Kam Mui Kee Dai Pai Dong — Restaurant in Hong Kong

Look, having rice with shared dishes is the centrepiece of Chinese cuisine. I don't care where you are in Asia, if you haven't tried this, you're missing out on the essence of Chinese culture.

In Malaysia I'm used to calling this concept dai chao 大炒 (big fry). In Hong Kong, it's called dai pai dong 大排档 (big signboard stalls), but the idea is the same. A family orders from a huge menu a variety of meat, seafood, vegetable and egg or tofu dishes to be served at the centre of the table, while everyone has a bowl of rice.

Kam Mui Kee is popular among locals and is highly rated for touristy types, so of course we had to try. Admittedly, we didn't order their most famous combo (stir-fried crab and deep-fried pig's trotter with free San Miguel beer), but the captain was on-hand to recommend other food that might be welcome to our palate.

We ordered the gamut of seafood (extra large prawns with soy sauce, steamed extra-large scallops, clams with black bean sauce), stir-fried duck intestines and seasonal vegetables. The meal got off on a sour note when we discovered the scallops weren't steamed all the way through. The staff were kind enough to re-steam them though.

This set the stage for the rest of the meal. While they look great in photographs, the dishes on the whole, lacked the last bit of flavour, lacked wok hei (smokiness or charredness imparted by being cooked in a wok on high heat), and a few of the prawns weren't fresh (flesh stuck to the shell when peeling). The meal was middling, but perhaps we went in with sky-high expectations.

What we did get though, was the authentic experience of a true-blue dai pai dong in HK. The packed crowds, the din of staff working post-haste and patrons digging into their food, and the atmosphere of a bustling, thriving, working-class Chinese restaurant. Maybe that in itself is...

#金妹記大排檔

very nice lunch. very good wok air. tst lunch usually cost about 60+ but here place a lttle bit far from mtr just cost 48$ with soft drink. very good quality food and nice wok air

i ordered a friesd rice with beef . smelly good and they used plenty of cabbage to fries a kind of refresh and healthy ingredients. mixing stir fries rice. nice.

portion big taste good soft drink evil free chinese soup just 48$ nothing to complaint

ig: thunder5dicks #food #hkfood #hongkongfood #台灣美食 #ukfood #ausfood #馬保國 #香港美食...

Was surprised to learn that there are Dai Pai Dongs in TST, and this one is truly a good one. It is indoors but the DPD vibe is still there and the food quality is crazy good. The clams were so flavourful, and the sauce it is in is so good I found myself dipping everything in the sauce and also sucking it dry from all the shells. I also really loved the fried noodles and the beef potato. Also those eggs. Everything hits so hard, especially with rice. This is top tier spot in TST be sure to visit if you are...