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2014-03-19
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A small group of good friends arrived in San Francisco this very day, and after I took them to Mongkok for breakfast, it was time for lunch a few hours earlier. During their very short 4 day visit, I knew I had to squeeze in a Chiu Chow meal. There were quite a few recommendations by well known bloggers and food writers, and as much as I would have liked to shoot straight to the top, it was not possible for me to get a reservation at the club restaurant for the high end stuff. But I didn't want
A small group of good friends arrived in San Francisco this very day, and after I took them to Mongkok for breakfast, it was time for lunch a few hours earlier. During their very short 4 day visit, I knew I had to squeeze in a Chiu Chow meal. There were quite a few recommendations by well known bloggers and food writers, and as much as I would have liked to shoot straight to the top, it was not possible for me to get a reservation at the club restaurant for the high end stuff. But I didn't want a bare bones nitty gritty super dirty eatery.So Chong Fat came to the rescue. Sure it is a little bit further out of the way, but nothing a leisurely 20 to 25 min walk from Lok Fu MTR station could not fix, plus it was a pleasure exploring Kowloon City on foot en route to the restaurant.
Arrived at the restaurant about 20 to 30 mins after their opening hour, and marveled briefly at the fresh seafood in the styrofoam boxes sitting outside. After obligatory seafood porn pictures, we took a few more of the window displaying the interesting orange (cooked) cold seafood selections, including interesting looking lobsters, and of course the famous blue (flower) crab.
We then walked in without a reservation and the place was at least 3/4 full. The owner/manager (not the son) greeted us who I recognized from a youtube video of a Chua Lam TV show (deleted now due to copyright violations). As you enter, you can see the open kitchen to your right, essentially a smorgasboard of great classic Chiu Chow food, from soups, stews, appetizer/side dishes galore. It was almost like walking into a tapas bar in Spain....canned seafood in olive oil, sardines...except this was a different reality of awesomeness.
As we sat at the table, could not help but notice a few more side dishes. I am under the assumption that if we touch or eat these, they will charge us for it. I never really checked the bill to see if they charged us for them anyway (like at Wing Lai Yuen).
The manager then invited me to pick out the dishes. He was extremely helpful and very spot on with some recommendations, but it also helped that I had done some research prior to coming here.
There is definitely way more variety than allowable stomach space, so we had a mini variety of a few things.
- the soup of the day was pork stomach pepper soup with pickled mustard greens. Very very very lucky to have encountered this. It was certainly not frigid cold that day, but enough for one of us in the party to put on a jacket, so this was very welcoming, warm, and tasty, with a wicked pepper kick (but not overpowering). Super delicious soup, quality ingredients. It definitely surpassed the rendition I had at Chan Kan Kee in Wanchai/CWB the year's visit prior. I probably had 4 to 5 bowls during that lunch.
- chestnut with pork knuckles (or maybe they were mini pork tails? Can't remember). I wanted to try the pork knuckle skin cold gelee but can't remember why I picked this one instead. Pretty good, and I thought this was a cold dish, but they actually cooked it again and it was quite fragrant. The combination of chesnut and stewed pork knuckle/or was it tail, was appetizing. But I have a feeling this was the least well liked item.
- Chiu Chow style cold fish (threadfin). I thought this fish was going to be served cold, but it was actually reheated. First time ever having this fish, and also this particular style of preparation. The manager recommended this over "big eye chicken" or kapok, and I am so glad I did. The threadfin was oily/fatty/tender/juicy with a well defined ocean salt flavor. Almost like having a fresh grilled fatty in season Japanese mackeral or hikarimono shioyaki....absolutely fantastic and out of this world. Our entire table was taken by surprise and deemed this one of the best dishes (only to be slightly overshadowed by what came next).
- Marinated trio platter of sliced goose breast, goose intestines, and goose liver. I actually thought the breast here was better in texture than Hung's Delicacies in North Point (although Hung's had a slightly more robust and complex marinade), and while the intestines were nice but not breath taking, the one that stole the show was clearly the marinated goose liver. I am not a fan of foie gras, but I will gladly have another plate of just pure goose liver from here should the opportunity present itself again (but must exercise self control!)
- The manager pointed out a vegetable stew soup that he recommened and was actually a very traditional recipe (I wanted a vegetable dish and he pointed at this one, basically no fight went down, I went with it!) ....I wanted to say it was something like "spring vegetable" but it was a slightly bitter with a tiny sweet flavor in a soupy stew with a little pork bits. Cooked till very very tender, no fibrous bits. We all clapped our hands with this selection.
- Not included in the uploaded pictures, but I also picked out a pan fried pomfret, around the middle to back section (less bones). All I can say is, quality fish, and solid pan frying skills. Execution and quality you cannot find in the USA, even at some Chinese mom's home over there. $ well spent. I even complimented the woman who handles pan frying fish at the front, and she was extremely humble and said it was all because of the quality of the ingredients. She and her cooking coworker did really solid work.
The meal ended with shots of "kung fu" tea....and I must say that after at least 20+ years of not having this overseas, it was amazingly refreshing and invigorating to taste this again, and in good quality.
From a local perspective, this meal was not a cheap one, I believe our bill was well into the low HK$1000s. And we did not order cold crab or cold lobster. But it was an extremely pleasing meal from start to finish, despite the chestnut and pork side dish (ok and tasty but wouldn't order again).
From an overseas visitors perspective, this is a truly excellent restaurant. The open kitchen/smorgasboard display of all the "tapas" and stews and soups and seafood is just impressive.
張貼
