HK Mong Kok Kui Ji Kitchen · One of the Best Zhi Char in Chinatown Complex 香港旺角葵记小厨

Buddies Daniel, Sylvia and Judy (who are ardent foodies) asked where shall we meet for lunch. I replied, "The one I saw you posted a couple of times last week" - HK Mong Kok Kui Ji Kitchen in Chinatown Complex. My buddies are so super nice - they ended up going to the same stall three times in a week just to accommodate me 😝 🙏

Stall name: HK Mong Kok Kui Ji Kitchen 香港旺角葵记小厨

Address: 335 Smith Street, stall #02-217, Singapore 050335 (stall in Blue Zone of Chinatown Complex Food Centre)

Nearest MRT: 5 minutes walk from Chinatown station

Tel: 9789 5529

Hours: 11:00am - 2:00pm | 5:00pm - 9:00pm (Weds off)

Sylvia's family have been loyal fans of HK Mong Kok Kui Ji Kitchen for over 20 years.

Owner chef Mr Yang was born in Xintangzhen 新塘镇 which is just east of Guangzhou city. Mr Yang was born in a century old wanton noodle family (the type where they knead dough by bouncing on a bamboo pole 竹昇麵). The family wanton mee shop 顺和云吞面 still operates in Guangzhou today.

Mr Yang, in his 60s now, worked in Hong Kong before coming to Singapore in 1984 when he was 30 years old. He was last with Hotel New Otani at River Valley before starting HK Mong Kok Kui Ji Kitchen some 20 years ago.

Mr Yang now runs his hawker stall with his wife and a daughter.

We already started eating when I remembered to take this overhead shot of the six dishes Sylvia ordered. The dishes were delivered to our table which is the custom for zhi char stalls (even though this is a hawker centre).

Cantonese zhi char stall but first dish to arrive was Teochew prawn roll or hae cho 虾枣 😄 (price $10). It's mashed prawn, streaky pork and spices held together with egg and starch (cornflour) wrapped in tofu skin and deep fried till browned and crisp outside. Each bite was bursting with savoury umami and sweet flavours from the soft prawn and pork filling 😋 The hae cho came with a plum sauce but I didn't use it (busy chatting and there was lots of food I forgot 😂 ).

Next was the Steamed Song Fish Head with Bean Sauce. At $14 per serving, this must be the cheapest in Chinatown Complex now.

The sweet but slightly earthly Song fish head was dressed with savoury soy sauce, fermented black bean, lard, Chinese cooking wine, chili, shredded radish, carrot and cucumber. It normally comes with a sprinkling of lard croutons but Sylvia requested for it to be served separately.

The fish head was very fresh and its sweetness was well complemented and balanced by the sauce's mild savouriness.

Then, the Claypot Mutton with Bean Skin (price $16). All I could see was the bean curd skin with the mutton invisible under the brown soup, thick with collagen.

This mutton soup was one of my favourites of today's meal. The mutton was soft-tender and quite gamey but balanced with sweet herbal taste. The soup was the other way around, herbal balanced with gaminess infused from the mutton.

If gaminess is up your alley, this could be one of your favourites too, like me. I rank this as one of the best Chinese mutton soups in Singapore (that is, if you are game for gamey). I am thinking, one serving of this mutton soup with rice would make a blissful satisfying meal for me, if I come here alone.

Claypot Brinjal with Diced Chicken in savoury sauce and salted fish (price $8). It's nice - the egg plant was stewed till soft and its fibres saturated like a wet sponge with savoury sauce which complemented the vegetable's sweetness.

I love this Pork Trotter stewed in soy sauce, set on a bed of cabbage and crowned with mushroom and ngaku 芽菇.

The pork trotter was stewed till fork tender and well infused with mild savoury flavours from the sauce. The crunchy ngaku imparted a nice sweetness to the soft-tender trotter.

I found myself enjoying the crunchy cabbage as it was coated with sweet savoury oily slick and sauce. Sinful but hard to resist.

Saving the best for last. This Claypot Prawns with Vermicelli (price $15) was my favourite of the day, though it was not love at first bite.

On first taste, the mung bean vermicelli or tang hoon was nice but nothing unusual. The lightly battered, good sized prawns were deep fried and meaty. I "forgot" about this dish after the first bite and went on to enjoy the other dishes and the great company of my friends.

After I am almost done with all the other dishes and came back to the prawn dish, picking up an obligatory mouthful in order not to waste food, I was blown away by the umami flavour from the vermicelli. By now, the tang hoon had infused the rich crustacean savoury umami from the 5 or 6 big prawns in the dish. The infused savoury umami just bursted in the mouth with every bite. We had no trouble cleaning up the whole claypot with relish.

via GIPHY

If you are born in the Year of the Pig, in this Year of the Tiger, eating more white and light colour food like fish, prawn, and scallop will bring you more blessings.

More about the Zodiac food guide 2022 👈 click

Thank you Daniel, Sylvia and Judy for a most sumptuous meal at HK Mong Kok Kui Ji Kitchen. Every dish was delicious with the mutton soup, vermicelli prawn and pork trotter particularly memorable.

Sylvia asked me to guess the bill. I guesstimated $80. Actual price was $79 - not bad hor my guess 😄 Thanks for the treat! 🙏

But hor, note that this Cantonese zhi char place got no beef hor fun one 🤔

                  

Written by Tony Boey on 20 Jan 2022