really? damn it, i was going to review it soon

glad you enjoyed!

glad you enjoyed, their peking pork chops are good, but they changed the sauce a bit, so they aren't quite as good as before

the pork chops you saw were probably salt and pepper pork chops, people always order those or peking pork chops (both are good)

thats odd, the salt baked squid is definitely more tender and better than NY noodletown, you mustve had an off night bc its usually very tender (like as tender as you would get it in hong kong), give it a try again next time you're there

never tried the crispy intestines, so no opinion on it

glad you liked the rest

yes, its the very big one with golden skin

its suckling pig, it has a very crispy dark skin with a layer of pork below, here's a pic of a good version from HK (although this is the whole thing):
https://www.lauhound.com/2010/10/manor-seafood-restaurant-good-upscale-cantonese-restaurant-in-causeway-bay/

there are two roast porks besides the cha siu: 1) the baby pig you just mentioned and 2) i forgot what it's called in english, but its calle siu yuk in cantonese, this is what it looks like:
http://cookingwithali.files.wordpress...

i have not found a very good version of siu yuk in NY yet, its really awesome when you make it right

ahh good, glad you had a good meal

the BBQ meats there are super inconsistent like when they are good they're actually pretty decent, but when they're off they're pretty mediocre and can end up anywhere in between. Btw when you get cha siu next time ask them for half fatty and half not. I personally like the fatty pieces more

i wouldn't order the eggplant, i didnt think it was anything special

go for the XO lobster, salt baked squid and the chicken...those dishes are def must orders

haha thanks!

i mean in general the western dishes are almost exactly what they sound like although something like "hong kong style pasta" you'd have to ask them what that is. I'd direct you to try the cantonese food first.

if i was going to direct someone to a specific western style dish then I'd recommend baked pork chop rice (although i haven't tried it here). its usually a cut up pork chop in a tomato sauce with egg topped with cheese and them baked over rice. its very good if you make it right

ahh too bad, but yah that place is packed. it has a very local type of crowd as i think its probably alot of the customers who used to go to SCG. the manager woman last time i was there was chatting it up with alot of the tables and im pretty sure she knew them

the HK diner western food is very popular in HK, i actually like it if you make it right, but it is sort of a strange concept

1) no specials on the wall
2) not sure about off menu items, i didn't ask
3) i'm actually not sure, but i'm pretty sure you could request it b/c they obviously have XO sauce + they have all those ingredients you mentioned for other dishes

check the online menu on their website, it was accurate

yah its just as good as ever, so definitely check it out. its also alot nicer decor wise

yah the menu is while not huge has some very different stuff on it, so you have to know what to order

nope same camera ive been using for a while, but the lighting was good in there for taking pictures

haha thanks

yah they make both of those dishes very well

Hey Dave - one the good things about having the blog is there is the "contact me" section which has turned out to be great b/c all sorts of people have gotten in touch with me that never would've if i didn't put that section up.

anyhow very glad they re-opened, so i have a regular spot to eat cantonese in chinatown again

here's my new review of Cafe Hong Kong (their new restaurant)
https://www.lauhound.com/2013/06/cafe-hong-kong-the-south-china-garden-guys-are-back-and-yes-they-are-the-best-restaurant-in-chinatown/

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/904820

**For full post and pics**: https://www.lauhound.com/2013/06/cafe-hong-kong-the-south-china-garden-guys-are-back-and-yes-they-are-the-best-restaurant-in-chinatown/

South China Garden was my favorite restaurant in Chinatown, which you can read about it here (https://www.lauhound.com/2010/11/sout...). It was one of the only places in Chinatown that you could get consistently good Cantonese food.

Needless to say I was quite dismayed when they were forced to shut down after they lost their lease. However, I recently received wonderful news when the owner’s son emailed me to tell me they’ve re-opened as Café Hong Kong. Also, the owner is still the head chef along with his brother, which means the food is being cooked by the same people.

The new restaurant is smaller, modern and much cleaner looking. Some of the staff is still the same from SCG. The menu is smaller and now includes a fairly substantial section Hong Kong café style foods (baked pork chop rice, spaghetti etc). However, it still has most of the staple Cantonese dishes, which I previously ordered at SCG.

Salt Baked Squid (Jiao Yen You Yu):
This is exactly the same as before which means that they make the best version in Chinatown. The salty non-greasy batter and tenderness of the squid makes this a solid rendition of this dish. 8/10

Lobster in XO Sauce (XO Jiang Chao Long Xia):
This is again the exact same quality as SCG. In fact I thought the quality of the lobster was actually better than SCG (although I’ve only tried it once). The XO sauce tasted great and this was a winner. 8/10

Stir Fried String Beans:
This was slightly different than SCG as there weren’t any preserved vegetables in it, but other than that it was the same. It’s the classic stir fried string beans with minced pork and dried chilis. They still get good wok hay meaning the flavor you get from effectively smoking the food in a wok at a very high temperature. This is a definite winner. 8/10

Fried Garlic Chicken (Suan Xiang Cui Pi Ji):
Another SCG classic and it again tastes exactly the same although the dish is a little smaller. The meat is very tender and the skin is perfectly crispy and the garlic compliments it perfectly. This is still one of their strongest dishes. 8.25/10

Eggplant in Garlic Sauce Casserole (Yu Xiang Qie Zi Bao):
I ordered this randomly because I saw it on another table. While it was cooked nicely, making the eggplant nicely tender, I found the sauce to be a bit on the bland sauce. I like the sauce to be slightly sweet and spicy and it just didn’t have enough of that. 7/10

Peking Pork Chops (Jing Du Pai Gu):
This is the Cantonese version of sweet and sour pork chops. The pork chops are perfectly fried; the meat is tender, the outside is crispy and it’s not greasy or oily at all. The sauce is slightly different than SCG in that they added more pineapple to it and while it was still good it wasn’t quite as good as SCG because I prefer less pineapple flavor. 7.75/10

Steamed Buffalo Carp (Qing Zheng Yu):
This is the typical Cantonese style where you steam the fish and then pour hot oil and soy sauce over the fish. The fish was cooked perfectly and was very tender. The sauce was excellent as well being both salty and very slightly sweet. While I am not surprised their technique was good, the quality was the fish was surprising. Carp typically has this muddy flavor that I really do not like and while this had a very little bit of that it was not that noticeable and really made this an enjoyable dish. While I still prefer an ocean fish, this was quite good. 8/10

Normally, I wait to go a few times to report on a place, but I thought that I should report on this as soon as possible. I definitely recommend trying Café Hong Kong out.

ive had ok chinese food in boston and philly which are much smaller chinese populations that the big metros

NY has a decent sized taiwanese population, LA has by far the biggest taiwanese concentration and i think thats the best taiwanese food outside of taiwan (luckily i get to eat there whenever i go home to CA)

well i only had one dish and TC's version was probably better than any of the versions in NY

i have tried most taiwanese places in NY and i know a fairly decent amt about taiwanese food (i usually make it to taiwan every 2-3 years and have spent a good amt of time there especially when i lived in asia)

this is somewhat strange, but Taiwan Cafe is actually pretty good from the one meal i had. now mind you I only had pai gu fan (a fairly easy dish to make), but i have to say that it was very good and honestly not all that far off from what you get in taiwan

i saw some of the younger customers ordering the HK cafe food while the families and old people were there for the cantonese. I'd also imagine that the HK cafe food does well at lunch

i have not been to mottzar, i wanted to try it, just haven't gotten around to it...have you been?

nice review...def seems interesting

although just to point out the traditional teochew style steamed fish (which is a very classic and popular dish) does use pomfret except its usually steamed with salted plums and vegetables...its a pretty lightly seasoned dish which is really to showcase the freshness of the fish as alot of teochew dishes are supposed to be relying on very fresh ingredients

interesting it is true that there have been alot of restaurants opening up recently

re: ones that ive eaten at

Noodle Village - i think its one of the better restaurants in chinatown. I need to write an updated review as I have more thoughts on this place after going here quite a few times.
https://www.lauhound.com/2011/01/noodle-village-good-hong-kong-style-food-in-chinatown/

Spicy Village - i like this place
https://www.lauhound.com/2013/03/spicy-village-formerly-he-nan-flavor-delicious-henan-food-in-chinatown/

Xi'an - still good, but has gone slightly downhill from the original in flushing

85 - i need to go back, but Yogee had quite a bit downhill and even their beef noodle soup which is what they were famous for had gotten pretty mediocre

Poon Kee - while obviously very limited menu, this is one of my favorite places in chinatown. It's not very different from what you get in HK
https://www.lauhound.com/2011/03/poon...

just to chime in on NY Noodletown. its very inconsistent when its on its pretty good but when its off it can be really crap except their congee which is almost always on

re: SCG / Cafe HK - just ate there, report coming out soon...food is the same

ackk i noticed this place the other day too...thx for the warning

NY in the 60s and 70s? interesting, i dont think ive met that many people that actually remember what it was like back then, it's interesting your father said that...although i guess i could imagine it couldve been good since back then it probably was dominated by cantonese restaurants with a mainly cantonese clients (particularly toison people) and cantonese people mainly lived in chinatown back then