Johor Bahru recently has a new Hong Kong roast meat shop called Tong Tong Cross Way Bay 糖糖尖沙咀港式烧臘.
The chef owner Martin invited me to visit his newly opened shop in Taman Sri Tebrau and to try his popular roast meats.
Martin used to run his small roast meat stall in a Singapore coffee shop. Martin made his name there with his ultra crispy skin siew yok 烧肉 (roast belly pork), even earning praises from KF Seetoh, Singapore's famous food guru.
Martin recently moved to Johor Bahru.
Speaking with Martin, I gathered that the keys to Tong Tong Cross Way Bay's signature roasts are in the techniques which Martin personally developed and also the quality of the ingredients.
The marinated ducks are blown dry before roasting. Tong Tong Cross Way Bay uses only chilled ducks of at least 3 kg size for their roast ducks.
Martin said that chilled large ducks are the meatiest, juiciest and more flavourful.
Local chilled pork is used for Cross Way Bay's siew yoke and char siew 叉烧.
Inside Tong Tong Cross Way Bay roast meat shop, the decor is still bare bones at the moment. Martin intends to renovate his shop in stages. His priority now is to make his roast meats known in the local market.
Already, Martin's ultra crispy siew yoke and other roast meats are winning him a growing regular clientele in JB.
Our tasting plate of char siew and siew yok.
The signature of Tong Tong Cross Way Bay's siew yok 烧肉 is their golden ultra crispy skin.
At it's best, the thick savoury skin is crispy like an airy brittle rice cracker with just the right (slight) greasiness. In the mouth, the crispy skin crumbles and tastes like a light buttery cookie.
The attached fat and lean meat are moist and tender.
For the char siew, I liked the thin translucent pieces with juicy tender fat and meat.
Tong Tong Cross Way Bay's roast chicken.
The golden brown crispy skin popped off the thick chunk of tender moist chicken meat.
Besides roast meats, Tong Tong Cross Way Bay also serves braised pork trotters but we just had no more stomach space to try it.
The roast ducks were also sold out today, so we didn't get to taste that either.
Shall be back for these :D
The best time to be at Tong Tong Cross Way Bay is when the shop opens at 10:00am and the roast meats are hot, just out of the roaster.
Tong Tong Cross Way Bay's ultra crispy skin siew yok 烧肉 is a Must Try.
Non Halal
Restaurant is closed.
Date visited: 13 Jun 2014
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