Hong Kong’s finest: Mr. Wong’s

I’ve been living in Hong Kong for a while now, and though I haven’t seen everything this place has to offer, I think there’s enough for me to write about. If you’ve been here this long, the Ocean Parks and Disneylands lose their appeal, and you tend to appreciate the simpler things. One such thing is a place we fondly call “Mr. Wong’s”.

Before night time and on weekdays, this place is just like any other Chinese restaurant, but go there late on a Friday night and you’re lucky to even get a table.

What’s special about this place is the owner — Mr. Wong himself, a very intersting man. Interesting because it seems that if you speak English, he won’t stop talking to you. You don’t really have to dumb down your English for him to understand, but unfortunately I have a hard time catching a single English word he says!

Above is Myles Lau, “the Son of Lan Kwai Fong”, and of course my boyfriend Brian. These two and a few more friends are the people I usually go there with.

And now for some pictures of the food, which are actually pretty decent IMO. Click on the thumbnails for quick descriptions, though I’m afraid I can’t tell you what they’re called in Cantonese.

And below is the aftermath — The remains of a delicious dinner. It’s the kind of food you look for, the same way you will forever look for your mom’s cooking, and I haven’t had a single thing from here that I didn’t like.

Aside from Mr. Wong and the food, there’s just something about this place that’s comfortable to me. Perhaps because places like this remind me of home. How so?

I don’t mean to say that home is a dump, but this is definitely no posh restaurant. Sometimes though, just like in the Philippines, the clutter doesn’t really matter. Sometimes you wanna be able to sit, not care about what kind of mess you make, and experience life and food at this level. Comfortable, cheap. It’s just the kind of place that you either come back for at every chance, or forget about forever.

It seems that Mr. Wong’s has become the go-to weekend dinner place for the throngs of exchange students in Hong Kong, which in my opinion is both good and bad. Good because it’s nice to see that news of this gem of a restaurant is spreading far and wide, but bad because since it’s so busy, Mr. Wong doesn’t have time to stop and chat.

Maybe next time I’ll try and ask him some questions, write more about this interesting man and his restaurant that seems more like a hobby than a business.

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How to get to Mr. Wong’s: Go to the Yau Ma Tei MTR station Exit A2, go through the small road beside Stussy, turn right on Dundas street and keep walking. Go into Kwong Wa street beside the Classic Army shop until you see a 7-11. Across the street is Mr. Wong’s, just remember the pictures in this post. You can also click here for the location on Google Maps.

Note: This post was updated November 5, 2011.

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