Saturday, March 26, 2011

東寶小館 Tung Po Restaurant @ 北角 Northpoint, Hong Kong


東寶小館 Tung Po Restaurant is the kind of restaurant that has a unique character. It's located above a wet market, on the second floor of the Java Road Municipal Services Building. The typical 大牌檔 'dai pai dong' stall is normally located at a street side but Tung Po's ambience is like a Singapore food centre setting but comes with air condition. The second floor of the building used to have several 大牌檔 'dai pai dong' stalls but most of them have lost out to Tung Po such that most of the space now belongs to 東寶 Tung Po. 東寶 Tung Po is not a fine dining restaurant, so expect the ambience to be lively, noisy and maybe sometimes rowdy. The food may not look pretty but they're definitely delicious. When I ask the concierge of my hotel to help me reserve a table in 東寶 Tung Po, he told me that it's also one of his favorite and he may have problems getting us a reservation. That indicated that we've made a right choice of restaurant and in the end, he did manage to get us a table. Yeah!

This is the crowd that visits Tung Po. Reservation is definitely needed.

One character of 東寶 Tung Po is drinking beer off bowls like this. I like the words on the bowl, 戰斗碗 and it's taunting everyone for a beer drinking competition.

This is the Daily Soup that comes out of a Chinese Caserole. Carrots, winter melon and pork ribs were cooked till the clear soup was so sweet. The pork ribs was so tender that the meat slipped off the bones.

A bowl of the Daily Soup.


A plate of Grouper with Tofu steamed in Hong Kong style. Fresh grouper that so fresh, sweet and tender went well with the smooth tofu that drizzled with some savory sauce.

One of the chef's signature 南乳炸豬手 Fried Pig Feet with Marinated Tofu. The pig's feet was fragrant, crispy on the outside. It taste very delicious but on the inside ........

...... on the inside there's plenty of fatty soft pork lard with non of the lean meat in sight. Are you up for it? I can taste a few pieces of this ultimate indulgence and then I'm totally done with it. Beer would be good to compliment this dish to wash down the cloying feeling.

This is the best 黃金蝦 Crisp Fried Shrimp that I've eaten. There seems to be only a thin coat of the crab roe but this is no diluted stuff. It's pure salted crab roe that made this dish so crispy and so indulging. My best dish here in Tung Po.

Again, a close up of my favorite dish with the golden coating of indulgence.

A fried rice with and interesting name, 大肚婆炒飯 'Pregnant Lady' Fried Rice. The only semblance that I can make  out of this dish to its name is the huge heap of rice that looked like the bulge on a pregnant lady's tummy. Anyway, it's fried rice cooked to perfection. It's fried rice with 鍋氣, 'wok's fragrance'.

I noticed a piece of information printed at a corner of the menu telling patrons to call for reservations only from 2:30pm~5.30pm. Nobody will be answering any calls at anytime other than that mentioned. A big claim here is the food in 東寶 Tung Po is 100% without MSG. 

Whether you arrive in a cab or by MTR, recognize this building, take the escalator to the second floor and you'll be in 東寶 Tung Po.

北角渣華道99號渣華道市政大廈2樓
2/F Java Road Municipal Services Building
99 Java Road
North Point, Hong Kong.
Tel : 852 2880 5224

3 comments:

mr. pineapple man said...

ooh these look soooooooo good! I want some authentic food!

Anonymous said...

This looks a lot like the place that Anthony Bourdain visited when he came to Hong Kong for No Reservations.

Unknown said...

Mr. Pineapple man : That was really some authentic good food.

Alkanphel : Wow I didn't know Anthony Bourdain visited Tung Po. It's really popular with the locals!

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