Some friends of mine decided to be adventurous and try snake soup in HK. The place we first intended to go in Sheung Wan was closed, and the place in central I heard is expensive and mediocre. So we traveled to Wan Chai, and though this place is a short walk from the MTR, it felt like miles away from my customary haunts.There's no English menu, and no one there speaks any English. I doubt many Westerners ever show up there. People walking down the street ogled us. The owner (?) exclaimed "ten wh
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Some friends of mine decided to be adventurous and try snake soup in HK. The place we first intended to go in Sheung Wan was closed, and the place in central I heard is expensive and mediocre. So we traveled to Wan Chai, and though this place is a short walk from the MTR, it felt like miles away from my customary haunts.
There's no English menu, and no one there speaks any English. I doubt many Westerners ever show up there. People walking down the street ogled us. The owner (?) exclaimed "ten white people!" (in Cantonese; I don't speak Cantonese, but I know that much). Luckily one of my friends knew enough Chinese to read the menu.
We were five. A group of Dutch tourists walked by a couple times looking for something to eat. They decided to stop here, cuz I guess they saw us and assumed it was Westerner-friendly. I feel bad for them, they didn't even realize it was a snake place. First they asked for an English menu, then they asked for "seafood." Finally one of the other patrons explained the nature of the place to them and the menu. Anyway, so that's why there were "ten white people!" as the owner (?) remarked.
They have different sets. Sets A and B have two kinds of soup, one with two snake soups, the other with snake and (we guessed) turtle. In addition you get a choice of rice dishes. Sets C and D are similar, but you only get one soup, some greens, and a glutinous rice dish with nuts. If you can't speak any Chinese, just show up and say "C." I got set B with the snake and turtle (?) soups.
Snake soup: Quite a bit of snake meat in thin strips w/ mostly mushrooms as the other ingredient. The broth is very chicken-broth tasting (it could well have been chicken broth). Quite filling, given how meaty it is, and well-seasoned and aromatic. The snake was sometimes a little on the chewy side, but having never had snake before, I can't say that's not how it always is. A
Frog rice: They seemed a little miffed when we ordered four of the frog rice; it must take effort to prepare. Hey, it was the only rice dish we could figure out! (What is slippery chicken, by the way?) Anyway, the frog rice was delicious. Quite salty, but in a good way, very gingery (also in a good way), and with a really quite juicy frog. Careful with the bones! A+
Turtle (?) soup: This was just broth. Deep brown and aromatic, I couldn't place any of the flavors, but it was a nice palate-cleansing end to the meal. A
There's no beer at the place, but they don't mind if you walk to the 7-11 and bring bottles there. They'll even open them for you and give you glasses. The price is totally reasonable, with none of the sets running higher than $70, iirc. I can't compare it to other snake joints, but as far as just food goes, it's well worth the trip. A+
用蛇碌來製的蛇羹包冇花假!蛇肉比例很高。比很多蛇王高。蛇腩炒飯亦很不錯。性價比高。位不多。可外賣。可以一試!Using snake chunks instead of snake shreds;See it to believe it.Very reasonable lunch sets with fried rice or glutinous rice;Warms you up.Recommended!It's cold. That's means it's time for snake! According to Chinese medical theory, snake is supposed to be warm you up. This is one of the few specialist snake shops on Hong Kong Island. This was my first time here. Tuck away in the bustlings streets of Wan Chai, it seemed impossible to locate. L
Using snake chunks instead of snake shreds; See it to believe it. Very reasonable lunch sets with fried rice or glutinous rice; Warms you up. Recommended!
It's cold. That's means it's time for snake!
According to Chinese medical theory, snake is supposed to be warm you up.
This is one of the few specialist snake shops on Hong Kong Island. This was my first time here.
Tuck away in the bustlings streets of Wan Chai, it seemed impossible to locate.
Luckily, with the big poster hanging above everyone right in the middle of the street, it's hard to miss the guy with the really Big Snake :
It's a very small stall with about 8 seats all facing the wall and a small table for three placed outside.
(They seem to have a new unit hidden away somewhere now. Anyway, takeaway is available.)
My colleague and I went in. We managed to squeeze into a corner. It's surprisingly comfortable.
The seats were reasonably spaced out. There's even enough space for the gentleman next to me to read his magazine without disturbing anyone. The lighting was not too bright and the air ventilation was good.
The service was surpringly good. The two male staff sounded rough but were actually polite. The female waitresses were even more polite.
Suddenly I felt like being transported back to Hong Kong 30-40 years ago.
However, its packed with a LOT of snake meat! It came in chunks of snake. You could actually see the snake skin!
(OK I know it sounds scary but many so called snake soup specialists will add a lot of chicken meat to pass as snake meat - that's why it taste like chicken! ).
Also, the snack soup here had wood fungi and a bit of lemon grass.
Very delicious and satisfying!
Don't forget to add the crunchy fried dough above the choi sum.
It's supposed to be very good for *ahem*... men's health.
The choi sum was just average quality though. The plate you see here were for two persons.
The bowl of glutunous rice didn't look too big but was rather filling.
It had a lot of dried shrimps, fresh spring onions, roasted peanuts and a bit of shredded pork.
Very flavourful!
Definitely worth a try.
2nd Visit:
This shop seems pretty good at marketing. It's on TV a number of times recently. I saw them on RoadShow too.
This time I came with a number of colleagues who really needed a boost (in body temperature, I hasten to add.)
We got take away this time. The service was a bit rougher than before as Snake King wasn't there. Since our take away took some time, we figure we should have our meals on the spot instead of walking back to office. These two staff, one male and one female (different from my first visit) practically ignored our requests.
Anyway, we all choose Set B. We all had Snake soup, Snake thick broth and Fried rice with snake "loin" at about HK$69.
Everyone was really happy with the snake thick broth. Consistently good.
The snake soup was a bit like a Chinese herbal soup. It's brown in colour and not bitter.
The snake fried rice was really good! Again, it's about the size of a filled rice bowl so not too substantial. The fried rice was dry and each rice was separated from each other, like how a good fried rice should be. Quiet a lot of chopped snake loin and shredded snake meat. The whole dish was very flavourful. All my colleagues really enjoyed it.
The size of all meals were just about sufficient for most guys. Like their motto on the large poster:
"Keeping you filled; Keeping you wanting for more."
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