Sing Kee Dai Pai Dong

One of the places that I wanted to eat at in Hong Kong was in some dai pai dong. I heard Anthony Bourdain say that in his programme (yes, I keep referring to him because his Hong Kong episode is the only guidebook that I have) that word, so I came here wanting to go to a dai pai dong without really knowing what the word actually means. It actually just means ‘hawker stall’ and we get plenty of that in Malaysia. Oh well.

I was fortunate that one of the people that works in the hall where I’m living now agreed to bring me to this dai pai dong in Central. I certainly would not have dared to go to it myself as I wouldn’t know (can’t) what to order there.

This is one of the last few dai pai dong’s available in Hong Kong as most of the places have been relocated into market complexes. This place is also recommended by the white bearded guy, Choi Lan, that I mentioned before here. I think that rectangular sign below the shop’s signboard says something about him.

The both of us had 3 dishes with rice.

The moment I tasted it, I knew that I was in for a treat. Good honest food. Very tasty. It’s like good home cooked food, with more oil.

None of this dishes are new to me, but its just that being in Melbourne for nearly one whole year and not having decent chinese food was a bit of a pain. This place reminded me of what good chinese food is supposed to be.

We had all 3 dishes with rice, which was hot and fluffy, and as close to perfect as you can get, but my camera refused to focus on the rice, for whatever reason, so I don’t have a picture of it.

I came back another day with my friend from Melbourne, who actually had a proper guidebook (I think he even had Choi Lan’s personal guidebook), and we shared this bowl of fish soup with rice. He was saying “Oh my parents will be so jealous that I got to come here and they didn’t!”.

This is basically a very similar soup to the Fish Head Beehoon dish, except without the noodles.

Again, the one thing that struck me when I first tasted this dish was how honest it is. That was the exact word that popped into my head.

Oh, and I just found out that Sing Kee was voted Best Dai Pai Dong by Time Out, a local magazine.

They didn’t give it a high rating for cleanliness though. Which, I suppose was deserved. There was a rat just a metre away from me as I was waiting for the soup.