Fung's Kitchen

"While Houston has many excellent Chinese restaurants and a miles-long Chinatown, nobody is doing things quite like Fung’s Kitchen. Family owned and operated since the mid-'90s, Fung’s offers the best dim sum cart service in the city, along with tanks of live seafood and Cantonese family-style classics. The sprawling, banquet-hall-size dining room holds hundreds of people with enough space for elegant tableside presentations requiring multiple hot woks, and an annual Chinese dragon dance for New Year’s celebrations. Everything here is larger-than-life and packed with flavor. Dining at Fung’s is a nonstop parade of massive plates of food, like hundreds of dim sum steamers or a dish called “Lobster Mountain,” which is exactly what you think it is. And despite the size of both the portions and the sprawling dining room, the service never falters. Every staff member seems overjoyed to fill your table with more and more food, to the point you begin accepting additional plates of crispy shrimp croquettes and beef-stuffed rice noodles, not to disappoint whoever offered them. photo credit: Quit Nguyen photo credit: Quit Nguyen photo credit: Quit Nguyen photo credit: Quit Nguyen photo credit: Quit Nguyen There’s no point in saying no. Eating here is about taking advantage of everything and letting Fung’s do what it does best: take care of you. So order those salt-baked spot prawns, pick a gargantuan crab from the tank, or get a couple of Peking ducks to share, and let the folks at Fung’s indulge you with an over-the-top experience. Food Rundown photo credit: Quit Nguyen Dim Sum Dim sum brunch is a never-ending parade of carts with stainless steel steamer trays full of crystal shrimp dumplings, savory BBQ pork steamed buns, rich and pillowy egg cake, and sweet custard lava buns. You will want to flag down every cart that wheels by. photo credit: Quit Nguyen BBQ Pork The BBQ pork here looks elegant. It’s served sliced and fanned out on a long white plate that highlights just how crispy the skin is against the glistening, rendered meat. It’s crunchy, fatty, and the perfect light snack before an avalanche of food arrives. photo credit: Quit Nguyen Golden Egg Yolk Soft Shell Crab There’s a delicate sweetness to the fluffy fried crab of this dish. Maybe order two or three of these for the table, just so no one has to argue. photo credit: Quit Nguyen Peking Duck There’s nothing like cloud-fluffy bao buns filled with crisp roast duck, especially once it’s stuffed with shaved cucumber and smothered in hoisin sauce. Fung’s doesn’t deviate from that standard setup, but it’s always fantastic. photo credit: Quit Nguyen Salt Baked Shrimp As your server prepares this dish tableside, the smell of roasting rock salt makes everyone in the restaurant stop and stare at your table as if they will levitate after the wafting scent like a cartoon character. The delicate, sweet flavor resulting from the rock-salt dome combined with the charred salt and pepper scent tastes as if Fung's dreamed it up for you alone. photo credit: Quit Nguyen Lobster Mountain For this dish, the name really says it all because what arrives at your table is nothing short of spectacular. It's a giant, cascading mountain of crispy-fried lobster that’s slightly spicy, buttery, and tender. And there are no gimmicks here. Plumb the depths, and you’ll find even more delicious lobster beneath the surface." - Chelsea Thomas

"Dish: Salt-Baked Shrimp There is no other dish in Houston like the salt-baked shrimp from Fung’s Kitchen. It features so much pomp and circumstance, like a massive guerdon cart with two big burners that get parked tableside. The intoxicating smell of roasting rock salt makes everyone in the restaurant stop and stare as if they will soon levitate after the wafting scent like a cartoon character. And, of course, the delicate transfer of thick, coral-red spot prawns into the scorching hot wok and the spooning of rock salt, like feeding a sauna. The delicate, sweet result combined with the charred salt and pepper scent tastes singular, as if dreamed up by Fung’s for you alone." - chelsea thomas

"Fung’s Kitchen in Sharpstown is where to go for dim sum. Functionally the size of a small town, the seafood-tank-lined banquet hall serves Cantonese classics and weekend dim sum cart brunch. Despite Fung’s size, service never falters. Each cart that whizzes by presents an opportunity to make puppy eyes at your friends and say, “Well, one more won’t hurt,” because every bao, bun, and beef-stuffed rice noodle delivers the primordial joy of eating dumplings." - chelsea thomas, gianni greene

"Part of the lawsuit against Centerpoint, as it lost power for at least 48 hours." - Brittany Britto Garley

"Fung’s Kitchen in Sharpstown offers the best Cantonese-style dim sum service in Houston. Family owned and operated since the ‘90s, the seafood tank-lined, absolutely massive dining room at Fung’s fills up with dumpling seekers every weekend. Big groups flag down their favorite carts and eagerly watch servers playfully airlift hot stainless steel steamer trays of har gow, shumai, chicken feet, BBQ pork, and steamed buns galore onto massive tables. And while Fung’s is built for special occasions, no matter what, the staff turns dim sum cart service into such joyful entertainment that turning down any dish offered to your table feels wrong somehow. Keep those carts coming, and come up with any reason to visit Fung’s Kitchen." - chelsea thomas, gianni greene