I'm not an aficionado of anything, but I love baked pork chops. I've had it at probably 50 different places here, and maybe 5 or 10 in the Vancouver area. Favourite in Canada (and actually the first place I ever tried it) was Kam Do

The thing about it here is, most new restaurants try to make it too 'fancy' with more tangy tomato sauce (almost like a pasta sauce) and stuff like that.

The Canadian places I used to visit took the 70's and 80's style and stuck with that, so the sauce would be that old school tomato based, but not pasta sauce-ish. No lame ingredients like olives. And of course the portions are much bigger there. So overall, I think if you pick a random place you'll probably get better baked pork chop over there

There's still places that do it that way here of course. Including OG restaurants that have been there since the 70's. And even ones that pre-date that. I had one at a 70's or 80's place in Sai Ying Pun a few weeks ago, and it was fully old school, including using breaded deep fried cutlet. It was pretty good, nice large size, but the cutlet batter was meh. Too thick

Current favourite place here is Yuen Long Bistro with locations throughout the city. Classic style sauce (so it's kind of brown, greasy and not too tomato-y) with nice thick pork chops and just onions and tomatoes, and some pineapple chunks. If they deep fried them it would be perfect! Their other pork chop dishes are good too.

They call it YL Bistro but there isn't one in YL?!:rukidding:

But I agree that the Pork Chop on Rice is generally better in Vancouver - mostly because the pork on average tastes cleaner and most places batter them.

Great, now I'm craving a pork chop on rice for dinner.

I know right? LUL

New Cha chan tengs have popped up all over the city, mostly pre 2019, aimed at tourists from China looking for authentic Hong Kong style restaurants. They are generally styled after Tsui Wah, an old chain that became popular with tourists (and sold to a Chinese company), and I think they even have locations in China.

Quality of these new places range by a LOT, but this is one of the better ones, IMO.

Gonna try YL Bistro out next time I'm in town - I gave Milk Cafe a few tries and they disappointed me every single time by not having my first TWO choices available.

Try their pork chop bun if you like those, it's huge

Like most HK things, the essence seems to have moved to Vancouver and it's actually better here because they keep doing it the same way. If there did Michelin Stars on peasant stuff Vancouver would have a lot of stars.

Maxim's in Chinatown does things the old 70's way and shits great. We go there with the kids every few weeks and wife and I have been enjoying it lots. Good portions, great bisques, decent prices. And now that Chinatown is dead, always parking as well.

Would you visit places like HK Maxim's or Fairwood or Coral? Those places seem to keep things the old fashioned way?

There's Tsui Wah's all over China. Shit's like an infestation and I'm not even sure it's that good either. Haven't been in one cause I'm super skeptical of them.

I tried Tsui Wah last time I went to HK in 2020. Nothing special, lol.

Their curry is good but that's it.

Their older locations are better too.. The original is in San Po Kong, older TST locations, Prince Edward IIRC. The newer ones are more hit and miss. These ones could very well be all gone now though.

One of the Tsui Wah founders started Hong Lin in the 90's and they are better overall IMO. GREAT bakery. They make an interesting baked curry, and possibly invented it. I can't remember their baked pork chop, so it's probably not great (for my preferences anyway). They used to have several locations but are now down to one in Prince Edward.

I generally don't go to fast food places like Maxims, etc. But Cafe de Coral actually has a decent baked pork chop. Good for takeout when you don't feel like cooking

Fairwood's is AWFUL. Maxims was ok last time I tried it.

Like I said above, the curry at Tsui Wah is pretty good, at least at the older locations. Especially the pork cutlet, which is huge, freshly deep fried so quite good. Not sure if the China locations are the same though

Even after upsizing the (hot) HK milk tea at Mambo, it is still too small. :badpokerface:

But damn their milk tea is good.

Supposedly this other new-ish stall in Presidential Plaza food court also has very good HK milk tea. They brew it using old skool clay pots, and everyone I know that has tried the place says it is fantastic. But the line up there is even worse than One Cafe in Parker -- a 45 min line up seems pretty normal there, and menu selection for food seems a bit limited and simple. So I am not going to line up there.

This calls for an RS HK Milk Tea Meet? :suspicious:

Edit: @Traum - Are you referring to "Cha Kee" at Presidential Plaza? I did not know this place existed. Will have to check out and report back.

Man, speaking of HK milk tea, Marathon Cafe in Toronto is the ultimate.

Their chinese name 馬力雄 is Horsepower Hero lolol.

https://s3-media0.fl.yelpcdn.com/bph...nWdyCkSQ/o.jpg

The owner once flew out to HK and won a milk tea competition.

Meet Harvey Lin, Milk Tea King | The Tea Stylist

If you guys are ever in Toronto, the only thing you should be doing other than talking winter tires w/ bcrdukes and fighting him at KFC, is going here. Marathon Cafe: there is no substitute.

i have nothing to do with KFC parking lot fights
That's badhobz lol

and yes, Marathon is pretty good. I prefer their hot version over the cold. Lots of copy cat places who claim their tea is better but I haven't really found anything as close as Marathon and what you can get in HK.

Went there, it was good, but pricy. And wasn't a fan of the wait and lineup for breakfast. Wait for the hype to die down a bit more before going again.

Yup, that's exactly it. I've dropped by that food court a few times when I was heading over to Yohan Center, but every single time I take one look at the line up, and I turn to leave LOL~ :drunk:

At some point when the line up happens to be shorter, I gotta try it out. But until then, I'd rather go line up at Mambo for 3 min and get my HK milk tea fix if the craving comes up LOL~

How does Mambo compare to Lido milk tea? I haven't been to either shops in ages.

From this morning

https://i.ibb.co/Y3MDkwq/milktea.jpg

Haven't been to Lido for eons, partly because they have really gotten rather expensive nowadays. But if my memory serves me right, I'd say I like Mambo's milk tea better because it has a stronger, bolder taste, and that's what I like in my milk tea.

Haven't been to Lido in eons, at some point $18 satay beef noodle is just too rich for me.

It's gotten SO expensive. I usually avoid it unless some out of town friends REALLY wants to go.

So I’m here in the land of food

https://i.postimg.cc/TY66JSnt/IMG-8752.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/rwy2vrnW/IMG-8733.jpg

holy shit does Vancouver ever suck in comparison.
There is no comparison. Everything is significantly better, fresher, faster and more tasty. I haven’t been back to Hong Kong since 2005 and I totally miss the food here
https://i.postimg.cc/FK75KQQH/IMG-8743.jpg

Not sure how these people aren’t all 300lb++ with the crazy food they have here

They still hands down have the best pineapple bun or egg tarts in town, but at $5 for a bun and $3 for a tart, it's insane.

I actually had forgotten about this place until now. Do they still have insane lineups? They are the only place that elicits that real cramp, shit service, HK cafe atmosphere, ala Australian Dairy in HK

EDIT: Coincidentally where Hobz went lol

Ask for duck tonight.

I am going Hong Kong for Christmas, anyone got some hole in the wall recommendations?

badhobz gonna come back and have to sell corolla to pay off credit card