Chan Kan Kee Chiu Chow Restaurant 陳勤記鹵鵝飯店 Wanchai branch was open for less than 3 weeks during the time of this visit (January 8, 2013 or thereabouts). The flagship store is in Sheung Wan, and unfortunately I have not been to that location which same say is better. This was the last meal on the trip, and quite a memorable one.
CKK should be pretty easy to navigate. The menu is fairly widespread as a result of trying to accommodate locals as well as out of town visitors. Thus it takes a little research and understanding before you deep dive into ordering, and naturally sticking with the restaurant's namesake cuisine.
The menu is in both English and Chinese, with fairly accurate translations.
鹹菜胡椒豬肚湯 (Double boiled pork stomach peppercorn pickled vegetable soup)
This one is a no brainer. The restaurant has two double boiled soups, the other being Chinese almond and pork lung, which you can easily get at Trusty Gourmet or even Luk Yu. But you are here for a Chiu Chow experience, and thus 鹹菜胡椒豬肚湯 (salted pickled vegetable, peppercorn, pork stomach soup) is the de facto standard.
This soup is totally glorious, especially when it's so cold outside you can't feel your nads. If you are coming from a country where it snows, HK's worst cold weather is nothing to fear and you will think we are all a bunch of wussies (which is true). But if you are like most locals, high single digit temperatures in degrees Celsius is pretty serious business with any wind chill factor. So a bowl of comfort, will really hit the spot. Beware though, as you get closer to the bottom of the pot, the pepper flavor kicks in. You will see whole peppercorn spheres once most of the soup is scooped out.
鹵水拼盤 (combination simmered platter)
Looking back, I regret not getting the sliced goose breast platter. But this combination platter was a decent sampler otherwise. Some marinated tofu, marinated pork belly, marinated goose wing tip, and goose "ankle" area of the foot. A touch greasy looking, but otherwise quite pleasing. I can only imagine how much better the flagship branch marinade could be.
川椒雞 (chicken with jin jiew sauce)
Despite the name, this has nothing to do with Sichuan or Sichuan peppercorns, and is a dish I grew up with that nobody has been able to replicate in Northern California. The best part are the crispy greens that come with it. This is a very typical Chiu Chow Cantonese dish. Though the chicken was a bit roughly chopped, and a bit too big.
家鄉煎蠔烙 (pan fried oyster omlette)
Another golden standard, the Chiu Chow style Cantonese oyster omlette. On the dry side and crispy, which is great for me. No dip sauce, and was overall quite pleasing. Would have been perfect with a cold beer.
One last dishes that was ordered, but totally forgot to photograph was 方魚炒芥蘭 (Chinese broccoli or Chinese kale stir fried with a style of dried salted fish).
There were only 3 of us, so the number of dishes we could try were limited. But overall this was like the ending of a Marvel super heroes movie....a teaser clip for future indulging of Chiu Chow delights. This meal had me wanting a whole lot more.
The other parts of the restaurant, particularly the deli section and seafood tanks provided some fun photography material
We were joking about the sausages. There were 3 when we sat down, and nobody ordered the longest one.
Cold flower crabs 花蟹 - did not ask how much, but probably close to $1000 or a little less.
Flower crab 花蟹 - Quite gorgeous. These would likely be cooked to order
To try next time "fish rice" 魚飯 - fish that is salted, cooked in broth, and allowed to cool, and eaten cold
Chan Kan Kee Chiu Chow Restaurant
陳勤記鹵鵝飯店
Shop 9-10, G/F, Tonnochy Towers, 250-274 Jaffe Road, Wan Chai
灣仔謝斐道250-274號杜誌臺地下9-10號舖
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