Christmas Feast at Yeh Lam Kwok Restaurant

After my share of home cooking madness, and sous chef's end of low iodine diet...we were like loose canons...shooting from one restaurant to another...

This Christmas, considering my plummeting stocks....despite the generous one month bonus the company gave out...we didn't pick anything fancy. "Anything fancy" normally requires 6 months advance booking, and it could cost more than my one month's rent (seriously!).

Thus, I picked one of my favorite Hong Kong steak restaurant, Yeh Lam Kwok. The service totally sucks, they consistently screw up our orders, their food is nowhere near "fine dining", but I love love love the place...and you'll see why.

We managed to avoid the dining peak hour, by arriving at around 6.30. See all the empty seats there?...they would all be full by 8.


I love set dinners. At HK$148 (plus 10% service charge), I get lots of stuff. Soup, bread, appetizer, main course, dessert and a drink! In places like this...I am more of a quantity girl more than quality. Hehe.

Rich mushroom and seafood soup. Yes, it is rich with corn starch. This is why I hardly ever order cream based soup in Chinese eateries. I made an exception, and I shouldn't have. The raisin dinner rolls though...were heavenly. Soft, fluffy, and fragrant.

When dining in Hong Kong restaurants...the red soup is your safest bet. It is always rich and tasty.

I mentioned earlier that this place's service sucks and it consistently screwed up orders. In my previous visit, a friend of mine ordered a white soup with a puff pastry topping. She was served red soup with puff pastry topping. She couldn't see what's under the puff pastry, so she poked it with a fork...and told the server that it's not what she ordered.

Then the most amazing thing happened. The lady seated at the next table mentioned that she ordered a red soup with puff pastry topping. Our server looked at the soup in his hand (red, with already poked puff pastry), and we could see how he was contemplating giving the soup to the lady at the next table. My friends and I, and the lady and her companion were all staring at him, thinking "NOOOOO WAYYY"...and he DID! He handed the soup to the lady at the next table...and she looked at him with disbelief and said that she could not accept that.
The something more amazing happened. Our server argued "but it has only been poked, she (my friend), hasn't tasted the soup". The lady's companion said "No!"...and our server argued again "Well, if you won't accept this, then I'll order again and you will just have to wait!". He said "We'll wait". Our server stormed away, clearly not looking very happy about his brilliant idea being shut off. We looked at each other...still couldn't believe what we just experienced, and cracked up.

Will they screw up again this time?

My appetizer - Sliced ham and turkey on top of mashed potatoes and pumpkin with gravy
The ham was great, the gravy was tasty, and the mashed potatoes was smooth and creamy. I have never been crazy about turkey...it's a bit too dry and chewy for me.

Sous Chef's Main Course - Sirloin Steak with mashed potatoes and pumpkin, roasted vegetable, and tomato rice.
In places like this, when you ordered your steak "medium well"....don't count on it too much. Most probably you won't get it how you ordered it. It's gambling, really...and you might wonder why they serve mashed potatoes with rice? They're trying to get us high on carb, so that we won't notice the screwed up orders. Hehe

My main course - Steak and soft shell crabs on a bed of (another) mashed potatoes and pumpkin and roasted vegetables with black pepper sauce
The soft shell crabs were the star of this dish. They were crispy and deliciousss...and I love drenching them with black pepper sauce all over. YUM!


The dessert - Waffles with peaches and strawberry sauce, with a side of chocolate sauce
It's really too filling after the multiple appearances of mashed potatoes...but what the heck! It was delicious and we wiped the whole thing off the plate.

Sous chef's drink - Hot pear, ginger and tangerine tea
It's nice and refreshing, lightly sweetened, it's the perfect drink to end this heavy meal.

My drink - Triple Sec Chocolate
Super rich, creamy, orangey, and chocolatey. My all time favorite from this restaurant. It is so worth the HK$8 extra charge for "special drinks"

They did screw up my order and tried to serve me salmon instead of my steak. But I love being overfed...and with such a value for money, the screw ups won't scare me away from going back to Yeh Lam Kwok.

Yeh Lam Kok Restaurant (Hung Wai Building)
3-5 Fa Yuen Street Shop B, 1/F
Hung Wai Building Mong Kok

Holiday snap for the day...

Santa on the loose...spotted in front of Fat Angelo's Restaurant, Soho, Central, Hong Kong.

What did I wear that day? Check it out here...but after this holiday season, I guess I will have to borrow santa's pants. Oh well!