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2020-10-25
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Summary: A gimmicky eat for HK "street food", but probably not for everyone. Taste good, but a bit pricy (for what it is).The Goods: nice gimmicky street food feel eatery. Simple and tasty. The Bads: I think it's a bit pricy for what it is (but more on that below). If you don't smoke, eating outside is not a good idea because other people do (the opposite statement will be a good point for smokers).Damage: We (2 persons) paid HK$350 (no SC applicable). So that's HK$175 per person. We had it a b
The Goods: nice gimmicky street food feel eatery. Simple and tasty.
The Bads: I think it's a bit pricy for what it is (but more on that below). If you don't smoke, eating outside is not a good idea because other people do (the opposite statement will be a good point for smokers).
Damage: We (2 persons) paid HK$350 (no SC applicable). So that's HK$175 per person. We had it a bit light and considered it's a street food stall (more on that below), it's quite expensive. But yet we ordered 2 seafood dishes.
This is my second time eating at a Dai Pai Dang in Hong Kong (first time in Central a few years back). Coming from Thailand, this type of eatery really reminds me of home. The only thing is my wife has cockroach-phobia (no, we didn't spot any at this place), so eating out at night on the street is a no no. This is special occasion because we decided to spend the whole day in Sham Shui Po and have some local experience as a theme.
This shop occupies 2 sides of the street; one side is the original (I think) Dai Pai Dang, and the other is the in-door (and air conditioned) restaurants. I believe all cooking happens at the in door side, which is a good thing for hygiene but it took away the "street food" feel. We arrived at 5.30pm so we didn't have to wait. Of course I picked the most authentic side - the street food side.
What we ordered;
We didn't order any drink because I only drink water and they have warm water for free anyways. We only ordered 3 dishes, and shared one bowl of steamed rice because we had quite a heavy lunch plus some more afternoon snacks (hanging out in SSP the whole day is quite a struggle to stomach!).
The first dish to arrive is the beef with garlic. Personally I like this dish the best out of the three. I would order it again for sure. In an absolute objective review, this is better than most but still not the best. The beef is soft but it can be even softer. I think they could have given more fried garlic (but that's also a personally preference). All those aside, it's very tasty. I taste something that I think it's black vinegar, something I haven't had in this dish before but it works! It's also very well seasoned. Definitely will order again (saying that for the second time!).
Beef with garlic
$118
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Then comes the Venus clam with black bean sauce. At this point we were still waiting for rice so we had to follow-up on it, maybe it's the communication problem (I only speak very basic survival Cantonese). Anyway, the dish is a bit salty in my opinion, but besides that its good. The clam is pretty fresh and has very good wok hei (something I can't replicate at home).
Venus clam with black bean sauce
$118
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Lastly, the fried squid tentacle with spicy salt. Again, it's good but I've had better (at a more expensive price tag too). The flakes on top are fried panko (I think). Unlike the rest of the dish, it lacks flavour - this can be easily fixed if they just stir fry it with the "spicy salt" too. The squid is not oily although it's deep fried. It's still crunchy and only slightly salty which is good. The only complaint I have is it should be spicier - coming from a Thai really, so not really a complaint for most people I'd say! It's served with black vinegar, a great paring for deep fried food I think.
Fried squid tentacles with spicy salt
$98
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Ok, a few last words. I actually struggled a bit finding the name of this restaurant on Openrice to start my review. It's not really a surprise as it's probably not a target for foreigners considering 1) it's in SSP, and 2) it's a street stall. It's not a normal thing to see a Westerner eats here and those are the reason for it. As a Thai, I don't have any problem with it because - well - I grew up with it!
Lastly, I said it's expensive for what it is. Well, it's a street stall but I'd imagine that the indoor side is the same price. It's air conditioned with nice fit-out and stuffs so that probably makes more sense. In all fairness, I'm not an expert in Dai Pai Dang myself.
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