Cheong Fat's Reviews - OpenRice Mobile

Cheong Fat 昌發泰國粉麵屋
English Address : G/F, 27 Nam Shing Street Kowloon City
Chinese Address : 九龍城城南道27號地下
Map : Display Map
Phone No. : 2382 5998 (Add to Contacts)
Categories : Thai
Spending : $41-$100
Overall Score : 3.5
72 smile face

vs 24

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Other Information

Opening Hours: 星期一至日: 11:00-23:30
Number of Seats: 85
Payment Method: Cash
Alcoholic Drinks: Yes
Phone Reservation: Yes
TV: Yes
Parking: Yes

Gourmet Reviews

English only | English & Chinese

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Hong Kong's Thai Town
2012-11-10
fabianbrimfield (17 Review(s))

Hong Kong's thai expat community certainly doesn't get much of a mention very often. Usually when someone mentions a thai person in Hong Kong, they're more often than not thinking of a domestic helper. But there is a relatively small Chinese-Thai community in Hong Kong, though it doesn't really reflect the huge Hong Kong community in Bangkok. All the thai's are clustered around Kowloon City, the former site of the eponymous Kowloon Walled City. Rumor has it all the thais moved to Kowloon City after mostly being evicted from their former community on Hong Kong island as the skyscrapers were erected in the hundreds during the 1980's.
But enough about history, lets talk about food. Surely if anywhere, Hong Kong's best thai food has got to be found in the so called bangkoktown. Top on the list on Openrice is Cheong Fat, a small hole in the wall eatery with a narrow staircase that leads to a slightly more spacious (I said slightly) upstairs. Interestingly the place also featured in my friends Lonely Planet Book, though I rarely give the LP recommendations any credence (see why below). The staff redefine Hong Kong surlyness though. Ask for a table: ignored. Ask if there is room upstairs: ignored. By our own exploration (and motivation from hungry stomachs), we found our own table and just sat down.
First dish we ordered was something that my friends lonely planet book recommended, Cheong Fat's Traditional Chiang Mai Noodle Soup ($30HKD). If by traditional you mean packed with dark and bloody slices of liver, chicken feet and various other intestinal bits, then it was as traditional as angkor wat. Chicken feet I have no problem with, but liver is really not up my alley. Nor was it up anyone elses either. Whilst everyone conceded that the actual noodle soup was nice itself, it was spicy and rich, the whole experience of picking around the bits of cartilage and fat means that we quickly put this dish to one side.
Next up a truly redeeming Spicy Papaya Salad. This dish made up for the trauma of the noodle soup, it was fantastic. The papaya was fresh, it was spicy, well proportioned. And one thing I love about Papaya salad is the crunchiness and texture of it. For the briefest of moments it transported me back to memories of sitting on a beach in Krabi, and it was lovely.
The Green Chicken Curry was well received by everyone, but I thought the portion was a bit small compared to the other dishes. At this price I shouldn't be complaining.
By far my favorite dish were the thai fish cakes, which I demanded we ordered. These were great, crunchy from being lightly fried on the outside, with a bouncy inside laced with coriander, mint and other spices. My only gripe about this dish is that they came served with a sweet chilli sauce, instead of a Nam Phrik Pla sauce which is what i'd usually expect with this dish.
Finally the Pad Thai, the quintessential thai dish, and the standard all thai restaurants should be based upon. The trick is with pad thai, it should be kept simple. It's the kind of dish that a grandma with a wheeled hotplate on the streets of Bangkok can whip up in 30 seconds. And yeah, it was okay, served with a generous portion of crushed peanut and a slice of lime, and lots of prawns. It was certainly authentic, being quite dry and having a strong taste of ketcap manis and fish sauce, which is a far cry from the bastardised pad thais you often get in other thai restaurants. But it didn't blow me away, or anyone else for that matter.
A nice meal but I don't think any of us will be rushing back. The price is certainly right, but the surliness of the staff and the freezing dining room certainly didn't want to make us linger around any longer after the last fish cake had been consumed. There are so many other Thai places in Kowloon City to be explored, so the aim is next time to do better.

Recommended Dish(es): Fish Cakes,Papaya Salad
Date of Visit: 2012-11-07
Table Wait Time: 0 Minutes
Spending per Head: HKD40 (Dinner)
Rating : Taste4 Environment2 Service2 Hygiene2 Value for Money4

nice tom yum soup!
2012-04-07
Joey.cy.C (6 Review(s))

a restaurant that you won't expect good service but this is what makes it 'local'.had tom yum soup, fried prawn cakes and chili mussels. love the tom yum soup there except the shrimps inside.. the fried prawn cakes were good and i would say it was a large portion in such cheap price ! the bad dish was the chilli mussels... the seafood weren't fresh at all.oh and we ordered mango sticky rice also... which wasn't outstanding but not badi would give them a smiley face based on value !

Recommended Dish(es): tom yum soup,fried prawn cakes
Table Wait Time: 7 Minutes
Spending per Head: HKD80 (Dinner)
Rating : Taste3 Environment3 Service3 Hygiene3 Value for Money4

New menu and prices increased
2011-12-08
supersupergirl (2537 Review(s))

Since my last visit, the menu has changed,
It used to be a piece of card that was laminated.
The new menu has improved in terms of layout and it now has English.
However the prices have slightly gone up.

I think it used to cost $23 for a bowl of noodles and now it costs $26.
I ordered the boat noodles and it was as good as before, however it was slightly spicy.
The first time I tried it, it was not spicy at all.

Previous review:
http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=2052215

Supplementary Information：
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Price: $26
Service: OK
English menu: OK
Yummy factor: OK
MSG levels: none
Healthy factor: OK
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Rating : Taste3 Environment3 Service3 Hygiene3 Value for Money3

Over the rainbow with rainbow noodles
2010-03-29
supersupergirl (2537 Review(s))

Apart from the famous boat trip, this is another good noodle to try.

The soup is slightly hot with notes of Red beancurd in it, it is slightly sour too, and there are lots of toppings such as fishcakes, squids, crunchy wonton skin, and ducks blood.

It is a light noodle if you dont want a strong soup base one, although there was a slight bleach smell in the soup, not sure if its meant to be like that.

Rating : Taste3 Environment3 Service3 Hygiene3 Value for Money3

What a Thai Restaurant!!!
2010-03-15
My Melody* :D (70 Review(s))

Fat dol dol and Fat mui mui had waited for a long time to try this Thai Restaurant!!!! We tried it finally!!!!!!! I can say..... It's yummy!!!!!

smile

Lo mai chicken wing - WOW It's full of lo mai rice and the chicken wings is just fried so crispy.
smile

Tom yum goong - It's not too spicy, I think it's becoz Thai people think that HK ppl are not gd at eating spicy food. Also, it's not too sour. I think it's ok. The combination between spice and sour is under control.

chopstick

mix of skewered meat - skewered chicken is quite good because it's "smooth". But the skewered pork and beef is not that tasty. It's a bit rough. However, the provide satay sauce helped a lot. You can see many pieces of nuts in the satay sauce!!

smile

"boat trip" - It's called boat trip on the menu. The soup is made by the blood of pig and it taste sweet. The noodles is extremely smooth but I don't really like the ingredient they used, so I think it's just reached the average.

Date of Visit: 2010-03-13
Spending per Head: HKD75
Rating : Taste4 Environment3 Service4 Hygiene4 Value for Money4

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