Se Wong Yee     蛇王二(燒臘飯店)  

銅鑼灣出名的老舖。
午市脆皮潤腸套餐價錢公道飽肚。
蛇羹雞肉蛇肉比例可以。
味道不錯。地點方便企理。
服務不錯有效率。不妨一試!

Good value, filling set meal.
Snake and chicken broth was quite good.
High quality crispy liver sausauges;
Convenient location.
Recommended.



This time it's about the really famous Se Wong Yi (literally: Snake King Two) located at Causeway Bay.

It's definitely not number two but number one when it comes to location and the size of their sign board! You can't miss it. Just 2-3 minutes away from CWB MTR station exit B. Of course, since snake warms you up, perfect for this cold weather. There was a small queue but the turnover rate was fast. I got a seat after 10 minutes wait.

I already decided that I wanted the standard lunch set when looking at the menu placed outside ( in Chinese only, I believe). Other than snake, Se Wong Ye is also quite famous for their Cantonese roasts and other types of Chinese herbal soup.

Decor:

The place was a bit crowded. It had about 5-6 round tables for four and numerous tables for two. About 40 persons in total (?) Be prepared to sit pretty close to your neighbors. Not as luxurious as Ser Wong Fun but decent. Much better than Se Wong Sun. A lot brighter and cleaner with air conditioning.



Snake set:

I ordered the standard lunch set (HK$90), which consisted of a bowl of snake soup, rice with pork liver sausage and a plate of lettuce with oyster sauce.



It came after a short wait.

First, the snake soup:About double the size of Se Wong Sun. But just half the amount of snake or even less. Quite a bit of chicken shreds in it.

Still, believe it or not, almost double the amount of snake than Ser Wong Fun at central!

The taste was good with crysamtimim leaves and lemon grass.

Definitely worth a try.



Rice: The rice was nicely steamed rice, soft, flavourful and aromatic. The black pork liver sausages might look intimidating but was quite good. It had a good balance between fat, liver and meat. Might be considered an acquired taste though.

Some soy sauce was also sprinkled on top of the steamed rice. It's possibly special made as I seemed to detect a hint of Chinese herbs in it. If you don't like the liver sausage, I noticed that you could change the topping at added price. Some customers around me changed it to Char Siu or roast chicken.

Lettuce with oyster sauce: Pretty crisp. No complaints.



Service: Normal. Not rude. Efficient. That's sufficient in such a local eatery.



Conclusion:

- Convenient location, high turnover rate.
- Snake soup had decent amount of snake meat in it.
- Clean and air conditioned. Service was not bad.

All in all, great for a decent filling snake meal.

Recommended.

Went on a weekday 9pm just to drink soup since it was a cold day.
Restaurant was crowded, but the waiter managed find a place for my party of 3 to squeeze into.

Ordered the following double boiled soups ("dun tong"):
1. Winter melon pork rib (HKD 26) -- 4 of 5 stars. Nice clear soup that warmed my belly on this cold night. Good taste, not oily.

2. Jade bamboo fish soup ("Yuk zhok sang yu tong") (HKD 26) -- 4 of 5 stars. Even tastier than the winter melon soup. Would have given it 4.5 stars, but I am not a fan of fish soup, and had they used chicken or pork bones to boil the soup, I'll liked it even better. Anyway, it wasn't fishy.

Finished the soup in 10 minutes. Service was quick, and patron turnover was quick too.
Tables are small, so be prepared for cramped eating. It's not a place to sit around to chat anyway.

Decided to have any early snake broth for winter.
The weather was disappointing, it is meant to be winter now, but it felt like summer.
I had to wait for the air con to cool the soup.

This restaurant is an old type restaurant where people sit closely cramped together on stools and share tables.

The pricing was quite expensive for those eating conditions.

If you’d like to try one local Chinese cuisine, I’ll highly recommend you Se Wong Yee (literally translated as Snake King Two). It’s a famous barbecued meat restaurant with the Michelin recommendation. They’re famous for their barbecued pork, roasted pork, steamed chicken, Chinese sausage and also snake soup. However, I’m not going to talk about their heroic snake soup as it’s not my favorite one. I’d like to recommend all of you to try their barbecued meat. I personally like the barbecued pork and steamed chicken leg rice very much. Their barbecued pork is famous for neither too fat nor too thin, it’s really well balanced. And their barbecued sauce and soy sauce even make it more delicious. The steamed chicken leg is so tender and juicy that you can’t stop yourself to fall in love with it. I’d suggested you to order their long-boiled soup as well. They’ve a wide range of long-boiled soup from Watercress and chicken kidney soup to Sea coconut soup and all of them not only good taste but also good for health. I like their Winter melon soup very much, because it’s so refreshing for hot summer. If you ask me to give you one bad point about Se Wong Yee, I think it must be their environment. It’s a very, very small shop crowded with tables. You’re almost sitting back to back with others. Besides, you may need to wait for half an hour as the shop is really very small.

i have heard people rave and rave about this place forever but never had a chance to try it. so, popped in with my bf for a quick bite last week. i had White Chicken rice and he had Siu Yok rice. what a disappointment!!
Rice- mushy and wet
Chicken- i couldn't even eat it... there was some foamy stuff in the meat. looks like the chicken went bad awhile back. i eat chicken rice all the time, this is the first time i've seen something like this.
Siu Yok- the skin was no crispy and the layer of fat was soooo thick, it was rediculous!
Sauce - they're really stingy with the sauces too. i ended up putting hot chilli sauce on everything to drown out the taste and funky texture.
Vegetable - i forgot what we had... but just goes to show you that it was consistently average

maybe we just went on an "off" day... but there are so many other good "lap mei" restaurants in the area... i will probably not go back.

One of the best restaurants for local cuisine. I regularly return to this place and is a must try for any tourist, as its strong, flavourful tastes appeal to anyone who isn't excessively conservative in tastes, and doesn't mind slightly uncomfortable surroundings (the restaurant is, however, brightly lit and air-conditioned). Most importantly, their quality is virtually unparalleled, notably their yun cheong and snake soup.

=====

THIS REST OF THIS REVIEW IS FOR NON-CHINESE OR ENGLISH-SPEAKING CHINESE ONLY:

Before I start, the name of this restaurant literally translates to "Snake King Two". This would suggest that the restaurant became famous due to its snake products, so not eating any of this would be just a waste.

If you do not know how to speak Chinese (Cantonese or Mandarin), you MUST bring a friend who does know at least basic Chinese. Reason? The entire menu is in Chinese only, and the staff there only speak in Chinese.

I have been to this place 7 times in the last 2 years and this comes from someone who doesn't always stay in HK, who doesn't live near Causeway Bay and who is on a budget but picky for good food. After so long the HIGHLIGHTS of this restaurant seem to be:

- Snake soup (literally translated: snake spoon... or 'seh gung'). Current cost: HK$55/bowl. This is supposed to be their signature dish - don't miss it! For those who have not tried the snake soup before, this comes with various assorted side dishes (sometimes just poured on top of the bowl already for you - but if you order take away they come separately) - chrysanthemum flower petals, heavily fried dough, and lemongrass. They sometimes add a packet of white pepper on the side - but this is discretionary. Usually good quality snake soup doesn't require this extra pepper.

- Their barbecued roast meats, namely their Chinese sausages ('lap cheong' or 'yun cheong' - the former is a pork sausage with fat; the latter is a liver sausage which has a more deep, intense flavour), their barbecued pork ('char siu') and roast pork ('siu yuk').

- Their other soups that are oven-'baked' in porcelain jars (that come in a 'zhung'). These range from the inexpensive (HK$28) to the moderately priced (still comfortably under HK$100).

- If you can't decide what to have specifically, go for their Snake Soup Set Meal ('seh gung toe tsaan'). This is available at all hours (that they open) and costs just HK$88 in total (+10% service charge). You get: 1 bowl of snake soup with relevant assorted side dishes, 1 portion of rice with your choice of barbecued roast meats (up to 2 different kinds are included in the price - if you want more you will have to add money), and a plate of vegetables in oyster sauce (usually lettuce). This is excellent value.

Other advice? Do NOT go at peak hours, for this place is very busy with massive queues. They seem to have less business lately but this may coincide with nearby restaurants lowering their prices, and more high-quality restaurants springing up in the Causeway Bay area.

This restaurant thrives on high turnover so expect ultra-efficient service and surroundings that don't encourage you to stay and relax. The good thing is that you should be finished in under 30 minutes unless you are a very, very slow eater, or are eating with many friends.

One more thing - they also do take away. Once again, just make sure you know Cantonese / bring someone along who does. If you do decide on takeaway, make sure you consume it soon, especially if you ordered snake soup. However, the food sold can keep for overnight if absolutely necessary / if you can't finish it, but do NOT leave it for longer than that and under no circumstance refrigerate it more than once.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
My last official encounter with snake meat was at the tiny snake joint in Wan Chai.

This time was my second time at a snake joint, however I came for something else! Wax liver sausages!
From the moment I saw pictures of these liver sausages, I just knew they were going to be delicious, I rarely eat wax sausages, as usually they are made with lots of grease and fat, but on the pictures they looked decent with no other extra rubbish added in it.

This joint has been established for years, however I never had the curiosity of dining there, especially in the old days when people could smoke in there. It also looked dodgy inside with old grubby men eating there.

Luckily, I managed to get a better impression of this place, we were allocated a separate table and didn’t need to sit with others.

Ordered liver sausage, roast pork with rice and liver sausage, chicken with rice.

The sausage tasted exactly how it looked from the photos, ie non-greasy with crumbly liver inside. It was quite good compared to other sausages, although I did find the odd bone fragments in it.
The chicken however was a waste of money, although it did taste good, I was given 90% inedible chicken skin and bones! If I was a dog I would be happy!

After finishing the food, the waiters hurriedly came to clean the table for the next customers, they swiped the stuff from the table to the floor, thanks to them, and I got some rice on my laps.
Next time, I will try the snake sauce, and have liver sausages again, the chicken is a waste of money, and also depends on luck whether you are given skin, bones or meat!!!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Now that the North Wind has officially descended upon us, isn' t it time for the gamey flavours of fall and winter? Well, it's not exactly this easy. Back in the day you can get all kinds of game meat, alive and slashed in the neck right on the spot. The bloody slaughter days are no more, down to a point that even snakes come in frozen/ thawed packages, despite the popularity the crowd-making snake-slaying on the streetside. With no theatrical performances of courage in tow, snake-joints have only their food to rely on. Luckily enough this joint (蛇王二) has not lost its essence.

My last visit before this one happened to be a few years back when snakes were still kept in metal cages outside of the store. You could see the little reptile gently crawliing back and forth, rubbing its scaled skin against the its body, and each others' bodies too. With plenty of double boiled soups on the list, it is the snake soup combo that steals the show. For $78 you will get a dish of lettuce, a good serving of snake soup and the same rice bowl serving of steamed rice with the store's famed liver-sausage. Lettuce arrived green with a glossy coat of oyster sauce on top.

Snake Soup is a thickened soup with plenty of julienned woodear, bamboo shoots, chicken and shiitake mushrooms throughout. Made with snake pieces (slightly larger than the chicken...you can distinguish them easily), the soup is concocted with petals of chrysanthemums, apparently a recipe from tradition. Thick warming soup by the spoonfuls accompanied by hints of floral from the blossoms and fine juliennes of kaffir lime leaves and fried crisps. The taste is complexity all on its own, yet blending it all together creates a perfect harmony that warms the appetite as well as the heart.

Liver-sausage has long been a favorite at 蛇王二. Its skin' is crispy, with a crunch the scrumptious filling of liver and pork fat bits is revealed with juices bursting out. The sausage's reddish hue resembles blood pudding, yet the taste is a completely different matter. The Chinese kin somehow taste fresher and sweeter as well. Each bite of this sausage require a small lump of steamed rice to mellow out the palate before the next bite. The taste hasn't changed over the years.

The lunching crowd bombarded the entrance with hopes to get in during peak hours, as we devour into the richness of the soup and the traditional sausage. The real snakes have gone these days, leaving only small snake-like queues we could see when we exited 蛇王二, feeling satisfied and warm throughout.