I originally wanted to try "Inari" but they were under renovation - the circular stated that it would reopen on 10th May2012 but when I went there, it's still under renovation! I hope I'll be able to see it reopen soon.
So I walked along the street to find something to eat. In case you haven't been to this TST/Jordan area, there are tons of interesting restaurants and eateries along the same street - as long as you are not afraid of venturing a bit further down Austin road.
This Laksa shop caught my attention because of photographs of Mr. Chua Lan (蔡瀾)and many other Hong Kong talents. I have to say this promotion method is usually a source of concern for me instead than anything else. My previous experience of "star-studded" restaurants were at "Very Good Restaurant" 頂好, which was quite bad; and another restaurant, "Hing Kee" 避風塘興記 (they serve nice duck Ho Fun and fried crab but very expensive for the size.) Having said that, it worked (because they also had photographs of the prawn mee and a price list).
蔡生曾到此一遊
It was a small shop with about 10-12 seats which were reasonably spaced apart. The whole decor was green. Good air-conditioning. Golden mandarin oldies as the background music.
After a quick look at the menu (which had laksa, prawn mee and I believe rice dishes as well), I ordered the deluxe prawn mee with 10 toppings, which appeared to be their signature dish: (HK$57) I got rid of the beef ball.
After being prompted by the friendly and assertive female boss (not rude at all, just assertive), I also ordered barley water. The barley water came first:
驅風羌味薏米水: 有特式但有點貴(HK$24).
This was very interesting! It had a mild ginger taste to it and had a lot of barley. Very refreshing! But at HK$24, i think it's quite pricey.
Shortly afterwards, my Prawn Mee arrived:
招牌蝦麵: 混合了鮮蝦湯及較辣的喇沙 - 正!
The broth was very interesting :
The soup base was actually very similar to a Laksa soup base with some coconut milk and a tingling spiciness (definitely less spicy than those in Singapore but already one of the spicier ones, if not the spiciest, laksa i've tried in Hong Kong).
The prawn taste was pronounced. It was quite addictive. Imagine this as a mixture of the Laksa you have at "EXP", Festival Walk (which I think is quite good) plus the sweet & spicy prawn soup you get at "Prawn Noodle Shop". The effect was very nice!
It had quite a lot of fried onions as well. Very aromatic.
All in all, I was very happy with the broth. Definitely much better than the prawn mee I had at "Katong Laksa", Wan Chai, which was similar to a light pork meat soup instead of what I had at Katong, Singapore.
About the toppings, as far as I could remember:
Vietnamese sausage 扎肉 : Tasty . Fresh (as far as a sausage could be ). Generous portion. Smoked Duck Breast 煙鴨胸: Chewy, had a strong smoked duck taste. Nice. Vegetables 油墨菜: Yau Mak Choi (literally printing ink vegetable). Perhaps taste a bit like a mustard leaf and slightly bitter. Also fresh and crisp. Chicken wings 鹵水雞翼: marinated in soy sauce. A bit salty like more soy sauce wings but no complaints. Pork Belly 豬腩肉: A slice of pork belly, which was quite well marinated and flavourful. Very tender. Fish cake 魚片: Very fresh and chewy. The fish cake was quite sweet. It's delicious. Fried fish cake 炸魚片: similar to above but fried. Not oily. Also delicious. Fried Tofu 豆卜: Normal. No complaints. Black Fungi 木耳: Again, fresh and did not have the grassy taste. (Beef meatballs)
The noodles they used were a thinner type of egg noodle (when I say thinner, I meant thinner than yau min at Prawn Mee Shop and Katong Laksa). It's still thicker than normal egg noodles. Those were firm and chewy. It also had egg taste.
爽口新鮮的油麵+米粉: 口感豐富又夠飽肚
Also, it's mixed with vermicelli! Just like the real thing. This adds a lot of complexity (& carbs) to the texture of the whole noodle. The whole portion was quite filling. More filling than "Prawn Noodle Shop" and a bit more than "Katong Laksa".
All in all, good quality broth and noodles, toppings were nice, decent size and decent value - HK$57 - Recommended!
Laksa Prawn Mee (Yau Min & Vermicelli)
I originally wanted to try "Inari" but they were under renovation - the circular stated that it would reopen on 10th May2012 but when I went there, it's still under renovation! I hope I'll be able to see it reopen soon.
So I walked along the street to find something to eat. In case you haven't been to this TST/Jordan area, there are tons of interesting restaurants and eateries along the same street - as long as you are not afraid of venturing a bit further down Austin road.
This Laksa shop caught my attention because of photographs of Mr. Chua Lan (蔡瀾)and many other Hong Kong talents. I have to say this promotion method is usually a source of concern for me instead than anything else. My previous experience of "star-studded" restaurants were at "Very Good Restaurant" 頂好, which was quite bad; and another restaurant, "Hing Kee" 避風塘興記 (they serve nice duck Ho Fun and fried crab but very expensive for the size.) Having said that, it worked (because they also had photographs of the prawn mee and a price list).
After a quick look at the menu (which had laksa, prawn mee and I believe rice dishes as well), I ordered the deluxe prawn mee with 10 toppings, which appeared to be their signature dish: (HK$57) I got rid of the beef ball.
After being prompted by the friendly and assertive female boss (not rude at all, just assertive), I also ordered barley water. The barley water came first:
Shortly afterwards, my Prawn Mee arrived:
The soup base was actually very similar to a Laksa soup base with some coconut milk and a tingling spiciness (definitely less spicy than those in Singapore but already one of the spicier ones, if not the spiciest, laksa i've tried in Hong Kong).
The prawn taste was pronounced. It was quite addictive. Imagine this as a mixture of the Laksa you have at "EXP", Festival Walk (which I think is quite good) plus the sweet & spicy prawn soup you get at "Prawn Noodle Shop". The effect was very nice!
It had quite a lot of fried onions as well. Very aromatic.
All in all, I was very happy with the broth. Definitely much better than the prawn mee I had at "Katong Laksa", Wan Chai, which was similar to a light pork meat soup instead of what I had at Katong, Singapore.
About the toppings, as far as I could remember:
Vietnamese sausage 扎肉 : Tasty . Fresh (as far as a sausage could be
Smoked Duck Breast 煙鴨胸: Chewy, had a strong smoked duck taste. Nice.
Vegetables 油墨菜: Yau Mak Choi (literally printing ink vegetable
Chicken wings 鹵水雞翼: marinated in soy sauce. A bit salty like more soy sauce wings but no complaints.
Pork Belly 豬腩肉: A slice of pork belly, which was quite well marinated and flavourful. Very tender.
Fish cake 魚片: Very fresh and chewy. The fish cake was quite sweet. It's delicious.
Fried fish cake 炸魚片: similar to above but fried. Not oily. Also delicious.
Fried Tofu 豆卜: Normal. No complaints.
Black Fungi 木耳: Again, fresh and did not have the grassy taste.
(Beef meatballs)
The noodles they used were a thinner type of egg noodle (when I say thinner, I meant thinner than yau min at Prawn Mee Shop and Katong Laksa). It's still thicker than normal egg noodles. Those were firm and chewy. It also had egg taste.
All in all, good quality broth and noodles, toppings were nice, decent size and decent value - HK$57 - Recommended!
總評:
蔡生曾到此一遊．地方細（10-12個位）但不太逼．
大量明星照（像”頂好”－頂
叫了招牌蝦麵及薏米水
薏米水：有羌味及很多薏米． 有特式但好像有點貴 －HK$24
招牌蝦麵：
肉類入味，魚片及菜類都新鮮．
HK$57 - 算幾抵食.
整體相當滿意.
如在附近，不妨一試!
(1) Cash only. 只收現金
(2) No toilet. Use public toilet across the road. 沒有洗手間，要用附近的．
I overheard the following conversation:
Male A: "You're going to the toilet? Watch out ! It's dangerous in there, better watch your back!"
Male B: " It's OK. You're in here!"
Other Ratings:
Keep it up!
Interesting
Touched
Envy
Cool Photo