Delicious Local Meals at Local Store in Hong Kong (美味香港大牌档)

"Local meals at Local store patronized by the Locals of Hong Kong."

This local store (大牌档) of Hong Kong is best described as the safest indoor store where you won't get wet or dust as it is not an open-air concept by the road. This store is situated above the wet market inside a multi-storey building. It wasn't stuffy, too, as the place is spacious and has high ceilings and larger windows surounded one side of the walls.

I should say it is pretty much like our "Zhi-Cha" store (煮炒摊) in the hawker centre (of Singapore). It may be a place for casual dinner or for a catch up with friends over meals.

The name of this store is Gi Kee Seafood Restaurant (銖記海鮮飯店) @ Happy Valley (跑马地). Our Hong Kong friend brought us there. So, most of the dishes were recommended by her (and through her friends who are the patrons of this restaurant). This restaurant visit wasn't in our original plan, but since it was recommended by our local friend as she knew we liked local flavours, we were so keen to give it a try! We left the priviledge of ordering to her (smile).

First and foremost, let's dig into this mouth-watering Cold 'Spicy' Chicken (冻辣鸡), one of their must-eat dishes. A taste of the best entrées which I couldn't probably forget. Look at the picture (see above), it still makes me drool!

This dish was served cold as per named. Looks spicy? Not at all, to me. It wasn't exactly spicy, I would say it's more like an almost sweet gravied chicken dish, with just mild chili flavour. It resembles Thai sauce, sweet with a little spicy taste. Even though the meat was cold, it did not affect its delightful taste.

Try this Shark fin and chicken broth (鸡炖翅). The essence of chicken was totally emerged into the super-sized soup. With plentiful of shark fins in it, each and every mouthful of soup wasn't just the liquid, you'll get to eat the soft chicken meat and chewy shark fins in complete pieces. The superb taste surely did live up to my expectation.

This was also another dish recommended by my local friend. I had absolutely no idea what was it, except guessing it as sort of shell creature. Nonetheless, we trust it was safe to be consumed. It is their signature dish, afterall! Chuckling..

If you would like to order this, tell the staff, Stir-fried 'Sheng Zi' with black bean sauce (豉汁炒圣子 "Shi Jup Chao Sheng Zi" in Cantonese). The meat was fleshy, and taste was enlivened by the flavoursome thick gravy. I loved its chewy texture in the palate.

We won't give a miss to fish dish in Hong Kong as it was often made with unbeatable taste! Already tried the steamed fish, we chose another well-known cooking method to this superior fish, Soon Hock (顺壳), we ordered a oil-based Soon Hock fish (油浸顺壳). The whole fish was cut and turned from inside out completely to deep-fry till extensively crisped that you can even chew the bones. The sauce of oil and light soy sauce wasn't really too oily, it was so fragrant and well complimented the deep fried fish.

This is the vegetables dish which I mentioned in my previous post! This simple-yet-superb vegetables dish is heartily recommended to you, the Stir-fried Sheng Cai with preserved bean curd (生菜 [aka 玻璃菜] 清炒腐乳)! It is just an ordinary dish which every household should be able to cook it. However, the same dish here was not ordinarily well executed! Crunchiness of the vegetables remained, and its taste was simply perfect, I repeat, perfect! It was the last dish served in this dinner, but I just couldn't stop myself from finishing it up completely, despite my overly filled stomach.

We arrived at late evening and saw the place steadily fill up with casual diners, guided tourists and friends' gatherings. I guess it will be good to make advance booking. Spontaneous visit might end up with long wait, especially over weekend.

Just to elaborate this place further, there are two similar stores, i.e. 銖記 and 嫦记, on the same floor. This place is basically segregated into tables of two colours. White and orange plastic cover sheets which white belongs to 銖記, and the later belongs to 嫦记. Don't worry if you can't remember, there will be a number of restaurant staff each standing-by at the door of the elevator, and shouting to 'welcome' you. Do not be shocked by their aggressiveness, just say you are going for 銖記, the relevant personnel will guide you to their seats. I guess this is the ritual here, and they have been living with it peacefully, so far.

Since we went there after shopping at Causeway Bay, by public transportations, conveniently. I think it's pretty easy to find this place, i.e. No.2 Yuk Sau Street (毓秀街), UC Wong Nai Chung Complex, 2nd Floor, Happy Valley, Hong Kong. For further information on how to get there, please check out My Note Book on The Web.

The portion of each course looked decent, but this 5-course meal was deceptively filling! We had no room for dessert anymore!

How much it costs? I was not too sure as it ended up as a treat from my friend! Just briefly saw a HK$500 note and a few tens were paid.