Alright, I realize how important it is for me to write a review of this place, considering that I…read morevisited back in Nov 2016 and there hasn't been an English language review of it on yelp. Nov 30th was my penultimate night in Hong Kong (I flew back in mid-November for a visit and stayed 13 days), and as such, it was also my lunar calendar birthday (which I don't pay attention to). My favorite aunt & uncle insisted on a celebration, and with them pushing 80, I would lean towards something healthier. It was either the infamous Tung Po (東寶小館) in the Java Street Wet Market, or something dialed back.
"How about something...vegetarian?"
"Sure, your uncle knows a place near Jaffe Road in Wanchai".
Wanchai is a commercial area near the convention center, and it's 7 blocks from the foothills to the sea - Gloucester Rd is an expressway on the water's edge, Lockhart is known for Filipino girly bars, Hennessy is where the trams run, and Jaffe is a mid-class hotel street. It's not entirely tour guide friendly like Causeway Bay, Sheung Wan or TaiKoo. Still, I know the south side of Wanchai, and the MTR stop is nearby (we are heading West, Uncle and Aunt will head East after the meal) and it's convenient for us. We met up on Hennessey & Stewart near the Caltex gas station, and walked to a tiny 60 seat restaurant on the ground floor, overlooking a rather quiet side street.
First impressions? Elegant but a bit ostentatious. Mentions in the local press are prominently displayed near the door, along with some local culinary hob-nobbery, not quite Buddhism in creed. We made prior reservations and were seated near the window. First, a pot of puer tea (serve the elders first), then we ordered a few items. See, I am always perplexed by restaurants offering substitutes of meat dishes, the so-called mock meat movement. I like the idea of tempeh and gluten bits, but I just don't think it helps anyone to make them look like it came from an animal part (I mean, if the argument is not to harm animals...why make a mock pig and butcher it? If that's the case, make it a tofu infant. If eating that is wrong I don't want to be right). So my aunt decided to order some chitterlings (very Cantonese), some spare ribs, some vegetarian peking duck, a portion of tonkatsu, some fried noodles, and truffles fried rice baked in a pumpkin.
The ribs and chitterlings were made out of gluten and tofu sheets and had a convincing texture, while the tonkatsu had a tempeh interior. They are not made out of meat, but for some reason, they were flavored like they were, and for a moment you do not miss it. The Peking duck were treated with the usual camphor savoriness and that crisp skin made you forget that there should be chewy morsels of duck meat underneath which were replaced by gluten strands. If you wrap it around the usual lotus bun "pancake" with the scallion and hoisin sauce, you might not catch on at first. I mean, it's definitely a weird sensation eating something that were flavored like it's made out of meat, with the sensation similar to meat, but not quite it. The fried noodles came in, and it was your garden variety vegetable fried noodles with mushrooms - good, but not great. The Truffles fried rice served in the pumpkin was tasty in that the rice was topped with a creamy mushroom sauce, and you were supposed to break off bits of roasted pumpkin into your rice. It was quite good. Dessert was on-the-house as part of the meal and features your usual platter of fruit (pineapples and melons) and an azuki bean based sweet dessert soup (your typical Cantonese tongsui 糖水).
Overall, a great experience. It was a healthy break from some possibly regrettable meal choices during the HK trip, and I think the elders enjoyed it as well. The next time I am in HK I'll totally stop in for a meal.
