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2022-01-21
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I know hairy crab season is probably over so my post is kinda late, but I need to document this experience of 天香樓, where I’ve heard my uncles claiming to be the place that serves the best hairy crab noodles (in Hong Kong cuz we can’t travel). Btw that’s a hint that the place is old, cuz u know, uncles. There's not that many tables, it feels like a private secluded place and the staff, contrary to rumours I heard, were very nice. Knowing that I’m carrying high expectations even before the meal st
Knowing that I’m carrying high expectations even before the meal started (thanks aunties and uncles), the noodles did not disappoint. I mean, look at that glorious pour-over! The mere sight of all that crab meat and crab roe mix spilling over each bowl of noodles is soooooo satisfying. And yo, there’s such a huge plate of crab that you don’t need to be careful about rationing it across each bowl, just fill them up until you can’t see the noodles anymore!
Taste-wise, the crab mix is handpicked every day, so the freshness and rich umami really make those prepacked crab meat and roe mix pale in comparison. Can’t go back to those no more, my palate is going to be so spoilt now HAHAHA Each bowl is around $500 I think, so you get a hefty bowl of thick noodles to accompany all that crab. You must add vinegar though, I used to be stubborn and wanted the crab as it is, but the vinegar really elevates the whole thing. It cuts through the greasiness, so you really taste the sweetness of the crab, and then voila, that big bowl of noodles is gone in a flash; and this is coming from someone who’s not good with carbs! Don’t forget to sip shaoxing wine, I think we got a 20/25 year one, and hopefully you won’t get pimples from too much crab.
Fun fact: I’ve walked past the resto a couple times before and I thought it was a hidden mahjong parlour cuz that was all I heard haha.
My number one fav is the fried eel coated with a sticky sweet sauce. It’s not the crunchy type of fried, more like a very, very light crisp and no bones at all. You barely need to bite because the eel just MELTS like butterrrrrr. Next fav is the glistening smoked yellow croaker, served whole. Smoked with sugar and longjing tea leaves, you get the smokiness in every bite but not in an overwhelming way, and of course, fish is just fat and juicy.
The longjing tea leaf stir-fried river shrimps are also one of their signatures. At first, I didn’t really understand what was so special about it, but each shrimp is huge compared to the ones you usually get in restaurants and the tea fragrance is better than expected, plus it’s a sizable portion. Other than that, we also got a serving of drunken pigeon and a plate of stir-fried sweet bamboo shoots with pea sprouts. For dessert, we got a huge bowl of tiny glutinous rice balls in syrup with fruit. I thought it was pineapple cubes and I started freaking out THEN realized it was pieces of banana with strawberry. Something about it was so addictive, not sure how to explain it so GO TRY.
张贴