Cheung Fat Kitchen 長發小廚 @ North Point

Java Road Market is an indoor wet market and cooked food centre located in North Point, Hong Kong. It features fresh food stalls on the lower floors and a vibrant food centre upstairs where vendors cook fresh seafood bought from the market.

Princess and I landed in Hong Kong just in time for dinner after we checked in to Hyatt Centric, which was right behind the market. A mega typhoon was moving fast across the coast towards Shanghai, and the outer spiral was bringing some rain, so we decided to check out the food market on the third storey of the market instead of going far.

There were only two stores opened at this time that we went (almost 8pm), and the action was in full swing despite the wet weather outside the air-conditioned food centre. There was a steamboat place and then there’s this daipaidong 大排檔 (what we refer to as tzechar 煮炒 in Singapore) called Cheung Fat Kitchen that was attracting bulk of the clients there. We settled down and ordered some of my favourite dishes.

Despite getting this in China and many other places around Asia, 紅燒乳鴿 deep fried pigeon (squab) is never the same in Hong Kong. First the pigeon is marinated or braised until about 70% cooked. It is then finished in hot oil to get that crispy skin and juicy tender flesh. You can taste the spices used to braise the birds. But what is different in Hong Kong is the size of these pigeons – they are always bigger in Hong Kong. Came with a salt and pepper dip but I can simply eat it on its own.

Whenever I see eel on the menu, I couldn’t help but order it if I haven’t try it before in that restaurant. The boss recommended the steamed version because it was a live eel, but I was afraid of the muddy taste that some of these farmed eels may have so I opted for the steamed white eel with fermented black beans sauce, a compromise of sorts. I should have just gone for the boss’s recommendation as the eel was really good. Good size, nice texture, very fatty – it was everything I wished for in an eel dish. The fermented black bean version was good, but as we weren’t having any rice, it was too overwhelming.

Princess picked this 椒鹽田雞 deep fried frog in spicy salt from the menu. Kermit was battered and deep fried and then tossed in a quick steed with some dry spice rub that included black pepper, Sichuan peppercorn and dried chilli powder. The batter was salted and spice rub was salty, so it was a double whammy of saltiness. Perhaps they wanted you to have more beer, which we did.

And for our greens, we order 芥蘭炒牛肉 stir-fried Hong Kong kale with sliced beef, which these days come from mainland China instead of New Territories. It was what I had expected, sliced beef that had been tenderised with baking soda and marinated with copious amount of oyster sauce. The dish had wokhei and the beef was “tender”. The kale did not disappoint and was crunchy and fresh.

Finally, the starch and we had to have the Hong Kong staple – 乾炒牛河 fried rice noodle with sliced beef in soy sauce. The difference between this sliced beef and the other one was the tenderiser. This one did not taste of the tenderiser. But it was not dry enough, what the Hong Kongers refer to as 乾身 “dry body”, which a delicate balance between oily and noodles sticking together. And there wasn’t the wokhei that we got from the kale dish. Anyway it was a good dinner for around HKD 580 all in.

Cheung Fat Kitchen 長發小廚
99 Java Rd, 3rd floor Stall 7-9 of the Java Road Market and Cooked Food Centre, North Point, Hong Kong. 北角渣華道99號渣華道市政大廈渣華道熟食中心2樓7-9號舖

Visited Jul 2026