Without further ado, here's a glimpse of the melange of delicacies that this thriving (yet rather inhospitable) city offers:
1. Wanton noodles at Gu Zai Ji
Despite having heard others sing praises about Hong Kong's purportedly delicious wanton noodles, I remained skeptical about the veracity of their claims. Afterall, for such a simple and ubiquitous dish, it was hard to fathom the existence of otherworldly wanton noodles - that is, until I tried Gu Zai Ji's rendition of this commonly found dish.
My dining partners and I opted for a bowl each of wanton noodle and three-treasure noodle (from what I remember: pork, beef ball and wanton). Other than the tenderness of the pork slices (probably due to the use of copious amounts of tenderiser), each wanton had slightly translucent wanton skin and a generous serving of meat within, setting the wanton at Gu Zai Ji apart from many other restaurants who cut corners by scrimping on filling and using rubbery and thick wanton skin. Most of all, the highlight of both dishes lay in the fluffy wanton noodle, which probably contained a higher proportion of egg than the kind of noodle I've grown accustomed to eating. Kudos to Gu Zai Ji for their
2. Roast Goose and Tiger Prawns
Speaking of awards, few restaurants would probably have accreted more accolades than Yung Kee restaurant, whose full list of awards and well-known dishes spans several pages.
The awards just keep rolling in...
First up, we tried their all-time favourite dish - the roast goose. While the gravy was too oleaginous for my liking, the goose meat was succulent and far surpassed previous renditions I had had located in the vicinity of my hotel.
Roast Goose
Next up, we had some tiger prawns which were of a good size, although I wished that the batter had been more crispy as I found it overly soggy.
Look at that adorable mini crab!
All in all, while I yearn to indulge in my pleonastic pleasures, nothing much remains to be said about Yung Kee, except that their food - while good - was definitely not sui generis.
3. Snake soup at Wong Ser Fun
Last but not least, the highlight of our culinary exploits lay in the snake soup. While the prospect of consuming anything remotely reptilian may prompt one to recoil in repulsion, the snake specialties we had at Ser Wong Fun (a multigenerational enterprise) transcended our expectations and are truly worth a try for all travellers wishing to have a taste of local fare.
Of all the snake dishes on offer, we had the snake soup and some snake meat. Interestingly, the former bore a little resemblance to fish maw soup and was rich in flavour such that we barely felt an iota of any repulsion we might have had before.
Snake Soup
In addition, while the snake meat was chewy, it refrained from being tough, thereby reflecting the skill of the cook. Furthermore, its fragrance wafted through the air, making this a unique dish that I will definitely consume again should I return to Hong Kong in future.
One-of-a-kind
The Shopfront, located along a steep slope in the Central area
In a nutshell, I thoroughly enjoyed sampling the smorgasbord of local treats in Hong Kong, for their delicacies surprised not only with their diversity but also with the finesse with which they had been prepared.
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