20 best dishes of 2017 - Hong Kong

One of the best things I ate in Hong Kong in 2017

It's that time of year again when I scroll through my Google photos and am reminded of the ridiculous amounts of food I eat, and how fortunate I am to call it my job. I did a lot of travel this year, including pretty epic trips to Chicago and San Sebastián, and there are still a few new restaurants I've been wanting to go to but haven't. This isn't a list of new places, although I have tried to stop myself from falling back on the classics (Seventh Son's suckling pig and The Chairman's steamed crab still haven't been beat though). Here's my list of 2017's best bites in Hong Kong in alphabetical order:

Solo dining in Macau - Lai Heen

Chaolian Roast Goose at Lai Heen, Macau

I could probably survive on rice and pickles, especially if it was the sweet mui choi and rice at Lai Heen, the Chinese restaurant at the Ritz-Carlton in Macau.

Actually, I probably couldn't, because I would also want the Chaolian-style roast goose too.

But I'm getting ahead of myself...

Kin's Kitchen - Is this the future of Hong Kong's Cantonese food?

Deep-fried pigeon with Chinese leeks at Kin's Kitchen

There's a bit of a backstory to this post, which I won't get into, but suffice it to say that I was thinking about restaurants I go to more than once a year. Yes, once a year. I eat out a lot, and go to different restaurants because it's a big part of my job to eat at as many restaurants as possible, in order to find good stories, to be on the ball, to... just do my job.

Kin's Kitchen, I have been to about 6 times this year - that's almost once a month (that's more often than I write on this blog, #burn). I take out-of-towners there, I go there for my own dinners with friends and family, I go with the hyper-discerning Little Adventures crew, I go for fun. And dining out for fun does not happen for me as much as it might seem (have pity on me, LOL!).

Jade Dragon, Macau - Oh so fine

Jade Dragon signature fried rice with prawn, Sakura shrimp, conpoy and roasted goose

As part of my junket* in Macau, I got to visit Jade Dragon, City of Dreams Macau's signature Cantonese restaurant. I'd heard lots of great things about it - Tatler Top 20 and Best Dim Sum, Michelin-starred, etc. - so I was excited to try it out myself.

Legends of Cantonese cuisine - Jiang Taishi and Pearl Kong Chen

Mrs Pearl Kong Chen (third from left) at Kin's Kitchen in April this year.

A while back, I was commissioned to write a short piece on Jiang Taishi 江太史, a legendary figure in the relatively contemporary history of Cantonese cuisine. The piece was drafted and never published, and on this sad day of the passing of Jiang's granddaughter, Mrs. Pearl Kong Chen 江獻珠, a culinary figure in her own right, I was reminded to share what I learned.

Mott 32 - Not Just a Pretty Face

"Pata negra" pork, dried chilli, peanut

Maximal Concepts has been on a bit of a roll. In the past few months, they've opened Fish & Meat, Stockton and Mott 32 - the latter is the group's first foray into Chinese food. Situated deep down in the basement of the Standard Chartered Bank Building in Central, I was hoping the location's previous incarnation would have been something super sexy like a bank vault, alas, it just used to be another (less interesting) Chinese restaurant. The decor is pretty sexy though - 50s industrial meets old Shanghai, with a bit of prohibition moodiness, realised by Joyce Wang. It makes for a great cocktail bar in addition to being a serious restaurant.

Seventh Son - Cantonese Perfection

Dim sum at Seventh Son is perfection

Cantonese food is what I grew up on, and as I get older, I find myself appreciating it more and more, and having less tolerance for bad versions (am I going to end up one of those grumpy old people?).

I've been to Seventh Son about a dozen times since they opened last year, mostly for lunch (dim sum), but a few times for dinner too, and it has quickly become a firm favourite. There have been so few Chinese openings of note recently and I'm only too happy to have found a new, reliable standby.

Dynasty 8, Macau - Decent Dim Sum

Ham shui gok 鹹水角 at Dynasty 8, Conrad Macau

The title says it all. The dim sum at Dynasty 8 was decent. Out of the six things we had, one was excellent (rice paper rolls with barbecued pork), one was good (flaky chicken pastries), three were ok (har gow, ham shui gok, fried sesame balls with custard), and one was weird (soup dumplings), but ok. There's really no need to read past the jump, but if you must...

Standing Chicken, and More Cantonese Calories at I Delicious

Standing Chicken, or Gentleman's Chicken (or really, crispy skinned Chicken)

When I was shown a picture that was very similar to the one above, I said two things. 1) Where is it? and 2) When are we going? The first question was actually unnecessary because I honestly don't care if I had to be taken there blindfolded, that chicken was too cute* to miss.

Sang Kee, all things battered, fried and delicious

Deep-fried squid

When we think of Cantonese food, we often think about subtly-flavoured dishes like steamed fish, lotus leaf rice and the like, and for a split second it may seem like everything we eat is super mellow. But given our love for lard and pre-deep-frying things (走油) that wouldn't be further from the truth. And if you want to talk "dirty" Cantonese food, Sang Kee is the place. (By "dirty" I don't mean hygiene, I mean how guilty-good you feel after eating it.)

Stars for peanuts - Wing Lei, Wynn Macau

Wing Lei

We got to Macau at around lunchtime, and our first meal was here, at Wing Lei. (The second meal was dinner at Golden Flower, which I posted just before. Please see that post for an intro to why this trip was made). Wing Lei is the romanised pronunciation of Wynn's Cantonese name, and fittingly, it serves Cantonese food. If you're the star-chasing kind, you might also like to note that Wing Lei has 2 Michelin stars in the 2012 guide.

Dim summing it at Lung King Heen, Hong Kong

Siu mai - pork and shrimp dumplings with crab roe

A good friend from Melbourne was in town last week, and if I ever needed an excuse to pig out, this was it. I called about 5 days ahead to book for a weekday lunch but it wasn't good enough for the only three-Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant in the world, so I before I continue, I must disclaim that my booking for this lunch was made through the very kind public relations department, and you may make your own judgement as to how representative this is of an average meal at Lung King Heen (I'd say it pretty much is - oh sorry, what did I say about your own judgement again?!). Needless to say, this is not my usual protocol, and aside from this, we enjoyed and paid for the meal as normal diners would.

Aberdeen Wholesale Fish Market - Fresh off the Boat

Salt and pepper squid

This is from a while back - it was a pre-Chinese New Year gathering with friends old and new (mostly new*!) at the Aberdeen Wholesale Fish Market. It's has had a lot of buzz recently, as the media has suddenly "uncovered" a "hidden", "secret" eatery that is off-limits to the general public.

Celebrity Cuisine - Quintessential Cantonese Luxe

Chicken wings stuffed with birds' nest

We've all heard stories of misguided visitors looking for chop sui in Hong Kong (hey you, the guy looking for Peking duck in Hong Kong, don't you dare chuckle either), but sometimes even locals don't know where to find good, classic Cantonese food. Restaurants like Celebrity Cuisine and Manor are the last bastions of traditional Cantonese fare in Hong Kong. This is one restaurant that the Hong Kong Michelin Guide was finally right about - Celebrity Cuisine is a star-worthy restaurant (although whether it should have 2 stars is arguable). For a restaurant that specialises in the traditional, it's relatively new - didn't open till 2007 - but the chef, Cheng Kam-fu, has been in the biz for more than two decades; he was the private chef of late Hong Kong tycoon, Lim Por-yen.

Aunt Or Private Kitchen (Ngoh Je) - Ngoh, Ngor, Or...

Deep fried shrimp toasts

Private kitchens (think speakeasies for food) have been "in vogue" for a while. Some attribute its rise to the financial crisis of 1997 when Asia was in a craphole and a lot of people got fired from their jobs. It would appear that a lot of these people wanted to cook, and to sell their cooking, because private kitchens sprung and spread as quickly as mould in a Hong Kong summer.

Kin's Kitchen - Hong Kong Cantonese

Smoked Chicken

This was from back in April (I know, I know), but it's worth writing about because they do a nice mix of Hong Kong-style Canto home cooking (in that there are a few "fusion" dishes) and traditional restaurant fare that's a bit hard to find nowadays. It's also worth noting that the owner of Kin's Kitchen is also the owner and founder of Hong Kong's first private kitchen, Yellow Door. While I found the food at Yellow Door (Sichuanese) decent but underwhelming, I feel much better about the food at Kin's. I feel like they have more intimate knowledge about what they're cooking. Plus, you can make bookings for smaller parties as it's just an upscale-ish neightbourhood restaurant.

Best Chicken I've Ever Had - Chicken Village (Ji Cun) Panyu

Ji Cun's signature "crystal chicken"

I'd been here once before, two years ago, and in my mind, no chicken has topped this. Seriously, sometimes I wake up at night thinking about Ji Cun's "crystal chicken".

Coo-coo for Claypot Rice - Choi's Kitchen (See Fong Choi)

Eel claypot rice

It's probably the wrong time to post about claypot rice as we're diving headfirst into Hong Kong's hottest months. But I don't want to have to wait another half a year to post this! Besides, claypot rice this good is worth a little sweat (and I'm pretty sure that despite looking like a neater daipaidong, they have aircon).

Fifty eaters in one room - Dynasty

Those claws enticing much? Well, the invitation to this dinner at Dynasty was, because a.) it's one of those fine Cantonese "classics" I hadn't been to, and b.) I hadn't been to any of the famous foodie meetup dinners organised by KC Gourmet before. There would be about 50 foodies in one room. Whoah.

These were the wines on our table. (Don't judge!) You can read Diary of a Growing Boy's notes about them, but may I point out the first bottle on the right - it's Chateau Dynasty, courtesy of Growing Boy, fitting for our dinner at the eponymous restaurant (but no, the winery and restaurant aren't related). It's a Michelin 1*, whatever that means in HK (as I've said too many times).

Chop to it - For Kee

Nostalgic eating

For Kee is a family business nestled in one of my favourite neighbourhoods, among miniature temples, funeral homes and coffin makers (and increasingly, galleries and arty shops). It was opened by a man who was a Chinese medicine practitioner - in fact, his certificate is still displayed at the back of the shop (under the specials whiteboard). He opened the For Kee to give people a healthier alternative to msg-laden fast food and the gloopy sauces every other cha chaan teng around town was serving. But he clearly has a thing for pork chop - I've never been able to ask him (or the other staff, most of whom are family) why, because they're always so busy, but I suppose it's not so surprising given the Cantonese obsession with all things porcine.