Guangzhou Barbecue Restaurant

For the two previous meals, my parents had been too lazy to go hunt with me a lunch or dinner place around our hotel area, and settled for whatever we could find at CitySuper. It had been raining hard in Hong Kong. Come dinner, I demanded we find something other than soggy tempura or salmon sashimi. Not that I did not like those (but not the soggy part), but Hong Kong is known for its authentic Chinese cooking! Even better than Mainland restaurants, I hear.

We ended walking for thirty minutes around the area between Nathan Road and our hotel, The Gateway, arguing what or where to eat. I pointed at a Chiu Chow restaurant, but my father insisted we have something more local. My brother pointed to the adjacent Macanese restaurant, but my father finally declared he wanted roast goose and some suckling pig. So I said, “Yung Kee!” But my mother declared she cannot bear walking any longer than a few meters, and that Yung Kee, which is all the way to the other side was too far a trip. We ended up eating at a place called “Guangzhou Barbecue” near Kowloon Park.

It was the same restaurant where my father and I bought our first roast goose to take home to Manila around 10 years ago. Tourists can’t miss its huge yellow and gold signage. And the staff, though lacking in English skills, are armed with picture menus.
We had our usual fill of roast meats. The barbecue pork was surprisingly lean and tender. Most served here have too much fat. The slices were thick. The seasoning did not overpower the meat. Not that it needed to – the pork was not gamey at all.


(roast pork - nice thick slices of lean meat!)


(roast goose - meat tastes too game-y for me)

(suckling pig - crisp skin and tender meat. the only downside is the layer of fat. then again, how else youl you make the skin crispy)

We also had the mandatory roast goose. Again, compared to Yung Kee’s, this was too gamey (that wild meat flavor). But was tender as usual.

The suckling pig skin was crisp, and the meat was so tender. My only complaint is that the thickness of the layer of fat was the same as that of the meat. Then again, the skin would not be crispy if not for the generous layer of fat.

I was later told by one of our friends that most locals actually prefer their roast meats this way – gamey and cut into thick slices. Home-style, in other words.