The good junk - Lan Fong Yuen

Think Chinese Nando's

Lan Fong Yuen is/was one of Hong Kong's most famous daipaidongs - I say was because it's now spawned two permanent stores*, and only a couple tables occasionally on the street. The classic green cart is still there though, complete with stools on which people used to squeeze themselves for a 3.15pm milk tea. (I don't know why exactly but 3.15pm (or "3-o'clock-3" - 3 o'clock and the long hand on the '3') was always known as afternoon tea time in HK).



Sure, their HK-style milk tea, the heart and soul of a snack-style daipaidong, is good, but not my fave - maybe a little too stringent (I like For Kee's), but what I come for is their pan-fried chicken with spring onion 'oil' on instant noodles (蔥油雞扒撈丁). The noodles are served 'dry', i.e. without soup, spaghetti-style. While I don't care much for the wax-covered instant noodles, what they do to the chicken is epic, not that I know exactly what it is that they do. My guess is that it's white thigh meat, salt-and-peppered, maybe msg'ed, flash fried in hot oil and finished off with a hefty pinchfull of spring onion (been in hot oil just enough to release flavours but not to fully cook). The result is a tender, juicy, junky, Nando's Chinese-ified chicken.

I also tried the noodles in soup one afternoon - the 'soup' just made everything soggy and diluted. Go soup-free.

Yes, those are instant noodles and frozen "vegetables" but that's beside the point

*Some people say the original shop is better, honestly, I'm not good enough to tell the difference...

Lan Fong Yuen
2 Gage St. (original with cart out front), and 4a-6 Gage St. (new)
Central
Hong Kong
+852 2544 3895


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