1/2 roast goose HK$230

before our hk trip, a successful banker friend who had lived in hk for several years recommended us a list of good restaurants to try. in addition to 1 michelin star tim’s kitchen 桃花源小廚, there were the chairman & cuisine cuisine etc. i looked at the web menu & prices, and they were in the realm of the stars too. 🙂 anyway i selected tim’s kitchen as though the per pax specials were really illogically expensive, there were quite a number of reasonably priced good chinese food orders.

the restaurant, located a short walk from sheung wan mtr station, was pleasant & cosy & understated. there were quite many nice chinese verses in picture frames decorating the walls.  we were quite tickled with the english translations, kind of reminded us of google translate.

as many of the 7 diners were still full from lunch & snacks, we ordered just a few dishes and fewer of the per pax expensive signature dishes.

century egg with pickled ginger

soup ingredients (腩肉，鲮鱼 & 粉葛 arrowroots)

lie tong 例汤 – HK$160

steamed minced pork with salted fish

pork ribs with bittergourd in black beans – HK$75

garlic fried hk kailan

crystal prawns HK$160

braised pomelo skin in prawn roe – HK$80×3

杏仁茶

we had a nice century egg with pickled ginger appertizer.  the 1/2 roast goose @ HK$230 (top photo) was very flavourful. however the meat was a bit tough (in teochew we say “joon”). 1 friend thought the skin was poor & not crisp. i thought it was ok though preparation & presentation-wise, not sure if it should be in a claypot & if it was covered before serving – the heat retention would steam up the goose & made the skin soft. this really should be served on an open plate & not covered or even in a claypot??

the lie tong 例汤 @ HK$160 for large  was superb & matching the standards of lei gardens. it came with very good ingredients (腩肉，鲮鱼 & 粉角 arrowroots). 🙂 another excellent dish was steamed minced pork with salted fish – this comfort food was ourite dish (along with the soup). the salted fish was superior quality. 🙂 1 more comfort food was the pork ribs with bittergourd in black beans – pork ribs were very well braised, tender & tasty. bittergourd was ok for me but too bitter for the others, more bitter than my own preparation (i soaked in sugar water) & i like it spicy (this was not). the kailan was ordinary but hk vegetables were just great – green, juicy, tasty. 🙂

we ordered just a couple of the fancy stuff.  first the crystal prawns @ HK$160pax serving. 1 friend didn’t think anything of it. it was quite ok for me, rather unique bite, presentation & sweet taste. we cut it into 7 pieces for sharing so couldn’t really tell much. the price is absolutely out for me though. next was 3 servings of braised pomelo skin in prawn roe @HK$80pax = HK$240. didn’t know pomelo skin could be eaten. this dish was unique & imaginative to me (but seems that HK-ers do this at home too). it was very well done in texture & taste & should go better with rice. not a favourite for me but don’t mind to have just 1 HK$80pax serving to share among 4pax.

last, we had 杏仁茶 (1 friend thought it was too dilute. it was not a 露or a 糊) & red bean soup. 🙂

dinner was HK$1400 for 7 so HK$200pax. of course we ordered very few dishes but we could also have substituted the expensive per pax dishes by more ordinary comfort food. overall, i quite like this place, ambience & everything, and i would come back the next time. the soup was excellent & the pomelo dish showed that they could produce high quality fine food, though at a price i was unwilling to pay. but there were the ordinary chinese comfort food at reasonable prices produced by a fine 1 michelin star kitchen.

c.h.e.f andy