Hong Kong is the de facto food capital of the world and when they introduced Michelin stars in Hong Kong and Macau, many critics were up in arms. How do you grade an outlet like Joy Hing?
Joy Hing is a Hong Kong institution, they have been serving high quality Hong Kong-style BBQ roasts for the past 200 years – no kidding, the family has been selling roasts since Qing dynasty and only closed shop for WWII. The current shop was opened in the 80s and catered to the Wanchai office crowd with fans that included the famous 手袋黨 – high ranking female officials from the HK government in the 90s that included Mdm Anson Chan.
And their magic does not stop at roast. Being Teochew, they do a very good stew of beef parts – beef briskets, tendons, tripe, intestines, tofu, stewed duck Chiuchow style. And I loved their roast pigeons – stewed and then fried to give the crisp but totally flavourful from the stew sauce that was never thrown away, only added everyday for the new batch.
Try everything – roast duck, suckling pig, roast pork belly (***), soy sauce chicken, the Teochew stew. One thing to note though – they don’t do roast goose like others, but I don’t miss any of that. Another thing to note for my Singaporean friends – 燒豬 and 燒乳豬are different, and the 燒肉 is called 燒腩. So learn how they are called, and you won’t get the wrong stuff.
I would not recommend to eat in the restaurant as there ain’t many tables and the place is quite cramp. But if you were there for a meal, remember to order their soup of the day 例湯. It was a large bowl and paired well with any thing that you ordered. When I was there, they were serving a pork knuckle-carrot-kudzu soup 粉葛豬腱紅蘿蔔湯 and the Cantonese really know their soup. And a plate of BBQ Pork rice 叉燒飯 with it’s au jus sauce, you have a really hearty meal for only HKD 33 (SGD 5, 2016 prices) – where to find in Wanchai these days?
What I do usually, is to order to go and eat in the comfort of the hotel room. And remember to ask for their 薑蔥蓉, their homemade ginger-scallion aioli.
They got their Bib Gourmand in 2015 and then again in 2016.
5-min walk from Exit A4, Wan Chai MTR Station, next to 大榮華酒樓.
Joy Hing Roasted Meat 再興燒臘飯店
Block C, G/F, 265-267 Hennessy Road, Wan Chai
灣仔軒尼詩道265-267號地下C座
Tel: 25196639
Opening hours: Mon-Sat 10:00-22:00 (or when they are sold out), Closed Sundays
Date visited: Too many times. Photo credits – May 2014, Jun 2016 (the Michelin plaque)
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