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Sweet and sour pork is a very common dish in Singapore and Malaysia (Hong Kong as well). But how often do you taste really good ones, or at least one that leaves you wanting to come back for more? Countable with one hand? That's the case for me. In Hong Kong, the sweet and sour pork in Tak Lung is the best I have tried thus far. I am saying this with conviction and like I always tell my friends, after you tasted it, sweet and sour pork will never be the same again!
Tak Lung does not have any branches and so if you want to visit it, you have to travel to San Po Kong. For directions, please refer to the end of this post. Tak Lung started out in San Po Kong in 1963 by Mr. Zheng Yi, who operated dai pai dong (street hawker) in Tai Kok Tsui prior to that. San Po Kong was chosen as it's an industrial area and was near to the old Kai Tak International Airport. Its heydays was over after the airport shifted but still, it is able to weather the later years by its group of talented chefs who whipped up excellent traditional Cantonese cuisine. The store is now taken over by his eldest son, Mr. Zheng Guo Sheng.
The menu in Tak Lung consists of a sheet of paper printed on both side; feel free to take it away for your future reference. The "stars" they provided is a rough guide to the popularity of the respective dishes.
The restaurant is pretty cramp and small. As it does not any branches, it is usually crowded during meal time and in t he weekends. Thus it is highly advisable to book in advance before you come. The service is pretty good and personalized. The staff will remember you if you patronize them again and they will tend to chat up with you for a couple of minutes. You will be given a compulsory starter dish (either peanuts or some chicken feet) which will cost you HK$11 per plate (usually one plate for 2-4 and increases with the number of people). Tea charges is HK$7 per person.
This is the signature dish - sweet and sour pork with hawthorn (山楂咕嚕肉). The secret lies in using hawthorn to cook it. It is crispy and not too sour; most places uses vinegar to create the sour taste. I read that the best sweet and sour pork should be cook with hawthorn. Classic and definitely a class of its own.
Next comes the award winning dish - 砵酒焗桶蠔. The translation should be something like baked oyster in chinese wine. Ok, the translation doesn't seem to indicate that it's a fantastic dish but indeed, all of us were in awe after we tasted it. We had similar comments - it doesn't taste like oyster. I am not a big fan of oyster but upon tasting it, I went for my second round. It's a very unique dish and best of all, we got it for free! All thanks to one of us who looked like a star (you know who you are). Lol.
Over the past few months, we tried many other dishes as well. The dishes produced in Tak Lung are above and feel free to be adventurous. Some of these dishes are listed as follow.
馳名得龍燒鵝皇. The roasted goose is above average, slightly pale in comparison to the one in Yung Kee and Victoria Harbour.
秘製通菜煲. Brilliant dish. 通菜 is better known as kankong to the Singaporeans. It is usually stirred fry with sambal chilli. In this dish, the kankong is simmered into the broth and boiled until it's cooked. It is very fragrant and after you ate it, you will be surprise that kankong taste really good in with this style of cooking.
花雕話梅豬手. It's quite hard and not exactly my favourite dish. Perhaps I don't know how to appreciate this dish. In addition, it is served cold and I prefer such dishes to be warm. Oh well, perhaps I don't know how to appreciate it.
海皇錦繡冬瓜盅. 冬瓜盅 or soup in a winter melon shell is considered one of the premium of Cantonese soup. It has a "cooling" effect and it's generally widely consumed during the summer. The 冬瓜盅 here is quite good - bland with a subtle sweetness, typical of such soup when it is well prepared.
鍋貼明蝦夾. This dish consist of a prawn being embedded in a small piece of bread and deep fried. It is a signature dim sum in 鴻星.
生煎莲藕餅. Nice dish with meat found in the holes of the lotus root. A friend from China commented that it resembles a home cooked dish.
一品海皇豆腐煲. Not too bad but not my favourite dish. It consists of beancurb cooked with some seafood.
Finally, after you are done with your meal, you will be given free dessert. You may think that free dessert may not taste as good as what you paid for outside. You are wrong then. The dessert here is really good and a Hong Kong friend commented that they put in a lot of effort in preparing the dessert. Usually, you will be given two types of dessert - some green bean or red bean soup and gui fa gou. I like the gui fa gou very much but it is usually not available say after 8pm or so. So if you want to try it, come early! The other time, as the gui fa gou is not available, they gave us a really nice dessert shown below. It tasted heavenly somewhat similar to mochi ice-cream. It's green tea flavoured if I don't remember wrongly. I'll definitely ask for it again in the future, though I don't know what it is called. :p
RATINGS:
1. Taste - 8.5
2. Ambience - 6.5
3. Service - 7.5
4. Average spending - HK$80 to HK$140 (based on 1-1.5 dish per pax). No service charge but they charge you some money for the starter dish (usually peanuts).
Address: 25-29, Hong Keung Street, San Po Kong, Kowloon (新蒲崗康強街 25-29 號地下)
Tel: 2320 7020/ 2322 3783
Directions: Alight at Diamond Hill MTR Station and exit at Exit A2. Upon exit, walk along the walkway covered by fence on both sides (around 100m). You will reach Choi Hung Rd and turn right and walk until you see traffic junction. Cross over and walk along Tai Yau St until you reach Tseuk Lok St (around 400m). Turn left and walk until you see the next street which is called Hong Keung Street. At this moment, you should be able to see the neon sign board of the restaurant.
Ok if this is too complicated, you can simply take MTR to Hang Hau and take mini bus #102 to San Po Kong. It stops right outside Tak Lung. However, this will be a longer trip (see the MTR map and you'll know why).
Other informations:
1. Tak Lung homepage
2. Commentaries on Openrice
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