After a tiring work-week, I look forward to weekends for some retail therapy and a good meal of my comfort food. Aside from Pinoy food, my second choice is Chinese food because the dishes are tasty and there is rice and noodles on the menu. Craving for authentic Chinese food usually leads me to Binondo but since it is far from where I live, I end up eating in Chinese restaurants in malls.
It was such a delight to discover that in the heart of San Antonio Village in Makati, just a few blocks from where I live, there's a quaint little restaurant called Hong Kong Roast Food Express that offers "authentic Chinese food," providing a "taste of Hong Kong." I was skeptical at first because when I went to Hong Kong, I was very disappointed with the food that I tried.
Anyway, glancing on their menu, Hong Kong Roast Food Express (HKR) offers roast, rice, noodles, dimsum, bread/sandwich, desserts, coffee, and milk tea. It can also be noted that it boasts of "the best Hong Kong asado." And so we ordered Siomai for starters, BBQ Roast Pork (Asado), Roast Chicken, Black Chicken Sesame, Curry Beef Camto Noodle, Sate Beef Hofan, and to complete a Chinese dinner feast, Yang Chow Fried Rice. For drinks, we tried Milk Tea with Black Pearl while for dessert, we had Coffee Jelly and French Toast.
Since the dishes are cooked as ordered, we were served a trio of appetizers consisting of boiled peanuts, fried dumpling wrappers and pickled green papaya.
The four-piece Siomai order was delicious and was more flavorful than any siomai I have ever tasted. Each piece is packed with fresh ingredients and is not rancid nor soggy. Just be careful about using too much chili garlic on your siomai sauce, HKR's is super hot that just a little goes a long way.
The much anticipated BBQ Roast Pork (Asado) did not disappoint and it even surpassed my expectations. The meat is tender and the bbq flavor is sooo good it is indescribable. No wonder HKR is confident about claiming that it is "the best Hong Kong asado" in town.
The Roast Chicken is well cooked and each piece is evenly flavored. I think I ate three slices of this chicken because I couldn't resist its texture and taste, which is reminiscent of Causeway Bay roast duck.
Sate Beef Hofan was okay, its just that am not a fan of the super thick flat noodles because for me, it diminishes the flavor brought about by the other ingredients. For pancit, am more of a bihon/sotanghon kind of person.
However, I became an instant fan of the Curry Beef Camto Noodle Soup. The noodles are firm, the beef camto so tender it melts in your mouth and the mild kick of curry brought life to an otherwise simple beef noodle soup.
Next was the Black Chicken Sesame and this was my first time to eat one as I've only been hearing about the silk chicken with white feathers and black skin from stories of my colleague and fellow blogger Joyfully Yours, who happens to grow silk chickens in her backyard. Truthfully, the dish was not visually appealing at all, much like burned food on a platter. I braved my first bite and found it weird at first because it had little meat on its bones and it tasted funny. I guess the flavor grows on you in the next few bites. Black chicken cooked into soup is believed by Chinese to give strength to sick people, helping them recover faster. It is also given to mothers in their post-pregnancy stage twice a day to bring them back to health.
The Yang Chow Fried Rice is surprisingly not as oily as I know it to be that I felt less guilty eating a second serving. Can't deny that Yang Chow is my most favorite fried rice of them all.
I was able to meet the owner, Mary Chan, a simple and unassuming lady who has a degree in Hotel & Restaurant Management but she loves to cook and was trained under Chef Gene Gonzales when she was in college. Because of her love for food, she discovered the true recipe for asado, or barbequed pork, which she wanted to focus on for HKR. The recipe for asado is a trade secret and was only known to Chinese chefs who work for Manila's fine dining Chinese restaurants. But Mary felt the need for a restaurant that can give the true Hong Kong dining experience of excellent food, fast and efficient service, and affordable prices and so she she and her chef trained with Hong Kong and Shenzhen chefs to perfect the recipe of the best-selling dishes at HKR.
Hong Kong Roast Food Express, a hole-in-the-wall restaurant that is truly a gem for people like me who seek the best chow possible. Visit them at 7467C Bagtikan Street, San Antonio Village, Makati City for dine-in, take out and delivery. Call them at 553-7846 and 984-7760, find them in Facebook hkroast@yahoo.com or follow them in Twitter hkroast_makati.
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