Ching Yan Lee Chiu Chow Restaurant - Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

10A Hau Fook Street, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Ph: 2366 6556, 2366 1079
Nearest MTR: Tsim Sha Tsui, Cameron Road exit

Last Visited: 2008

Food: 3 stars
Atmosphere: 3 stars
Service: 4 stars
Price: $$ to $$$$

Chiu Chow (or Chaozhou) is a city in the easternmost part of the Guandong Province in China. While I have often heard of my parents talking about characteristics of Chiu Chow people, and I have eaten at a few restaurants serving Chiu Chow food, I am definitely not an expert in this cuisine and had no idea what I was about to try.

Today, we visited Ching Yan Lee for lunch. It was a weekday, so the place was rather empty and we ended up being the only customers there. This translated into very good service as we felt they catered to our every need.

Upon being seated, we were given small menus (see the picture above) along with two small cups of tea for each one of us. These cups look like tiny bowls more than cups and the tea was both fragrant and strong (almost bitter) despite the lightness of color. I guess this is one way to cleanse the palate for what was to come.

Like other restaurants in Hong Kong, we also received a small plate of salted peanuts. What was different about this plate was that there was also some slightly spicy/sweet preserved turnip.

While most lunch meals are pretty light or medium in heaviness, my uncle decided that this would be a great opportunity to try some more rich food for lunch today.

- Shark Fin Soup - This place is known for serving a very thick shark fin soup. What 'thick' in this sense means is that you can practically fork the shark fin - so an expensive bowl of soup, but very rich in flavor both in the broth and in the shark fin itself for being cooked in the broth. The bowl isn't particularly large, but there is a lot of this delicacy in there. It's probably the highest quality shark fin soup that I've ever had.

- Oyster Pancake - Another popular dish, this is essentially an egg omelette filled with oysters. The consistency of the oysters is just cooked and the egg is solid enough to hold its shape, but soft enough to be like an omelette. They did a nice job with this oyster pancake. As you can see, the color shows that it was pan-fried until golden and the oysters were tender inside.

- Steamed Fish - During this particular trip back to Hong Kong, I had a lot of steamed fish. This one was fairly standard in flavor and texture. It was not under or overcooked and was served in a simple soy sauce-based sauce. Since it was a live fish, it was quite expensive.

- The meal ended with a sweet dessert soup containing yellow beans. This was a nice way to finish off the rather heavy meal. Also, it's complimentary.

I enjoyed the lunch dishes, but would probably skip the fish next time. Hong Kong has many restaurants that will serve an excellent fish that is better in quality even if the price is the same. Also, if

you want to try this restaurant, weekdays during lunch is excellent. I experienced exceptional service because there was nobody else there. Plates were removed promptly and we were checked on frequently. I still can't tell you what makes for excellent Chiu Chow food, but this was good, and I would go back.