Wow. This is some of the best roasties I have ever had in my non-Hong Kong visiting life. Puts most places in 626 to shame. The restaurant is as straight forward no bullshit as can be. The sounds of cleavers chopping meat, the smell, the banter between customers, I am in love.
@JeetKuneBao didn’t know you were visiting up here! So glad you like this place.
Yeah, Ming Gor / Brother Ming is the man. As I’ve said before he’s probably the only (or one of few) true Hong Kongers doing roasties. Most other butchers are Toishanese (e.g. Cheung Hing). Though they have had consistency issues before…but their soy sauce chicken is too good for words (not as sweet as R&G Lounge which to their credit, they have done good renditions otherwise).
A tip: you need to specify the type of chicken you want for either empress or soy sauce. They have range chicken which have a bit more flavor but less meat/more boney (which I tend to reserve for empress chicken), and regular chicken which are probably Foster Farm or whatever…and those I prefer for the soy sauce chicken as they do a fantastic job of the marinade going down into the bones. They also have this chicken feet you can order a la carte that is served cold and retains a lot of crunch, and is marinated with a lot of ginger powder…so good. They also have some marinated giblets as well.
Some years ago they did roast goose. Nowhere near as good as Hong Kong of course, and it was boney. There were reports elsewhere that someone in Chinatown offered it (also once in a while), and I haven’t tried it.
If you are still up here, please get to Smile House Cafe on Taraval, and also Tak Kee Lee on Noriega (get the noodle breakfasts that are offered daily till 11 am) for our best Hong Kong cafe’s in the area, before you leave. Enjoy your trip up here! And if you get to Oakland Chinatown, Gum Kuo is the bomb; roasties, marinated roasties/giblets, and even if their signature congee has some MSG it’s really good stuff and super thick. And their HK milk tea and half milk tea half coffee are legit too (ask for less sweet if you get it cold, sometimes they overdo it with the sweetener).
Ha - I live less than a mile away and it is in my bi-weekly rotation. I usually get the soy sauce chicken and BBQ pork. Love the garlic ginger sauce they serve with the rice plates. Usually I pop in after doing my laps at the City College pool to put back on any calories I might have burned.
It’s a slow cooked soup that draws out all the nutrients of the quality ingredients.
The rendition at R&G (black chicken) the one time I had it, was good.
I like boiling this soup at home, experimenting with different proteins and combinations of herbs. Takes a bit of time, but always feels great when I nail the flavor profile I have in mind.
Last time I saw him, Ming is balding with hair on the side, kind of like the main enemy Stephen Chow fights at the end of the movie Kung Fu Hustle. Don’t recall him wearing glasses.
You should make a side trip to Yum’s Bistro in Fremont someday, his steamed egg and clams rendition with Shaoxing wine (Huadiao liquor) is brilliant and the clams are more plump. His steamed pork patties are ridiculously great too.
If you are feeling adventurous, try the iced lemon coffee. The balance is really good though unusual. Otherwise milk tea, coffee milk tea, iced lemon tea are always solid. First page of menu specials if you don’t make it to breakfast, lemongrass spicy fried chicken wings are addicting (add a fried sunny egg then drizzle a little soy sauce to kick up the umami).
If you make it to breakfast for the noodle bowls, you are allowed I think up to three toppings. Have one of them be either satay beef or pickled mustard greens with pork. The latter is especially good for enhancing the broth, and if you opt for instant noodles it is a flavor bomb. Pick whatever other toppings you want or you can make it just one or two also. They pan fry Spam right and a sunny fried egg is always deviously evil good to include.
After you are done, check the boba tea shop next door if they are open and look for the baked cheese tarts (Japanese style). Try one if they have any then report back if there’s something similar in LA.
I’m drooling over your Yelp pics of Yum’s Bistro. I see a lot of the good stuff is preorder!
I see the different patties. Dried scallops sounds so good. I think I’ll definitely like this place. I will measure Chef Yum’s skill with whole steamed fish and sweet & sour pork.
