In Hong Kong, restaurants rise as quickly as they disappear. With vast number of competitors, you really have to be good at something to capture the stomach of Hong Kongers. While I liked exploring new hot dining spots, some had withstood the challenge of time and prompted me to make obedient return visits year after year. One of such places was 泉章居!
Briefly mentioned in an entry last year, I think it deserved a more thorough write-up! With multi-storey outlets on both islands (Causeway Bay, HK and Mong Kok, Kowloon), 泉章居 is a 30 years household name, serving Hakka dishes with a homely touch. There might be plenty of seats, but you still have to wait up to an hour on weekend peak hours!
Deep fried Pork Intestine
While this could be easily found alongside street snacks, I would say they did a much cleaner job here by removing most, if not all of the porky stench. Served with sweet sauce, it was delightfully crispy on the outside, moist and chewy on the inside. Have a piece of juicy cucumber to keep the taste refreshed!
Winter Melon Soup
Hollowing out the insides, the clear broth was served whole in a huge winter melon with diced ingredients like winter melon, dried scallops, asparagus and roast duck. With very good 火候 (control of fire, literally), it was the kind of unassuming soup that was simple, heart-warming and definitely delicious. Not exaggerating to say that 9 out of 10 tables ordered this!
Salt Baked Chicken, Braised Pork with Perserved Vegetables
While chicken has rarely been my choice of meat, its a different story here all together. Just look at that gleaming yellow skin and you could imagine how succelent the meat would be. Served with a thick, grainy ginger sauce called 沙姜, this signature dish was half the reason why I kept coming back!
And the other half? That would be its enticing braised pork! Initailly deep-fried to force out abundant oil, it would be steamed later in bowls (thus explaining its serving shape) together with preserved vegetables. Lean meat was tender and flavourful, while the remaining fats were less sinful and easier to stomach. Bring me a tub of rice to go with these!
Bill for three was in the HKD400 range, mainly because of the soup which should be enough to feed double the number of people! Dish varieties might be back-to-basic but with skilled quality and heartfelt homecook style, it always deserves a dinner spot in my stomach when going back!
泉章居
Mong Kok:
旺角奶路臣街33号依利大厦2楼及地下E号铺
Tel: 2396 0672
Causeway Bay:
铜锣湾轩诗道489号铜锣湾广场一期7-8楼
Tel: 2577 3833
Taken with Nikon D70 and Sony T70
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