Pearl River Deli - Chinatown

It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for years but still haven’t gotten it right. By the way I prefer Sister Wah over Kau Kee mainly because its less oily, usually no wait, and you don’t need to trek uphill in Central vs being right around the corner from Tin Hau Station.

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IMO, Kau Kee is quite overrated. They seem to consistently overstew their briskets so the meat is a bit dry and falls apart into shreds…a bit like eating soup scraps. A number of local critics had the same problem I did with Kau Kee.

Example of what I talked about with my last visit:

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It’s been probably 4 or 5 years since I had it but I remember the brisket being braised pretty nicely. I wonder if success lead to taking shortcuts because as far as I know Sister Wah never seems busy in comparison and has been quite consistent for me.

With that ridiculous line out the door year after year despite their terrible treatment of customers, I wouldn’t be surprised at all. The staff at Kau Kee are known to scream at customers as if letting them dine there is doing them a favor. :roll_eyes:

Wait, you mean that isn’t the part of the HK-style “New Cruelty” I’ve seen in most other area of Kowloon? :rofl:

One amusing twist that resulted from coronavirus in Hong Kong is that the once rude and super fast no nonsense and efficient Australian Dairy Company in Jordan (Kowloon side), famous for their scrambled egg / scrambled egg sandwiches and canned Campbell chicken soup with spaghetti meal sets, saw a sharp drop in business, so the waiters these days are far more polite and super friendly, even go so far as to tell the customers to take their time and sit as long as they want, yet keep the same efficiency. Food journalists even went inside and filmed their experience, I thought I was watching a staged comedy show!

Not sure about now, as things change so fast that even Kau Kee has their dog days and good days (a trusted friend went about a year ago and was pleasantly and amusingly surprised)…but if you catch them on a good day it might be ok, but that really depends on your perspective, timing, and what you order. As a tourist and out of towner and for someone who does not visit HK regularly, it might be fine to try as most preps over there will blow whatever we can get at many non specialist Cantonese restaurants. Locals usually don’t go or know for what it is. A facebook friend went to some famous Kau Kee equivalent fishball noodle shop in Shau Kee Wan and said the alkaline water flavor in the noodles was so heavy he couldn’t eat it (I can imagine the horror of smelling Windex in your noodles, such a turn off), and yet they continue to persist. So makes you wonder how businesses still survive with such drastic changes in quality.

I went to Sister Wah once too almost 7 years ago. Really good stuff and I paid extra for a better brisket cut. But can’t help but think if they’ve gone downhill since they are rarely mentioned anymore. Then again HK people tend to flock to trends and prefer fancy exports, and the latest “in” thing. I kind of understand how they work. So perhaps when JLee and I went during those heydays, it was the “in” thing for bloggers to cover to promote themselves (and the restaurant indirectly), but now it’s just a typical neighborhood brisket noodles shop to most. Competition is also fierce with so many other dining choices. For me if I were to return to Tin Hau, instead of Sister Wah, there may be a couple of the Mak off shoots of won ton noodles that’s off the beaten path I really want to try (not Mak Siu Kee, though I should try them as a baseline but they’re one of the OG’s in the area, could have been the sister of one of the Mak brothers).

One thing I miss a lot, are braised beef innards skewers with daikon and mustard…almost oden like but very different. Dying art…so much labor, low profit margins. Just as well, cholesterol bombs.

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The exact prototypic place I was thinking of for the harried service of old lol…

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Yeah imagine if they laid out tablecloth, the waiters wore tuxedo’s, high thread count napkins, and offered wine pairings, they might even get a few steps closer to a Michelin Bib Gourmand!

All kidding aside, Australia Dairy Co. served me (albeit brusquely) THE best scrambled eggs I’ve ever had, anywhere on the planet. Totally worth the one hour wait in queue, and sharing an elbow-to-elbow communal four-top with fellow harried diners.

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Or you can go at night with no wait!

Wow, great gai yang photos. Can’t wait to try it :poultry_leg::nerd_face: plus I’m a big nam prik noom fan and who doesn’t like khao niew mamuang?

This is an unexpected but very welcome development! Thanks @jlee!

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https://www.instagram.com/p/CBmbnYXDJIL/

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prd x amboy

fried black cod fillets with corn sauce
The fish was perfectly fried, crispy, moist and flaky. Be sure to open the container right away to prevent steaming and eat right away, this won’t travel well.

classic double - custom blended burger patties, caramelized onions, american cheese, burger pickles and burger sauce in between a toasted sesame seed bun from bread bar la
Burger was good, fries were excellent.

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soy sauce chicken
pretty good

jowl
delicious

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https://www.instagram.com/p/CB1K6pSjiBT/

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JLee covers white cut chicken in this video from last year

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Veggie and mushroom chow fun and salt & pepper tofu

Noodles were toothy and delicious, with a great smoky taste to them.
Husband and I fought over the last cube of salt and pepper tofu :laughing: Silky tofu and really light, flavorful crispy coating.


Mapo tofu
Hard to describe how flavorful this is. I’ve had mapo tofu from a couple of places that were decent but some tasted one note (or were weirdly kind of sweet). PRD’s version has complexity so it has some of that numbing heat (not too much though) with really good seasoning. We loved this. And the tofu in it was great.


Mango sticky rice. delicious as well. The mangoes were perfectly ripe and sweet.

With 2 sides of rice this was plenty of food. We actually ate this for two meals, dinner last night and finished the leftovers for lunch today. However we did eat all the salt&pepper tofu last night because fried stuff usually doesn’t re-heat well.

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Is it my imagination or are the mangoes available in L.A. just more wonderful this year than years past? Rarely have I enjoyed such ripe meaty, luscious specimens in the past few weeks as I have in the past 3-4 years combined.

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@hanhgry
https://www.instagram.com/p/CCKgsJij78C/

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pandan dau hu…one of my many weaknesses :open_mouth:

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