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2014-05-07
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Friends and I spent a good part of Saturday Jan 4, 2014 touring Tai O fishing village, and by the time we got back to Central it was already sun down. Originally I was going to take them to a dai pai dong in Sham Shui Po, but we were super tired and needed to get to a destination sooner.Thinking quickly, I remembered several blog posts about 福來居(牛記)海鮮飯店 being very close to the MTR exit in Prince Edward, and what better way to unwind from a tiring evening with friends, at a restaurant/eatery that
Friends and I spent a good part of Saturday Jan 4, 2014 touring Tai O fishing village, and by the time we got back to Central it was already sun down. Originally I was going to take them to a dai pai dong in Sham Shui Po, but we were super tired and needed to get to a destination sooner.Thinking quickly, I remembered several blog posts about 福來居(牛記)海鮮飯店 being very close to the MTR exit in Prince Edward, and what better way to unwind from a tiring evening with friends, at a restaurant/eatery that can do stir fry damn good, and have good affordable seafood? Have to thank Smashing Pumpkins for mentioning this place, but I also want to point out that Chef Leung 梁師傅 of 海景軒 himself is also a big fan of this restaurant (he has posted about it on Facebook). I called ahead to make a reservation and luckily they were able to squeeze us in. I think it was right before 9 pm that night.
I am not a HK resident, but I grew up in HK....yet Prince Edward is foreign territory to me. Even armed with a book map, I got lost finding this place, much to my embarassment trying to be a good guide to my friends (who have only been to HK 3 times, but never to this area).
We checked in at the front entrance, and they still had to prepare our table. We ended up being seated in the overflow area across the street, and it still felt extremely festive.
While we were waiting, the manager came out and asked us if we wanted to order seafood. Unfortunately there were very few selections left in their styrofoam tanks outside, but we managed very well in the end. I took the reins with ordering and we had a really great sample.
Kicked off the meal with an ice cold bottle of Tsing Tao beer. We can easily purchase Tsing Tao in the USA, but they only sell them in small individual bottles (which is usually not enough). It was very exciting to see an extra large sized bottle, perhaps even bigger than a bottle of wine :-). The chilled glass was a nice touch, something that Cantonese seafood restaurants in California don't even do, even though it is a very minor detail. Warm beer is BS....it has got to be chilling!
We were not prepared for the awesome stir fry feast in this part of the 'hood....
soy sauce supreme medium sized prawns - absolutely incredible. These guys were swimming in the tanks not too long ago. This dish is pretty standard, yet it is very difficult to find this level of execution in California. Lots of positive reactions when we sunk our teeth into this. Fantastic "wok hay", incredibly plump and juicy. A shame they took out the heads, but even the shells tasted excellent. Cantonese umami in shrimp, at its finest. A bite of shrimp, and a sip of Tsing Tao. Again, who the f**k needs izakayas when you have this??
ginger scallion oysters - this seemed like another safe choice. It turned out two people in our party were not oyster fans, but quickly switched mood when they tasted the ridiculously awesome ginger scallion flavor. The dish was a touch greasy, but the flavors were absolutely incredible. Good quality oysters too, that did not have any metallic taste. Not clear if these were American oysters or not.
steamed melon seed grouper 清蒸瓜子斑 - There were maybe 3 fish in the stryofoam tank, and the melon seed grouper 瓜子斑 looked the most vibrant, visually stunning, and good choice of the lot. Naturally it was also the most expensive...I don't remember the weight but this specimen was given a quote of around $600 to $700. It took me a little time to decide, but I said "who cares, we are on vacation, live a little!". Best decision of our lives.
The fish was steamed perfectly, fantastic control of heat and steam by the kitchen, and to use and overused term "meat easily falling off the bone". Fish having fish flavor....really delicate, suppple, sweet, and just all round perhaps the best wild fish I've eaten in Hong Kong (even surpassing the Saba grouper at Star Seafood, or the fish from Happy Seafood at Lau Fau Shan which was more expensive). Our tired party had a blast cleaning up this plate, leaving pretty much just the bones behind.
Veggies....well the large pea sprout in superior broth and garlic was very standard, yet very high quality. Perhaps we were tired yet re-energized by the vibe of the restaurant, the quality of the food, despite the fact we had very rowdy surroundings (who knows if some of the local patrons have tattoos and like to whack people with steel crowbars). We just continued to have big sips of beer, eat, drink, rinse, and repeat.
Soy sauce supreme stir fried noodle - oh bloody hell, the true definition of WOK HAY. And it was perfectly exemplified here. I really like the fact that it was a much dryer execution with an intense sear/carmelization. I asked for, and they gave us a little bit of Yu Kwen Yick chili sauce to go with it, and we all clapped our hands. It is still so hard for me to accept that this simple dish was done so well at a high level, yet you cannot find this level of quality (or anywhere close) in California.....so sad!
The manager brought over a plate of fruit for us at the end, and it was a very nicely appreciated gesture.
The damage for the evening was somewhere in the range of $1200 to $1400 for us four, and certainly not a cheap stir fry in the hood kind of experience....but to me it was well worth it given the execution.
To this day I look back at the photos I have taken of this restaurant, and can still relive that experience. Just really glad that we made it here to try it, and it really exceeded all expectations.
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