MANILA -- Har gow or locally known as hakaw is a steamed shrimp dumpling and is a staple in the dim sum menu of most Chinese restaurants in the Philippines. It is a favorite among Filipino diners, ranking up there with the classic pork dumpling, shumai (siomai).

There's a newly opened dim sum restaurant that's changing the hakaw game. Happy Dumplings, located at SM City Fairview in Novaliches in Quezon City, offers eight flavors of hakaw. Aside from the classic hakaw, various flavors are added into the traditional filling like curry, satay, szechuan, garlic, salted egg, wasabi, and bagoong (fermented shrimp paste).

“We're very proud to be the first in the Philippines, probably first in the world, to offer hakaw in different flavors,” said owner Anderson Hao.

Located at the second floor of the mall, Happy Dumplings is an original concept and is a fast casual Chinese restaurant that offers dim sum, rice meals, and noodles. Hao is also the franchisee of Tagaytay-based Bawai's Vietnamese Kitchen and London-based coffee shop Black Sheep Coffee.

“We want to make it fun. If you notice younger customers are a little intimidated to go into Chinese restaurants. We want to give a different look to a Chinese restaurant,” he explained.

The 45-seater restaurant has bright and open interiors. The walls are decorated with cute dumpling character drawings. And like a fast food joint it has a counter where customers order from but at the same time, has an open kitchen where guests can watch their food being prepared, like a casual restaurant.

The kitchen is complete with woks and a roasting oven. The roasted meats are even displayed on the kitchen window, hanging on hooks, a typical practice among Cantonese restaurants.

But unlike fast food restaurants, the food here are made fresh and from scratch, every day. They mainly serve Cantonese food, something very familiar with the Filipino market.

“The food is above fast food quality I would say because we do it fresh here at the store. We don't use a commissary. We make our dumplings the traditional way like it's hand-wrapped. The dumplings are made fresh and we make our own wrappers from scratch,” Hao said.

Hao also explained that they hired Chinese chef consultants from Hong Kong, Malaysia, and other parts of Asia when creating the menu. The team wanted to make the food as authentic as possible.

To keep in line with the brand, the hakaw dumplings are also made in different colors. The dumplings are wrapped in different colored wrappers to identify the various flavors. A basket of four hakaw is priced at P128, while a basket of eight is priced at P238. Diners can choose from the different flavors or order assorted as an option.

Pork and shrimp siomai. Handout

Beancurd roll. Handout

Combination platter of roasted meat. Photo by author

Tausi spareribs rice topping. Handout

Crispy Hong Kong style chicken rice topping. Handout

Lechon Macau rice topping. Handout

Aside from hakaw, they also offer pork siomai, shrimp siomai, fried wanton, beancurd roll, asado siopao, bola-bola siopao, and more, starting at P88 per order.

According to Hao, customers should also try their rice meals and roasts. They serve a platter of Chinese roasts (pork asado, chicken, and lechon macau) for sharing and also offer them a la carte.

For the rice toppings, they serve fried spring rolls, soy chicken, sweet and sour pork, fish fillet with tausi, salt and pepper spareribs, and more. The rice toppings start at P98 but the others that are priced P148 and above come with a side of vegetable and fried egg.

The rice toppings are noticeably bigger and have generous servings compared to fast food restaurants.

They also sell a la carte orders of fried rice for sharing like yang chow and salted fish at P128. The noodles are also a must-try like the beef brisket and soy chicken at only P148 per bowl.

“We're offering it in an authentic way in a sense that the ingredients we use are basically the ingredients they're [Chinese restaurants] using. But in a way that is much more affordable, much more fun, and much more appealing to the mass market,” Hao said.