teochew chilled mullet冻乌鱼

had the worst meal in entire hong long trip 2-6jun2015 at chao inn 潮楼 at the airport on 6.6.2015.

our jetstar flight was 8.25pm. we received message earlier that flight was delayed 1hr. anyway we already planned to take A41 around 5pm & arrive airport about 6pm.

(fortunately for us check-in counter opened at 6.15pm & i did the internet check-in & managed to check in at the web check pin counter with zero queue while the normal check-in counters already had >10pax queues. & similar queue at the web check-in also after i had checked in)

airport chao inn 潮楼

since we were early & we had a really great dinner at chao inn 潮楼 @ kwun tong, we decided to give it a try here. alas, wrong decision! this chao inn NOT that chao inn 此潮楼非那潮楼！

teochew chilled mullet冻乌鱼

fortunately the teochew chilled mullet冻乌鱼 was still ok! at HK$98 though it was more expensive than eating at lao ah tee 老阿弟 at whampoa boon keng etc.

teochew chilled mullet冻乌鱼

this mullet was still sweet just slightly fishy, more or less singapore standard unlike chao inn @ kwun tong which was basically perfect.

not to mention what we had at kwun tong was just HK$48, of course that was 40% discount after 9pm, this was airport.

braised goose hopeless, like reboiled or overnight microwaved

the braised goose though was hopeless, like reboiled or overnight & microwaved.

braised goose hopeless, like reboiled or overnight microwaved

basically, moral of story is don’t eat at airport if possible, and don’t order items where turnover maybe low & likely to be kept overnight & not fresh.

c.h.e.f andy

har gao & teochew dumpling combo

our last day in hong kong, returning singapore in the evening 8.25pm flight (later delayed by 1 hr) & checking out royal park hotel at 1pm.

went to mongkok for dimsum breakfast on 6.6.2015. took a while to locate taoheung super 88 稻香超級漁港 as the signboard display outside the building had been removed.

taoheung super 88 稻香超級漁港

anyhow we were seated before 9am. place was crowded.

our order & the mixed up

we were assigned a 4pax table 135A, apparently with another 2persons. but 135A already had 2 persons seated. so the other 2 were assigned table 136. but the card (eft of photo) was not amended. and our orders & the other 2 guys were all entered as 135A (right of photo).

because of the mixed up some orders came to us on 135A. not a big deal really. they were soon sorted out, & they brought us a order chip showing difference in order timing & demarcating which were our orders & which table 136.

har gao & teochew dumpling combo

we did not quite notice, but our order of har gao was actually an order of a har gao & teochew dumpling combo. we were quite happy with it.

har gao & teochew dumpling combo

teochew dumpling 潮州粉果 was better. har gao was ok but below the standard of timhowan fuk wing street shamshuipo (everything was below timhowan anyway) & any of the good dimsum place in singapore like crystal jade, imperial treasure, canton paradise.

char siew fun cheong (bad)

cahr siew fun cheong was bad!

char siew fun cheong (bad)

after the even more horrendous beef fun cheong at 旺角小肥羊 LittleSheep at agile street, it became painfully obvious to me that you don’t take fun cheong in hong kong unless you are at timhowan or some better name chains. steamed pork ribs, chicken feet & rice generally ok, though even the rice don’t take it here!

spicy trotters

the spicy trotters were ok.

spicy trotters

nothing special to talk about, just ok.

chicken mushroom rice (the poorest so far)

this chicken mushroom rice was the poorest so far. looked pathetic.

timhowan’s was great. but the claypot version at 旺角小肥羊 LittleSheep at agile street. the rice was fragrant & flavourful.

chicken mushroom rice (the poorest so far)

here we basically rescued the rice with earlier orders of steamed pork ribs & chicken feet.

we also had the worst horrendous service in hong kong here. table & order mixed up ok la..but there was this server, 40s or maybe early 50s, who was downright rude & belligerent. first she glared at me when i passed her the order chit earlier waiting for her to read out & confirm the order, and she said like “lor chow lor lo” meaning “give me order chit just give la, why look at me”. i told her i also want to order steamed pork ribs & chicken feet. she said “you mai wad lor” in an extremely rude way meaning “if you want just mark it”.  i told her i could not find it. she pointed out to me.

then the server again forgot the rice order by an old couple which were at my table before we arrived, when we already had the rice. some other server came & gave them a different rice. they told the server it was wrong but they would take it as they did not want to wait. the rude server came later & gave the old couple another rice. they said they already had the different one before their order was forgotten & they told the other server but agreed to take the wrong rice. rude server literally argued with them why they took the wrong one. the old couple asked “so it is our fault you forgot & then gave us the wrong rice?”. here i was not going to let her off but told her yes exactly you guys forgot the wrong order & gave the wrong rice.

after the rude server left i told the old couple we all come here to enjoy & are not going to waste time with these people & not going to let them affect our good time, just what needs to be said has to be said.

& this part is going into the food reviews so the management can read about it should they do. haha!

steamed pork ribs

luckily pork ribs was great.

steamed pork ribs

we emptied the entire plate with sauce onto the rice. ^^

steamed chicken feet

chicken feet was fine too.

steamed chicken feet

just a tad salty.

so lesson learned in HK dimsum is steamed pork ribs & chicken feet almost can get anywhere about same standard, in any case quite ok. fun cheong on the other hand better take only from timhowan or other more well know places. haha! just kidding la..as the title goes, hits & misses.

dimsum was HK$116, so basically quite same prices, all the 4 dimsum we had. likewise all the dinners or bigger meals we had about HK$220.

c.h.e.f andy

eggplant with minced pork (1 look) HK$68

after a hot climb to see the 10,000 buddha monastery in 32degC though we were more sheltered from the scorching sun than the past 2 days, i had a sudden lost of motivation, a running out of steam.

so after lunch at LittleSheep mongkok 小肥羊旺角, we decided to ga back to royal park hotel at shatin to “recharge”. 🙂

i googled where to go for dinner & found this 富记大排档tai wai.

富记大排档tai wai

so we went on a dinner thrill (a pun on trail) to 富记大排档tai wai, just 1 stop from shatin on the east rail line 东铁线 on 5.6.2015.

have google map will travel. it would not have been possible otherwise. the “thrill” led us to a market & food centre, just like we had at HDB estates. haha! 🙂

富记大排档tai wai kitchen

the kitchen was like any of our zi char 煮炒 kitchen. 🙂

富记大排档tai wai

we took the last table. place was full. say about 7 or 8 tables.

look at the plastic sheets covering this eating place, right next to the wet market. it is exactly like a korean pojangmacha 포장마차包藏马车 (those you see in korean dramas where the girl always get drunk & got piggyback home); or the japanese yatai at fukuoka, or izakayas 居酒屋。

there were some fresh seafood displayed. i did not see the tanks, so perhaps it was not the live seafood in some of the hong kong daipaidongs like what we had at chan kun kee 陈根记 the evening before.

i read several good reviews on openrice hk, like the hand-tear chicken 手撕鸡 & steamed turbot.

we wouldn’t be able to take 1 chicken & not even 1/2 chicken if we want to try other dishes. also we just had salt baked chicken 盐焗鸡 at chan kun kee 陈根记 the evening before.

eggplant with minced pork (1 look) HK$68

i ordered the eggplant.

on the board it showed “1 look”. pronounced in cantonese this means 1 whole roll. 🙂

eggplant with minced pork (1 look) HK$68

this dish is actually nothing new. we have it in most zi char stalls here, except that they are always cut brinjals & sometimes served in claypot. this “1 look” was quite an interesting presentation that in a way showcase the interesting, not-always-traditional cooking.

it was very expensive though, HK$68 for this dish at a market stall daipaidong..haha! whatever i am happy!^^

steamed egg with minced pork HK$52

the 三式蒸蛋steamed egg with minced pork HK$52 was also a most reviewed dish. 🙂

steamed egg with minced pork HK$52

not sure where the 三式 3 styles were. the egg was quite nice, smooth, nothing special really, can do anytime at home. the sauce a bit salty, fortunately egg ok, so not ideal.

steamed egg with minced pork HK$52

& again HK$52 was very expensive for this simple dish in this kind of market stall daipaidong.

steamed turbot with 陈皮

the steamed turbot was only HK$98! ^^

steamed turbot with 陈皮

so shiok!^^

steamed turbot with 陈皮

港蒸steamed HKstyle. it was very nice, though for comparison, turbot flesh was more rough 粗 c/w grouper so it was not quite the level of the steamed grouper at we had at chan kun kee 陈根记 the evening before.

steamed turbot with 陈皮

still, it was excellent dish for HK$98. i would take it again anytime! 🙂

富记大排档tai wai

富记大排档tai wai

it was a great find for me. the thrill if the food trail!

i would not order the egg the next time, but i am ok to pay HK$68 for the eggplant. it was good even though not super & not unusual.

i would definitely try the hand-tear chicken 手撕鸡! just look at the photo of the standing chicken here, diners in plastic gloves ready to tear it apart!

dinner was HK$226 for the 3 dishes. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy