On the Menu | When is a restaurant worth a special journey? When it’s a feast of some of the best Hakka food, or Thai seafood with a difference
- If you’re on the prowl for hearty Hakka food, put Sun Hon Kee in Fanling on your gastro-map, but be prepared for a trek if you live further south in Hong Kong
- Prepare your taste buds for some surprises at Plaa, and whether you are an oenophile or a wine novice, check out Hong Kong’s recent surge in new wine bars
How far would you go for food? I was wondering this as the clock ticked over to minute 115 of my bus journey to Fanling, where a whole table of old media colleagues and chefs were waiting for me to start an epic feast of Hakka delights.
I only ended up half an hour behind, but by then – after a literal two-hour bus journey, most of it spent in East Harbour Crossing purgatory – my spirit was waning, my bottom utterly numb and my appetite had already come and gone.
To be fair, this wasn’t normal – on a regular day, you could go from Central to Fanling in just about an hour on public transport, even less if you’re in extravagant mode and get a taxi. And despite my grumblings, good food will always set you back into a good mood.
His cooking is characterised by plenty of seafood and braises, so tiny dried river fish (a perfect beer snack), a plate of freshly caught baby squid and hand-pounded cuttlefish balls were stand-outs. But an off-menu dish of mandarin fish in a giant tureen of broth electrified by the tang of mustard greens, dried chillies and peppercorns was the surprising hit of the night, if not quite canonical.