Wednesday 16 December 2009

Anthony Bourdain's recommendations, part 2

Another of Anthony Bourdain's recommendations comes in the form of a "dai pai dong" style restaurant located above a wet market in North Point. Not exactly close to where we are staying but a meeting with a friend of Ma Chan's meant that we would on HK Island around dinner time, conveninently giving me the opportunity to drag her off with me to sample the delights of Tung Po Seafood restaurant. 


We arrived around 6pm on a weekday which meant no problems with snagging a table - again, decor was nothing to write home about and we had to sit on stools as well (however, they were very accommodating by having shelves underneath the table to put stuff on, Wagamama style!).   The waiting staff were very friendly and helpful (a shame we did not take full advantage of their advice!), I've never been in a restaurant where they wanted you to order less food rather than more! I suppose their ethos was that they did not want to see the food go to waste, how very sensible! Going for a Chinese meal when there's only 2 of you is a bit of a bummer cos there's only a limited amount of food that you can order. In the end, I think we ordered just 3 dishes to share between us - all very yummy and wishing that we had more people with us to order some more stuff! Price of dinner was unbelievably cheap (around 200HKD maybe?), great food and good value, who could ask for more?

North Point Market and Cooked Food Centre - home of Tung Po seafood restaurant. Managed to navigate us here with a combination of HK tourist map (near the MTR station and, Java Road is parallel to the main road when you come out) and Ma Chan's vague memories of the area. Take the escalators on the right up to the 2nd floor, I think?



The floor is lined with 3 or 4 other restaurants all vying for your business. Tung Po is the 2nd one in when you arrive from the escalators - if in doubt, ask!





Beer is served here ol' skool stylee out of a bowl - I got more than I bargained for when I ordered this bottle of Asahi...the smallest they had was a 500ml bottle!!



One of the restaurant's specialities - deep fried pork knuckles.



Ma Chan's suggestion - fresh vegetables (choi sum) cooked in fish broth - very yummy and tasty!



Another Tung Po speciality and more of a Western dish - Squid balls with spaghetti cooked in their own ink - beware of ink-stained teeth and lips afterwards!



Owner of Tung Po restaurant - chef Bobby, looking very dapper in shorts and cut-off wellies. Being a little shy, I didn't get the chance to chat with him, maybe next time :)

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