Eat Drink Hong Kong

Shop 1 G/F Wun Cha Tower
Wun Sha Street
Tai Hang
Hong Kong
Tel 2972 2266

Shop 127, New Town Plaza (Phase 1)
Shatin
New Territories
Tel 2605 3636

Shop 3, G/F Cheong Yuen Appts
2-8 Tsat Tsz Mui Road
North Point
Hong Kong
Tel 2368 8706

Tripping out of Tin Hau station on the way to the lunar new year flower market, I suddenly noticed it was lunchtime. A quick turn left along Hing Fat Street and I nipped into Baba Laksa, which of course, I’d never seen before.

It would seem to be at a disadvantage along such a busy one-way, no-stopping road, but at 1.30pm, the place was almost full. A high ceiling, clean white walls and simple dark furniture set the tone. I managed to grab a table near the door just as the previous people were leaving.

The small menu features curry laksas, mees, some extra spicy ‘pepper mees’, Hainan chicken ($45), and a few snacks such as satay sticks ($22), or belacan chicken wings. The main dishes range from $35 to $55. At lunchtime this will include a drink with your order. There are some sets for $26 which were a mystery to me as that menu was in Chinese only. Oh, well..

I wouldn’t call myself a Laksa connoiseur, but it arrived looking perfect to me - thick soup with hints of chilli, creamy texture, stuffed full of noodles and goodies. I set to (though I was a bit dubious about the look of the large prawn - so dubious, in fact, that I left that aside).

The coconut curry soup was gently spicy, and I think purists would say not spicy enough. I appreciated it, however, as I’m not into getting my tongue burnt off. There were lots of bean sprouts, and real pork (hmm - is that authentic laksa? Not really, but who cares?).

The dish was a fairly big one - definitely enough to satifsy a hungry shopper. The peach tea was, as expected, yummy. Very sweet though - it gave me enough of a sugar rush to spend nearly 2 hours fighting the crowds and haggling in the market, before calling it a day.

If you find yourself in the Tin Hau area, I would recommend this place as a good fill-up joint. The prices are reasonable, the surroundings no-frills, but clean and spacious, and the food, though not authentic Malay or Singaporean laksa, is tasty. You can’t ask for much more than that.

One of the great things about Malaysian restaurants is that invariably they offer a fabulous blend of styles. Curries, for example, can be found in Indian and Thai styles as well as Malay. On top of this they are almost always great value for money.

I stopped into the Wanchai branch of Sabah the other evening (The other is in Kennedy Town). It was still early but it was already quite busy. Had I arrived half an hour later I probably wouldn’t have got a table.

The restaurant is simple but functional. There are some kites decorating the walls and some tribal carvings, a nod to the province from where the restaurant takes its name. Mercifully there were no tourist office posters of Mount Kinabalu, not because I dislike the mountain but because they always serve to remind me that I haven’t yet climbed it. I must get my act together one day.

In the meantime I focused my attention on the varied menu. The choices included samosas, satays and shrimp cakes. I decided on the deep fried bean curd ($45). This was stuffed with cucumber and bean sprouts and served with Thai style sweet chili sauce and Malay spicy peanut sauce.

They were pleasing and not too filling, which was a good thing because I went way overboard on the main course. In my defense I will say I didn’t realise just how much I was ordering. I had already decided to forego rice and have two main dishes instead. But then I said to the waitress right at the end of the order “… and could I also have a chapati please ($18), no make that two.” She looked at me in wonderment.

The chapatis were the first to arrive. They were quite a bit bigger than I was expecting and came with a delicious curry sauce dip. Fortunately the next dish came soon after, otherwise I might have ruined my appetite before I’d even got started.

However, grilled fish with in banana leaf ($98) arrived in the nick of time and I was able to turn my attention to that for a while. The fish had been grilled with shrimp paste, something that I always feel should be used with great care because of its potential to overpower all other flavours. This fish was good and though the the shrimp was trying very hard to assert itself it didn’t overwhelm.

The next dish to arrive was king prawn in butter and fried egg white ($160). This dish was huge - I would recommend sharing. The prawns themselves were monsters and there were five or six of them. I’m afraid I lost count but they were all wonderfully fresh and firm. The fried egg white in which they are tossed is very rich so by the time I’d worked my way through all of them I was feeling very full indeed. I decided I’d better rest awhile before attempting dessert.

“Don’t forget your chapatis” quipped the waitress with a cheeky grin. She was right, I hadn’t even finished the first one. Ordering two had been totally reckless. I looked at it for a while and tried a nibble but I knew it would be either the chapatis or dessert.

The dessert won the day. From the beginning of the meal I’d had my heart sent on the Malaysian bubur char char ($25). I had no idea what it could be but it had a charming name. I gave my order and the waitress hurried off to the kitchen in disbelief.

The sweet itself was warm coconut milk with taro and sweet potato and was pleasant enough though not as mysterious and exotic as the name. But then If I’d thought about it I might have remembered that ‘bubur’ is Malay for porridge.

Shop L, G/F 81 Electric Road
Tin Hau
Hong Kong
Tel 3806 2683

Shop 201, 2/F Grand Millenium Plaza
181 Queen’s Road
Sheung Wan
Hong Kong
Tel 3184 0505

98-102 Jaffe Road
Wanchai
Hong Kong
Tel 2143 6626

11A Mercer Street
Sheung Wan
Hong Kong
Tel 2542 4111
Fax 2542 4113

G/F 8 Wing Wah Lane
Lan Kwai Fong
Central
Hong Kong
Tel 2523 6911
Fax 2523 6911

4/F The Plaza
21 D’Aguilar Street
Lan Kwai Fong
Hong Kong
Tel 2804 6009

138 Pak Sha Wan Centre
Hebe Haven
Sai Kung
New Territories
Tel 2719 9932

Knutsford Square Shop L-M, G/G Universal Mansion
52 Hillwood Road
Tsimshatsui
Kowloon
Tel 2369 4033

3/F 27-37 D’Aguilar Street
Lankwaifong
Central
Hong Kong
Tel 2525 2577
Fax 2525 2925

G/F Wah Lee Building
35 Peel Street
Central
Hong Kong
Tel 2818 1236
Fax 2854 1532

G/F Bella House
102 Hing Fat Street
Tin Hau
Hong Kong
Tel 2887 2098
Fax 2887 6691

G/F Bella House
102 Hing Fat Street
Tin Hau
Hong Kong
Tel 2887 2098
Fax 2887 6691