COCONUTS CRITIC’S TABLE – Hong Kong loves its Hainan Chicken Rice, and there’s now a new contender for the city’s best version of the dish.
Located in the unlikely confines of the Miramar Shopping Centre’s fourth floor, Sungai Wang’s serving of the steamed and seasoned chicken is velvety in texture, succulent in taste, and the bird itself strikes an ideal balance between meaty, juicy flesh and fat that releases the extra poultry flavour.
Honestly, we were surprised by the find. Seemingly appearing out of nowhere, the restaurant, as we later learned, is a new concept from the group behind the Pak Loh Chiu Chow.
Perhaps the surprise is what made it even more delicious, but we’re willing to say it rivals any other Hainan Chicken in the city.
The Miramar Shopping Centre has never been known for high dining, but it recently refurbished its fourth floor into a pan-Asian food hall with options for Korean, Japanese, vegetarian and every regional Chinese cuisine imaginable.
Sungai Wang’s menu not only has Southeast Asian favourites from Malaysia and Singapore, but also Thai and Vietnamese spiced meats and noodles. “Oh, it’s one of those kind of places,” I thought, lowering my expectations down a notch or two.
The decor is not unpleasant but gives that empty new mall impression, a modern setting with wooden motifs, mimicking an organic and natural feel when actually it’s rather bland and characterless.
It’s not uncomfortable but there’s not a lot of soul to it. Think: all the new McDonald’s outlets. It didn’t help that we were seated in between two other tables, packed close enough that we could pick at their dishes with our chopsticks.
As we ordered our food, the waiter told us there was only enough Hainan Chicken for a quarter order with rice (HKD108). The dish certainly looked generous for a quarter portion. Plump and moist with thick pickled vegetables, soup and a healthy bowl of flavoured rice, it’s Southeast Asian comfort food without pretence.
The darker than normal rice was cooked not just with chicken oil but perhaps a touch of tamarind for sweetness. The soup included winter melon and a medicinal hit of the Dong Guai herb. Both are admittedly acquired tastes, but the bitterness acted almost like a palate cleanser between mouthfuls of the rice and the chicken dipped in a choice of a sweet soy, zingy ginger oil, or chili sauce.
Although the chicken was wonderful, the disparate menu seemed to stretch the kitchen’s fortitude in other areas.
A plate of Chinese broccoli (Kai Lan) stir-fried with Belachan sauce (HKD88) was crunchy while retaining the heat of the wok. However, the use of the Malay shrimp paste seemed surprisingly tame. I expected a bit more spice, but perhaps it was toned down for mall shopping Hongkies.
Also a little disappointing was the Beef Rendang (HKD118), a standard Indonesian/Malaysian thick meat curry that’s stewed for hours. Sungai Wang’s version still had the punchy gravy full of turmeric, galangal and spices, but the beef brisket chunks were battered and fried for a crunchy shell. The Rendang hadn’t permeated the meat, so the dish unfortunately lost the full impact of the flavour.
The Char Kway Teoh noodles (HKD108) were prepared in the Penang style, with less turmeric and more soy, although not as sticky nor as blackened as they tend to be in Malaysia. Sungai Wang’s rice noodles were, however, hearty with slivers of green onion, sprouts, Chinese sausage and a couple of fat shrimps. I could have eaten two plates of this.
There were other Southeast Asian dishes we wanted to try, but we were not gluttonous enough this day. The table on the left had a heaped-high plate of Chili Crab which looked very tempting, while on the right, the Singaporean-style Laksa had just the right mellow sunset hue despite the use of thick cut noodles more commonly served in Prawn Mee.
Obviously, not everything on the menu scored, but when Sungai Wang hits the target, it does seem to land a bullseye. A restaurant in a shopping mall hardly seems like it would be a best kept secret, but arguably for the chicken, this is a gem hidden in plain sight.
Sungai Wang, Shop 4A, 4/F,, Miramar Shopping Centre, 132 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, (+852) 2157-094.
