Friends Gathering

When my uni mate J and his family returned from China for a quick vacation here, a few of us met up over dinner at Yat Tung Heen in Jordan. It’s been a while since my last visit, and they went through quite a bit of renovation along with the rest of the hotel, transforming itself from the conventional tourist hotel to more a trendy, young and hip style properties complete with a food hall and even co-working space upstairs.

I was glad we came on one of those quieter days of the restaurant when there weren’t that many people and they put us at the back end of the dining room, because with all the kids at our tables it did make us the somewhat rowdy crowd (in a relative sense) and unavoidably, somewhat the center of attention. We went for the a la carte menu this time, and with 2 big tables, we managed to cover quite a bit of dishes, including some of the signature ones listed on the menu plus a few seasonal items.

We started with the chilled tomatoes pickled in preserved plum juice, presented beautifully like a bunch of grapes on a plate. More of a summer appetizer I reckon but I liked the refreshing flavor and a touch of acidity. The Tiger Prawns Two Ways was well-suited when different people have different preferences – the prawns were done either with a sweet and sour glaze, or one with just a simple superior broth reduction brushed on top. One was more salivating, and the other got more of the original prawn flavor. It’s just a matter of person choice, really, and this time, I picked the sweet and sour one and it tasted delicious.

The braised pork belly was unlike some others we had elsewhere when it’s served in a casserole with thick soy sauce gravy. The one we had here was brought to our table in a big chunk on a plate with a lighter sauce, then carved to serve. Still with the good soft and fatty taste, but a notch down in richness and less stuffy.

The soy sauce chicken took a while to appear at our table, but it’s well worth the wait. Chicken done in perfect tenderness and the skin was glazed with the shiny brown color from the sweet soy sauce basted on top whilst being cooked. A couple clay-pot casserole dishes were served – I loved the beef flank with onion, shallots and scallions with a touch of XO sauce and a spicy kick, but not so much of the stewed lettuce with local shrimp paste – it didn’t arrive sizzling as I expected and a tad bit too salty.

We finished with a couple rice dishes – the fried sticky rice was great with plenty of ingredients went in and all perfectly cooked, and the portion of the casserole rice with minced pork patty and salted fish was huge though I wish there were more burnt crust at the bottom.

Ending our meal was a couple desserts. Both were tasty, particularly the steamed date pudding served in bamboo baskets, arrived steamy hot and I liked the bouncy texture of the diamond-shaped desserts with layers of red sugar and date pudding. It’s always good to be catching up with friends over simple meal such as this at a family-friendly restaurant which also got a Michelin star.

More photos here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/g4gary/albums/72157705292665625

When? January 3 2019
Where? Yat Tung Heen, B2, The Eaton, 380 Nathan Road, Jordan, Hong Kong
Menu Highlights? Braised Soy Sauce Chicken
Web: www.eatonworkshop.com/hotel/hong-kong/food-and-drink