A few months ago, we met a Chinese businessman who shared his great experience dining at Farm House located on Sunning Road in Causeway Bay. Today, we came here to try out its authentic traditional Cantonese delicacies.
The décor is relatively simple, with traditional Cantonese restaurant design, including a number of private rooms to cater for bigger groups. The tables are quite close to each other, and on a busy day it could be a bit noisy.
We started with the signature Deep-Fried Chicken Wing Stuffed with Glutinous Rice 糯米釀鷄翼 ($176 for 2). Removing the bones, the chef then stuffed the chicken wing with stir-fried glutinous rice with Chinese sausages, before deep-frying it to a beautiful golden-brown for the crispy skin. Very good in taste, a must order in my opinion.
Next came Baked Stuffed Crab Shell 格蘭焗蟹蓋 ($276 for 2). The stuffed crab shell was nicely baked, with the slight char on the surface appealing. In a traditional style, the crab meat was cooked with onion and Portuguese sauce before stuffing back to the shell, delicious and fragrant in aromas. Another nice one.
For the soup, I had Mixed Seafood with Hot & Sour Soup 海鮮酸辣湯 ($108). The soup had a good balance of sour and spiciness, having sufficient heat to make me sweat. With different ingredients like tofu, wood-ear, sea cucumber, fish maw, scallop, prawn and other seafood, the soup was very nicely done.
My wife had Fish Maw with Sweet Corn Thick Soup 粟米魚肚羹 ($108), and again this nostalgic soup brought back a lot of memories, with the thick soup having the right level of viscosity, and the sweet corn and fish maw both having also its desired texture, showing the chef taking care when each component should be added.
The Premium Soya Sauce Chicken 頭抽豉油雞 ($290 for half) was served in a sizzling hot casserole, having the rich soy sauce not overly salty, infusing the chicken with nice flavours. The chicken was tender as well. Even having only half the chicken we could not finish and had to pack the remaining home.
The Salt-Fried East Star Spot 鹽煎東星斑 ($960) was another signature of this restaurant. Unlike the usual way to steam, the chef pan-fried the prized fish beautifully, intact and without broken skin, with a bit of spring onion scattered on top. Another way to enjoy the fish, and I strongly recommend trying this.
The last dish we had Steamed Egg White with Seafood 是但 ($168). The Chinese name was funny, meaning ‘whatever’, and probably came from the chef using the remaining seafood pieces to prepare this dish, adding to the steamed egg white that had mixed with supreme broth. Silky in texture with rich umami taste. Another must have.
There was also a complimentary dessert of Mung Bean Sweet Soup 綠豆沙, with a good amount of mung beans and other ingredients, as well as appropriate in sweetness. The quality was good, and the restaurant could sell the dessert separately indeed.
Service was good, with the staff attentive and giving good recommendations on the order, but they could do a better job in explaining the dishes in more details. The bill on the night was $2,217. Considering the food quality, overall dining experience, I would rate this restaurant a Good 70 points, worth trying for sure.
