新香園 (堅記) - Cha Chaan Teng Experience at its Fullest

Rating: ❤❤❤❤

What do you think of when you hear cha chaan teng? I think of yummy and cheap food along with horrid dining environment and service. Sometimes you just got to pick your battles when it comes to cha chaan teng. Expect great food but can't be picky about the other aspects. I was in Sham Shui Po for an appointment so I looked up places to eat there, and the first place that popped up was this restaurant 新香園. They are known for their egg and beef sandwich as well as pork knuckle noodle. Sounds good to me!

There was already a line when the 3 of us got there around lunch time. The line moved fairly quickly, but not in the best way as we had to wait for exactly 3 seats to vacant at the same time in order to be seated. You see whenever 1 or 2 seats opened up, they would just seat the people in line behind us instead of saving the seats for our party. Finally a small table opened up outside and even then they wanted to seat the party behind us instead of asking us if we wanted to sit there. It was then that a little bit of aggression was necessary and we finally got to sit down to eat.  

Their menu mainly consisted of noodles, sandwiches, toasts, and congee, but they were mainly well known for 3 dishes - egg and beef sandwich, pork knuckle noodle and HK style french toast - so we got all 3 to try!

Milk Tea ($10) - our hot drinks came in a plastic cup rather than a ceramic cup. J got the milk tea with condense milk while I got a regular milk tea. The tea was fragrant enough I guess but I felt it could have used a bit more milk as the balance was a bit too heavy on the tea side. It was still smooth and pleasant to drink though. 

Red Fermented Bean Curd Pork Knuckle Noodle ($19) - the pork knuckle was very tender so it was easy to eat off the bones but it wasn't as flavorful as I'd thought it would be for something that was supposed to be cooked with red fermented bean curd. The egg noodles were pretty good as they were chewy with a strong taste of egg flavor. Still, a great bowl of noodle for the price!

Egg and Beef Sandwich ($17) - we had requested for the sandwich to be toasted so the bread arrived nicely toasted. I lifted the bread to reveal the filling inside - egg pan-fried with bits of chopped beef. The egg and beef were both very flavorful while the ratio of beef to egg was just right. It was one very good and satisfying egg and beef sandwich. Would love to eat this as breakfast everyday!

HK Style French Toast ($16) - this is one of my favorite HK snack food so I was quite looking forward to trying the french toast here. The french toast was deep fried to a beautiful golden color with a slab of butter melting on top. While the toast was pretty fluffy, the outside wasn't as crunchy enough so there wasn't as much contrasting texture for my preference. The most disappointing aspect was that there was no filling at all! What happened to the peanut butter? Without the salty filling to offset the sweetness of the syrup and toast, the french toast here was just average at best. 

Verdict - overall, the food was delicious with really good value as it cost each of us less than $30 bucks for our meal. The food was good enough to make us willing to endure the chaotic dining experience again. I guess it's all relative as well as the lines here were not even the worst as the other popular snack place serving rice noodle rolls nearby don't even have lines at all! You just fight with the other people to grab the first vacant seat you see. Now that's too much for me. 

新香園 (堅記)
G/F, 38 Kweilin Street, Sham Shui Po
2386 2748

Follow me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/supertastermel