Tai Ping Koon - Old school western charm

Despite having visited Hong Kong several times, one popular local food item remained elusive to me for a long while - the roast pigeon. It featured ever so often in the TVB dramas I watch and I kept making mental notes to try it. I guess I never got down to it because one of the most recommended places to have the dish is so out of the way - Lung Wah Hotel in Shatin.

I decided that there must be alternatives. Google threw up Tai Ping Koon and after reading a few reviews, I was sold.

Off we went to the Tsim Sha Tsui branch, located in the trendy streets of Granville Road.

 

We arrived shortly after the opening hour, so the restaurant, which exuded an old school Western charm, was pretty empty. However, as lunch hour approached, the tables quickly filled up. This must be quite a popular eatery.

This being our first visit, we ordered off the top recommendations page.

First off, the roast pigeon of course. The skin was deliciously roasted, and the meat didn't taste too far off from duck. I'm assuming this roasted dish normally comes with the sauce, but I think I might have preferred to go without, so that the skin stays crispy. Nonetheless, it was yums.

The next dish was a major hit with our table - chicken wings in Swiss sauce (sweet soy sauce). The wings were well marinated and full of flavour. An excellent dish.

The fried beef hor fun was similarly well received.

These three dishes were more than enough food for us three ladies. We were stuffed but, still game for dessert. :P

The obvious choice was, again, from their recommended list - the baked souffle.

I'd known from reading reviews that it would be huge, but the size still awed me when the souffle arrived at our table. How were we going to finish it?! Well, we didn't, couldn't. Apart from being stuffed from the earlier dishes, the souffle was also a tad too sweet. It tasted eggy and nothing else. I'm thinking that at least some of the rave reviews was because of the novelty (read: size), rather than the taste. Personally, I won't say this is a must-have. If you do intend to have this though, be sure to order it at the start of your meal. Preparation time is about 30 minutes (as with the Swiss chicken wings).

The overall experience at Tai Ping Koon was excellent. Service was great too, the wait staff were polite and pleasant. And there was also free wifi.

On a separate trip to Hong Kong where I travelled alone, I returned to Tai Ping Koon and tried their set lunch. The set comprising a choice of soup of the day (cream or borsch) or salad, a main and a drink cost just HK$74 (before service charge) - and I thought it was really value for money.

For my main, I chose the baked Portuguese style chicken with rice, which was also one of Tai Ping Koon's signature dishes. Perhaps I wasn't used to Portuguese style food, but I found the dish very average. Not a dish I'll be ordering again, so I'll explore others the next time round.

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Tai Ping Koon Restaurant (太平館餐廳)
http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=3468
Add: 40 Granville Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
尖沙咀加連威老道40號
Tel: 2721 3559
Open: Mon-Sun, 11am-12am