Alimentary Tract, Hong Kong edition

Regular readers will know that the Tract’s writ usually runs no further than London; on a recent visit to Hong Kong, however, I was lucky enough to be taken to a couple of great local restaurants, which I hope merits this geographical excursus.

The first, Lung King Heen in the Four Seasons hotel, has the distinction of being the only Chinese restaurant in the world to hold three Michelin stars. This unique status is in large part due to the fact that Hong Kong as a whole fared rather poorly when Michelin launched its first guide to the territory last year. To some extent this may be a result of Cantonese gastronomy’s traditional indifference to niceties of decor and service; more fundamentally, it must prompt reflections on the usefulness or desirability of applying a particular set of critical norms half-way across the world from where they were developed. (Tokyo, a city whose culinary culture displays a much more obvious synergy with that of the French motherland, was predictably awarded more stars than a small nebula.)

Soup, one of the glories of Cantonese cuisine

Certainly the tenor of Lung King Heen’s menu, which offers a number of dishes comprising clever refractions of traditional cuisine through the use of western ingredients, seemed in places markedly akin to the ‘modern European’ style prevalent in fancy restaurants the world over. This did not, however, prevent the food from being very enjoyable. Although the meal we had initially made a fairly understated impression on me, some of the dishes still stick vividly in my mind some weeks after eating them. Bamboo pith, brassica and dried mushroom soup virtually exploded with an aroma that was put into relief by the crunchy, maw-like texture of the pith; wagyu beef with morelles very neatly juxtaposed the smokiness of the mushrooms with soft, buttery meat; dessert was a miscellany of delicate, perfect renditions of Chinese standards including tong yuen (unconventionally deep-fried to good effect), lotus puffs and mango pudding.

Wagyu with morelles

While the atmosphere was pleasant and relaxed, it must be said that Lung King Heen’s decor is almost entirely characterless: much like that of the violently bland Four Seasons lobby that precedes it, it says ‘international luxury hotel’ and little else. The ambience of the next restaurant I visited, the Ning Po Residents’ Association, definitely did not say ‘international luxury hotel.’ This dining club, originally set up by adoptive Hong Kong-ers who missed the Shanghainese food of their hometown, is located on the fourth floor of a drab office block; the thrifty staff dispense napkins only to those determinedly fussy enough to ask.

Twiglets are a highly-prized delicacy in China. Only joking! This is deep-fried eel.

Yet at the business end of things, the food is pretty solid. As is traditional, our meal began with a selection of (mostly) cold appetizers: wine chicken, jellyfish, mock goose, and my favourite, deep-fried eel in a sticky vinegar and sugar sauce. Next came treats including sweet-and-sour fish, salted and deep-fried duck and some excellent siu long bao. All of this was accompanied by delicious white rolls of Shanghainese bread, light, chewy and slightly sweet. For dessert, there was another Shanghainese speciality, Eight Treasure Rice, a pudding made up of black glutinous rice embedded with dried fruit and nuts, surrounding a red bean paste interior, and served with osmanthus syrup.

'Eight Treasure Rice'

The only serious downside to the experience was, bizarrely, the dish being consumed by the next-door table. Chao doufu, roughly translated as ‘smelly bean curd’, must rank as one of the most antisocial delicacies known to man; the curd in question managed (and I say this without exaggeration) to pervade the entire restaurant with the smell of old socks. This aside, I was able to look back on a very satisfying trip to a city that knows, if not how to impress the inspectors, then certainly how to eat.

Advertisement