Mui Far Chuen 梅花邨 @ Hong Kong

This Teochew Ah Lao is looking for some traditional food from my ancestral hometown as I landed in the Teochew enclave of Hong Kong.

Mui Far Chuen is a small eatery in North Point specialising Teochew fare, not the complicated fine dining Teochew cuisine but homely Teochew cooking that I grew up with. This is not a family-owned eatery, but a chain restaurants with over 30 years history.

滷水鵝片拼鵝肝 Braised Sliced Goose Meat with Foie Gras

No Teochew meal in Hong Kong can do without the braised goose 鹵水鵝片. I ordered the combination plate so that my colleagues can also try the braised goose liver 鹵水鵝肝, aka foie gras. These came on a bed of braised soft tofu, which was the highlight for me as it was delicious.

滷水鵝片 Braised sliced goose meat was done properly, tender and moist with the flavours of the braise evenly infused into the meat even though the colour of the meat looked a bit pale.

滷水鵝腸 Braised Goose Intestines

I ordered half a portion of the 滷水鵝腸 braised goose intestines as the colleagues were not too into offals. Also it is a dish that can do so wrong – a second longer in the blanching process, the intestine would turned rubbery; if the braising liquid is not good, the intestines would be tasteless. They got the taste right, but they were a bit overcooked that it lost its crunch.

凍烏頭 Cold Steamed Grey Mullet

They were promoting this 凍烏頭 cold steamed grey mullet, my dad’s favourite, to me and I relented. This grey mullet is a perennial fish but during the cold months, they would store up fats and when chilled become really delicious. Steamed with nothing but a coating of salt the unscaled fish, we simply split the fish into two halves before serving and served with a 普寧豆醬 Puning fermented bean paste. The fish was not fantastically fresh, so the meat was flaky. So much for the hard sell.

招牌蠔仔肉碎粥 Chiu Chow Minced Pork Congee

招牌蠔仔肉碎粥 Chiu Chow minced pork congee has more than minced pork; it contains baby oysters, dried sole fish, mushrooms, seaweed and minced pork cooked into a savoury soup with lots of umami from the oysters and dried sole fish, and the boiled with rice. My comfort food whenever I am feeling down in Hong Kong. And this flavour I can only get from Teochew restaurants in Hong Kong because of the accessibility of the dried sole fish and baby oysters.

臘肉炒豆苗 Sautéed Smoked Meat with Pea Sprouts

And finally, something that Hong Kongers will served when it comes to the colder months. 臘肉炒豆苗 Sautéed smoked meat with pea sprouts is a simple dish and depended on good smoked meat to make it outstanding. The combination of liver sausage and normal sausage was delicious but the smoked sausages were salty but without the meaty, smokey taste. Nevertheless still a good eat.

福果綠豆爽 Mung Beans with Ginkgo Nuts

Finally, a Teochew dessert which we named as “lek tau suan” 綠豆爽. Usually in Hong Kong, they would add 清心丸 sweet potato starch ball. But here they added ginkgo nuts instead. Not too sweet, which is a compliment to the dessert.

Overall I was surprised by this accidental choice. Mui Far Chuen has stood the taste and price tests; their cooking can be compared to many so-called Michelin Teochew restaurants but without the hefty price tags that they come with. The service and environment however did not make the mark. Even with a half-empty place, they made us share a large table with another couple. Of course once they laid out our order, the plates stacked upon each other. And then they toppled over a bowl of soup. After that we were allowed to move to the next empty table. I really am sorry to the couple that was there first.

Mui Fa Chuen Restaurant 梅花邨小館  
G/F, 8A Tsat Tsz Mui Road, North Point
北角七姊妹道8A號地舖
Tel : +852 25619797/25618829

Visited Oct 2024