Our elder generations often used lard and chicken oil for cooking. At that time, they got much physical, e.g. walking for a long distance, sweating and cleaning by themselves...etc. So those lard and chicken oil shouldn't be a problem if you have a lot of exercises. In time our bodies get less physical and we are now talking about fat free or low sugar/salt...etc.
Yuen Long Wing Wah restaurant has been renowned for their "country style" dishes and the "beggar's clay pot" steamed rice with lard from roast pig (*remark: this is not the common lard we take from the pork fat. it's the fat oil dropped from a pig being roasted, as 燒豬油. If you go to Yuen Long Wing Wah, you need to get there by 5pm regardless of an advance booking. Otherwise, you need to wait in line from 3rd floor to the ground floor or even on a long queue in the street. However, I would choose a less crowded Wing Wah in Wanchai. Though the food may not be the same, but if you want that roasted lard, this one is also a good choice.
1. See how good they take care of this steamed rice and they would steam it to your order; so fresh and aromatic. Even though you don't take the roasted lard, it's still good. OK, the right bottle is the roasted lard. The left one is the first drained soy sauce. It was told that the soy sauce we normally get is the 2nd drained soy sauce with added salt. This first drained soy sauce is indeed so tasty and good with steamed rice. So at HK$8, you can get this from Wing Wah!
Every time I take this one, it reminds me of my mother. On my birthday of 6, suddenly a bowl of steamed rice, some lard and soy sauce on it. Further on it's a whole chicken thigh. At that time chicken is a very expensive food; so a chicken thigh is like a magic in my eyes. Then further on I saw a nice warm smile from a beautiful lady with a word "you are growing one more year. take it". Though there is no happy birthday word, it meant so much to me and that's the last bowl of rice together with a nice warm smile. Anyone who cooks rice wrongly would be like an insult to me. 2. Chicken in sweet soy sauce (圍頭雞) HK$52. I think in the old time when they used free range chicken, it would be better. To keep the price at a low-mid. price, they can't use free range chicken. So we shouldn't complain too much on the chicken taste. Anyway, the sweet soy sauce is pretty nice.
3. deep fried prawns on udon in cheese sauce - quite disappointing. They shouldn't make cheese sauce if they are not good at it. Besides, this is not the lobster on E-Fu noodle - can't be a reference for adaptation. 4. fish patty on lettuce. Wing Wah should stick on their original country style food, like this one. The fish patty is pretty nice and together with deep fried garlic, the lettuce absorbed both.
3. deep fried prawns on udon in cheese sauce - quite disappointing. They shouldn't make cheese sauce if they are not good at it. Besides, this is not the lobster on E-Fu noodle - can't be a reference for adaptation. 4. fish patty on lettuce. Wing Wah should stick on their original country style food, like this one. The fish patty is pretty nice and together with deep fried garlic, the lettuce absorbed both.
7 comments:
Wow! Nostalgic Country food in the heart of the city. What a gem. I guess I have been fed the wrong food in HK. It is such a big place and only a knowledgeable person like you can point out the gems. When I was there I just got lost in a maze of nook and crannies, glitzy malls and alluring hotels, which served very expensive and just so so food! Thanks for all the tips!
To be honest, all your posts and picture of Mongkok, Shamshuipo, etc reminded me of something. Hong Kong did look like a big sprawling Chinatwown to me when I was there the first time, and the addictive TVB movies my mum used to love just leapt out from the TV screen and became alive. Now your post has made me miss Hong Kong! Ha Ha! So many places to go, so little time!
1) The lard here looks good with a bowl of fresh steamed rice.
Who said good food needs to be expensive?
2) I can sense the unforgettable moment when you received that bowl of "warm" rice with lard and chicken thigh handed from your mom, and also the subtle birthday greeting from her. This was touching.
3) Paranoid, if we go to HK we shall consult Mr Sea where to get good, delicious and nostalgic local HK food.
Wow, Wing Wah has many good food. 元朗烏頭, 砵仔蒸魚腸
馬拉糕, 一定要試.
Hi Android, there are still some nice local style restaurants (but quite crowded, congested, noisy). I was often thinking of trying Kuen Fat in Shaukiwan. There were several times I brought my friends from Taipei, Tokyo and Singapore to that special restaurant. Shaukiwan was a fishing village in the eastern part of Hong Kong; so quite a no. of dishes are quite native HK style as HK used to be a fishing village. However, going to that restaurant is like going to Wing Wah Yuen Long. I need to get there by 5 or 5:30pm. Then on the same street, there are several famous fish ball noodle shops called On Lee. On Lee was a street stall selling fish balls in Shaukiwan almost 30-40 years ago. As fishermen know the way to making good fish balls, so many people go there for just a fish ball noodle soup. OK, I'll try to go there once for a brief report. FYI, Shaukiwan is where I grew up and I saw the changes. Now that there are lots of interesting local good in renaissance. However, I have a list of places to check, e.g. Kitchen by W Hotel in West Kowloon, California of JW Marriott, Blue Bar of Four Seasons, Cova at Lee Gardens.... Please stay tuned. :)
SS, yes, just a simple bread at HK$3 is already good to me.
To Anonymous, those are very famous dishes in Wing Wah. The Ma Lai cake is superb. They used chicken grease for that and I think it's one of the fews who still practise this.
BTW, forgot telling you there are a few restaurants in Lamma Island. They use wood fire to stir fry veggie and other dishes. So nice and their veggie seems to be locally grown - it is much too different from the veggie I tried in the city.
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