Wineshark HK Restaurant Review - Pang’s Kitchen 彭慶記

This restaurant is located in Yik Yam Street, Happy Valley, and has been awarded Michelin 1-star status since 2013. Offering traditional Shunde cuisine, the five of us came tonight to try out the dishes. Arriving early evening, there was not yet many customers. The restaurant was quite small so booking was necessary. The décor was simple, offering a neighbourhood and homely feeling to diners.

We ordered some of the traditional dishes, starting with Sweet and Sour Pork 菠蘿生炒骨 ($168). The sweet and sour taste of the sauce was balanced well, and the ribs had been deep-fried before stir-frying with the sauce, with a crunchy texture. This dish was certainly delicious.

Next was the Salt-baked Chicken 鹽焗雞 ($240 for half). Another Shunde specialty, the chicken was flavourful without dipping to the aromatic ginger sauce, with the meat quite tender and juicy. Another nice dish.

Then it was yet another specialty, Daliang Stir-fried Fresh Milk 大良炒鮮奶 ($228). The milk was fluffy on texture, with a slight sweetness, and the chef had added some scallops to enhance the umami taste. It was decent but I would rate the one from Yixin better. 

The Shrimp Paste Chinese Lettuce in Claypot 蝦醬唐生菜 ($158) was served sizzling in the claypot, with the fragrant aromas of the shrimp paste dominating. It delivered on taste, but is a bit too salty especially if you don’t eat together with rice. 

The last dish we ordered was Traditional Stuffed Dace 家鄉釀鯪魚 ($238). It was a lot of work to prepare, from removing the flesh from the dace, mince and adding cured meat, before stuffing it back to the fish and deep fried. With sauce on top, I found the stuffing was not as good as I expected, and while the sauce had a nice fermented black bean taste, was simply too salty. 

For dessert we had Almond Sweet Soup with Egg White 蛋白杏仁茶 ($45 each). While my mother thought the sweet soup was too bland in taste, for me it was ok. The almond aromas were not particularly intense though, so overall, it was a bit mediocre. 

Service was good, with the owner Mr. Pang supervising on site to look after the customers. Seeing I had my bag behind me he brought over a chair for me to place it. The bill on the night was $1,460 which was reasonable. There were some good dishes worth trying out.