April 22, 2010

The roast goose taste test

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One of the topics that's been discussed ad nauseum is the roast goose at Yung Kee (鏞記酒家).  The goose has a reputation many feel is no longer justified today, yet loads of tourists and long-time customers still flock to the restaurant for it. 

My office is just up the street from the restaurant, yet I found myself having patronized it only once in the 4 months that I've been here.  Meanwhile we've been getting our roast meats elsewhere - in particular roast goose from Yat Lok Restaurant (一樂食舘) on neighboring Stanley Street.  I've always really loved their roast goose drumstick with thick rice flour noodle soup (燒鵝脾瀨粉), and we've always felt that the goose here would give Yung Kee a run for its money.

For lunch today we decided to do a taste test.  I bought a quarter goose (bottom, with drumstick) from Yung Kee, and a standard portion (例牌) of goose from Yat Lok.  There was also an order of char siu (叉燒) and choy sum (菜心) from Yung Kee.  I laid the food out on our conference room table and we dug in.

As we expected, we still preferred the goose from Yat Lok.  While Yung Kee gave us bottles of their nice home made gravy and plum sauce, the goose itself just wasn't as good.  I thought Yat Lok - or whoever they source from - had done a better job roasting, which was all the more apparent when it comes to the drumstick.  They also seasoned it a little more and the meat had more flavor.  By comparison the meat from the Yung Kee goose was a little more bland.  It's still a decent roast goose, but just doesn't measure up.

So there you have it.  Totally subjective, and the opinions of a couple of amateurs.  But for me, I'd always rather go to the hole-in-the-wall nearby rather than the overrated establishment.

4 comments:

HK Epicurus said...

Yat Lok is great for the price! Yummy yummy! And you don't even need to order the $37 Drum part too with the noodles, the normal cuts at $2X is still bloody good!

Very interesting experiment :) I remembered you saying that the Char Siu is divine in Yung Kee too, but for some reason when I tried it it wasn't very pleasant, but my dad said he, like you, have had some really great ones... Looking forward to retrying there and perhaps ask for a better roasted one and a fattier cut :)

Anonymous said...

Can i hav the full address of Yat Lok Restaurant (一樂食舘)? Thx

Peech said...

28 Stanley St, Central.

Chubby Botak Koala said...

Thank you very much for the comparison. It helps us decide on which roast goose to eat while we are in HK.

If you in SG, check out my food blog at chubbybotakkoala.blogspot.sg

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