I, of course, immediately dismissed his opinion. I mean, sure, he’s a fluent Chinese speaker and he’s lived for years in Taipei, Beijing and Shanghai – but Cantonese food and specifically Cantonese food in Hong Kong? What did he know? Pfft.
So I continued to go to Hong Kong and he continued to say “you gotta go to this place on Ship Street and get the chicken” and I continued to ignore him to go instead to my favorites and hang out with my friends.

However, I was down there (again!) this weekend – over the May Holiday, and I was meeting up with Wee Ling for dinner on a Monday night . . .and I actually couldn’t figure out a place to go.

So a couple of texts to CP, and he had no idea what the restaurant was called, but some searching on OpenRice revealed – a ha! Wing Hing Restaurant.

An aside here – in the ten years since I’ve left Hong Kong, characters of micro-neighborhoods have shifted. Wanchai has become a much cooler place, with restaurants and bars and nice boutiques lining the likes of Star Street and Ship Street. In fact, up and down Ship Street is a whole row of nice Western restaurants. Lan Kwai Fong, on the other hand, seems to have inherited the old Wanchai crowd. Loud, drunk, in the street, sloppy. While the old Lan Kwai Fong banker crowd seems to have moved up the hill to Wyndham Street and there’s now a lot more people in SoHo/Mid-Levels around Staunton Street/the Escalator than I remember.

Anyways, Wee Ling and I agreed on going to dinner at Wing Hing and boy are we glad we did.

First, shirmp and eggs. One of my favorite Chinese comfort foods, Wing Hing does a particularly nice version of this, with the right mix of runny egg and dry egg and GIANT shrimp.

Then some water spinach in soup with conpoy (dried scallops) and then beef brisket curry (which was very average)

Finally the star: spring oil chicken. And it was indeed, excellent, as CP had mentioned all those years ago.

There was a lot of other dishes to try – and while I’m not sure I’d come back every time I’m in HK, I would definitely return especially for the eggs and the chicken. The razor clams looked good too.

Wing Hing Restaurant
G/F-1/F, Pao Yip Buildling, 7 Ship Street, Wan Chai Hong Kong
2866 7299

Damage – about 250 HKD for 2 people.

This was actually my second time here, as I had been before a couple of years ago – I really like the L’Atelier concept, as its fairly casual and an ideal place to have a meal by oneself should you be travelling that way.

Red & Black Entry Carpet

The concept is this – the main dining area of L’Atelier is a bar surrounding an open kitchen. Service is, well, as casual as a 3-star Michelin French restaurant is supposed to be. I ordered the 5 course lunch (spending over $100 USD is never really a deal, but honestly, you’re not eating this level of food for this cheap anywhere else in the world).

Open Kitchen

The Menu:

I ordered Le Foie Gras, Les Lentils du Puy, Le Cabillaud, Le Porc Iberique and Le Paris-Brest.

The Amuse Bouche
Cream of mushroom, topped with a bacon emulsion and porcini mushroom powder. This, was wonderful. Super rich mushroom flavor, the bacon emulsion was the right salty touch to top the mushroom cream.

The awesome bread basket. Favorite bread – the mini croissants. Also, the plain baguettes were really nice.

Le Foie Gras
Perfect execution. Well, maybe slightly stingy with the initial toast, but they quickly offered two more slices as soon as I went through the first two pieces (I don’t know how you’re supposed to fit an entire round of foie gras onto one piece of toast anyways – I think four slices should be the standard order anyways.)

Les Letils du Puy
The flavors of the soup were excellent, but I wasn’t in love as much with the texture – which was slightly gritty, and some of the flavorings (like the cracker) didn’t work as well for this.

Le Cablliaud

The cod itself was solid. Flavorful, firm fish. Very nicely done, but not . . . outstanding.

Le Porc Iberique

This was very very nicely done. The richness of the pork, the fresh dill was a nice touch. But those potatoes puree. Oh man, these are the best mashed potatoes in the world.

Reading on the internet, its apparent that these use some ridiculous ratio of butter to potato, but they are so fluffy, so rich, so ethereal – life changing mashed potatoes as it were.

Le Paris Brest

Wonderful dessert. Little cream puffs with little bits of pear in cased in edible gold foil. A wonderful way to cap off the meal. The sorbet was frighteningly refreshing.

Then les petit fours and tea. The macaroon was really wonderful, as were the little golden chocolate nuggets.

I’d be remiss if I missed mentioning the service. Unfortunately I think this is pretty hit or miss. I had an excellent waiter who was able to explain all of the dishes in both Chinese and English – however, the couple sitting next to me had to repeatedly ask for the wine list, and had their dishes sitting in the service ready area, just out of reach, before being served up to 2 minutes later. Also their waiter looked like he had been in a fight the night before with bruising all around his eye.

It serves in stark contrast to what passes for high end dining here in Shanghai – even if the reviews have say its declining, I still had an exceptional meal here and look forward to returning in the future sometime.

So within a few minutes walk of my friend Abbie’s apartment was “mentioned in the Michelin guide Wing Wah Noodle House”

The menu is typical for a HK noodle house.

But they handmake their noodles upstairs.

Just about my favorite meal on earth. Wonton soup noodles.

Was still hungry, so ordered some beef tendon mixed noodles (dry) as well

Wing Wah Magazine Accolades

Wing Wah interior

The verdict – well, certainly a lot more convenient than trekking out to Ping Kee. The noodles were all quite good, but not really good enough to displace my favorites at Tasty Wantun or Jim Tsai Kee. Great though, if you’re in Wanchai or Admiralty.

Wing Wah Noodle House
89 Hennessy Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong, China
(Across the street from Southorn Playground)

First – here’s a list of (most) of the places Tony went when he was in Hong Kong – I decided I’d go out to Tai Po Market for Ping Kee and Yat Lok (although I saw the next day there was a Yat Lok in Central). Then I made plans to meet my former co-workers Monica and Jenny at Tung Po at the Java Road Cooked Food Center.

First, Tai Po Market is out in the New Territories, where I probably spent only 2% of my time in Hong Kong when I was living there. So after 40 minutes on the subway and train (I’m so dated I still think of it as the MTR and the KCR) I arrived at Tai Po Market.

Exiting out MTR exit A1, I walked straight for about 10 minutes, made a right turn and a little past the Cooked Food Center on the main town square was roast meat specialist Yat Lok. Famous for their roast goose and roast pork, I ordered a plate of each. Oh my goodness, do they do a really good roast pork. Seriously, I think its better than the stuff at West Vila and definitely better than the very expensive Yung Kee – both of which are excellent, but really Yat Lok was even better.

And the goose. I could only make stupid noises after eating the goose.

Roast Pork

Roast Goose

One of the best ways to distinguish a great Cantonese place – hanging meats in the front window.

If you saw the No Reservations episode, there’s probably one of the most beautiful sequences dealing with food ever filmed, where the noodle maker is rolling out the noodles by bamboo pole. While Josh wasn’t really accurate with saying there were only about 3 places left that made handmade noodles, the truth is they really aren’t that common.

Ping Kee was where Josh and Tony ate at (and where the handmade noodles were sold). Since I just had the big meal at Yat Lok, I only opted for the lo mien – dry noodles with lard. They were excellent, and really, the denseness of the noodles really came through. You don’t get noodles of this quality in Shanghai and only at a few places in Hong Kong.

The old guy from the No Reservations episode

Tai Po Market Cooked Food Center

After digesting and walking around for a while, I met up with my former colleagues Monica and Jenny for dinner at Tung Po. I had actually been to Tung Po many years ago with my cousin/roommate Patryk. Tung Po is basically a ‘dai pai dong’ – a big sign restaurant, or what traditionally were outdoor eateries – moved indoors. There’s still a few surviving dai pai dongs in Central/Sheung Wan, as well as Jordan/Yaumatei/Mongkok. I do think sometimes food tastes better when served by guys wearing Wellington boots.

Started with the daily soup. Here’s a good tip, when you’re at a Cantonese restaurant, order the daily soup. We do like our soups, and we make good ones. This is pork with carrots and winter melon.

Sometimes in crowded restaurants, especially if you have no reservations and a small party, you’ll be asked to share tables – dap toi. We shared with 2 other parties, but we were group A.

Spinach with conpoy/dried scallops

Pork Knuckles. Crispy on the outside, succulent and juicy in the middle. I’m sure these aren’t good for you.

Mantis Pods with garlic. Wow. These were amazing. Not cheap, but wow, I would eat another one right now. (In Cantonese these are called ‘pissing shrimp’)

Squid ink noodles. Garlicky. And really satisfying.

The surroundings at Tung Po.

Chef Robby

Final Damage for 3

Information on all three restaurants is readily available. I really love Tung Po, and the food at Ping Kee and Yat Lok is excellent. I probably wouldn’t travel all the way out to Tai Po Market again (especially since you can get handmade noodles at Wing Wah – upcoming post alert! and there’s a Yat Lok in Central) but if you’re ever out there. Mmmm.

Hong Kong style Bortscht

Black Pepper Steak on an Iron Plate

In the Mood for Love

Goldfinch

I realize that this blog really has consistently been a love letter to Hong Kong . . . well, deal with it. Because I do love that place. So why not move back there? Costs . . .and job opportunities. However, since I’m only a two hour flight away, I will continue to go back as often as I can.

A return to Australian Dairy Company

New Apple Store

Ferrari

#occupyhongkong – which was mainly tents and only a few people. But they chose a great location – right below the HSBC Headquarters in Central

The market area around where Abbie lives (border of Causeway Bay and Wanchai)

New Year’s Eve



Crowds

I did some eating too – went back to Goldfinch’s, had an Anthony Bourdain day and went back to L’Atlier de Joel Robuchon. Will try to get up some posts about that later

Wee Ling and I done messed up last month when I was in Hong Kong.

I purposely scheduled a 5 hour layover between Singapore and Shanghai where I sought to rectify this.

And I did.

Downstairs at Mido Cafe

and the famous baked spare rib rice. It was every bit as delicious as I thought it would be. Maybe because I had just gotten off a 3 hour flight, but it was still appreciated.

Pre-Opening Apple Store IFC HK

Tasty Congee and Wantun in IFC


Mango Sago at Hui Lau Shan

Back of a HK Cab

Full Moon at Mid-Autumn Fesitval

Gorgeous Day in Stanley

and then Singapore!
ION Orchird

Dramatic Tropical Sky

Food Court Laksa

My hosts Nick and Venessa preparing the chicken rice

Nick and Venessa’s dog Didi

Lunch with two of my favorite people – Mylinh and Sandra

Ice Kachang!

You have to see the baby! Sandra and Andrew’s lovely daughter Tiana

Big Prawn Noodles!

More Tiana

Chili Crab at Jackson Seafood House

And the best chicken wings ever – with shrimp paste

Sigh – its really the type of place Franck or Mr. Willis really tries to be here in Shanghai – but for lack of raw materials or training or something, never really quite gets up to.

Beautiful sunny and hot Hong Kong weekend

Exterior Shot

Starter plate with wonderful handmade and selected meats, cheeses and pates.

Brunch Main with veal wrapped in pork (yessir)

Deli Counter

Interior shot of the restuarant

Here we are:

I really liked this place. A pleasant brunching spot – and excellent deli counter. I fear that if I ever returned to HK to live, I’d be spending my time here permanently.

chez patrick deli
3 star street
wanchai
Hong Kong

I emailed the delightful Wee Ling from Chop Chop Curry Pok. She replied – let’s have a cha chaan tang expedition.

I suggested either Goldfinch or Mido Cafe in Yaumatei. Since she didn’t have to be anywhere right then, I chose the Mido (mainly because I had never been). The Mido is basically where cha chaan tangs trace their origins to – opening in 1950, this basically is the neighborhood where my dad grew up. I’m not sure if he ever went, but I am sure that it looks exactly the same as when he was in middle and high school now.

Arriving late and sweaty (bouncing from appointment to appointment in HK always takes slightly longer – I met Wee Ling for some old school Hong Kong drinks. She had the iced coffee (or was it yin/yang) and me, I had an egg and luncheon meat sandwich with some HK style milk tea. I somewhat wish I hadn’t just had a wonderful brunch (at Wanchai’s Chez Patrick) because the house special of baked pork chop rice looked delicious.

The place was a delight – and obviously what Cha’s here in Shanghai modeled itself after. I didn’t take a whole lot of photos – especially since the wait staff seemed annoyed by all the food bloggers and such taking photos.