大榮華酒樓 - Grand Wing Wah Restaurant Wanchai HK

The old Wing Wah on the intersection of Stewart Rd and Lockhart Rd in Wanchai has recently been renovated for 2 months. During that big renovation, I painfully stopped eating my favourite BBQ pork rice by Zhoy Hing (right next to Wing Wah) because of the heavy dust.

So the name of this Wing Wah followed its headquarters in Yuen Long by adding a prefix word "grand" and on the restaurant's outside the name "enclosed village cuisine. Enclosed village is like a self-contained area with walls surrounding a number of individual living quarters" (圍村菜). I further waited for 2 weeks to give it a try. As a newly renovated place, some unavoidable dust or chemical residual in the new water pipe, better let it run for some time to clear up.

1/2. Soup of the day: Winter melon and dragon bone soup 冬瓜茨實龍骨 HK$48 (4-5 bowls). At first, when the waitress told me "dragon bone", I didn't relate it to the Chinese herbal ingredient. As it was served and with 茨實, I realised it's that Chinese herbal thing. Dragon bone is the powder of animal fossil and good for calming the nerve system or usually given to the kids for calming their sudden or unknown fear. This is quite a good combination since winter melon can offset the thick and sticky soup texture from 茨實. Quite a good learning for me to try this one at home later. My father spoke highly of 茨實 as it is so good for our organs especially 脾腎胃 (kidney/stomach) but somehow I don't like that sticky texture.

3. This is the best from Wing Wah - steamed rice on beggar's clay pot. Of course, the best is together with their roasted lard 燒豬油 - so devil! You can't just bear to get one only. At least two. I see some improvement from this steamed rice. They used to make it a bit too soft. This time is perfect - separate rice but not too hard.

4. 炸菜蕎菜炒魚崧HK$62. Don't know how to translate this veggie. It's quite close to scallion but not that strong. It's quite sweet. So when it's with the 炸菜 preserved veggie which is quite salty and a bit hot, the mix is very nice. I like the way they didn't rinse the preserved veggie too much but use less in order not to make it too salty. Wing Wah does preserve certain old time Cantonese recipes.

5. 金針雲耳蒸鷄 HK$72 (not sure if it's the dried lily buds for "golden needle (direct translation)" and black fungus steamed chicken). As noticed, it's steamed in a copper plate. Very classic way. The copper plate is good for a more even heating and good for not making the 金針 go sour. The chef is very clever in using a good amount of cornstarch to make the chicken smooth and tender. Too much would make it too thick. Too little would make it too rough in texture. The only thing I complain is that I personally prefer more 金針雲耳.