If you are not careful, you might accidentally turn into the I-87 northbound ramp which is right after their driveway. Attempting to be cautious, I turned too soon, and was in the driveway for the Northeast Orthodontic Associates. Fortunately, the parking lot behind their building has a small connecting ramp to the parking lot behind Hong Kong Bakery, which they also share with some business between these two. (See why I say it can be confusing?)

So we arrive at 5 pm and see that dim sum ends at 5 pm. I should also mention that the entrance from the parking lot makes you walk by the bakery cases, so my mouth is already watering. Their menu is very large. But it is very well organized. All the beverages are in one section, chicken dishes are in one section, pork dishes in another section, beef, soup, salad, etc., etc. A separate Specials menu was also given to us.

Fruit smoothies and tapioca drinks with pearls seem to be all the rage now and I keep hearing of them being served in Asian businesses that never offered such beverages around here ten or more years ago. This was the perfect opportunity to try them since nothing on the beer listing looked inviting. My wife selected a Cantaloupe Smoothie with Pearls ($4.69). She said it was like having desert first. It was quite good and those pearls at the bottom of the glass were chewy. Initially they came up through the extra large straw pretty well, but when the smoothie was all gone there still were a number of pearls that had to be skewered with the straw to finish them.

I had chosen a Red Bean Tapioca with Pearls ($3.49). It was really delicious! I likened my enjoyment of it to when I drink Thai iced tea – totally different drinks, but oh so good!

Deciding that the dishes offered on the Specials menu might not be available again, and hopefully are items that include fresh and seasonal preparations, we both ordered from it. My wife had the Szechuan Sliced Pork Belly ($12.99) and I ordered the Braised Lamb with Bamboo ($16.99). Both dishes were served with white rice since they didn’t have brown rice.

Our server had explained that the Szechuan dish would be on the spicy side, and my wife said she liked spicy so that would not be a problem. In fact, the dish was not very spicy at all. It was very tasty with onions, peppers, and cabbage, but not spicy as we think of it.

My lamb dish was described by our server as being a more traditional dish that would include some bones on the meat, and it would be served in a hot pot style. It came in a nice individual chafing dish with a fire underneath. The lamb was very tender with not too many pieces attached to bones. The broth was absolutely delicious with bamboo shoots, mushrooms, scallions, and spices like star anise.

Portions were plentiful, and we each brought about half our meal home. This also meant I left room for something I passed in the bakery case on the way in. I selected the Mango Mousse Cake ($2.99). It had thinly sliced mango on top and a bit of whipped cream. The cake has a more spongy texture than traditional cake, but the density gives it that mousse like consistency.

Service was excellent, as we were alerted in advance what dishes would be like so there wouldn’t be any surprises.

Feb 15, 2014
Very good Dim Sum. Valentines Day seemed like a nice time to try Dim Sum for a late lunch. Hong Kong Bakery and Bistro serves dim sum daily until 5 pm. Since their dim sum is made to order we anticipated it would be fresh and the pace would be laid back and relaxing.

We arrived about 3:30 pm when only one other table was occupied and were promptly greeted, seated, and provided multiple menus, and a pot of tea. It's generally understood that dim sum is best when eaten while sharing with a number of other people. Since there generally seems to be three or four pieces in each order, this approach allows diners to order a larger variety of dishes while still being able to sample one piece in each dish. With just the two of us, we were obviously going to have to limit our choices less we go into overload mode.

The Dim Sum menu has approximately 40 items, each one identified by a size code:
S/Small $2.75
M/Medium $3.75
L/Large $4.75
E/Extra Large $5.75

The size designation is not necessarily an indication of the portion size of the serving but rather a methodology for pricing.

Our Valentine's lunch choices were:
Steamed Shrimp Dumpling (L - 3 pieces)
Pork Siu Mai (M - 4 pieces)
Steamed Rice Roll with Shrimp (L - 3 pieces)
Baked Honey Roast Pork Bun (M - 3 pieces)
Deep-Fried Taro Dumpling (M - 3 pieces)

While our very pleasant server indicated it would be about 15 to 20 minutes for our food to be prepared, I was surprised when the first two items to be served came to the table in less than 5 minutes. I believe these two items must have already been prepared and simply needed to be heated. They were the Taro Dumplings and the Roast Pork Bun. The taro dumpling's outer shell is the part that is made from boiled and mashed taro - its inner filling is pork. The dumpling was only slightly warm, but being a deep-fried item it did not taste greasy and had a nice combination of texture and flavor.

The Roast Pork bun was not as heavy in texture as you might initially expect. The honey sweetness was apparent while not turning the bun into a dessert item. The bun top had risen significantly leaving a large cavity inside for a minimal amount of pork that was flavorful and not filling.

By the time we finished our first two items our server was bringing the Steamed Rice Rolls with Shrimp. This was a dish that my wife had enjoyed in the past, but had not had in many years. Her recollection was that the rolls were very slippery and almost impossible to pick up with chop sticks. While she played with her roll and chop sticks I attacked mine with a fork to enjoy it immediately. Since both of us enjoyed this dish equally, we split the third roll and I noticed that she switched to her fork.

The Steamed Shrimp dumplings are not slippery like the rolls. Their shape is similar to Xiao Long Bao, but without the soup inside, and packed with chopped shrimp. They were served in the traditional bamboo steaming basket with a side-saucer of a soy based sauce. Our server warned us that they were quite temperature hot. Again, a very nice texture and a good amount of shrimp flavor. My wife is back to using her chop sticks again.

Our final dish served was the Pork Siu Mai. Before I forget, my compliments to our server who timed the pace of scheduling and delivering our dishes so that each one was served hot just as we were finishing the previous dish. There's something special about eating siu mai that is made fresh and not defrosted like you might have at home. It was a nice finish to our dim sum.

But Valentine's Day needs something sweet to finish so I ordered the Mango Mousse. It was not what I expected. It was a piece of a multi-layered white cake with mango mousse filling. I thought the mousse had a slight gelatinous texture, but it was nicely decorated on top with a shaving of white chocolate and a honey dew melon ball.

We'll return for dim sum to try some different dishes.

The food here reminds me of the stuff I used to get from food stalls in Asia. Their menu is more cafe food. It's not very extensive but it's still good. They also have bubble tea :)