Sha Tin - this isn't the kind of place we'd ordinarily hang out at over the weekend but found ourselves there after a cruelly long ride on bus 299 after stage 3 of the MacLehose Trail. As such, this review might be more useful for English-speakers who find themselves outside the usual enclaves. A little bit of a disclaimer first: we ate here after a 10km hike on which we only brought water, so we were starving and probably would have eaten an overly tough horse with little complaint.
Hakata has a lunch menu that gives you ramen, a side order of Gyoza, Sushi or Octopus balls and a drink for around $60.
We ordered the "pork cutlet in curry" Ramen and "soft pork bones (cartilage) and won ton" Ramen, the balls and gyoza.
The octopus balls tasted like slightly underdone takoyaki (those balls of octopus meat and batter that are cooked in a hemispherical mould). The gyoza were better - not too chewy or dry.
The pork and won ton ramen was fine, the broth being ok at first sip. But there was a flatness at the back of my mouth that suggested that the kitchen favours using MSG and salt over pork bones as a flavouring agent. The ramen had a very wheaty "yellow noodle" taste to them.
And the surprise of the week -- unporkish broth + curry sauce + yellow thickish ramen smells and tastes exactly like Mee Soto! So bring along a lime, some sambal and other halal accouterments to make it a real meal if you're from Singapore or Malaysia and suddenly find yourself out in the (relative) boondocks craving for a taste of home.
Just a note on the ratings I give:
1. Devastatingly bad. Any restaurant given a 1 rating means I'd actively tell people never to go there. Reserved for places where rats do the cooking and guards from Guantanamo are on the waitstaff.
2. Bad but just on the verge of being acceptable under certain circumstances
3. Meh, meets expectations.
4. Some positive surprises, regularly provided.
5. Continuously surprising me for the better. I'd tell everyone I know to fly to Hong Kong to come to experience this.
影片
