I used to really enjoy this chain restaurant when I was a child, fondly remembering days spent eating its white curry pork rice. After digging my head in to think of something to eat in Mong Kok (of all places, goodness...) I decided to visit my 'long lost friend' Satay King.
The two of us ordered three dishes between us - four, as the rice was a meal and came with a pork spring roll as an appetiser. The middle aged staff happily advised us that the white curry pork chop rice could be turned into a meal with an appetiser and drink for an extra $13. We thought that sounded good and played along with the idea. She also suggested that if I didn't like rice, I could try the roti instead. I nodded to that too.
We also ordered four vegetables in Portuguese sauce and typhoon shelter styled soft shell crab.
Appetiser was a pork spring roll which looks like cold 腸粉. Nothing special about it at all. I had more pleasure eating the 肉鬆 on top of the roll though.
White curry pork chop rice - Just like I remembered. The curry sauce is really not curry (just a white sauce) but the dish is served with some fried garlic, raw onion strips and a tiny bit of ginger. The pork chop is neatly cooked and marinated, and even though it tastes different from the curry sauce itself, it's a lovely delight.
The roti was extremely mediocre, but still, it was better than the ones I had at Cafe de Coral.
Four vegetables in Portuguese sauce - I wanted vegetables and its appearance was like a crime scene. It did not look appetising at all, looked as though it had exploded a few times in the microwave, spewing its sauce out like a mini volcano eruption. That aside, no surprise with the Portuguese sauce (bland) but the potatoes at the bottom of the dish were mushy but decent. I quite liked the texture of it, and dipped some in the white curry sauce to save it from its misery.
Typhoon shelter styled soft shell crab - Nice texture, good deep frying. No wonder it's one of the popular dishes of the restaurant. The crumbs were more salty than spicy, however and it didn't help with the fact that the chilli looking strip was actually red capsicum. It will disappoint those who actually love more of the spicy than salty side.
Specialty drinks - We got lychee green tea and lychee red tea. The former was part of the curry rice meal and we got the latter out ot nowhere - it wasn't listed on the bill. Again, nothing special, just a sweet sugary drink with a subtly bitter taste of tea.
Now that I have reacquainted with my long lost friend, I'm glad to find out everything is still good on its side - maybe I should visit again in a few years' time. Honestly speaking I don't think I'll see this long lost friend again in the near future, but I hope it will be well during my absence.