Days In Hong Kong - Lei Garden

After reading yAnn's entry on her best meal, I knew we had to make a visit to Lei Garden in Hong Kong.

But what could have been an impeccable experience, was a little marred because of bad luck.

The famous crispy roast pork which I was so looking forward to having, was SOLD OUT!

Hey, I knew the roast pork was popular, but I didn't expect it to be gone by 1pm. The restaurant staff told us that many customers actually reserve the dish when they make their table reservations. Just too bad for us then. We ordered a plate of char siew instead.

We also wanted good Cantonese soup, but due to a miscommunication, we ended up with something more exotic than expected.

The soup of the day was sold out (again) and we were recommended to try either crocodile or seafood soup. We chose the latter of course.

When the soup came, we couldn't help but wonder why there were weird chunks of scaly stuff in the soup.

To make sure we weren't drinking crocodile or worse, armadillo soup, I checked with the service staff that this was indeed the 'hai xian tang' we ordered. Hai ya, hai ya, she said and pointed to the order chit on our table. I took a look at the chit and realised the order was Starfish soup (hai xing tang). Eeeewwww.

The husband thought the soup was chockful of flavour but I didn't like the bitter aftertaste. Perhaps they had added Chinese herbs? Or maybe it was just the thought of having a dead starfish in my soup. Bleah.

Nothing appetizing about the dried starfish

I'm glad the husband helped to finish most of the soup

Juicy slab of Honey Char Siew

The char siew was good, but the one we had in Maxim's Palace City Hall during our last trip, was better.

 

Stir Fried You Mai Cai with Salted Beans

This was delicious but my Teochew tastebuds found it a tad too oily and salty.

Stir Fried Hor Fun with Smoked Duck

You know a stir fried hor fun is the real deal when you can taste the wok hei (which according to Wikipedia, is known as the flavour, tastes, and "essence" imparted by a hot wok on food during stir frying). Loved the combination of the wok hei together with the smoked duck and we cleaned the plate, right down to the last morsel.

Despite the misses, it was still a very good meal. I hope the next time we return, we'll get to try the roast pork and a more conventional soup.

Shop No. 3007 to 3011, 3/F
International Finance Centre
Central, Hong Kong