It’s been more than a year since The Four Scholars (四大才子) met up for a gathering. One of the main reasons was that we had a missing leg in Nik who moved to Manchester late last year. But he’s back in town for a month with his newborn son and of course, we didn’t hesitate to organize a “wash dust” dinner for him.
J picked the venue again tonight and it was a restaurant that I wasn’t familiar with – Wah Yuen Chiuchow Cuisine (華苑潮州閣) in Tsim Sha Tsui. I was however familiar with this building that housed this dinner venue of ours. It used to be home to one of the longest-standing Spaghetti House in the city. In fact, I had lunch there a few times when I was still studying in Canada some 20 years ago (and returned to HK for the summer). It survived through SARS and the economic crisis but unfortunately not COVID-19.
Deep-fried squid with salt and pepper (椒鹽魷魚) – While we waited for Nik to arrive, we ordered this crowd pleaser as a snack. This was pretty tasty with a nice, thin batter and just the right amount of salt and pepper without going over the top.
Marinated goose meat (正宗滷水鵝片) – Nik finally arrived after feeding his son and he’s been complaining about the food quality back in Manchester, especially the Chinese food. I bet he was happy to see this dish.
This actually came with marinated tofu, egg, pork intestines (豬大腸) and pork belly. Always a must when we have Chiuchow food.
Deep-fried Puning tofu (普寧豆腐) – The crust was surprisingly not that crispy which was a bit of a letdown.
Deep-fried shrimp and crab meat dumpling (酥炸蝦棗拼蟹棗) – Honestly, I had trouble telling between the shrimp dumplings and crab meat dumplings but not that it mattered. It’s always nice to have delicate shrimp mousse/crab meat covered under a crispy exterior. They meshed so well with the honey sauce.
Stir-fried with chives and dried shrimp (華苑小炒皇) – We were all saying that any good restaurant should have a nice 小炒皇. It’s a sign of how good the kitchen (or chefs) really is. And this was easily the best dish of the evening in my opinion.
They have a very busy dish here with a ton of ingredients on top of the usual suspect of chives and dried shrimp, including cashews, shrimps, mushrooms, squid and red pepper. Very nice wok hei (有鑊氣) and everyone just seemed to enjoy it a lot.
Baked pork ribs with bitter melon (涼瓜排骨煲) – Not sure if this was meant to be a soup or not. The bitter melon was very very tender.
Green bean in sweet soup (清心丸綠豆爽) – J always seems to know a few people here and there, so it was no surprise to all of us that he also knows the owner here. This led to our complimentary dessert, green bean sweet soup in Chiuchow style. I like the large chunk of gelatin floating on top. It’s so Japanese!
It was sad to see Nik leave but I promised him that I’d find a chance to come and visit him in Manchester in 2024/25. Hopefully, I can keep that promise.
Food Rating: 6/10
Price: $$$
Address: 2/F, Metropole Building, 57 Peking Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852 2114-0889
Opening Hours: 11:30am - 12:00am daily
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