The contents of this blog are matters of opinion formed over one more visits. There has been some artistry applied and metaphors and similes should not necessarily be taken literally. All meals are independently paid for - the author has no conflicts of interest to disclose.
As unfair as it is to eat a single item and use that one experience to formulate your entire opinion about a restaurant, I must say that BBQ Prince’s half soy chicken ($11.60) did not scratch the itch that I had. I’ve had a lot of soy chicken in my time, but unfortunately this particular soy chicken was lacking in both flavour and texture, with a slightly tougher meat than usual, and with too mild a taste, even for pieces basted in sauce. At least the ginger scallion sauce was good.
I’ll update this post for roast pork if I ever go back.
I almost didn’t go to Hong Kong Street Food after watching a negative review video from some online influencer. The Tiktok/Instagram people are notorious for singing the praises of literally any place in the hopes of getting a free meal, so I had erroneously assumed that any kind negative review would mean that the place would be truly very bad. Of course I didn’t take into account what kind of a review a place would garner if they refused to pay up.
I am indebted to my partner’s mother for making us give this Rhodes Central (to contrast to the similarly named restaurant around the corner) cha chaan teng a shot.
This is a milk tea ($4.50), strained probably over multiple runs through a silk stocking and mixed with evaporated milk from the Dutch. Ah, colonisation. Had by my partner’s mum and hence not me. Part of a set with food, so a bit cheaper than the listed price, but about $2-3 more than just the food dish by itself. Poured out onto the saucer, quickly replaced with an apology. Apparently it was not bad, but not memorable.
This ice bear lemon tea commands a $2 premium on top of the set meal, or $6.50 if purchased separately. It was fine. It was more than I would want to pay for it individually, but was more palatable as part of the meal deal. The novelty of a melting bear didn’t do anything in particular for me.
Alright here we go. The meat of the review. The stewed beef brisket with radish ($9.80) is a side dish that comes as a topping on some of the cart noodles, but not the right ones. They were pretty good, with a mixture of fatty and tendinous pieces as well as lean pieces. A good variety that allowed each diner to have what we wanted. I’m a lean beef brisket fan.
The four treasures Hong Kong cart noodles ($21.90 in a set with a drink and not available separately) was pretty good. It was a choice between this, with its chicken wings, salt and pepper pork chops (the best part), curry fish balls, and beef stomach, or the alternative Supreme Hong Kong cart noodles, with radish, beef brisket, red sausages and luncheon meat. I chose the four treasures, mainly because I was keen on some of that beef stomach, and because we could get the radish and brisket as a side. I’m also not such a fan of luncheon meat. Despite enjoying this dish, it did pale in comparison to the cart noodles at Hong Kong Bing Sutt in Burwood, which were seriously special.
The baked rice with black pepper chicken steak and cod fillets in creamy corn sauce ($21.90 in a set but also not available individually, even though a bunch of other baked rices are) was really good. I think anything with this amount of cream and cheese and meat and sodium and carb is going to taste good, but damn, delicious. Both the chicken and cod were good, and the fact that it was like a half half pizza was great for the decision-impaired. So creamy. So good.
RE-VISIT, JUNE 2025.
On a revisit I had the chicken and cod baked rice again, for the second time. It is not my usual practice to visit the same restaurant twice, let alone have the same dish at the same restaurant twice, but there were forces at play (PMR) outside of my control. This baked rice (now $23.90), this time without any capsicum, remained delicious – in particular the cod component with the crispy fish covered in sauce.
The French toast ($8.80) did nothing for me, but my white friend PMR whose claim to HK culture is having a HK based girlfriend tells me that it was close to the platonic ideal of a French toast, served with a squeezy bottle honey rather than condensed milk, and with a large layer of peanut butter in between.
The photo certainly looks good, but I found the peanut butter so thick that it actually detracted from the dish overall due to its dry pastiness.
The Tornado Omurice with Beef in TomatoSauce ($23.90 with a milk tea) was like some bizarro version of the classic tomato and egg with rice dish that Chinese children grow up eating. The swirl of egg was, unlike a classical omurice, merely a thin single layered swirl without a wet inside, covering a relatively large mound of rice. The tomato was peeled and stir fried in the way that you would expect of the Cantonese tradition of tomato-egg, with the sauce well portioned to the rice but of a sweeter flavour than I would make myself. The beef seemed only present to aid the presentation and distract us from the fact that you can get a serving of tomato-egg and rice for like $7 at an economy rice restaurant. The taste was not bad overall, but it didn’t feel special for $23.90, whereas the baked rice definitely did.
Curry Fish Balls ($10.80) seem pricey for what they are, and it is difficult to eat with a colleague to obtain the appropriate curry to fish ball ratio without double dipping.
We asked for two cold mild teas and were given one hot and one cold. It was not a battle either of us felt was important to fight.
OTHER THOUGHTS The decor, with neon lights and sections representing hawker carts and the HK MTR was a nice touch. I thought it was a bit weird that there were ads posted up for real estate in Hong Kong, but guess it makes sense that if Australian real estate is being advertised in China, that Chinese real estate is being advertised in Australia too. Don’t @ me.
I enjoyed most of the Asian inspired ice cream flavours that I tried at Ice Kirin Bar, and while I absolutely appreciate that the place exists with such a nice variety of options, I do still think that Mapo’s hojicha gelato is superior.
The other thing I think is that the fact that a flavour (in this situation, Strawberry Calpis) is offered as a filling for a pineapple bun ($10), does not neccessarily mean that it will be a good and complementary combination.
I certainly did not love these pipis cooked in XO sauce, on a bed of vermicelli. The pipis were not brought to me to review alive, kicking and screaming and for some inexplicable reason this reduced my appreciation of their taste. Live seafood just tastes more live when you see it live before it is no longer live. I don’t want to go so far as to say that it wasn’t live, firstly because I have no proof, and secondly because I’m sure that mathematically the pipis were alive at some point in their lives. At least the bed of vermicelli was good.
Congee is such a simple staple dish that my parents never put anything into when I was a child, barring rice and water. This particular congee with some lean meat was quite enjoyable, but I feel that it is only my lack of knowledge of what these crispy yellow things are that prevents me from making it at home.
It’s a three cup chicken, a chicken made with three cups of non-chicken ingredients. I personally never go for chicken that’s been chopped in a way where the bones are randomly arranged within the meat, my partner doesn’t mind. This was fine. The taste was good. A positive comment.
My honest conclusion is that there is nothing about my visit to New Keung Kee that would bring me back.
UPDATE, JUNE 2024.
We went back for a late night meal, out of necessity more than anything else. We were in the process of moving into our new home, and hadn’t unpacked the kitchen yet. The hour was late, and this was nearby and open. The meal we had was actually quite good.
The Yuxiang Eggplant was vey delicious, with a more tough Asian eggplant used than the deep purple ones found at the local grocery store. The sauce was a delicious combination of sweet, sour, and spicy, and perfect with some steamed white rice. This meal inspired me to try to make some yuxiang eggplant of my own at home, something I failed miserably at.
These combination fried noodles were also delicious, with a thick eggy gravy draping through the crispy fried noodles, softening them and providing a degree of textural variance in each bite.
We’ve been to Silver Territory an unusual number of times (4 within the last 6 months) with our friends WHJ XWO CJP and NT, but they have yet to disappoint, both in terms of a regular succulent Chinese sit-down meal, as well as for their yum cha offerings.
I will bore you only with some brief dot-pointed thoughts, after which you may feast your eyes on some photos:
Our first visit was meant to be for their evening yum-cha offering, but we found that this only happened on certain nights of the week, and we had to order from a usual formal Chinese menu instead. This was actually quite good, the kind of dinner my parents would have.
Of the sit down dishes, the king prawn omlette I thought was really good and creamy.
Of the yum cha dishes, their chives and prawn dumplings were good, their chicken feet were good, in fact most things were good.
Perhaps the goodest or most interesting was their radish cake, a yum cha item that will gain a spot as a featured item below, chopped up into bite sized portions and stir fried rather than served as large slabs. Much oil, much wok hei, much delicious.
Verdict
This restaurant is not better or worse than any other yum cha establishment in Burwood. Solid, in fact, and usually a shorter queue but more rapid and Chinese style service than Royal Treasure Seafood Restaurant in Emerald Square.
