Poutine: it’s french fries, covered with hot gravy and melting cheese curds. Invented in the late 1950s in the Canadian province of Quebec (“une poutine” means “a mess” in French), it is best served as a heavy snack to soak up late-night alcohol or as a stand-alone dish. There’s probably saliva dripping down your chin right now, so without further ado, here’s the unofficial Canadians in Hong Kong (CiHK) assessment of seven places to get poutine in Hong Kong:
1. Triple O’s
Primarily famous for their burgers, Canadian fast food chain Triple O’s also offers a no-frills poutine on their sides menu for HKD32. Since it’s a fast food chain and their workers are unable to give the dish the love and care it needs, the poutine can be hit-or-miss depending on the time of day you visit. We’ve had great poutines with proportionate amounts of cheese and gravy as well as “it’s-rush-hour-and-we-are-too-busy-to-make-your-poutine-properly” experiences. Join Canadians in Hong Kong (CiHK), and get 10 percent off your purchase with your discount card after 3pm.
Pros: A familiar Canadian fast-food chain repping in Hong Kong with their moderately good poutines.
Cons: Poutine quality variable on time of day, luck, and the mood of your fast-food server.
Where: Locations all across town including Admiralty, Causeway Bay, Elements… more info
Price: Poutine HKD32
2. Big Bite
Big Bite has four types of poutine on their menu – the classic poutine starts at HKD36, while extra toppings (e.g. mushrooms or back bacon) bumps the price up to the HKD40-50 range. With two locations at North Point and the newly opened HKU branch, you can easily get your poutine fix at this Canadian-based establishment. The portions are sufficiently hefty – we ordered a burger and mushroom poutine and found ourselves struggling to finish. Our overall rating? It’s pretty tasty. Fries were cooked fresh and gravy was served hot (there’s nothing more blasphemous than serving a lukewarm poutine) – so no complaints.
CiHK partnered with Big Bite to design a special “CiHK poutine”. Piled high with back bacon and topped off with a runny egg, this is your calling if you like hearty ingredients. You also get 10 percent off all purchases with your CiHK discount card (except Tuesday wing nights)!
Pros: Non-poutine-related but Big Bite hosts HKD3 wings on Tues nights where you can get HKD3 wings (in batches of 6) with the purchase of any beer. Pair your wings with poutine – they go together quite well.
Cons: No locations in Kowloon! Wahhhh.
Where: North Point: Shop 4B, G/F Kar Fu Building, 196-202 Java Road (Google Maps); or Shek Tong Tsui: Shop B, G/F Clarence Court, 8-16 Clarence Terrace (Google Maps)
Price: Regular poutine HKD36; Mushroom poutine HKD44; Nacho Grande Poutine HKD48; CiHK Poutine (with sunny-side egg and back bacon) HKD48
3. Chips Republic Cafe
After Big Bite and Triple O’s, we now trail off to discussing non-Canadian affiliated poutines.
A primary difference between poutines at Chips Republic Cafe (CRC) and those at Big Bite or Triple O’s is the serving container it comes in. Big Bite and Triple O’s use rectangular trays while Chips Republic uses bowls. Personally, we believe a poutine should use thin-cut fries so that gravy can filter down properly when being poured on. Since Big Bite and Triple O’s uses medium-cut fries, they tactfully serve poutine on a rectangular container. This maximises the coverage of gravy and cheese.
Poutine aficionados out there would know that mozzarella cheese becomes stringy when melted, while cheddar does not. Whichever ingredients used, it is best to pair it with an appropriate serving container that ensures a good blend between cheese, fries and gravy. We ordered a Chips Republic poutine before our movie at Elements mall and was presented with an overflowing bowl of thick-cut fries with all the gravy piled at the top. It was difficult to saturate the contents of our bowl without dropping any onto our lap.
If you are Canadian and are familiar with New York Fries, you might argue that New York Fries also uses bowls for their poutines. We would counter-argue that the circumference of the New York Fries bowl is larger than that of Chips Republic. New York Fries bowls are wider and stubbier in nature. Did we measure this side-by-side? No. We are probably correct though. The poutine itself is still good, but the cringe-worthy name of “Mozzarella Cheese Chips” downgraded it a few notches.
Pros: They make chips ready to order so they are never cold or stale from sitting around.
Cons: Naming it “Mozzarella Gravy Cheese”? Yikes.
Where: Unit 2132, Level 2, The Grand Cinema, Elements Mall, 1 Austin Road West, Kowloon (Google Maps)
Price: Mozzarella Gravy Cheese Chips: HKD42
4. Shake ‘Em Buns
Shake ‘Em Buns is an American burger chain. Usually, poutines are more trustworthy as a side order at burger chains than at fancy expat restaurants. The poutine at Shake ‘Em Buns is no exception. Served in fry basket paper, the dish is served with plenty of gravy and is more on the gooey side. Best eat this one with a fork.
Pros: Smack in the middle of Soho by the escalators – quite accessible.
Cons: Fries were slightly too greasy.
Where: UG/F, 76 Wellington Street, Central (Google Maps).
Price: Poutine HKD42
5. Common Room
DID YOU GUYS KNOW YOU CAN “BUILD-YOUR-OWN-POUTINE” AT THIS PLACE? Not to mention they serve ACTUAL cheese curds that are homemade – instead of the cheddar or mozzarella cheese that is usually used as a substitute. Since it is served in a fancy restaurant, this prized poutine comes with a hefty price tag of HKD118 + 10 percent service charge. You can add toppings that cost between HKD20-30, but at that price tag, we were happy with just an original poutine.
Though it all sounded fantastic from the menu, the poutine itself was disappointing. Though the concept of “homemade cheese curds” was boasted, the curds themselves were cut way too big and did not melt enough with the fries and gravy. It was also not stringy and lacked a satisfying level of squeakiness in texture. While stabbing at overcooked fries and square blocks of cheese, the experience made it feel like we were eating the ingredients on their own. At HKD118 a pop, it was quite a let down.
Pros: Good effort on creating homemade cheese curds aimed at providing an authentic experience of a poutine.
Cons: Authentic experience was not delivered through poor execution of… everything.
Where: 1/F, Wo On Building, 8-13 Wo On Lane, Central
Price: Classic Poutine HKD118 (plus build your own poutine menu!); Pulled Pork Poutine (melted cheddar cheese and BBQ sauce) HKD108
6. Craft Brew & Co.
Nestled in the middle of Lan Kwai Fong (on the slope of Old Bailey Street), Craft Brew is another gastropub that offers poutines with real cheese curds. With a price more than what you would expect at a burger joint but less than a HKD118 poutine, I decided to try it out. Duck fat fries did not disappoint.
Pros: Straight-to-the-point poutine with just-cheesy-enough-mozarella.
Cons: No cons!
Where: Central: G/F, 17 Old Bailey Street (Google Maps); Sai Ying Pun: 36 High Street (Google Maps)
Price: Poutine HKD70 (duck fat fries, cheese curds, house gravy)
7. Morty’s Delicatessen
A CiHK member recommended this place to us. Though crestfallen upon finding out it is a New York-style deli (as opposed to a Canadian establishment), we still ventured for a visit. Morty’s uses thin-cut fries and small rounded cheddar balls – a novelty we had never seen before. Taste was moderately good. Its location in Central is also convenient. Give it a try!
Pros: Specialty rounded cheddar balls!
Cons: Could have used more gravy.
Where: Shop 2-14 Lower Ground Floor, Jardine House 1, Jardine House, 1 Connaught Pl, Central
Price: Classic Poutine (Fries, Cheddar Cheese Curds & Homemade Gravy) HKD68; Morty’s (Fries, Cheddar Cheese Curds, Homemade Gravy & Chopped Pastrami) HKD78; (Fries, Extra Cheddar Cheese Curds, Homemade Gravy, Chili & House Smoked Meats) HKD98
This is not an exhaustive list of poutines in town, but we have covered the most notable ones. Where have you tried poutine in Hong Kong? Tell us what you think!
Words: Elle/Canadians in Hong Kong (A version of this article first appeared on Canadians in Hong Kong)
