Restaurant Review!

Chai Wan Industrial City l Chai Wan l Hong Kong

Private kitchens have been a phenomenon in Hong Kong for decades now. People will open small illegal restaurants in any space big enough to hold 6 tables and a kitchen. This means you’ll find them in offices, warehouses and even homes. The concept here is a small venue, six tables or less, and a set meal at a set price. They may not advertise but they will get written up in papers. Despite this, they are rarely shut down by the authorities though there was a recent crackdown which has left the city with fewer choices but they are starting to make a real comeback. I know that many other cities boast these sorts of establishments but none have quite so many as Hong Kong and definitely not operating as openly.

It was my great pleasure to go to one located just a block from my office in Chai Wan. Deep inside the bowels of an office/warehouse complex, by day, it was the office for a wine importer, but by night, it served spectacular Cantonese food matched with a flight of wines. The chef had once served as the anchor for a fairly famous chain in Hong Kong which spanned 5 locations including one operating at the Peak. He is still well paid for his skills here while his wife works the front room and the wine importer matches wines with the courses and mingles with the customers.

Most of the private kitchens which I have been to, though good, often felt like amateur chefs who liked to eat and talk about food. Although enjoyable, I felt like I had paid for the pleasure of eating in someone’s kitchen.

The pedigree of the chef and the skill of the sommelier made this a completely different experience. Some of the highlights of the evening included a perfectly tea smoked chicken. Absolutely succulent and moist, the tea smoking left it with a complexity that didn’t run all over the flavor of the free range chicken. Another highlight? One of the best dishes I have ever had anywhere was deep fried rice served with a salted egg yolk broth. The rice was crispy like…well…rice crispies and to those who are uninitiated, salted eggs have yolks which develop a powdery consistency and an intense flavor with an earthy edge. Needless to say, the flavor of the yolks, sweetness of the broth, and crispiness of the rice was pure genius. And of course, the flight of wines was worked well for all the courses but sadly; I must admit that I can’t remember wines when I’m working through a whole series of them.

Why, you may ask, am I being so mysterious about the location? Why, it would break my heart if this place was lost during the next crackdown. At $70 a head including the flight wines, it would break my heart indeed.