Battle of the beef brisket in Hong Kong

To me, beef brisket noodles (牛腩面) is one of those heart warming dishes that just hits the happy spot. There is something about tender, fatty braised beef brisket in a warming bowl of rice noodles that is just so comforting.

So who makes the best beef brisket in Hong Kong?

I visited two outlets famed for their beef brisket  – Kau Kee (九記牛腩) in Sheung Wan and Kwan Kee (群記清湯腩) in Tai Po. 

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HK’s best egg tart @ Tai Cheong Bakery

Is this Hong Kong’s most famous egg tart (蛋撻)?

Look at that smooth silky shine. DROOL!

Favoured by ex-British governor Chris Patten, Tai Cheong Bakery (泰昌餅家) makes a unique shortcrust base pastry using almond meal instead of flour.

The egg tarts are served hot which is almost torture as it takes a little bit of time to cool. And when it does cool down. Pure heaven.

Cheap eats at Tim Ho Wan, the dimsum specialists

I won’t lie. I am a sucker for hype.

Yes all that ‘cheapest Michelin star’ in the world kind of hype. Which is why I can’t believe that we have never visited Tim Ho Wan (添好運點心專門店) for a meal before.

After being advised by countless friends to be in line at the crack of dawn, we woke early, skipped breakfast and headed into Mong Kok. Here is where we made our first mistake. Apparently the Mong Kok shop closed down ages ago. Starving and scared about the wait ahead, we hailed a cab which took us to the branch at Sham Shui Po.

On arrival, we were lucky to find a pretty near empty restaurant. We overhead a regular speaking to the waitress who mentioned that due to easter and Qingming holidays, the place had not been anywhere near as busy as it had in the past. Bonus for us as lines are notoriously an hour long, even at 10am in the morning.

Soon after ordering, our char siu bao (叉燒包) arrived. One of Tim Ho Wan’s signatures, they bake their buns with a crumbly almost buttery cookie flakes on top. The topping was slightly sweet and the insides deliciously moist and succulent. Pretty wow.

Sweet tofu dessert @ Kung Wo Dou Bun Chong, Sham Shui Po

Very much inspired by this excellent Sham Shui Po ‘food crawl’ by e*ating, we followed our visit to Lau Sum Kee with a visit to Kung Wo Dou Bun Chong (公和荳品廠). This Hong Kong institution is well known for its soy bean dishes. Over 100 years old, the shop prides itself on using old school manual methods of producing their tofu and other soy bean products. Hidden behind a local street market, the shop is a basic, sharing tables type of place with no English menu (that I could decipher anyway).

The star of the show here sweet tofu (dofu fa 豆腐花) $7HKD/bowl. Served either cold or steaming hot, it is best eaten with a spoonful of brown sugar to sweeten up the dessert. 

No sooner do you yell out an order for a bowl, one is whisked out and presented in front of you. In fact ours promptly arrived no more than 15 seconds after Sam yelled out our order.

Lau Sum Kee, Sham Sui Po

Our search for Hong Kong’s best noodles, let us to Lau Sum Kee’s Noodles (劉森記麵家).These noodles are made in the traditional bamboo or jook-sing (竹昇) method which involves using a bamboo roller to press the eggs, flour and other ingredients together. According to Wiki (my source of all knowledge), it’s considered one of the most rare type of noodle in existence. Making the noodles using this method apparently gives the noodles more bounce, more QQ. Today in Hong Kong, there are very few places that continue to make noodles this way. Lau Sum Kee in Sham Sui Po is one establishment that does.

Lau Sum Kee also specialises in serving their noodles dry tossed in shrimp fish roe or har ji lo mien (蝦子撈麵). 

Roast pigeon @ Lung Wah Hotel, Sha Tin

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,