Hong Kong Restaurant - Review - Islington - London - The Infatuation
"When Hong Kong Restaurant first opened, it became one of our favourite places for R&R—that’s relaxation and reliability. There are still glistening ducks in residence in its windows overlooking Upper Street, but this Chinese spot has become a little more unpredictable and has traded its flute soundtrack for the kind of sad pop that is salve to the end of situationships. This might be because the once hypnotically chewy cheung fun is now prone to breakdowns at the nudge of a chopstick and therefore requires some Bieber-sponsored motivation. It’s still the kind of casual place you can go to in your trackies—you know, the fluffy ones that have never seen the inside of a gym—for a speedy round of dim sum after dark, but it’s best reserved for quality time with your social media algorithm rather than a catch-up. Food Rundown King Prawn Cheung Fun These prawns are the kind of epic meaty numbers that will make you want to join a fictitious club called Crustacean Nation, but the slippery cheung fun noodle skin is too thin and prone to splitting. Prawn in lap situation pending. photo credit: Heidi Lauth Beasley Crab Xiao Long Bao Unlike your school counsellor and whoever wrote that nice poem about being yourself on Instagram, we can't get on board with individualism. Not when it comes to molten dumplings anyway. One of this trio had a great little doughy bite, but the other two were resolutely glued to the bottom of the bamboo steamer and we lost out on the subtly salty broth. One to skip. photo credit: Heidi Lauth Beasley Mango Golden Floss Prawn Crisp and light, salty but sweet from the mango, and a crunch fest worthy of some liberal soy sauce dipping. The portion suits sharing but we have it on good authority that these still hit the spot a few hours later if you take your leftovers to go." - Heidi Lauth Beasley
