The Best Clay Pot Beef Rice With Egg That Saved My Disastrous Day

Beef Potted Rice with Egg cooked with love at the Wing Hap Shing Restaurant in Hong Kong – Photograph from openrice.com

My meeting with Alia went well. We were meeting to share ideas about teaching techniques and how we can improve on our current lesson plans. Since I had rushed out of the flat to make the meeting in time, I hadn't had a chance to eat so I was pretty darn starving by the end of it. Bingo, I pass a Yoshinoya on the way home.... simple, easy and fast to be plated food. Just what I was looking for. I've eaten at Yoshinoya a few times and have enjoyed most of their dishes. It is Hong Kong's answer to Japanese fast-food. What you see is what you get. It's not exactly Japanese culinary finesse so I can manage my expectations and still enjoy the experience.

That said, today while savouring my Chicken Demae Ramen & Japanese Tea Set my worst restaurant nightmare unfolded before my eyes... literally. While fishing my chopsticks about in my ramen bowl a bit of solid something surfaced.... huh?? Whilst my thoughts were trying to convince me of a rational explanation, as every second of examination passed I knew exactly what I was looking at. To my horror, a heap of chicken bone which appeared to have had meat chewed off it... chewed off by human teeth.... YUUUUK. Game over. I took my meal back to the counter pronto and showed them my little discovery. The very embarrassed lady at the till apologised profusely, looking quite frightened at this point. Seeing her face, instantly I knew to let it go and assured her it was not a big deal but to warn the chef to take more care of the food that is served out. Will this stop me from going back to Yoshinoya? Maybe, maybe not. Definitely not for a long long while.

Hong Kong is definitely a city about food... but only if you know exactly where to go. Restaurants that cater to the commercial taste buds are sadly disappointing, not up to par in flavour and standard. Although, when you are in the know, you can find local hole-in-the-wall restaurants tucked away in the hidden back streets of this pulsating city, dishing up simple and authentic Chinese meals that taste divine!! One of my favourites has to be the Beef Potted Rice with Egg served and cooked in a hot clay pot at the Wing Hap Shing Restaurant down Jervois Street. They close the kitchen at 4 pm daily, but are happy for customers to sit and enjoy their meals past that time. And when I say hole-in-the-wall I'm not exaggerating, this is a very simple place. But despite the lack of interior decor, the it's significantly clean and uncluttered, and once you taste what they have to offer you won't care for the surroundings. Simple ingredients cooked in a particular way to bring out the best flavours, friendly and humble service, at affordable prices to the average scale of the population. Most importantly, cooked with a love. What more could you ask for? ᐂ