Eat Fresh: Famous Hong Kong Street Food

I‘ll say this right off the bat: you’d have to be an idiot to not like this place.  Unless you’re from Hong Kong¹, you have no right to say, “This is some fucked up shit they serve here.”

They pretty much serve more-than-edible Chinese food at incredibly reasonable prices — plus they open until late at night²!

People usually get their myriad of street food, which is mostly fish balls, lobster balls, and the likes.  I’m was a tad skeptical until I tried their Fish Balls, which is served with curry sauce.  It actually seems home-made³ and the curry sauce has this kick to it that just works.

And if you’re like me, instead of going for tiger rolls or crab fingers, go for the awesome Big Isaw or Pork Intestines.  Just a hunk of oily, greasy goodness.  Not bad at all.

People seem to love to pair these street food with rice but I say just go for their any of their short order items.

I’m not a big seafood or tofu guy, but I have to admit that their Seafood Hot Pot with Tofu looks really good.  Easily rivals others restaurants at a more reasonable price.

But you must — I repeat: you MUST — get their Salt and Pepper Squid.  The squid they use is pretty soft.  They fry those boneless bastards to perfection topped with fried garlic.  Just freaking awesome!  The only thing I would add are chili peppers, but they season these babies pretty well as is.

If you don’t like seafood, go for the Salt and Pepper Spareribs, which are also pretty good.  Not on the level of the squid or with SuZhou, but pretty nice.

For the rainy days, you can’t go wrong with their Fish Fillet Claypot Congee.  It’s piping hot and they really pack the plate.  It’s not exactly rice, but you really get your buck’s worth with this.

I was a tad bit disappointed with the noodles, though.  I tried the Hong Kong Style Fried Noodles and they were bland.  No flavor whatsoever.  But who can complain for 50 bucks?

Their Laksa⁴, though, is really something else.  Served in a piping hot steam boat, the laksa is pungent, even if it lacks the heat that is usually associated with the dish.  But they don’t scrimp out on the ingredients.  If you don’t get too much of the street food, you get a handful of lobster balls, seafood, and noodles.  The nice owners will even give you more of the soup.  Totally worth the 180 bucks!  Wait, 180 bucks?  Yes, 180 bucks.

But the dish that keeps me coming back is their selection of claypot rice — which is generally solid.  I’ve tried the Curry Beef, Chicken and Chinese Sausage Combo⁵, and the Salted Duck with Taosi Spareribs⁶ and they’re all OK.

I love my claypot rice because it’s very different from other rice meals out there.  It’s an art to do a claypot rice dish, and like Spanish paella, there’s always the burnt ends.  And like other awesome dishes, there is a way to eat claypot rice.

First, take your claypot rice and pour light soy sauce over it.  You cannot overdo it because light soy sauce is… well, light.  It won’t get too salty, don’t worry.  Second, cover your claypot rice with a plate to let the soy sauce steam with the rice and meat.  Finally, mix and dig the fuck in.  Put more soy sauce if you like.

Now what I pretty much get is the Taosi Spareribs Claypot Rice (above) or the Taosi Spareribs and Chicken Feet Combo.  They steam the shit out of the ribs so it’s soft, tender, juicy, and even fatty.  Good texture and light flavor — and the chicken feet⁷ adds a bit of spicy and contrast to the dish.  Just fucking awesome.

If this is not enough, they have a selection of fresh shakes that are really good and reasonably priced.  I usually rotate between Strawberry Mango, Orange, Banana Orange, and Kiwi.

I just love this place.  It’s good, it’s fast, it’s cheap, and it’s fucking reliable.  Only an idiot will hate this place.

Eat Fresh: Famous Hong Kong Street Food 2013-06-23

‘ll say this right off the bat: you’d have to be an idiot to not like this place.  Unless you’re from Hong Kong, you have no right to say, “This is some fucked up shit they serve here.” They pretty much serve more-than-edible Chinese food at incredibly reasonable prices — plus they open until late …