chefquak's Profile

this is hk dimsum! very satisfying.we had a late tunch (tea/lunch), whatever you call it, 4.45pm at timhowan shamshuipo on 2.6.2015. zero queue this time so we just walked in & got a table. the place was 1/2 full, & progressively filled up.we ordered the 凤爪排骨饭. this my favourite, very nice especially with the slight sweet sauce poured over it.the har gao is always nice, fresh, plump prawns, thin smooth skin, but really crystal jade, imperial treasure etc in singapore does them just as well. somehow fun cheong is always better in singapore. the skin is always very smooth & the sauce matches perfectly.this liver fun cheong is 1 of the 4 signature dishes, the 4⃣️大天王。my sis wasn’t much into char siew pao (even if it’s crispy skin), and carrot cake is not a special dish for me & i don’t really like 马拉糕。so this best for both of us! the steamed chicken feet 豆汁凤爪 is super. i liked this preparation with deep-fried chicken feet skin best. ^^we also had the osmanthus jelly (i forgot to take photo). the price was just HK$100.that was before we decided to order an extra HK$17 steamed pork ribs, as it went perfectly well with the rice. this one of the good standard steamed pork ribs.so total was like S$20.50 for 2pax.really shiok. 진짜맛있!^^…Read More

we decided to go back to keung kee chicken porridge 强记鸡粥. keung kee is at tai wai, just 1 stop from shatin, where we were staying at royal park hotel. we reached there about 9pm on 2.6.2015.we got a table immediately. they have 3 adjoining shops, and were quite filled up.haven’t research on the history yet, but their sign says 正牌沙田鸡粥, but is located at tai wai. maybe originally from shatin.we ordered the steamed razor clams in garlic & tanhoon 蒜蓉聖子粉丝。it came with heaps of garlic & tanhoon. the small razor clams cannot match with large ones we have in singapore. & somehow the steaming is just slightly over. it appears to be same with scallops we had the next day.it was a good enough dish, especially we had 13 razor clams for just HK$95.sis wanted to try their signature dish here, the roast pigeon. the skin was very crispy & great aroma. but the photo looked better than it tasted.the meat was like average, maybe less than average.i would rather spend HK$150 on drumstick quarter roast goose at yat lok.kueng kee is of course famous for its chicken porridge 鸡粥.the last time we had a pot – HK$120. since only 2pax this time, i just ordered the HK$30 bowl. still it's very good, smooth & tasty porridge & tender sweet chicken.dinner for 2pax & 3 dishes came to HK$195=S$34…pretty ok la..…Read More

we had wanted to have lunch at shing kee noodles, but the fish sets had sold out.so we returned to 德兴粥面店, which we past on the way to shing kee noodles.the braises including braised goose were only served in the evening from 5pm.we had to settle for the porridge. i had the chicken innards porride 鸡杂粥. it was so good! porridge was very sweet & great. & the chicken innards were great too.sis had a 艇仔粥. did not take photo, but it was very good too. & both were HK$24!^^…Read More

my favoruite roast goose restaurant in hong kong. we found yat lok 一乐 roast goose at stanley street w/o much difficulty on 3.6.2015.place had a constant turnover of patrons, even at 5pm. we returned from cheung chau island长州岛 so was quite late.we ordered the roast goose drumstick quarter＝HK$150it was super delicious!^^ wow! the aroma. so very intense, yet the meat is moist, tender, flavourful & not really strong taste. really love it! ^^the dumplings were pretty good. i guess not really cheap at HK$48 for 7, but quite ok.really enjoy the roast goose here. will always come back here when in hong kong!…Read More

we arrived at cheung chau 12.15pm on 3.6.2015. the morning porridge shop at the market which we intended to have was already closed.we saw sea king 海龙王海鲜.and had a look at the 4-course HK$198 promotion menu. it looked ok. i asked the grumpy fella if there were any other charges. he told me HK$25 all in for tea etc. we decided to sit down & try our luck anyway (maybe have our throat slashed…haha!)i saw cheese lobster on the menu, thinking it was cheese gratin. it seemed pointless when i tried to ask him for other preparation, so i told him to add less cheese. anyway it turned out to be a cheese onion sauce, and it was actually quite tasty. i added quite a bit to my rice too. haha! lobster was small, like 300g? but it was ok. very low price leh…let the shop earn some money. the pan fried cod didn’t look great.but taste was good. not that i think they cooked particularly well. just that it was a very good fish, and they did not destroy it! good, good. it was tender & oily flaky like cod should be, of course not talking about teriyaki cod at mikuni. my own teriyaki cod etc also better, but this will do. we had 4 steamed scallops with garlic & tanhoon. this the same preparation as the razor clams at keung kee chicken porridge 强记鸡州。 their menu & signboard showed HK$35 for 1 for this dish alone was HK$140! (later i saw tons of bad comments on openrice & even a seaking Facebook site).similar to keung kee, somehow they slightly over steamed the scallops. but actually it was pretty ok dish. no complaints at the price.lettuce pretty ok too. overall lunch cost HK$223. to me it was a very good value set. & the food was above average really, not cheap & bad. afterwards i saw loads of very bad reviews on both openrice & strangely a sea king Facebook site (probably not by sea king). in fact i think it was like 100% poor comments & i can totally understand why. service, cut-throat etc.for us on the day though with this set, it was pretty good, and i would think much better value vs the HK$198 at keung kee the night before.…Read More

had a most shiok teochew “her bun” 打冷 dinner at chao inn 潮楼 at kwun tong on 3.6.2015….超爽！^^after 9pm, they have 打冷 40% discounts 6折. so it was great value too! :-)don’t usually want to take teochew porridge (expensive & not nice) or even teochew “her bun” (expensive & not great) in Singapore. this one at Chao Inn (潮楼)super nice…we had 2 fish, 1 braised goose, 1 soup + 1 dessert = HK$213nett=about S$37nett.^^chao inn 潮楼, like the other taoheung group restaurants, has a electronic queueing system. chao inn 潮楼 queueing system。 we waited 2 minutes. :-)place not really packed at 9pm.there’s a special soup chicken feet 粉葛soup for HK$19.it was was very good really, tasty!we ordered just 1 soup as we were greedy & intended to order 2 fish. haha! the mullet 乌鱼 was really, really good! the best!^^ it was so sweet & fresh. i used to take a bit with my sister at lao ah tee 老亚弟 at whampoa boon keng which was good too, but not quite so tasty & a bit more fishy. i did that myself at home too, same.this one, the meat just fell off the skin/scales.braised goosethe braised goose was quite ok, above average, good flavours, just slightly tough.but that’s a long way from the yat lok roast goose kind of satisfaction.we wanted the big eye snapper 大目紅鰱but it was sold out. so we had the yellow croaker 小黄鱼.it was super good too. we still placed the mullet 乌鱼tops!^^in singapore, unlike mullet 乌鱼, yellow croaker 小黄鱼flesh is more tender & softer & falls apart when you pick up with a chopstick. not so here, it held up quite nicely.maybe it was just chilled..冻乌鱼 & 冻小黄鱼！i took the 杨枝甘露. it was just HK$16.as good as the 许留山 and cheaper? where go 许留山 & pay HK$50?the whole dinner was HK$213 = S$37nett. so good!…Read More

we took the 1010am ferry from central pier 4 to young shue wan 榕树湾 lama island 南丫岛 & arrived about 1040am on 4.6.2015.walked towards suk ku wan & stopped by choy kee 蔡记 for breakfast = wow, it’s a very good find!^^nice stall, good choices, and inexpensive, good value.stall was nice & airy. very clean. at a road turning.车仔面good selection 4 items for HK$38 (noodles can be included as 1 item).this one had large intestines猪大肠, 红肠 (which was ok like luncheon meat), pig’s blood 猪红(very smooth & tender), & pig’s skin (the yongtaofu type not braised pig skin so not our favourite).this one had large intestines猪大肠, braised briskets 牛腩, noodles. i ordered 肠子 at first think it was small intestines. when i came it was 2 like chicken sausage (already fried).the stall ladies were super nice. i asked to change it to 牛百叶& they agreed!that’s about 1/2 the amount of 牛百叶 they gave me.^^we ordered the 生菜鱼肉, asked & was told it’s cat fish 鲶鱼。。haha..i thought i heard anyway. we were having the idea of sliced fish, but it turned out to be like fish cake or patty. anyway it was just HK$18, & huge helping.they had this spicy chye poh. pretty good with the meat items & in the soup too.the noodles were very qq, like any good beef brisket noodle stall, & the soup just as good though nothing special.my sis had the ginger tau huay 姜汁豆花. :-) i did not order as i wanted to try the one most recommended on guides, Fai Kee 辉记阿妈豆花 which i found further down the road.as it turned out the tau huay here is even better than the much reviewed Fai Kee 辉记阿妈豆花.…Read More

we got back to central after walking 2hrs+ at lamma island 南丫岛 in the relentless scorching sun.decided to try the dimsum at this treasure lake restaurant central 宝湖海鲜酒家, just because it was about the first ok looking dining place. haha!it was the typically bad service place. i asked to have a look at the menu, and the restaurant manager or lead waiter showed a black face. to his & other servers’ credit, they did later show more cheerful service.dimsum items were small HK$16, medium HK$19, large HK$22, special HK$27. there was a higher one i did not bother with.we ordered 5 dimsum dishes only – chicken feet, steamed pork ribs, chiu chow fun guo or teochew dumplings, char siew fun cheong & 4 treasures.and waited very long, like >1/2hr, maybe 40mins? & 2 dishes we ordered, first char siew fun cheong after waiting for 1/2hr & then chiu chow fun guo after eating the other 3 dishes, were sold out.not so satisfying experience eh? luckily the food was good.steamed chicken feet was very tasty, & the first deep-fried type we like. we ordered a second portion.steamed pork ribs was a large helping, tasty & quite meaty. 4 treasures was good too. chicken extremely smooth & sweet. mushrooms was the thick type, good.bill was HK$109 for 4 dishes. service thumbs down but luckily food wise pretty satisfied.…Read More

we were staying at shatin so decided to take a 20mins walk along shatin park 沙田公园by the river 城门河 on the way for daipaidong dinner at chan kun kee 陈根记大排档 on 4.6.2015.^^it was quite straight forward. just walked along the river until the stadium part (need google map on the phone though else won’t know when we were at the stadium!) then got onto the yuen wo street.anyway we found it!place looked great! good traffic almost all locals.we ordered the salt baked chicken盐焗鸡HK$48.this place is actually famous for the wasabi hand-pulled chicken手撕鸡, but sis not really into it so salt baked chicken 盐焗鸡, which is a hong kong specialty, will do.it was good, very sweet, tasty, came with ginger sauce like the samsui chicken.best was the steamed live grouper for HK$128. it was large, maybe 700g or more. very fresh, very tender, sweet.we made very good steamed fish at home, almost same, & we get very fresh fish (not live though) from chinatown, so i eat this often. still i found it very good!^^we had a fried mixed veg, quite non descript i supposed. still i liked it, very good balance to the meat dishes.dinner came to HK$224 = about S$40. really good meal!after dinner we tried to take a bus back to royal park hotel but could not really find out which bus to take. my internet search says 85, but the bus at yuen wo street was 85k & driver not very helpful.in the end we took a taxi back, anyway it was very near so just flag down price of HK$22.…Read More

decided not to go far so ended up in mong kok around noon on 5.6.2015.saw this place 旺角小肥羊 LittleSheep at agyle street. didn’t want to walk around too much so just try our luck.we ordered 4 dimsum items – 3 were HK$9.80, only the beef fun cheong was HK$12.980.the first dish we were served, the beef fun cheong was absolutely horrendous! the skin was tough, and at the end of it we did not find 1 single piece of beef.the char siew fun cheong i had at taoheung super 88 稻香超级渔港 the next day was just slightly better (meaning very bad too!). all the singapore restaurants like crystal jade, imperial treasures, canton paradise, tunglok etc were all miles better, made me realise that in HK do not order any fun cheong in dimsum restaurants except at timhowan & some other more notable places.the spicy pig stomach was equally horrendous, maybe more! totally dry & tough, not quite edible.we thought we got into a wrong place, luckily there was redemption. the hum shui kok 盐水铰 was good, nice crispy skin, nice filling, great texture.& so was the teochew dumplings 潮州粉果! same nice skin, nice filling, great texture. the chefs from 2 different worlds!not satisfied we ordered the claypot chicken feet pork rib rice HK$26.80. unlike timhowan the little metal bowl type this was a larger serving, and it was very good.both the chicken feet & steamed pork ribs were very good, almost same as treasure lake restaurant 宝湖 at central (chicken feet at the latter was better i think).but best was the rice! it was so very fragrant!^^ we simply had to order more dishes to go with the super tasty rice.there was a ma bo 孖宝 which means a twin treasure order 2 dimsum items for HK$24.80. so we ordered the beef tripes 金钱肚. it was excellent but just wee bit salty, just like the chicken feet here. the steamed pork ribs though was quite perfect. we emptied the whole plate onto the rice. so shiok!lunch was HK$126 for 7 dishes, a bit cheaper than timhowan fuk wing street sham shui po, but less refine, and spoilt by 2 horrendous dish.…Read More

decided not to go far so ended up in mong kok around noon on 5.6.2015.saw this place 旺角小肥羊 LittleSheep at agyle street. didn’t want to walk around too much so just try our luck.we ordered 4 dimsum items – 3 were HK$9.80, only the beef fun cheong was HK$12.980.the first dish we were served, the beef fun cheong was absolutely horrendous!the skin was tough, and at the end of it we did not find 1 single piece of beef.the char siew fun cheong i had at taoheung super 88 稻香超级渔港 the next day was just slightly better (meaning very bad too!). all the singapore restaurants like crystal jade, imperial treasures, canton paradise, tunglok etc were all miles better, made me realise that in HK do not order any fun cheong in dimsum restaurants except at timhowan & some other more notable places.the spicy pig stomach was equally horrendous, maybe more!totally dry & tough, not quite edible.we thought we got into a wrong place, luckily there was redemption.the hum shui kok 盐水铰 was good, nice crispy skin, nice filling, great texture.& so was the teochew dumplings 潮州粉果!same nice skin, nice filling, great texture. the chefs from 2 different worlds!not satisfied we ordered the claypot chicken feet pork rib rice HK$26.80.unlike timhowan the little metal bowl type this was a larger serving, and it was very good.both the chicken feet & steamed pork ribs were very good, almost same as treasure lake restaurant 宝湖 at central (chicken feet at the latter was better i think).but best was the rice! it was so very fragrant!^^we simply had to order more dishes to go with the super tasty rice.there was a ma bo 孖宝 which means a twin treasure order 2 dimsum items for HK$24.80.so we ordered the beef tripes 金钱肚. it was excellent but just wee bit salty, just like the chicken feet here.the steamed pork ribs though was quite perfect.we emptied the whole plate onto the rice. so shiok!lunch was HK$116 for 7 dishes, a bit cheaper than timhowan fun wing street sham shui po, but less refine, and spoilt by 2 horrendous dish.…Read More

our last day in hong kong, went to mongkok for dimsum breakfast on 6.6.2015. took a while to locate taoheung super 88 稻香超級漁港 as the signboard display outside the building had been removed.anyhow we were seated before 9am. place was crowded.we were assigned a 4pax table 135A, apparently with another 2persons. but 135A already had 2 persons seated. so the other 2 were assigned table 136. but the card (eft of photo) was not amended. and our orders & the other 2 guys were all entered as 135A (right of photo).because of the mixed up some orders came to us on 135A. not a big deal really. they were soon sorted out, & they brought us a order chip showing difference in order timing & demarcating which were our orders & which table 136.we did not quite notice, but our order of har gao was actually an order of a har gao & teochew dumpling combo. we were quite happy with it.teochew dumpling 潮州粉果 was better. har gao was ok but below the standard of timhowan fuk wing street shamshuipo (everything was below timhowan anyway) & any of the good dimsum place in singapore like crystal jade, imperial treasure, canton paradise.cahr siew fun cheong was bad!after the even more horrendous beef fun cheong at 旺角小肥羊 LittleSheep at agile street, it became painfully obvious to me that you don’t take fun cheong in hong kong unless you are at timhowan or some better name chains. steamed pork ribs, chicken feet & rice generally ok, though even the rice don’t take it here!the spicy trotters were ok. nothing special to talk about, just ok.this chicken mushroom rice was the poorest so far. looked pathetic. timhowan’s was great. but the claypot version at 旺角小肥羊 LittleSheep at agile street. the rice was fragrant & flavourful. here we basically rescued the rice with earlier orders of steamed pork ribs & chicken feet.we also had the worst horrendous service in hong kong here. table & order mixed up ok la..but there was this server, 40s or maybe early 50s, who was downright rude & belligerent. first she glared at me when i passed her the order chit earlier waiting for her to read out & confirm the order, and she said like “lor chow lor lo” meaning “give me order chit just give la, why look at me”. i told her i also want to order steamed pork ribs & chicken feet. she said “you mai wad lor” in an extremely rude way meaning “if you want just mark it”. i told her i could not find it. she pointed out to me.then the server again forgot the rice order by an old couple which were at my table before we arrived, when we already had the rice. some other server came & gave them a different rice. they told the server it was wrong but they would take it as they did not want to wait. the rude server came later & gave the old couple another rice. they said they already had the different one before their order was forgotten & they told the other server but agreed to take the wrong rice. rude server literally argued with them why they took the wrong one. the old couple asked “so it is our fault you forgot & then gave us the wrong rice?”. here i was not going to let her off but told her yes exactly you guys forgot the wrong order & gave the wrong rice.after the rude server left i told the old couple we all come here to enjoy & are not going to waste time with these people & not going to let them affect our good time, just what needs to be said has to be said.& this part is going into the food reviews so the management can read about it should they do. haha!luckily pork ribs was great. we emptied the entire plate with sauce onto the rice. ^^chicken feet was fine too. just a tad salty.so lesson learned in HK dimsum is steamed pork ribs & chicken feet almost can get anywhere about same standard, in any case quite ok. fun cheong on the other hand better take only from timhowan or other more well know places. haha! just kidding la..as the title goes, hits & misses.dimsum was HK$116, so basically quite same prices, all the 4 dimsum we had. …Read More

had the worst meal in entire hong long trip 2-6jun2015 at chao inn 潮楼 at the airport on 6.6.2015.flight was delayed 1hr. since we were early & we had a really great dinner at chao inn 潮楼 @ kwun tong, we decided to give it a try here. alas, wrong decision! this chao inn NOT that chao inn 此潮楼非那潮楼！fortunately the teochew chilled mullet冻乌鱼 was still ok! at HK$98 though it was more expensive than eating at lao ah tee 老阿弟 at whampoa boon keng etc.this mullet was still sweet just slightly fishy, more or less singapore standard unlike chao inn @ kwun tong which was basically perfect.not to mention what we had at kwun tong was just HK$48, of course that was 40% discount after 9pm, this was airport.the braised goose though was hopeless, like reboiled or overnight & microwaved.basically, moral of story is don’t eat at airport if possible, and don’t order items where turnover maybe low & likely to be kept overnight & not fresh.…Read More

we went to 富记大排档tai wai, just 1 stop from shatin on the east rail line 东铁线, for dinner on 5.6.2015.have google map will travel. it would not have been possible otherwise. map led us to a market & food centre, just like we had at HDB estates in singapore. haha! the kitchen was like any of our zi char 煮炒 kitchen. we took the last table. place was full. say about 7 or 8 tables.look at the plastic sheets covering this eating place, right next to the wet market. it is exactly like a korean pojangmacha 포장마차包藏马车 (those you see in korean dramas where the girl always get drunk & got piggyback home); or the japanese yatai at fukuoka, or izakayas 居酒屋。there were some fresh seafood displayed. i did not see the tanks, so perhaps it was not the live seafood in some of the hong kong daipaidongs like what we had at chan kun kee 陈根记 the evening before.i read several good reviews on openrice hk, like the hand-tear chicken 手撕鸡 & steamed turbot.we wouldn’t be able to take 1 chicken & not even 1/2 chicken if we want to try other dishes. also we just had salt baked chicken 盐焗鸡 at chan kun kee 陈根记 the evening before.i ordered the eggplant.on the board it showed “1 look”. pronounced in cantonese this means 1 whole roll. this dish is actually nothing new. we have it in most zi char stalls here, except that they are always cut brinjals & sometimes served in claypot. this “1 look” was quite an interesting presentation that in a way showcase the interesting, not-always-traditional cooking.it was very expensive though, HK$68 for this dish at a market stall daipaidong..haha! whatever i am happy!^^the 三式蒸蛋steamed egg with minced pork HK$52 was also a most reviewed dish. not sure where the 三式 3 styles were. the egg was quite nice, smooth, nothing special really, can do anytime at home. the sauce a bit salty, fortunately egg ok, so not ideal.& again HK$52 was very expensive for this kin dog dish in this kind of market stall daipaidong.the steamed turbot was only HK$98! ^^steamed turbot with 陈皮 was so shiok!^^港蒸steamed HKstyle. it was very nice, though for comparison, turbot flesh was more rough 粗 c/w grouper so it was not quite the level of the steamed grouper at we had at chan kun kee 陈根记 the evening before.still, it was excellent dish for HK$98. i would take it again anytime! it was a great find for me. the thrill if the food trail!i would not order the egg the next time, but i am ok to pay HK$68 for the eggplant. it was good even though not super & not unusual.i would definitely try the hand-tear chicken 手撕鸡! just look at the photo of the standing chicken here, diners in plastic gloves ready to tear it apart!dinner was HK$226 for the 3 dishes.…Read More

we thought we would go to central, walk along the mid level escalators & steal a bite at yat lok roast goose at stanley street before lunch.^^to me, Yat Lok 一乐 has the best roast goose in hong kong. but of course i did not try many in hong kong to make the comparison. i had it at yung kee, at food republic on canton road, at 1 michelin star tim’s kitchen & at restaurants like tau heung’s 稻香超级渔港 previously. yat lok’s was by far the best.it did not disappoint this time. we ordered a hk$140 drumstick quarter to share. my wife & son all enjoyed it very much.^^the fried dumplings did not look great, but actually it was very tasty though kind of oily!…Read More