Disney dim sum trades flavor for culinary cuteness at Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel

After such a great morning at Ngong Ping 360 and the Tian Tan Buddha, we had high hopes for our lunch plans. We were headed back to Hong Kong Disneyland for the much-hyped Disney dim sum at the Crystal Lotus Restaurant inside the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel.
 

Crystal Lotus is a high-end, award-winning restaurant inside the Disneyland Hotel specializing in Chinese cuisine from four distinct regions of China: Sichuan, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong. If we had had more time at Hong Kong Disneyland, I might have booked two meals here, as the regular menu looks rather promising. Unfortunately, we had limited time and after hearing so much about the Disney dim sum, we had made it a top priority for our visit. After all, there’s nothing like this available back in the American Disney parks and Hong Kong is renowned for great dim sum, so it just made sense.

Crystal Lotus is a beautiful restaurant, presenting a contemporary, upscale take on traditional Chinese motifs.

 

What you need to know to book Disney Dim Sum at Crystal Lotus

It’s important to know that getting Disney dim sum isn’t as easy as just showing up at Crystal Lotus and placing an order. Because the Disney dim sum menu is so unique and intricate, it’s all made-to-order. So, if you want to get your hands on a Baymax Bun or Three Little Pigs Barbecue Pork Bun you’ll have to plan ahead.  Here’s what you need to know:
 

• • Call or E-mail to Make a Reservation

    You must call or E-mail the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel directly at +852 3510-6000 or hkdl.crystal.lotus@disney.com to make a reservation. As of this writing, there is no booking option via the Hong Kong Disneyland web site. Reservations can be made up to 42 days prior to your visit or 120 days prior if you’re staying at the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel.

  • Know when Disney Dim Sum is available

    Disney dim sum is available every day but only available during lunch hours, so be sure to make a lunch reservation! Disney dim sum is available in limited quantities on weekends and public holidays but your best bet is by ordering in advance. In fact, advance order is the only way to get Disney dim sum on weekdays.

  • Order Your Disney Dim Sum in Advance

    Plan to order your Disney dim sum in advance. It’s required for weekday reservations and highly recommended for weekends and holidays. If you call to book your reservation, you’ll be asked for your e-mail address where you’ll receive a Disney dim sum order form. You must e-mail back the order form with your selections prior to your reservation date — at least 48 hours for weekday reservations or 24 hours in advance for weekend or public holiday reservations. Your order form will vary, depending on what Disney dim sum selections are available at the time of your visit, but ours can be seen below.  Prices are in Hong Kong dollars.

 
Of course, we recommend double-checking the official Hong Kong Disneyland website’s Crystal Lotus page for the most current information on reservations, dim sum availability, menu, and more.

So, now that you know the ins-and-outs of getting a reservation here, you’re probably wondering — is it worth it? Well, yes and no. We had just had an amazing whirlwind morning at the Tian Tan Buddha and we were super excited for this meal. Everything we had read online was that the Crystal Lotus Disney dim sum was the must-do meal at Hong Kong Disneyland, so we made a point to make it happen.

Now, I love dim sum and am always on the lookout for great bao and shu mai here in Southern California, so it’s not that we aren’t fans of this type of cuisine. Part of the problem may have been that we had just been to Tim Ho Wan, a Michelin star-awarded dim sum restaurant chain, just a couple nights before in the city. That for sure probably didn’t help our impression of the food but even still, the Disney dim sum just wasn’t great. Our big takeaway from the meal was that it’s super cute but not necessarily super tasty. All of the food looked great, including the adorable Three Little Pigs BBQ Pork Buns below, but none of the buns had enough filling and the filling they did have was largely lacking in flavor.

Same went for the Baymax Buns (with shrimp filling, pictured below) and just about every other bun we had — over and over again, lots of dough but not enough filling to balance out.

The Star Wars Baked Yunnun Ham and Assorted Nuts Puff were not at all what I expected them to be but. I’m not a big fan of nuts in my food and these are pretty much a flaky crust packed full of chopped nuts with bits ham mixed in but I actually kinda liked them. It’s the ham that makes these work — the salty ham complement the nuts and somehow it all works together but like all dim sum, these are best eaten when they’re hot and fresh.

Mickey’s Double-Layer Turnip and Taro Pudding were a big highlight for me — surprisingly delicious considering I wasn’t a fan of turnip cakes elsewhere in Hong Kong, even at Tim Ho Wan. The chili sauce that accompanied these was also great.

The Duffy and ShellyMay Sweet Buns were perhaps the cutest on the table. Unfortunately, I can’t say they were memorable at all besides being super cute.

Little Green Men Pork and Vegetable Buns were one of the better buns on the table but, again, a disappointing filling-to-dough ratio.

Meanwhile, the Olaf Steamed Red Bean Paste Buns were fairly terrifying to look at but impressive for being so intricate. I’m not a fan of red bean but if you are, then these are probably a good choice — there’s plenty of red bean paste filling in these!

The highlight of the meal were the pricey ($128 HKD / ~$16 USD) Twin Fish Dumplings in Lotus Pond. These fish-shaped dumplings aren’t based on Disney characters but are absolutely beautiful in presentation and are the winners of the Gold with Distinction Award in the Dim Sum Category at the Hong Kong Tourism Board’s Best of the Best Culinary Awards. This dish was not only a treat to look at but it was also the most delicious item we had. Sally and I both agreed that this was by far our favorite and wished we had just had a few orders of these rather than anything else we had. The Garoupa fish and shrimp filling was amazingly fresh and packed with flavor with the broth being light but somehow still rich — a perfect complement to the dumplings. I was worried these dumplings would taste fishy or have an unappealing texture inside but everything about them was perfect. If you do the dim sum at Crystal Lotus, this is the one you don’t want to miss!

After an overall disappointing dim sum meal, we hoped our desert selections were better. Unfortunately they weren’t. The Tri Super Hero Chilled Pudding and Star Wars Chilled Puddings just weren’t good — for the most part we couldn’t place what the flavors were supposed to be and the textures of the pudding ranged from gelatinous to grainy, depending on the color. I would skip dessert here altogether and grab a sweet treat elsewhere (the park has great options if you’re heading back in and there’s so much to find in the city)

So, can we recommend the Disney dim sum? No, not in good conscience at least. If you’re on a budget or on limited time, we would advise that you absolutely skip this because it is pricey and time consuming. After our meal, a few drinks, and a couple non-Disney dim sum items we tried (but not pictured here), we had spend enough (~$295 USD) that it would have only been a few bucks more for us to all have purchased day tickets and gone back into the park. Immediately after the meal we all commented that we were all pretty disappointed, a little hungry still, and wished we had just spent the afternoon in the park or gone back into the city instead.

But what if you’re visiting Hong Kong Disneyland and have extra time to spare and budget isn’t a concern? Then, yeah, go for it. Disney dim sum seems to be a pretty universally-hyped experience in online reviews and I get why — the restaurant is gorgeous, the food is unique and endlessly Instagrammable even if not super flavorful, and the service at the restaurant is quite exceptional. If you want to make all your Disney friends back at home jealous with a Baymax Bun, then it’s really the only place you can do it. Who knows, maybe we just visited on an off day and the flavor of the food really does match its cuteness. Even if we did and our experience was an unfortunate fluke, I still wouldn’t do Disney dim sum again. Now, the Crystal Lotus’ regular menu is a different story and I could see myself returning to for a great dining experience and to try the restaurant’s signature Wok-Fried Shrimp or Roasted Goose. But for dim sum in Hong Kong — my money will always be on Tim Ho Wan for an extremely delicious meal at a fraction of the cost.

After our meal, we took some time to explore the three hotels at Hong Kong Disneyland as we figured it was too late go back into the park (we would have only had about four hours left to enjoy). The hotels are very nice, with the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel and new Explorers Lodge striking me as particularly great options.

A smaller-scale mix of Disney’s Aulani in Hawaii and the Animal Kingdom Lodge in Florida, the still-new Explorers Lodge would be my choice to stay on property at Hong Kong Disneyland. Really great execution of theme here and smartly complementary to Lantau Island itself and various themes you’ll find in the park (Adventureland, Mystic Point, etc.)

Disney’s Hollywood Hotel at Hong Kong Disneyland is the value-friendly hotel on property but we were all surprised at how nice it was for being the Resort’s budget option. The place is full of nice art deco details and charming thematic touches that really sell the theme.

And with that, we bid the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort a fond farewell. Even with a lackluster Disney dim sum experience, we all left feeling far more impressed and enchanted by the Resort than we had expected to be. Hong Kong Disneyland has long been criticized for being too derivative of the original Disneyland in Anaheim and too safe of a move for the Disney Company — Maybe that’s true in to some extent but it otherwise does a huge disservice to a Resort with some excellent attractions, beautiful accommodations and a ton of charm throughout. I’ll get around to writing up some more long-winded thoughts on Hong Kong Disneyland in a future post, but I think that while the Resort definitely has issues, it’s also working hard to carve out its own niche — and so far its doing a great job of it. With the addition of the Explorer’s Lodge and various park enhancements and expansions, Hong Kong Disneyland Resort is well on its way to being a stand-out Disney destination. Anyway, it was our last night in Hong Kong so it was time to head back into the city and make the most of it…

 

Let us know what you think!

Have you done the Disney dim sum at the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel? How was your experience compared to ours? Or are you planning a visit to Hong Kong Disneyland? Let us know if our review was helpful. We’d love to hear from you in the comments section below!

CRYSTAL LOTUS RESTAURANT

at the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel
Magic Road, Lantau Island, Hong Kong, China
hongkongdisneyland.com
Open daily, hours vary.
For reservations, call +852 3510-6000
Price range: $50-100 per person

Note: This post was updated on May 22, 2018 with corrected information about booking Crystal Lotus reservations via E-mail. Thank you to reader Kristina for the correction.