Yung Kee Restaurant     鏞記酒家  

The unsure restaurant manager are constantly double-checking on the availability of the portion of roast goose.

The sequence of dishes are reversed. : Sir fry vegetables -> roast goose->soup->noodles

The small plate of roast goose are even propped up by braised peanuts beneath.

Pot of brewed chinese tea have to self service to get it refill, with waiting staff walking around somemore.

I have always known that Yung Kee is famous in Hong Kong because everyone has asked me whether I have tried it before. Same with other Chinese places, I don't really know what to order when I am there.

Finally went because my friends said it was their 70th anniversary on 21st of May, eight days before ATV's anniversary and from May 2012 onwards they will have ten special dishes on their menu every month until November 2012 which changes each month on the 10th.

It is located close to Central MTR station near Lan Kwai Fong.

Yung Kee was founded by Kam Shui Fai where his initial restaurant was located at 32 Wing Lok Street, later moved to 32 Pottinger Street, then finally 32 Wellington Street, the Yung Kee Building! (His destined lucky number!)

When I got there I was surprised the restaurant had four floors with their own lift as well because I did not know it was the entire building.
Upon opening the door the restaurant was filled with tourists and locals.

I spent longer at the reception than I intended to because the customers behind me were very agressive and barged to the front to inform that they had arrived.
There were at least two people who did that, so I approached a member of staff walking past and was shown kindly to the lift to the corresponding floor where our table was allocated.

Anyway finally sat down and was presented with the special anniversary menu, the design was really nice.

Mediocre food at exhobitant prices. Yeah the title says it all. Would I go back again. Definitely no.
The 2 of us went around 8 plus and was ferried to the 3rd floor promptly. A good start.
The manager came around with the menu and we proceeded to order the roast goose and BBQ meat.
A plate of mixed vegetable, fish maw corn soup and fried rice rounded off our order.
The food came relatively fast.Roast goose with BBQ meat came first. This was good. The rest of the food was really mediocre.
Should have heeded the recent reviews.
I would advise those intending to go to forgo the experience and seek better food
at cheaper prices elsewhere.

This is really disappointed that this restaurant been here for a long time and We (me and my wife) been there a couple of time before but this time we think that it was the worst we have had. The foods we ordered were so bad, we even have to asked to replace one order. We have ordered their famous dishes and they tasted bad, even the simple vegi they cooked badly! Also we ordered sweet and sour pork and it look and taste over cooked and we have to ask them to replace it. We also order a chicken and it has no taste at all. Also the waitress who served us is unskilled, the tea she serve us barely have any tea leaf in the teapot. This was so bad that we will never to go back there again because the foods were not worth the price we paid! I really hope that people stop going there and let the owner knows that they have a problems!

Was in Hong Kong 2 weeks ago. Went to the Peak via Tram. Wanted to go to a nice place to eat. Yung Kee was highly recommended by the tour books and was relatively close by. Went there by Taxi and was there in about 5 mins.

By looking at the exterior of the place, one can not help but be impressed. I was happily eager to get in to taste the food to come. Was seated promptly on the second floor. By this time around 9pm on a week night, the place was not very busy. I was not in the mood for their duck so I ordered squab, which is kind of like a pigeon, signature HK dish of sweet and sour pork, young-chow fried rice, and a vegetable dish.
First of all, the service was horrible. Our waitress did not check up on us once and was just indifferent in general. And the food was like what you ordered at any American-Chinese restaurant. The squab was done the best with crispy skins and good flavoring. The pork was just uneatable with thick outer batter and chewy inner pork. The fried rice tasted like it was burned and the vegetable, how can one mess that up?

Overall a horrible experience and the worst food I tasted on my 5 day HK trip. Forget about the hype and skip this place!!

A local friend highly recommended me to dine in at this institution. Much has been said about its roast goose. We ordered a half serving of roast goose. I think this is one of the most over rated dish here, it was tough and dry.

The sweet sour fish was better , the sauce was light and fish was nicely battered.

Together with the vegetables the meal came to around $800 which I think was very pricey.

This is still my favourite place for roast goose or duck

The goose had just the right amount of fat and the juice was just delicious.

The sweet sour fried prawns equally delicious and my overseas friends agree this was the best meal they had in Hong Kong.

Tried to make a next day reservation for this venue but was informed that the reservations will not be available until early next year! The operator informed us to arrive before 5:30 pm to avoid a long wait.

Upon arrival, we were quickly shown a table on the 2nd floor. The carpet was still full of dirt and needed vacuuming. Tables were closely put together too!

The house special roast goose was no good. The skin wasn't crispy and the meat was tough. The goose was also lacking flavor!

The thousand year old eggs w/ ginger were tasty and the center of the egg was slightly runny.

The snow pea tips w/ dried scallops was tasty. The snow pea tips were very young and tender. The dish overall was flavorful.

The ketchup beef was very tender and juicy. The beef was cooked rare to ensure that the beef was juicy.

The fish w/ vegetables was also decent.

Service throughout the meal was lackluster. ...the waiter brought us the wrong tea and the wait staff had poor service in general. Dishes came out one at a time and there was a long wait in between dishes...

My sisters were visiting HK so I brought them to this so called "Award Winning" restaurant. We ordered a few a-la-carte dishes:
1) Roast Goose
2) Char Siew
3) Braised Bean Curd with Assorted Meat
4) Crab Meat E-Fu Noodles
5) Dim Sum : Woo Kok (was only sent to us when we called for the bill & they refused to take it back when we said we dun want it anymore as they sent it too late)

We were so disappointed with the service & food. Staff is unresponsive & rude. Order was slow too. Roast goose is not juicy at all & the char siew is even worse than those selling at char chan teng. The char siew was extremely dry & seems like a mixture of yesterday's leftover. The crab meat noodles tasted bland & the noodles was soggy. As for the tofu, need to say more? We would definitely NOT going back again. Service was extremely bad. We get better treatment even from any char chan teng! http://www.openrice.com/images/Forum_icons/huffy.gif

Having stayed in HK for 2 yrs now, I think this is the worst service I got so far!

We have been coming tonthis restaurant for over 30 years. So we know it and know it for what it is.
First, there are 3 locations, all in the same building. There is the general restaurant floors, from the 1st to 3rd floors. Thrre is the luxury floor, on the 4th floor. And then there is a special club floor with private rooms. The luxury floor and the club floor patrons are served better prepared versions of the same dishes. At a premium price, of course. Whatever your view is about this, it is what it is. Any review based solely on a dining experience on the general lower floor is not complete.
They also have a special menu, available only by advamce order. It is in the region of HK$10,000 for a table of 10 - 12 persons. I have not had that menu for a year so i do not feel qualified to rate it. Therefore, this review is also incomplete. But i do remember the special menu somewhat favorably. There is even a dish recreated from a kung fu novel.
Cantonese cuisine is more diverse than some may think. I like competently stirred fried food that arrives at the table still beibg cooked by its own intennal heat and that radiates heat inside your mouth. To me, Yung Kee is not representive of thix style. With that outbof the way, I shall review some of their classics and my favorite dishes.
The restaurant has two kitchens, one for roasts amd one for all other dishes.
Yung Kee is known for its roast goose. The founder was called "Roast Goose Fai", who reputedly overlooked the dishing and portion size to make sure the restaunt would not lose money. They claim the roasting is done with a special type of charcoal imported from Malaydia. Many restaurant serve roast duckninstead of a real goose, because most diners cannot tell them apart. But not Yung Kee. Regular patrons on the luxury floors can ask the head waiter to pivk a tender goose for them. They learnt years ago if you do notndo this you will end up with a real tough one. Guess where the tough ones end up? For tourists and non-regulars on the egenral floors. Fair enough that one may review yung Kee based on what you get on the lower floors, but it is not he complete story.
Yhey make great roast pork (char siu) too. Although they like to recommend their "fat charred char siu", it is not tonmy taste. The regular one with a bit of fat on is thr best by far.
Their "thousand year old egg" is indeed good. The trick is to eat them with a slice of their ree preserved ginger in the same bite. The interaction of two is indeed greater than the sum of the parts.
I like the Yung Kee beef brisket in plain broth. It brings out the beef taste quite well. You really need to sample this by comparison with that by the brisket specialist Gau Kee to see how much better the Yung Kee one really is.
The roe of tiny crabs is interesting when served over steamed egg whites. A regular serving coats nearly HK$400 and looks small for the price. But there would be the roe of 20 crabs. When served with prawns, the taste of the roe is overpowered.
In the summer, winter melon soup in a whole melon is great and offers the fragance of the season. Rice in lotus leaf is always a great finish.
Their Chinese style beef fillet is very nice, in a sweet and mildly sour sauce with onions.
Their wanton noodle is passable, if you are there for dinner and in need of s noodle dish. The wonton is as good as Mak's, but not the soup base, because it lacks shrimp roe. For me, their noodle is better thsn Mak's, which is too hard and taste like steel wool.
Their braised pomelo skin wih shrimp is excellent.

I went to Yung Kee during lunch hour, so I made reservations a couple of hours before. Therefore, I was able to get a table immediately. It's quite big, but I would still suggest making reservations in advance.

Most Chinese restaurants charge tea prices. Tea price per person ($11), but it also includes half of a "thousand year egg". I thought the "thousand year egg" was quite tasty, the yolk was a little runny

Bowl of Barbecue Pork rice ($3X): The barbecue pork was lean but soft and easy to bit apart. But it was extremely red, I think they added too much food coloring. It doesn't have the same taste as other BBQ pork, but my friend and I didn't personally like it. The rice was lukewarm and hard, there isn't any taste of rice as well.

Barbecue Goose "Lai Fun" clear noodles ($5X): There were probably 6 pieces of BBQ goose, however 3 pieces were bones covered in skin. The other 3 pieces had some meat but the meat was tough. The 'lai fun' was okay, nothing too spectacular.

Fried Squid with Salt and Pepper ($8X): The batter was thin and crispy. The size of the squid was pretty big compare to other restaurants, so I do feel like I'm eating squid instead of the batter. I think this was probably the best dish out of the 3. But then again, I don't think it was worth the price.

Service: Medicore. It was difficult to get their attention because they were very busy.

I probably wouldn't come here again. I expected it to be better since it received an award on openrice. But I think it would be a nice place to bring a business partner since it's clean and have comfortable seating.

Where do tourists eat, you asked?

It tells you something, about an establishment like Yung Kee, among others with routine occurences in guidebooks in different languages. It didn't exist all these years for nothing, but then it's equally contradictory to many places with mediocre food -- if the residents of the city don't go, they can rip off the tourists. That's another matter.

A dear friend decided to throw a promising dinner, and I was lucky enough to be on that very same dinner. It's nothing more than a bunch of food buddies. Entering the glorious restaurant of Yung Kee allows one to feel what may be red-carpet glamour of Chinese dining, or at least they'd like you to think so. If only one can get past the half-scowling faces of the hostess who dismissed my request to look for my table. But that need not matter, I thought, sometimes places with reputation may develop some sort of demeaning attitude from the staff, like a by product and it's inevitable.

The tables squeezing into each other on our floor, but dinner was well-planned, with a written menu for everyone to consider, course by course. 皮蛋酸薑 arrived with halves of 皮蛋, each with its serving of glistening molten yolk, glistening with the jellied egg white the colour of coffee turned grey. The fluorescent slices of pickled ginger seemed thicker than anticipated. The preserved eggs, meltingly soft act against the tart and crunchy ginger -- the classic combination reinvented here, it's truly too bad that the thickness of the ginger gave away some big points, but the eggs alone were great. 懷舊扎蹄 came next -- triangular jellied pork slices, fanned out decorated with delicately cut jellyfish at the centre. Each bite into these jellyfish pieces bring up delightful crunches, while the pork slices were soft and flavorful. 崧子雲霧肉 resembled what may be a reddish brown chocolate bar, glazed with a smoky aroma and resting on a bed of glazed granules of pine nuts. The pork itself, through complex preparations, was tender at the meat, and gooey soft in the layers of fat, and a gelatinous, slightly chewy skin, accentuating on extra smoky tea flavour as well.

金牌叉燒 was next -- a mounting pile of barbecued pork on the leaner side, arrived totally glazed. It was nowhere near as good as a fattier cut, but the flavour was satisfactory. The signature 金牌燒鵝, presented like a phoenix taking off in its flight, made quite an impression at the table. Neatly presented, the thin roasted skin had the texture of pork crackling, almost, but the meat was slightly tougher even though the flavour was extra-delicate with the slightest hints of five spice. It didn't require further dip of the plum sauce or anything, as the bird itself was good on its own. Looking over to the next table of American tourists, they made their way through convrsations with sweet and sour pork and a gigantic roasted goose, and their eyes widened with wonder much the same way as a roasted turkey arriving on Thanksgiving. We looked on, wondered how they felt about a Chinese roasted goose...

牛爽腩 was next -- a simple shallow plate holding in the lightest sandy brown of broths, clear with just floating blots of oil across the top with well-arranged beef briskets in one single layer. Semi-translucent strips of briskets attaching to tendons and membranes, gelatinous with a beefy flavour that's almost as good as stewed beef briskets elsewhere (but still not as good as Wah Sze's in Tin Hau, I think) 五秀素炒 is a stir-fry dish with mixed vegetables. The jade green sugar snap peas were crunchy from pods to peas within -- honey sweet and fresh. Shimeji mushrooms made a special appearance and certainly a more surprising ingredient used. 紅燒斑尾 has a thick glaze upon deep-fried tail of garoupa. The fish itself is meaty with minimal seasoning, but the glaze did the job adding flavours. If only the sauce could be slightly thinner than now, although it clings on the fish pieces just fine.

Before the last round of courses, the group of us were quickly sharing dining tips, and recent rare finds. It's amazing how many people out there are in search of good food and are willing to eat anything at any time of the night, despite at work during the day. It's equally inspiring to find that more attention is paid to food, as individuals go the distance to try different things, some newer than others. We looked over to the entrance, a couple with guidebook in hand, gesturing at the waiter on what they wanted to order -- they made a bird-like gesture, the waiter guessed goose; they made other gestures, the waiter made several blind guesses and eventually gave up -- the menu, even with English, couldn't help. Pictures, however, would've helped. Moments later, when a plate of sweet and sour pork arrived at the table, the couple's faces beamed with joy. Turned out dining out in a place where the language is a challenge, isn't so hard afterall.

荷葉飯 -- a stunning bright green round parcel of rice arrived, steaming with fragrant lotus leaf flavour with moist rice granules within. Bits of chicken, salted egg yolk and shiitaki mushrooms filled the cavity of the leaf parcel. 銀絲細蓉 came in individual servings. Small bowls containing wontons resembling tiny goldfish, with hanging wonton wrappers like their tails, swinging in the calmest of waters -- a broth flavoured with floating bits of chives. The noodles were golden strands with strong taste of egg, fine and soft and needed no vinegar or chili sauce to enrich its simplicity. The next table over, a family speaking an unfamiliar European language observed us, as we made out way through our rice and noodles, gestured the waiter over inquiring about the rice (she pointed on...)It wasn't easy explaining the procedures, but as locals we were, we couldn't help but o explain to them what really went on inside "the green parcel". She smiled at our explanations, and it wasn't her intention to order the same thing, but more like having her curiosity fulfilled. Our explanations did the job, and just like that, they went back to their European conversation and us in our Chinese ones, laughing on.

A nut-filled 馬拉糕 arrived, with a candle on top, as our group celebrated the birthday of one of us. With some applause and some laughs later, the birthday boy showed a sincere chuckle, as he blew the candle and the cake shared among us -- Pillowy soft brown sugar cake rose and steamed until light and fluffy. Only slightly sweet, but with a caramel flavour on its own. It's the lightest of textures indeed. At this point we looked on, across the dining room, tables after tables of foreign faces pointing and gesturing describing what they were eating and what others ate. Some nodded in approval, some frowned at different expectations they had. I imagined they would tell others about their experiences -- on paper or online, someone will read their comments and decide on themselves on their next trip to the city, most known for culinary adventures everywhere.

Dining in places we've never been can be quite an experience. It required some understanding on more than the restaurant, or the cuisine served. Some meets our expectations, some don't. Looking over as citizens of the world ate their way through Yung Kee and other local restaurants over the years, helping form the establishment's reputation today. One couldn't help but wonder if these standards can be kept consistently across the years, for many years ahead -- for locals and for foreigners?

Stop 1 was Yung Kee, for a lunch with a friend from out-of-town, A, and my brother.
We decided to share several small dishes, to save room for our next stop, so we ordered the following:

Wanton noodles ($31) - Yung Kee only makes the thin egg noodles here, but we ordered one to share any way. The noodles weren't as good as I hoped - looked nice but noodles weren't the slighted bit springy and had no bite to it - perhaps a little over-cooked?? The dumplings contained more pork and shrimp thus making the dumplings really soft when bitten in to. They also weren't particularly flavourful... don't think I would order this again.

Char Siu (BBQ Pork) with rice ($2x) – we ordered the ‘bowl’ size, and although the char siu here is quite lean they managed to make it quite tender. I thought the char siu this time was better than last – they had given us cuts with slightly burnt edges, giving each piece a smokey BBQ flavour which we liked. Some sauce would’ve been nice though, the rice was so plain underneath!

Roast Goose with rice ($3x) – I didn’t try it this time, but my brother liked it well enough.

Assorted Seafood Congee ($55) – The waiter suggested this, and it was indeed a very tasty bowl of congee. The name is sort of misleading, since there’s some roast pork (salted), which adds to the flavour of the congee, making it less ‘plain’ compared to the single-item congees. Anyway, there was also some sliced fish as well as a couple of shrimps, and on top was some peanuts, chopped up deep-fried dough-sticks (yao jar gwai) and a sprinkling of fish roe (?) I believe. The ingredients were fresh, even the dough stick was still crisp and crunchy. We all agreed this bowl of congee was really tasty and I would definitely come back for it.

We finished in less than one-hour - you got to love Chinese restaurants for their speed in Hong Kong! Thank you A for lunch! =)

just heard the news that the ownership is under dispute, remind me that I have not yet submitted my review.

we didn't know why reservation was not allowed that night so we needed to sit there to wait.... this was annoying.

glad that it only took 45 min, may be it's not at peak hour yet
roasted goose - ok
皮蛋薑 - terrible, I regreted to put the 皮蛋 into my mouth; 薑 is ok
菜遠牛肉 - good, soft beef & fresh veg
炒鮮奶 - great, not oily & delicious
we were not able to otrder more so plan to try BBQ pork next time...if it's still here

service - ordinary
refurbishment - old
environment - noisy
menu - many & troublesome, also messy & old/ dirty

My friend P's sister loves Char Siu, and so do I, but not to her extent =P Everyone's preference of Char siu is different. I like them lean and soft but still slightly chewy, whereas others may like them half fat/half lean etc etc. I suggested we try out Yung Kee for our lunch meet-up.

A plate of roast goose and char siu with rice ($52) was quite reasonably priced. I tried the BBQ Pork only and it was pretty good. Not too sweet or salty, and did not have the scary red colouring some places tend to have. It was caramelized well, making it smell appetizing. The pork itself was pretty lean, yet was not chewy - yum!

Shrimp Wontons with Thin Noodles ($31)
I only tried the soup, which was quite good and mild in flavour - no presence of any alkaline (gan sui)! I didn't try the wontons, but P did comment that it was not all shrimp. Had a bit of pork as a filler. She prefers Mak's Noodle (麥奀雲吞麵世家).

Congee with fish slices ($32)
This was really good. The congee was slightly too thick for my liking but taste-wise it was spot on, and I didn't feel the need to add any other flavourings, even pepper. The fish was 'wan yu', thinly sliced and they gave at least an ounce or two of it. Would've liked the chopped spring onions to be fresher though, the ones given (mainly white, so towards the root of the plant) weren't so nice and gave a little bitterness.

Mini Egg Tarts ($21)
We decided to end with a plate of mini egg tarts. The tart shell was pastry-based, rather than my favourite cookie base, but was not bad. It retained some crispiness around the sides of the tart. The filling was nicely sweet and smooth, my favourite part of the egg tart! Nonetheless, I still think for this kind of flaky pastry based egg tarts, Pak Kee's on Centre St is the best (and they sell for $2.5/standard sized!).

This place was quite full, so reservations are a must for lunch hours. I did enjoy my simple meal here, and would gladly do it again, but may visit Tai Cheong instead for my favourite cookie based egg tarts!

For more pictures, pls visit http://gastronomerr.blogspot.com/2010/07/yung-kee-lkf.html