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2013-04-24
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幼面及粥底都很滑;健康版虾子捞面虾子挺香;烧鸭粥粥底清香之余鸭肉入味;鲍鱼带子粥鲜味浓郁度极高;中环区价钱 但值得一试。Good Cantonese thin egg noodles;Rich, starchy congee. Great comfort food;Flavourable roast duck;Bright and clean.Expect to pay Central prices but still recommended.Intro:幼如丝，滑如脂，爽中有筋:Thin as silk,Smooth as grease; andCrisp, powerful with strength. (Better translations much appreciated. )That's the traditionally concise description of good Cantonese "bamboo-pressed noodles" (own translation) printed on the table mat in front of you. It
健康版虾子捞面虾子挺香;
烧鸭粥粥底清香之余鸭肉入味;
鲍鱼带子粥鲜味浓郁度极高;
中环区价钱 但值得一试。
Good Cantonese thin egg noodles;
Rich, starchy congee. Great comfort food;
Flavourable roast duck;
Bright and clean.
Expect to pay Central prices but still recommended.
Intro:
幼如丝，滑如脂，爽中有筋:
Thin as silk,Smooth as grease; and
Crisp, powerful with strength. (Better translations much appreciated. )
That's the traditionally concise description of good Cantonese "bamboo-pressed noodles" (own translation) printed on the table mat in front of you. It also gave a brief history of the origin of noodles, how Cantonese bamboo-pressed noodles developed and a history of Wong Chi Kei.
Mr. Wong Woon Chi (黄焕枝先生), the founding father of Wong Chee Kei, learnt his skills from noodle masters in Dongguan. He then went to Macau to start his noodle business. The rest is history. Wong Chee Kei became so famous that the owner was twice invited to display his skills in front of Portuguese presidents! From what I've read, what's special about this type of noodle is that not a single drop of water is used in the dough - just duck egg and flour.
The mixture is then kneaded continually with a huge bamboo until it is made into thin shreds of noodles. As a result of this painstaking process, the noodles are extremely al dente. Perhaps Al dente is not the best word to describe the unique texture of the noodles. It's crisp and bounces off your teeth when you chew it - that's the crispness and the "strength" of the noodles.
I believe this is one of the very few shops that sells bamboo-pressed noodles in Hong Kong.
Decor:
The new Wong Chi Kei is located in a basement along the same street at Luk Yu Teahouse. It had about 20 tables reasonably space apart. It's very busy during lunchtime so you will have to share a table with others.
After walking down a flight of staircase you will see this:
This is what wonton hawkers used to carry with them everywhere, a mobile wonton noodle stall! Selections:
The menu was in Chinese, English and Japanese. Other than Wonton noodles, they also do all the standard types of congees, a number of Efu noodles and even some dishes you get at more specialized Cantonese restaurants such as braised pomelo skin, prawn dishes, lobsters and abalones.
For lunch I ordered a "Roasted Duck and Meatballs Congee" and a "Prawn-roe noodles":
Congee:The congee was very starchy. It had a very high rice to water ratio. The texture was rather thick (those at Canton Tea House was similarly thick) but very, very smooth. The congee base tasted light. The aroma from the cooked rice was not strong. This was fine as this allowed the fresh lettuce and parsley taste to shine through. There was also room for the roasted duck. The amount of roasted duck chucks was generous. Those were more flavourful than Fuk Kei's roasted duck chucks.
The two pork meat balls were a bit salty. Not exceptional but no complaints either.
I was happy with my congee.
Noodles: This was bamboo-pressed noodles with prawn roes. The traditional version had lard or other types of cooked fat poured on top of the noodle. This is a "modern/healthy" version without any fat poured on top.
The noodles had a smooth, gentle, egg taste but not the dreadful alkaline taste.
It's chewy but not as tough as Mak's noodles or Chee Kei.
The prawn was more flavourful than many other shops, notably Mak's noodles.
I prefer this than Mak's, which had a pretty strong alkaline taste.
Broth? The small bowl of broth had a very strong flounder, Chinese chives and prawn roe taste. To be perfectly honest with you, I still don't really know the definitive way of using this bowl of soup invariably served with this type of "Lo mein" (noodles without broth served on a plate to facilitate mixing.)I usually pour a few tablespoons of the broth onto the noodles directly. Suggestions much appreciated!
Service:
The service here was decent. The staff were polite and added tea frequently.
1st Visit: Conclusion
The bill came down to HK$102 for these two items. Definitely not cheap but acceptable in view of the location, the clean decor and good quality food.
2nd Visit: The Ultimate Test: I was quite confident about the quality of the congee here so I put it to the ultimate test, a visit by Japanese in-laws!
Before this they had tried the chicken congee at "Lan Fong Yuen" at the HK-Macau Ferry terminal and a congee shop inside Sheraton, Macau. They also had plain congee to go with the food at TST "Mui Kee Cooked Food Stall" as well.
Their comment was that the congree at Mui Kei did not have much rice taste and the texture was not thick enough. Those inside Sheraton had a better texture (thicker) but the flavour of the rice was not strong. The "thousand years" egg" was good. Much to my surprise, the congee at Lan Fong Yuen had "koku" and umami (i.e. a good, thick texture as well as umami) and they liked it a lot! It was much better than the congee they had in Macau and also the plain congee we had at Mui Kee.
In fact, I did not expected them, especially my mother-in-law, to assess a bowl of congee that seriously, more so than any dim sum or other Chinese cuisine , then again, I should have known better - rice is such an important part of Japanese diet and they treat rice with the utmost respect. According to my understanding, rice is considered THE main meal. Other dishes exists to compliment the rice. Perhaps it is fair to say that Japanese respect rice much more than some Hong Kongers.
They still wanted to have congee for an early lunch. I let them choose between Wai Kee Congee Shop, which had a lighter texture but more umami, and Wong Chi Kee. They choose Wong Chi Kee since it was nearer to where we were.
This time we ordered Roasted Duck Congee, Wonton Noodles, Egg noodles with Prawn Roes, a plate of Chinese Kale, and - to ensure maximum customer satisfaction - a bowl of Abalone and Scallop congee ($180!)
My Roasted Duck Congee was not as good as the one I had on my first visit because of the large amount of bones in the congee. I almost choked myself to death! Obviously, I lived to tell the tale. The taste of the roast duck was good and the amount was even more generous. However, there wasn't enough lettuce in the congee so the taste was fairly one dimensional.
My in-laws tried it and they reached the same conclusion. (It's not easy being a host...)
Fortunately, the wonton noodles lived up to their reputation. It had a good balance of meat and prawn. The prawns inside the wontons were fresh, flavourful and had umami. Adding small amount of red vinegar really enhanced the taste of the flounder broth, which was already quite balanced even before adding anything.
The noodle with prawn roes (without broth) did not disappoint as well. The noodles were consistently chewy and had a gentle eggy flavour. They approved this dish.
The Chinese Kale fried with garlic was also green and crunchy. They added some Gwai Lin Chili sauce on the kale. It matched surprisingly well!
Fried noodle with soy sauce and bean sprout: This was a favorite of my wife. The egg noodles, when fried, gave a very interesting texture different from most congee shops. It's thinner, chewier and seemed to absorb less oil than the normal version. Everyone, especially my wife, loved this dish. Goes very well with congee.
Finally, the Abalone and Scallop Congee:
Almost twice the size of a normal bowl of congee at Wong Chi Kei. The congee somehow felt a lot thicker than the Roast Duck congee. The congee was bursting with umami - seafood flavour from the large amount of good quality scallops and three slices of equally good abalones. Both the taste and the texture had "KOKU コク", i.e. rich, deep, and wholesome. They were very impressed with this "deluxe" congee and thought this was the best congee they had tried so far.
Mission complete.
Conclusion:
Decent dining environment,
Good service,
Noodles with prawn roes were good;
Smooth, starchy congee;
Roast duck congee was good;
Abalone and Scallop congee was something special.
Recommended.
张贴
