Chan Hon Kee     陳漢記  

Its the first time I come to this place and we were lucky that we didn't have to wait.

We order several things, overall it's ok but perhaps I was giving high expectation:

Crab congee - $33 the congee was soft and tasty not sure if the crab was fresh enough but fair given its only 33

Crunchy fish skin - $32 not as good as the one I had in 新九記in wan chai but just ok. Was adding too much oil in the sauce though

豬潤腸 -$17 the skin is very thin but the 豬潤 is not as good as the one in 堂記

Ice red bean drink - nice

Came here to try their famous 腸粉 and hopefully other food in the area. Note that 陳漢記 is also good with many other fried dishes, congees, claypot rice, etc, so you will notice 即拉腸粉 only occupies a small section of the Menu! Tried CharSiu and Pork Liver versions. OH MY GOD - ITS PRETTY GOOD, THOUGH NOT YET PERFECT! Charsiu does not have that smokey trait as that in 堂記 but here, its much more sophisticated and refined in knife work and natural in taste and execution, also the rice paper roll had rice taste, was elastic, also thin but not too much so! The Pork Liver was cooked al-dente and was really quite excellent - with just the right amount of 'gaminess' retained and not overcooked at all, not to mention its cut as short strips - the most proper way to eat them! The knife work here again excelled, as each bite was consistent with the same ingredients!

Also tried a 炸両 - despite the good paper roll external, this was quite disappointing as the inner 油炸鬼 wasn't crispy, not hot and most important not oven-roasted to a 'harder' texture after the deep-frying stage, an extra step taken by shops like 堂記 and I think also 正斗.

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Just like Prawn Dumplings, the 'True Probability' of receiving a really good 腸粉 in Hong Kong is also very low. Surprising!! Having tried quite a few shops, so far only a few of the elite standout and are recommendable, all of them are Hand Pulled to Ordered -

1st Tier Shops:
澳門帝王點心 (Perfect twice I went. This shop's quality is amazing for its location!)
澳門金殿堂 (Perfect twice I went. Excellent.)
美心閣 (sometimes way too cold, but occasionally highly excellent!)
陳漢記 (fillings not top-notch quality like Macau shops, but paper roll Best in HK!)
添好運 (below 陳漢記 standards with paper roll, but slightly better marinated fillings yet much more roughly executed. Inconsistent too.)

2nd Tier Shops:
堂記 (Paper roll thickness inconsistent & never chewy and little rice taste. Ingredients are rough but fun for experimenting. Beneath quality of above shops definitely, does not satisfy hype. Lovely shop none-the-less.)
福臨門 (Paper roll quite good but lacks elasticity and had little rice taste. Ingredients not as good as the namesake suggests. Its good, but not great.)

OVERALL - THIS WAS THE BEST SHOP IN HK I HAVE TRIED SO FAR RELATIVELY SPEAKING, BUT I HAVEN'T TRIED THEM ALL. PUTS LUNG KING HEEN AND FOOK LAM MOON TO SHAME, AND THAT'S NOT EVEN CONSIDERING HERE ITS ONLY A 1/3RD OF THE PRICE!

LOW '3' to MID '5'