Everyone wants the Dai Pai Dong experience, so who can blame visitors of the Temple Street Market for wanting to take part in a place like Tong Tai? They're conveniently located on Temple, loaded with fresh seafood swimming in buckets / tubs, and semi-aggressive wait staff recruiting tourists by the handful to take part in the outdoor communal Chinese food experience.
The two things that stuck out the most within the food, specifically how salty and how expensive everything was. Our list of dishes included: Yeung Chow Fried Rice (揚州炒飯), Black Bean Clams (豉椒炒蜆), Salt and Pepper Fried Fish (椒鹽魚片), Shrimp w/ Eggs (蝦仁炒蛋), Tea Egg + Tofu (茶葉蛋豆腐), and Mantis "Pissing" Shrimp (攋尿蝦). The most underwhelming was the pissing shrimp, which a little meat and a lot of shells. When our bill ($780HKD) came out, there was a little bit of sticker shock.
Not all is terrible. Despite the greasy and salty food, they were constantly coming back to make sure we had what we needed. There was no shortage of help and they took our feedback well, but chuckled when we noted the salt (Could it really have been MSG?). They have a bunch of tables and the turnover is quick enough to where even waiting isn't a big deal. Heck, there's even unlimited napkins here. Any HK'er would surely appreciate that.
Anyone who is looking to drink will surely have it here -- there are beer girls walking around looking to sell by the bottle or by the bucket. Perhaps next time (if there even is one), that'll be the route I choose when I feel like people watching and drinking along Temple Street. read more