Hong Yuan 红园小吃 — Restaurant in Howick

We came by for lunch to try it out since it was new. We weren't too sure of how it worked but there was a menu behind the counter which was a good start. They also have actual menus that you can take to a table but you order from the counter. There were quite a few options, either order from the menu, order the prepared side dishes from beside the counter or select items from the fridge and then they cook it for you. They also had a bubble tea area on the side. We went the with menu items but the selectable food looked interesting. It looked like you pick what you wanted and decide how to cook it all based on the weight of the items you had picked. We grabbed a noodle dish each and dumplings and filled pancakes to share. I had the noodles with pork and vegetables in a thick gravy. I thought it was quite bland. There were condiments on the table to spice it up. The dumplings were nice but quite small, easily bite-sized. I quite liked the beef stuffed pancake, crispy and full of flavour. The taro pearl milk tea was alright but the pearls were almost overcooked and too soft. It was quite an interesting and cheap...

The place is simple enough; nice layout, good menu etc... A friend recommended I visit here to try the food and I don't know if they were just having an off day when I went there or what but they forgot part of my order... twice, and I didnt end up with what I wanted/paid for in the end. I also ordered a drink and paid for pearls to be put into my tea which they didn't do and tried to make me pay for again. My rating is based on the above but I will be trying it again in future - hopefully to find a better...

!! NEWLY RENOVATED !! Hong Yuan Version 2.0 is awesome. I had the self chosen buffet style dish ($3.50 per 100grams) , where you choose the food and the chef cooks it for you. Quite nice. You'll have to know what to avoid (avoid frozen seafood etc.) and choose the fresh ingredients(veges) and meats. Not a bad idea. I also had the fruit tea($10), it's okay, got heaps of fruits, nice jasmine tea base but totally not worth $10 imo. They also do a selection of other bubble teas. Try it out if...