Back when I went to school in Wan Chai, we were allowed the glorious privilege of going out to eat during our lunch times. One place that we went to a few times was Hong Kong Fishball King, along Hennessy Road and opposite C.C. Wu Building.
The restaurant looks like a classic HK noodle establishment - it's crowded, waiters are rushing everywhere and there are just stools for chairs pushed around a table. For some reason, the exterior of the restaurant makes it look like a place that's very famous and traditional with its gold and black lettering.
Unfortunately, I haven't had very pleasant experiences with Fishball King. Since it is the FISHBALL king, and I love fishballs, I ordered the fishball flat rice noodles each time. The first two times I was there - and I'm not kidding - I found a fly halfway through eating. None of my friends had ever found a fly in their food there, yet it happened to me twice consecutively! Gross. My friends told me to just scoop it out and not care about it, but I couldn't stand the fact of continuing eating when there had been a fly swimming in my noodles!
To be fair, the fishball noodles here aren't bad. Comparing it to the likes of Tsui Wah, it's not great, but they make a decent lunch fare after morning periods at school. But finding flies in my food really made me question the hygiene of the place. If it happened to me twice, I'm sure other people have found flies in their food before too. It might be because there isn't really a door to the restaurant, and each time we were there we were led to the tables upstairs, hence increasing the probability of a fly intercepting my fishball noodles while the waiter is carrying it upstairs to our table? I have no idea.
I don't remember if I told the waiter that there was a fly in my food. I don't think I did because we didn't have long for our lunch times and even if she had offered me a new bowl I wouldn't be able to finish more than a quarter of it before needing to run back to school.
I think I went there two more times after those incidents and didn't find a fly in my food after that. I still wouldn't come back to this restaurant anymore if I can help it though! read more