Soup, all day every day in Sai Wan district

I have put this restaurant on my list of regular spots solely for one reason, soup.  They are the only restaurant to have a constant and ample supply of soup throughout the whole day.  In speaking with the owners, they start the soup making process everyday at 8am in two batches.  One batch for the wonton noodle soup and the other for the soup of the day.  Zero msg, pork and chicken bones and lots of vegetables.  It’s simple and easy to make but the difference will be the devotion to the time.  They start the fire at 8am and brew throughout the day, by lunch the soup will have all the flavour one would expect and by dinner everything will have melted into the soup.  The soup is the best during and after dinner when everything melts in your mouth.  There are no more veggies to be eaten as all the nutrients have leached into the soup.

The restaurant is located on Centre Street inbetween Des Voeux Road West and Queens Road West in Sai Ying Pun District.  If you’re trendy, you would fancy the restaurants on Centre Street and Third Street (3 blocks up the hill from this establishment), home to the likes of Jaspas, Metropolitan and other non-local joints.  Centre Street inbetween Des Voeux Road and Queens Road West is block devoted to all things food.

Each bowl of their daily soup is $5

Another batch

As they make soup the proper way, their congee is made in similar fashion – Time.  End of the day batch, look at the overall cleanliness of the counter.

They make a HK style club sandwhich with more meat that you can imagine, $28.  3 slices of bread, scrambled egg, hot dog, spam, corn beef and tomato.

One of their niches is their take on Shanghai cuisine for the HK clientele.  Shanghai noodles in a peanut spicy sauce and wontons.  It lacks the spice one expects for Northern China cuisine but it allows one to taste the peanut sauce.  The noodles arrived in soup vs. authentic version where the noodles arrive with very little soup. $30

Lunch specials revolve around 6 menu items that change daily.  They had two different varieties of fish on the menu so we ordered both – steamed $36 and fried $34.

No meal would be complete without dessert.  As I get older I have found sugar makes me feel good.  The more sugar I eat the better I feel.  It might be time go forgo the workouts and the adrenaline rush to get my high through ingesting.  Tofu dessert $10

Michelin Star Restaurant – Sang Kee in Wanchai

Hong Kong has the Michelin Dining Guide.   If you plan to eat Michelin quality food in Hong Kong, please eat Michelin quality Chinese food.  There’s no need to eat Michelin quality French, Italian, Greek (*insert any other nationality) food in HK as it will never measure up to the authenticity of food available back home.  Sang Kee was awarded a michelin star and they can be found in the guide book.  The restaurant is located in Wan Chai off ground level.  You would not know about this place unless you search for it.  It’s traditional in the sense the restaurant has been plying its trade for many years and recently received the accolades.  The waiters are older gentlemen to which I would assume are now family.  If you take away the table cloth, dining in this restaurant would be similar to home style cooking.  The prices are not extravagant if you are use to NA standards.  I ordered the following menu items and would recommend it to others:

The daily soup, $100hkd for a pot big enough to feed all the diners at the table.  Soup was good.

Fried squid, this is one of their signature dishes which most tables will order.  It’s tiny.  I could not get over the fact the portion was a small pittance.  It would have been better to serve the contents in a smaller dish.  Don’t bother ordering fried squid at chinese restaurants, everyone will tell you they excel at it.  It was not greasy but it lacked the crunch that normally follows fried foods.  The oil was fresh for this batch as the colour of the squid will show.  Dish price $100.

Lotus Root cakes.  One of their signature dishes.  Restaurants that charge a higher price, similar price points to Sang Kee will actually use lotus roots in the cake.  Sang Kee’s lotus root cakes use a combination of minced pork and fish paste.  The highlight being they taste good and each bite having the lotus root crunch.  Dish price $100

Nothing too special about a dish of veggies with minced pork over top.  We needed a veggie dish.  Dish price $80

dessert – free.  It’s a rice pudding with alcohol.

My first michelin star fine dining restaurant in the cantonese tradition.  The total bill came to $400 for two people.  Not bad at all.  With all chinese food, it’s best to go with a large party so you get to sample more signature dishes.  They had about 8-10 signature dishes which I would assume they do in the most traditional fashion without cutting corners.  It’s fine dining inside a non-descript building off ground level.  Book in advance if you want an opportune time.

This post is an outlier, I do not intend to review Michelin star restaurants for the blog as Michelin guide already guarantees high quality food.  My goal is to find restaurants with high quality food outside the Michelin guide.

Directions to this restaurant:

From the outdoor soccer field at the Wanchai sports center would be the perfect landmark to set your bearing.

turn right after crossing the street.

walk past the circle K and look for the sign.

Walk through this door and take the stairs/elevator to the first floor.