New in Wan Chai: Madame Ching serves up modern Chinese with great roast meats, average vegetables
Get there early if you want to secure a table at this popular modern Chinese restaurant. The standouts from the short menu are the meats and the desserts
My friends and I arranged to meet at Madame Ching at 6.30pm figuring it was a good way to beat the crowd and grab a table, because the restaurant doesn’t take bookings. We were successful – maybe even a little early – because it wasn’t until we left at around 8.30pm that the place was full.
This modern Chinese venture by the Pirata Group is convivial and noisy, but not so loud we couldn’t hear the soundtrack (which two of us liked but the third member of the party didn’t). The glass window in front of the kitchen shows a selection of siu mei (roast meats) which is a large focus of the short (one-page) menu. The drinks list was longer than the food menu.
From the crispy snacks section, General Son’s chicken (HK$95) came in large chunks that were sweet and moist, with a subtle crunch under the glaze.
Mapo tofu (HK$120 was unusual: instead of squares of fresh tofu in a mala (numbing and spicy) sauce, the sauce was served in a small bowl with crisp sheets of fried soybean skin.