HK Special - Private Kitchen 'Da Ping Huo'

Private kitchen dining is one of Hong Kong's best kept secret for years until the rave review and excessive promotion from movies and bloggers unconcealed the covert dining secret. Private kitchens that were only known among old customers are now being published as a list on websites and I chose the fiery Szechuan private dining which is also on Michelin Bob Gourmet list  - Da Ping Huo (大平伙), which literally means everyone, regardless status, sit and dine together. 

Owner Wang Hai (an artist / painter) and wife Wong Siu King (chef / Chinese opera singer) moved to Hong Kong in 1980s and every Saturday night, they invited friends over for traditional Szechuan home cooking. Eventually more & more guests were coming that they simply have to add tables and extend the 'serving hours'. Now, a spacious basement for approximately 30 people is open for dinner, two sessions each night (6.30pm & 9pm), fixed 12 course menu and only accept cash payment (actually payment has to be made up front but they made exception for tourists like me), drinks at extra costs.

Even though I know exactly which street to go to, it still took some minutes to find the 'hole in a wall' entrance. The door was not open 10minutes before the serving time (of course, they need time to clean off the previous session) which makes it a bit difficult to spot the house number ;)

While we still have some minutes before the dinner is ready, the kind waiter took a couple of pictures of the two far travelling hungry tourists. Our 9pm session was out-ratio by foreigners (Expats in Hong Kong), 6 locals and 15 foreigners (me included, of course). We were sharing table with an expat and his visiting girlfriend from US, lovely couple. Oh, and we were definitely the most 'under-dress' people in the whole restaurant :p

Before serving, Mr.Wang explained to us that the dishes will be served with spicy & non-spicy Szechuan food alternately to revive the taste bud if the spiciness is a bit over the top. And if the fiery hot dishes are not spicy enough for our taste, they can always 'level up' the spiciness :) Soon we were serve with 2 appetizers:- chilled julienne pickled cucumber 糖醋香瓜 and spicy Szechuan salad 凉拌三丝.

chilled julienne pickled cucumber 糖醋香瓜

 spicy Szechuan salad 凉拌三丝

Just when we thought we can well handle the spiciness, came spicy bean sheets with soy nuts and spring onion 酸辣粉皮. The translucent bean sheet (sort of glass noodle texture, more chewy) is slightly chilled, soaked up the delicious sauce, very spicy but the cold noodle brings out the contrast of the spiciness topped with the crunchiness of the nuts and a bit of the 'stinginess' of spring onion, definitely one of my favourite dish.

spicy bean sheets with soy nuts and spring onion 酸辣粉皮

After washing the spicy/non-spicy starters down with some sweet sugar cane juice, up next is the famous 'Mouth Watering Chicken 口水雞' - braised chicken in Szechuan spices and chilli oil topped with sesame seed and peanut. The chicken is served traditionally cold with skin on and bone in. Texture of the chicken is really smooth and the sauce is wonderfully seasoned, well balanced spiced and really mouth-watering :) Mr.T's 'chopstick' skill that night is not perfect when he dropped a chicken piece and splashed my t-shirt with chilli sauces!!!

braised chicken in Szechuan spices and chilli oil 口水鸡

To sooth our gradually numbing tongue, we were then served with a non-spicy mushroom white cabbage and minced chicken soup 雞豆花. I find the taste a bit too subtle compare to the strong spicy dishes we had before, which is intentional but not one of my favourite.

mushroom white cabbage and minced chicken soup 雞豆花

Keeping up with the alternating balance in dishes, stewed beef brisket in spicy gravy 水煮牛肉 was served. We were warned by the owner that this dish is super spicy and that he has extra rice and water standby for top-up if we find the dish too spicy. I actually think the bean sheet & the smooth chicken were much spicier than this in a different way (unless one bites into one of those chilli pepper in the beef dish, then it's a different story :p). The beef is braised to perfect tenderness and the gravy was irresistibly delicious than I was drinking it straight from the bowl. The owner was really impressed with the spiciness tolerance, but hey, I'm a Malaysian, we can eat spicy food :D

stewed beef brisket in spicy gravy 水煮牛肉

While I'm busy enjoying the beef, Mr.Wang served us the Szechuan spices marinated prawn 川味泡椒蝦. I don't find it memorably in any way especially when served together with the beef brisket. And the prawn shells are tricky when we're only given chopstick. I can't even be sure if it's supposed to be spicy or not, too bad.

 Szechuan spices marinated prawn 川味泡椒蝦

Steam sticky rice with pork rib and pumpkin 粉蒸南瓜排骨 is up next, giving us some rest from the spicy dishes. The pumpkin was a really nice touch but I found some small bone pieces in the sticky rice, not a very pleasant experience when it nearly broke my tooth and the taste was just so-so.

After a sort break for the tongue, classic Szechuan dish, tofu in spicy chilli sauce - Mapo tofu 麻婆豆腐 was served. At this point, I change my comment about the bean sheet or chicken being the spiciest because the tofu just blow my tongue away. It is so out of the world spicy and when you thought your tongue is too numbed to taste anything, the wonderful flavours of the sauce well soaked into tofu creeps back to your mouth. Eating this dish is like taking drug. Suicidally spicy and yet I can't stop eating it. The minute I put down my chopstick, my mind is savouring the taste, commanding my hand to pick up the next tofu again...

Mapo tofu 麻婆豆腐

Mr.Wang then served us a soothing vegetable soup 蔬菜汤 (I stopped him from clearing the tofu away) and immediately after bringing my tongue back to life, I resume eating the remaining tofu even though my stomach is screaming to explode. The soup was yet another not so memorably taste ones but it comes at the right time to temper the palate :)

vegetable soup 蔬菜汤

Just when I thought we're going for dessert (I lost count of the dishes at some point), two home made dumpling in spicy sauce 成都水饺 was served in a small bowl. The dumplings had thicker skins than Shanghai's dumplings, hence preserving the subtle taste of seasoned minced pork inside while contrasting the spicy dressing outside. I never like thick skin dumpling, but I like this.

dumpling in spicy sauce 成都水饺

Dessert is a Da Ping Huo special - varied textures of sweetened beancurd with white fingus, atapchi (palm seed), water chestnut and Chinese pear 马蹄雪耳香梨豆花, slightly on the sweet side but oh so refreshing. It might not fit everyone's taste for its slightly slimy texture but I could easily eat a few more bowls if I'm not already too full to even breath. While working through the wonderful dessert, the couple (owner, of course) appears at the table and invites guests to stick around for one final hospitality.

Da Ping Huo special dessert

Being a former Chinese opera singer, our chef of the night presented us a high pitch Szechuan classical opera song. I was surprise to hear so much power and volume from a small size lady like our lady chef here, the voice echoes the basement for quite sometime. Not exactly my cup of tea but I highly appreciate the sincerity and effort.

Dining at a private kitchen is a highly recommended must try experience. Not knowing the menu up front might not pleased some with special dietary but definitely brings out the element of surprise and anticipation, and in some way, 'spiced-up' the dinner. The serving portion in Da Ping Huo is generous, so if you're going there, don't eat anything up to 4 hours before and enjoy ;)

Da Ping Huo (map)
L/G 49 Hollywood Rd.
Central, Hong Kong
+852 2559 1317

Hong Kong - 3

A trip to Hong Kong will not be complete without a dim sum treat. On the third day of this trip, we took the tram (I've developed a serious fond for the tram by now) from our hotel to Central again for a quest to search for the authentic dim sum restaurant - Luk Yu Restaurant.

Hong Kong dim sum place is known for its packed crowd and patrons needs to posses skill to spot potentially leaving customers to secure a seat and to put on the invisible wall to shield you & your company from the rest of the strangers who are sharing the same table while in the mean time trying your best grabbing skill to grab one or two of the freshly make dim sum from kitchen yourself.

I find the busy, loud and fast moving environment in Hong Kong a bit intimidating and are really not keen on having a pushy dim sum experience, hence chosen Luk Yu Tea House, known as one of the best tea house in Hong Kong. It's featured in quite a lot Hong Kong movies and a business man was shot to death at point-blank range in 2002 by a hired gunman while having breakfast in Luk Yu!!!

The dim sum comes at very slow pace, basically you have to stick your neck out to see one of the serving ladies with traditional tray walking down the stairs to check on what's freshly made from the kitchen. They'll usually yell out the dish name but if Cantonese is not your strong field, then place order with the waiter serving tea. He'll deliver your order to table when it's available.

We had 5 different dim sum: deep fried, braised, steam and the bun. I'm so disappointed to find such famed tea house to produce dim sum at a quality that's worse than a lot of Penang's local dim sum (or the ones in Copenhagen); and they cost at least 30% more expensive than the one-star Michelin dim sum restaurant - Tim Hou Wan. The restaurant environment is nice but I'd definitely advice against going there for a dim sum experience unless you're only interested in the architecture and willing settle the rest for it.

Finishing dim sum, we took a long ride to visit the Big Buddha on Lantau island. Super long ticket queue (we didn't make reservation up front, mistake, mistake) and a 25 minutes cable car ride brings us to the foot of the Buddha where an artificial Chinese village is built to cater for tourists' eating, drinking & shopping demand. 

Massive queue

Forget if you should look left or right? not a problem in HK.

The Buddha statue is magnificent but that's about it. Not that the tourist village is not nice, in fact, there're some personnels scattered around the village helping tourist with info or photo taking, which I find very nice. Nevertheless, I'd rather have the feeling of venturing into a world of tranquillity with a big Buddha and a quiet temple than walking into a hustle bustle tourist oriented souvenir town.

On our way down from the hill top, we were seated in a cable car with 4 other Hong Kong women who were talking about their travelling trips to various places in China. 25minutes is a long time and we soon become interesting subject when they ran out of topic...I ended up engaging in a conversation with them, nice aunties, just a bit too chatty. We almost ran off the cable car when it finally reach the terminal :s

Noticed a lot of shoppers in Hong Kong who are spending big money are from mainland China. Expensive watch, designer cloths, famous brands / outlets, where do all the money come from? ;) Bought some shirts, went back to hotel for a rest and awaits the night where we will experience for the first time, Hong Kong's unique private kitchen dining. Next blog!

Yung Kee Restaurant 香港鏞記酒家

Months before I started my Hong Kong trip, I've been browsing Open Rice for restaurant reviews and checking out the Hong Kong Michelin guide. A restaurant stood out amongst others for its consistency in high quality roast goose and also bears a Michelin star - Yung Kee Restaurant 香港镛记酒家.

Yung Kee restaurant

Yung Kee's roast / braised poultry on display shelf

This 4-storey restaurant which is located in the busy central area, even on weekday, can only cater for the two of us after 9pm for dinner. We were directed to the third floor. According to the local reviews, the higher the floor, the better the service, not sure how true that is. The golden shimmering decorations are not really my cup of tea but that's not why I'm in Yung Kee :)

Tea for two at HKD22 per person, a bit pricy for Hong Kong, but then again, for a Michelin, that's probably about right. It certainly cost much more in Copenhagen than in YungKee, perhaps I should be thankful (or not) that Copenhagen's high living standard trains me to be numb with high price ;)

Everyone, I mean EVERYONE, who reviewed the restaurant recommended the runny yolk century egg 皮蛋酸姜, I just have to try it. A single portion is only half an egg, but cost HKD8.50. The egg is good but the real magic is the combination with the pickle ginger. Never thought a century egg can bring so much sensation to taste bud, definitely worth eating even if it's twice the price.

Filled restaurant at 9.30pm on a weekday

I slowly studied the menu (the waiter had to come back for the third time to get my order), picked the 3 most desired dish out of the hundreds that I'd like to try:- signature roast goose (regular portion) 金牌燒鵝 , pak choy with braised enoki mushroom & deep fried eel with brown sauce 燒汁爆鱔球.

Roast goose, HKD140 for normal portion

Roast goose from another angle

To be honest, I think 3 dishes is a bit too much for the two of us, but I just can't stop eating. The roast goose is extremely tender, juicy and so flavourful that one bite will trigger the desire for more. The goose is a bit on the fat side but that's what make it taste so good, imagine the goose roasting in its on fat, yumm...

Bak choy with braised enoki mushroom, HKD88

Deep fried eel with brown sauce, HKD128

The vegetable dish was served next; mild yet flavourful and compliments the roast goose very well. As we thought this Cantonese culinary experience can't go any further, an absolutely unforgettable deep fried eel with brown sauce was served. Eel is definitely fresh, even when deep fried, the rich creamy texture didn't degrade. Glazed with special brown sauce (definitely with some sugar in it), served on a bed of spring onion, onion and chilli shreds, I can eat this dish everyday!

The only downside with this restaurant is their air-conditioning; there's certainly no worry about getting too warm in there and it's so strong that food gets cold at a faster rate than usual. Lucky for them, the food taste good even when they're no longer warm. As we dig our heads through the wonderful dishes, we found gem under the roast goose - a bed of braised peanut and the juice that the peanuts soaked in made them taste so wonderful.

smug look of Mr.T

I missed my third chopstick pick of peanut. Mr.T laughed at me and demonstrated his chopstick talent in picking up the peanuts successfully five times consecutively. For the next few hours, he's been soaked in the happiness of beating me in chopstick skill and displaying this smug look :s

Hong Kong - 2

Never very good at being an 'early bird' tourist, I woke up at around 10am on my second day in Hong Kong. Since there's no time constraint, we decided to take the double decker tram. For a mere HKD2 regardless distance, it's definitely a must try experience. Cruising through the busy city on a nearly 130years old track in one of the individually colourful decorated (with advertisement) tram body, enjoying the breeze, feels very relax compare to taking MTR.

Ding-ding

I enjoyed the ding-ding ride very much, gives a very good view of HK's daily life while cruising through the busy streets. The only disadvantage is that there's no notification on which stop the tram stops, so it's all up to your own building recognition skill ;) Then again, the tram stops are very close to one another (hence the long tram ride) at about 250m interval. Missed one? no problem, just walk a bit.

What can be done when there's no customer? cutting vegetable, apparently :s

Stopped somewhere in central, good thing about HK, the streets are never too long or too difficult to find (unlike Macau) if you have a map. Walking the small steps up Pottinger street with small stalls on both sides and seeing a couple's pre-wedding photo shoot, makes me feel like I'm living the life of TVB drama series character's. 

Arriving at Tsui Wah, loud, bold, wildly popular and perhaps Hong Kong's busiest quick service chain restaurant to try its famous food and also blend into the local dining scene. Were there slightly before lunch, but the restaurant is already starting to fill up. Quick menu browsing, quick order, quick serving and I had a very nice bowl of rice noodle with special made fish ball & fish cake (潮州魚蛋片頭米粉), tasted their famous silky milk tea and the butter condensed milk toast bun (奶油豬仔包). 

It didn't take long before we were requested to share our small table with 2 more diners during peak lunch hour. It's interesting when one can totally understand the conversation of the other party yet behave like they absolutely didn't exist. I think it's a skill developed over long time of table sharing culture. Well, at least it's an efficient way of utilizing the restaurant's free seats and reducing patrons waiting time by sacrificing 'just a little' privacy ;) We then move on to our wonderful walking tour suggested by HK Tourism Board with a little adjustment.

a small park with little green, very art nouveau

Passing through the busy business district, we took the mid-level escalators up to Staunton Street and the SoHo district. Watch out for one of the MTR discount counter, simply scan your Octopus card and get a HKD2 instant rebate when you take your next MTR ride. The ride offers excellent view of buildings alongside and any time you wish, just jump off one of the side street to experience some local food stall or watch some local trade being carried out.

Central-Mid level escalator

Walking down Hollywood street and trying not to follow map (there's pink & blue signs almost every junction indicating next nearest tourist attraction) and let our legs take us where it wants to, we found some nice fleet of staircases, ultra 'slim' buildings and some exotic shops worth browsing.

Streets of HK (island side)

Funny boxers in G.O.D.

Eventually we reach the famous Man Mo Temple. Unfortunately, tonnes of other tourists also found the same spot so we skip the temple visit. It's just 'funny' to see an old temple tucked in among some of the tallest residential buildings in Hong Kong, amazing. 

Man Mo Temple

Taking a turn down from Man Mo Temple, reaching to Upper Lascar Row 摩罗街 (also called Cat Street, wonder why) which is famous for curio and antique shop, we found the one quiet street in Hong Kong. Perhaps it's not tourist peak season, or perhaps the hour is oddly afternoon, shops & stalls are operating but the street is rather empty, giving us sufficient space to slowly roam the streets and enjoy the little tranquil oasis in one of the worlds busiest city.

Continue walking downhill (see, that's why my walk is better than HK tourism board's suggestion because instead of going up hill, our route is towards downhill, same scenery, half the energy ;), we reached the Western Market, an Edwardian style building which is originally the waterfront harbour office, now a historical monument with themes shops.

Western Market

Nothing much inside, lots of cloth, I mean raw cloth shops, souvenir shops, antique shops, a restaurant occupying a whole 3rd floor and then I spotted this Honeymoon Dessert shop which is on my 'to-try' list. Taking a foot rest in the famous chained dessert shop, we ordered a mango pancake and 杨枝金露 (a uniquely Hong Kong dessert with mango, pomelo, sago, coconut milk etc), delicious. I later found out that apparently their durian dessert is even more famous, sigh...next time, next time.

Honeymoon dessert

We then took the tram to go back to mid-Central district again. Honestly, it's not that far but I just can't miss the tram rides :). Busy busy busy, tall buildings, historical looking buildings, none stop traffic and then we found the only four gas street lamps remaining in Hong Kong

HK streets

Duddell street steps and gas lamp

If you watch Hong Kong TVB drama series, or maybe even some Hong Kong movies, it's not hard to find yourself familiar with the famous Duddell street steps. At least in my memory, almost half of the drama series that involved couples getting back together (or breaking up) happens here. Lovely steps, except it's also adjacent to truck loading / unloading on Ice House street, so...

Feeling tired, we took the tram (again, yes) to our hotel, take a few hours nap and then depart later in the evening for a great dinner in YungKee (see next blog for it). Right next to Wellington street where YungKee is located, is 'night-owl's popular pub/clubbing area - Lan Kwai Fong. Recently, however, some 'night-owls' have moved on to SoHo area so LKF seems a bit deserted.

Lan Kwai Fong

Not much of a fan for clubbing, we walked down the central area. An area that is filled with people and traffic  during business hour is now only empty buildings (literally) and reasonable traffic on the road. Makes the area feels more 'approachable', at least that's what I think.

And then I made a mistake by walking into Sasa looking for nail polisher remover. I'm totally impressed with the selling skill of Hong Kong sales person. I only wanted 1 item but ended up buying nail polisher, facial masks, and hand lotions on top of what I originally wanted (luckily I still remember what I wanted, haha).

So, here's second day in Hong Kong, more to come...slowly...

Hong Kong - 1

Arriving in Hong Kong an hour earlier than scheduled at 6.15am, hop into a taxi (too much luggage, don't want to hassle) and arrived at Hotel Metro Park at around 7.30am. I cannot believe my luck when the kind gentlemen at check in counter checked that the room is ready & checked us in without even any request from us. What a great extended hospitality. In Tokyo, we would have been told to leave the luggage and come back at 2pm, happened before (and we were only 2 hours earlier than 2pm check in time) :s

view from hotel room

Having a room means having a chance to catch some sleep to rejuvenate our very tired body, which is great! After nearly 6 hours of sleep, waking up afresh, we set off to explore Hong Kong. First stop: food, so Yee Shun Dairy Company it is. My travel itinerary includes a day-to-day dining plan as well with thorough background check. This particular Yee Shun at Jordan has been consistently receiving good review in Open Rice, no rude waiter and no bad food for weeks around our traveling date ;)

Ordered the famous double-boiled milk (hot), egg & cheese sandwich, pork chop noodle & a double-boiled milk with coffee (hot).

Yee Shun Dairy Company, Jordan branch

Delicious food & dessert at YeeShun, love the double-boiled milk

Reservoir of desserts

Time to walk around and absorb in some vibrant energy of the bustling city, what better than visiting Mong Kok with it's many themed streets of night markets?

Mong Kok street view

Street food stall in MongKok

Passing through the many funny name streets - Soy Street, Tong Choi Street etc and proceeding to Nathan Road with lots of jewellery shop & medicine shop. Dried duck kidney for sale, anyone?

Traditional medicine shop

After the hustle bustle of street markets, next stop is the Light of Symphony on both banks of Victoria Harbour. Being on the Kowloon side, naturally, the Star Avenue is the chosen location for the light show. Personally, I think Hong Kong is much prettier at night illuminated by thousand lights than day time (too much pollution, always 'foggy'). The light show? well, if it'll take you more than 10minutes to wait for it, don't. It turned out to be a bit disappointing.

Victoria harbour view from TsimTsaTsui

Starving & failing to find any known artist on the Star Avenue walkway to take picture with, we decided to proceed to dinner. The promenade along the harbour in front of the Harbour City shopping mall is great to hang around though. Plenty of couple taking advantage of the great city night landscape view walking hand-in-hand there.

Dinner was a slightly pricy dissapointment in Harbour City's Teochew restaurant, so let's skip it. Stopped by 7-11 before going back to hotel to pick up some drinks (hotel drinks are charged at Danish price, slightly more expensive even, and not so much selection). End of report of day1, looking forward to subsequent days of the trip :D

Souvenirs (food) and some drinks from 7-11

Hong Kong - Onroute

Finally, my 3 weeks home trip with a detour to Hong Kong is happening after 6 months purchasing the ticket. I have to say that the early purchase made me look forward to the trip too long, almost feel like it'll never happen, won't do that again. Best way to stop in HK without spending too much extra (on ticket) is to take Cathay Pacific, only need to pay the airport tax for a stop over.

My route: Copenhagen -> London -> HK -> Penang -> HK -> London -> Copenhagen. A lot of 'in the air' hours, sob sob...a small price to pay. I have to praise Cathay Pacific. I flew with them once about 5 years ago, they were good; now, they're still good, in fact, I think better than before with the new seats - adjustable cushion and head rest but the seat 'shell' is fixed so you won't have inconsiderate front passenger leaning the seat all the way back, leaving you dying in fear of confined space watching tilted TV screen. 

Lots of entertainment on plane, new movies - Salt, Inception, Despicable Man etc; strings of TV series (I learnt how to cook baked pork chop rice); haven't even have time to explore the movie collections. And mind you, I was awake for 10 fully entertained hours on the flight because I can't fall asleep, so kudos. Food is good, strangely though, Western food are better than Asian food. Could it be due to the fact that food are prepared by their European kitchen? great sandwiches & salad but very bland pork congee (still regret not having their wonderful frittata).

Air hostess are attending, slightly lack of smile but I stop asking for friendly face since I started traveling within Europe. Smile is free but only mine, European air hostess smiles are a bit more on the rare side. There was once I press the 'attention' button but never get a respond from air hostess, can't remember which airline but European for sure, total negligence. 

So if you have to fly long haul & happen to be in the Cathay Pacific coverage, I'd recommend you to take it. Price is reasonable & gives you a good overall package (good food, comfy seats, good entertainment in case you can't fall asleep, and attending air hostess). Their business class provides fully rest position seats, with foot rest. Wonder how first class looks like? someday, maybe ;)