We ventured out to the New Territories with one thing on our minds – pigeon. Pigeon is apparently famous in Sha Tin. Whilst today, many other restaurants roast it better, Sha Tin is historically quite famous for it.
Sha Tin in the New Territories was once a quaint old village that ‘city folk’ used to venture to get away from the big lights – or so I am told. The Sha Tin ‘village’ today still exists, though most visitors to the area will only see the bright lights of the modern shopping centres next to the MTR.
It is in the old ‘village’ side where you will find Lung Wah Hotel. Lung Wah Hotel has been serving up roast pigeon in Sha Tin for over 40 years, and the 70s decor looks it. The restaurants menu has whole page dedicated to pigeon dishes, but what most people come for is either the Roasted Pigeon (燒乳鴿) or Soya Sauce Pigeon (鼓油皇).
The Roasted Pigeon came out first (HKD 79 each)
With the roasted pigeon, you have the option to either have this whole, or cut into quarters. We were told that it is much juicier and crispier to eat the pigeon whole as the juices are not lost through cutting into pieces. Skin was crispy yet not oily and the pigeons were huge. Plenty of meat, not at all fatty with great flavour. In particular if you ate it with the dipping sauce and salt.
We also ordered Soya Sauce Pigeon. (HKD 79 each)
This restaurant is actually more well known for the Soya Sauce pigeon, but next to the Crispy roast pigeon it just couldn’t compare. The meat was really tender, soft and well marinaded. The skin also had a great elastic texture and flavour. but it just didn’t have the juiciness or crunchy texture that the roast pigeon had. Stand alone in another restaurant, this would have been an incredible dish.
Between 5 adults we managed to devour 7 pigeons, a fried rice as well as a plate of vegetables, ending the meal with a sweet bean curd dessert. We left very full and content but in desperate need of some exercise to work off the food.
Perhaps with bird flu on the rise at the moment, it may not have been the most appropriate time to pig out on pigeon, however we were told that the HK government no longer allows the live slaughtering of birds on HK territory and these birds are actually from frozen.
Did this pigeon revolutionise my life? Not entirely, but it was finger licking good and well worth the trek to Sha Tin.
Lung Wah Hotel
22 Wo Che
Sha Tin, Hong Kong
food fight 