last time i was in hong kong over chinese new year, my friend licia took me to a restaurant in causeway bay called homefeel – check the address bar for the name of the restaurant – or click through to here
cantonese home cooking is something i actually don’t get a lot of. here in shanghai – and even in hong kong, restaurants concentrate on the banquet or the dim sum or the fast and quick barbeque or noodle dishes. homefeel makes the sort of food that mom makes at home. and that sort of hearty cantonese food was just what i was craving.
with my friend abbie we ordered grandma’s chicken, the “old fire” or daily soup. let me just stop here a second and go talk about soup – so important for any cantonese meal or even cantonese life. when you’re looking for a girlfriend or a wife – your cantonese friends will say “make sure she knows how to make soup.” If you’re going home, your cantonese friends say “Oh, you’re going home so that your mom will make soup for you.” If you’re sick, soup. If you’re feeling good, it must be because of soup. If eating is the reason for existence for Cantonese – and it is – than soup is the alpha and omega of that existence.
but since i’m not truly truly cantonese – or i’m only half way there by way of pittsburgh, los angeles and berkeley, what i really was craving for was steamed pork loaf. kind of a cantonese meat loaf. yeah, doesn’t sound too appetizing. nor does it look that great.
but this is the sort of food that my mom made for me growing up. with a salted duck’s egg and a bowl of rice, this is home for me. sure they make it with a slightly fattier pork than at home, which makes it slightly tastier.
oh and grandma’s chicken
the signature dish of the restaurant – it was kind of expensive for $95hkd for a half a chicken, but man, they make a good bird. equal parts sweet and savory, with the nice tang of a reduced soy sauce glaze contrasting with the moist juicy bird. a little bit like a hainan chicken rice chicken, but juicier and more succulent, if that was even possible. i don’t make a lot of specific recommendations, but grandma knew what she was doing when she gave out the recipe for this chicken.
for those of us of cantonese extraction, the feel good food of home feel brings us back to a place where mom is cooking for us and the smell of rice steaming pervades the home. and that’s a nice place.
C, 7/F, Lee Theatre Plaza,
99 Percival Street, Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
$100 HKD per person