Small plates in Mongkok

We headed down to one (G/F, 28 Mong Kok Road, tel : +852 2395 9867) of several squeeze sized shops where one can get seats and frills free snacks of the braised, pan fried and boiled variety in one stop.

The food turned out to be much better than I had expected. I liked that those unassuming delicious pot stickers huddling in the griddle which had vegetable fillings that were so fresh that one could taste the said freshness. And we've had the better pig's blood curd yet which was of a coarser texture almost akin to a firm silken tofu and filled with the flavors of the blood as I had remembered them. Coupled with tasty chewy intestines braised in a hot peppery broth which was just the thing to have for the cool evening.

It was basically straight forward stuff that was good for sharing and I think the place opens till late in the night.

I recommend trying the bean curd with evaporated milk.

pan fried tofu


pan fried pot stickers


pan fried radish cake


starchy soup with wood ear fungus, paste of fish trimmings....that sounds just weird


braised pig intestines, pig's blood curd and chives in a peppery broth


mai fan


some thick udon like noodles in a clear lard filled broth


peanut porridge


tou fu fa (a.k.a. tau huey) with evaporated milk


yellow sugar for the bean curd

Wai Kee Congee Shop(威記粥店), Stanley Street, Central, Hong Kong

We liked this place (G/F, 82 Stanley Street, Central, Hong Kong, tel : +852 2551 5564) enough that we were here twice for breakfast within the week.

For one, it's been quite a while that we've had good dough fritters that wasn't overfried, overfried to hard crispy death or too chewy. The ones done up at Wai Kee were dense, yet soft. The outstanding items from the shop included their creamy congee, their also creamy radish cake filled with shreds of radish and  their natural sweetness and deliciously smokey plates of bee hoon/mai fun.

Speaking of which, the mai fun seemed thicker while the regular noodles were thinner than what we were generally used to; which resulted in only slight differences in the textures of both. However a blind taste test could easily be passed simply because of the smokey aroma from the former which the latter doesn't seem to have.

The pig's blood curds in their porridge also appeared different from how I remember them. These ones were unusually smoother and had less flavour.

congee with pig's blood curds

dough fritters draped in rice flour sheets (zha leong)

smokey mai fun

dough fritters

the thinner regular noodles

rice dumplings with mung beans and pork fat

hum zhim bang

steamed radish cake

canton styled congee with cuttlefish, fish maw and minced beef

Green Waffle Diner, Graham Street, Central, Hong Kong

Grabbed lunch at this cosy little shop (35-39 Graham Street, Central, Hong Kong, tel: +852 2887 9991) styled like an American diner located near the top of Graham Street just a little bit above the wet market. From what I know, they do fried chicken and waffles, which seem to be what they're better known for.

Their deep fried chicken drumsticks which were served piping hot were drained of residual grease were actually pretty good. The skin was lightly battered, thin and crispy with juicy meat on the inside.

There was also a skillet of steak and eggs. In my mind, I had been imagining a larger skillet, but I guess US sized only happens in the US. It tasted pretty much like how it looked and was a little greasy. Could make a pretty decent after drinks comfort grub. Coffee was no good here.

Lin Heung Tea House (蓮香樓), Wellington Street, Central, Hong Kong

I read that this venerable institution (160 Wellington St  Central, Hong Kong, tel : +852 2544 4556) has been serving affordable trolley service dim sum since 1926. Eating here was akin to hopping into a time capsule back into a era when eating dim sum was.....well, a little different. Let's just leave things at fleetness of foot and thickness of skin helps some. Kinda like what's needed for a scrum in rugby.

The atmospheric din and crowd that one has to contend with and absorb are at the least, an experience that is better gone through than described by words. I meant that in a most positive way.

I managed to get most of the pictures of what we ate. The food was altogether hearty, comfortingly delicious and familiar. Special mention goes to their lotus seed paste buns which rocks! I'm thinking that I've just scratched the surface of what this tea house has to offer. Which gives me a very good excuse to come back again when I next return to Hong Kong

steamed lotus seed paste buns

it comes with salted egg yolk in the middle. good stuff!

steamed pork and chive dumplings I think

steamed beef balls with orange peel

cheong fun with shrimp stuffings

steamed chicken and mushroom wrapped in bean curd skin

steamed something else wrapped in bean curd skin, might have been shrimp and mushroom

siew mai

dai bao

bao asundered!

pak tong ko (white sugar cakes)

steamed claws of the mascot bird of the secret order founded by Albus Dumbledore

char siew bao

the atmosphere

Mak's Noodles (麥奀雲吞麵世家), Wellington Street, Central, Hong Kong

So finally, the famed Mak's Noodles (77 Wellington St, Central, Hong Kong, tel : +852 2854 3810). I was almost worried that I would be let down after the barrages of glowing reviews on their reputation as one of the best wanton noodles one could get in Hong Kong.

Fortunately, the noodles themselves lived up to reputation. One could definitely taste the differences in the firm and wiry texture. To date these noodles have been my best experience so far. Was quite impressed.

There's the other part which casted some murk in this picture perfect.

The noodles beef tendons had a pretty strong taste of ammonia which was strangely not present in both the soup wanton noodles and the dry noodles with shrimp roe. The latter was really good by the way.

As much as I liked the noodles , I couldn't definitively say that this was the best wanton noodle shop. I haven't eaten at that many here yet. Even if I had, I wouldn't be able to do all to determine "best". What I noticed of Mak's noodles was that they were quite small. Some people have described them as snack sized portions.

If I had really been hungry and wanted a better bang for buck quantity, the more sensible thing would be to actually walk right across the road.

Yung Kee (鏞記), Wellington Street, Central, Hong Kong

I had only heard of Yung Kee (32-40 Wellington Street, Central, Hong Kong, tel : +852 2522 1624) some years ago from the mentions of some friends from Hong Kong. Since then, I've been hearing mentions of it more often than I can recall and most of those have lauded the restaurant for its famed roasted geese which seems to be the thing to have here. The restaurant was even awarded a star in the Michelin guide for Hong Kong/Macau for 2010. 

Boy, did that set me up for disappointment.

I had under mysterious circumstances once discovered a stash of century eggs from Yung Kee in my house. The mystery has since been resolved, but the aftermath of the discovery left a deep imprint of these delicious eggs with molten yolk. And what made the good great, was the lacking of the pungent ammonia (stench or aroma, depending on what camp you're in) that are usually found in these eggs.

Yung Kee offered their century eggs as starters. While it was still pretty decent, it didn't seem to taste as good as the stash that I had uncovered before. Disappointment ups one small notch here, but nothing to cry over.

This is where downhill starts steep. I'm pretty sure that these were not the best geese in town. Seriously, I was hard pressed to find something mention worthy. The meat was a little too tough and too tough to get off the bone as well. I was starting to wonder if these characteristics were what made them famous and that I knew nothing about delicious geese.

None of us were blown away by the goose meat. Far from that we were. In fact, I would label these as forgettable.

Their soya sauce chicken likewise did little to impress any of us. The meat was a little tough, dry and the skin which was already lacking in flavour was a little too rubbery. Or maybe I'm just not accustomed to how chefs in Hong Kong do their chicken. For this, I'm grateful that I have much better alternatives back home.

Unexpectedly, the seasonal vegetable of the day with mushrooms were quite good. I don't know what these vegetables were but they taste like a variant of mustard greens with their mildly bitter flavour and semi crunchy texture.

We also had a light tasting braised ee fu noodles with crab meat that wasn't bad. But deep inside, we all expected better.