Hi Group,
Just writing in to share some ideas of a place I visited last evening
in busy busy Mong Kok. MK can be very daunting to the tourist and is,
perhaps not the first area one would associate with good food, but in
recent years a lot of established restaurants have opened branches
here, especially with the onset of Langham Place - a 20 or so storey
high mall with one of the tallest atriums to be found anywhere. The
restaurant I visited is just off LP and is part of the Lei Group and is
one of 6 restaurants occupying the entire basement level. The Lei
Group is affectionally nicknamed the ****aolin Temple of the F&B world -
and for those non Kung Fu movie watching brigade, it's meant as praise
that the staff are trained to the highest standard for their level.
Each of their 6 restaurants here follow a different theme and the one I
chose was the 'North & South' - a quaint little 100 or so seater
fa****oned like an inn of the 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' era. The
staff are dressed in smart silk 'Mui Tsai' tunics and - having
graduated from ****aolin Temple - service was above the norm. The menu
comprises of dishes from both the northern and southern provinces and
is in keeping with the modern trend of not making things too heavy -
and some with surprising touches I've not seen before. The side dish
of chilled jelly fish was dressed with a layer of caramelised roast
chicken skin which gave an unusual, but complimentary twist to a tried
and tested dish. We then had a dish entitled 'Fly (as in the
bluebottle variety) Head' which came up as chopped ****k, minute diced
water chestnuts and 'Goh Choi' Chinese Chive cabbage/leaves saut=E9ed
with a savoury barbecue paste. The overall effect of this presentation
was like a close up shot - if one can imagine - of a, well,
fly's head, or at least the eye part. Next on the list was a
wonderfully fresh, steamed Grouper -the menu read live and swimming.
My favourite of all though, was the Hakka dish of "Pig cheeks with
shrimp paste". This is one of those dishes which you either love it
or hate it. I've cooked this lots of times before with belly ****k,
but the cheeks gave it the dish more substance and less greasiness.
For those who've not tried pigs cheeks before, it's rather like
****k belly; layers of less fatty muscle, interspersed with gelatinous
collagen. The shrimp paste is just like a wet version of Belacan -
fermented salted prawns ground up into a soft paste. This is spread on
the sliced ****k and steamed. If not for the air conditioning they have
in the dining rooms, then I'm sure more heads would turn when this is
delivered from the kitchen doors.
This is a restaurant serving up tried and tested dishes which we all,
at some time, grew up with. And the prices aren't bad either. Oh
and one more thing, a lot of HK restaurants make you take a numbered
ticket whilst you're queuing for the table - so you are in effect
just the number, here it's properly done - they take your name
instead.=20
Happy cooking (and eating)
Chef!
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