Now to my first post for 2014!! :D
Old Town Hong Kong Cuisine is a fairly new restaurant serving classic Hong Kong dishes such as congee, duck... basically Hong Kong classics! Both my parents are from Hong Kong and I have traveled there quite a few times and the one thing I absolutely look forward to is the FOOD! Without a doubt, every time I go back I need to loosen my belt after each meal :P My fondest memories of Hong Kong is eating at the small street restaurants, ones that don't look that great design wise but offer amazing dishes packed full of flavor and you get a great insight into what Hong Kong cuisine is all about.
Old Town Hong Kong is located on Dixon St. and has a grand interior with 2 levels. To access the 2nd level there is a lift right at the front..so fancy! :P We were given a round table with stools, it was quite uncomfortable sitting on those chairs but the restaurant was pretty packed so we didn't bother asking to move to another table. The tables are also very very close to each other, it definitely had that Hong Kong vibe to it (if you've been to Hong Kong you'll know what I mean!). It is also very noisy, so if you want to have a good talk with someone I would recommend to go somewhere else :P
We ended up ordering 3 main dishes: Deep fried shredded beef with orange, Special spicy glass noodle with pork mince and Sauteed green beans with pork mince. We also ordered 2 desserts: Mango pomelo and sago sweet soup and mango pancakes.
Now to the fooddddddd :D
Deep fried shredded beef with orange | $14.80The 'Deep fried shredded beef with orange' was my favorite dish because the flavor of orange was seeping through the shredded beef giving it a refreshing taste to the palette. The deep fried shredded beef that I have eaten at other Chinese restaurants are usually too oily for my liking but this deep fried shredded beef at Old Town Hong Kong did not have that greasy taste to it which is very good! :)
Special spicy glass noodle with pork mince | $14.80The 'Special spicy glass noodle with pork mince' was a very interesting dish because it had a very mushy, soft texture to it, this may be due to the sauce and the texture of the glass noodles. This dish was also quite spicy, hence the name, I'm not a lover of spicy food because I usually get a weird reaction on my lip... (don't worry it doesn't swell it- it just gets a bit irritated :P) I feel that this may be a more traditional dish so it is either you love it or hate it :P
Sauteed green beans with pork mince | $14.80The 'Sauteed green beans with pork mince' is a very traditional dish usually served in Hong Kong cuisine restaurants and i always remember my mom would make this for us for dinner. It is a very simple yet tasty dish, however this was extremely oil and this was hardly any pork mince it which was a bit disappointing.
Mango pancakes | $6.50The mango pancakes was presented to us in that sushi box style dish which I felt was a great let down in terms of presentation. I know that the mango pancakes was taken from the downstairs dessert cabinet at the front, but if someone is dining in the restaurant it would of been nice if they moved it onto a plate instead of giving it to us like this. I was a bit shocked they would give it to us like with the lid and everything but in the end it all comes down to taste! The outside part- pancake was chewy and complimented the soft cream and mango pieces inside. I quite enjoyed it overall so the let down of the presentation was forgotten :P
Mango pomelo and sago sweet soup | $6.50Everytime we go back to Hong Kong we always go crazy eating/ drinking 'Mango pomelo and sago sweet soup', I know as a family we consume litres and litres of it! It is too dang good! I knew that it would not be as good as the good old Hong Kong sweet soups but this sweet soup at Old Town Hong Kong was not too bad, it had a lot of flavouring and it was not too overly sweet however there was limited mango pomelo in it but there was a generous amount of sago.
Dessert/ take away food cabinet at the front
ExteriorOverall, the food at Old Town Hong Kong Cuisine was not too bad but it is very westernised- so there is a lot of modified traditional dishes e.g. turned in fried form. The dishes are quite pricey considering the size of the dish, it usually ranges from $12 +. The dessert was definitely not something I would return for however I would return to try the duck and pancakes, I saw a few tables ordered that so I'm very curious as how well they cooked the duck! The service was very good and quick, the waiters are also able to speak a few languages (mainly Cantonese, Mandarin and English).
Let me know what I should try next time I go back :)
Happy eating x
