After not really dining out much in the last couple months, we were again enjoying both lunch and dinner outside the comfort of our home today, for the second day in a roll! Tonight, our dinner took place at a somewhat weird location - Xiqu Centre (戲曲中心).
We were kinda hoping for a quiet dinner somewhere in Harbour City but with the shopping mall absolutely buzzing everywhere (and totally unable to find a place to eat with the long lineups), we decided to simply walk away. And good thing we did because otherwise, we won't accidentally run into Peony Garden (遊園茶記), a modern local tea restaurant in the heart of Xiqu Centre.
This place is beautifully decorated with wall paintings. We decided to take a closer look.
They've added some really nice touch here and there with the vintage wooden furniture and traditional Chinese lanterns.
We ended up sitting outside in the open area to get ourselves some fresh air. Here they have posters of presumably two of their signature dishes - coriander noodle soup and Hainanese chicken.
Iced milk tea – A nice balance of milk and tea flavors. Not a bad start.
Dong Jiang salt-baked chicken with rice (東江鹽焗雞飯) – They didn't have their signature Hainanese chicken rice on the tea menu so we gladly chose the other chicken dish instead -Dong Jiang salt-baked chicken. This was just OK. The chicken was reasonably tender but there was a fair amount of saltiness overshadowing the sweetness of the chicken a bit.
Coriander vermicelli rice noodle soup (芫荽湯牛丸墨魚丸潮州魚片湯米線) – Some of us who didn't see the poster got a scare when they saw the green colored broth.
By far the best dish of the afternoon, this came with an assortment of beef ball, squid ball, and chaozhou style fish slice but the star was obviously the intense flavor of the coriander soup. Whether you like coriander or not (I don't!), you will fall in love with the strong but irresistible soup.
Deep-fried chicken leg with French fries (生炸大雞髀薯條) – I was less than my usual adventurous self today which kinda explained why I went with this deep-fried chicken leg that was made to order. I had to wait a good 15 minutes for it to arrive and not surprisingly, it arrived with this crispy skin that was so tasty. Less successful were the homemade fries which were desperately needy of some kick-ass ketchup.
Everyone would agree that it was a little too early for dinner (4:45pm!) but following three eventful days in a roll, we were all too happy to head home early and mentally prepare for a busy week of work starting tomorrow.
Food Rating: 5/10
Price: $$$
Address: Shop 2-3, G/F, Xiqu Centre, 88 Austin Road West, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui / Austin
Tel: +852 2320-7455
Opening Hours: 11:00am - 10:00pm daily
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