Michelin guides me in Hong Kong: Lei Bistro *

Lei Bistro, 23 June 2011

Lei Bistro is a Michelin-One-Star Restaurant and this restaurant serves absolutely amazing Chinese cuisine. This restaurant is located at the Time Square at Causeway Bay. This restaurant can hold up to 150 seats. Despite the large number of seats, this restaurant is always fill up by hungry diners at lunch and dinner time. Lei Bistro has served from Northern to Southern Chinese cuisine and also from Western to Eastern Chinese cuisine. 

Sichuan Spicy and Sour Soup is a must try for Chinese cuisine lovers. Spicy and Sour Soup was originated from Sichuan Province in Western China, where the local cuisine is famous for spiciness. The soup is a bit of spicy, sour, salty, fresh and fragrant.  The proportion of the pepper, salt and vinegar must be at the right proportion to prefect this absolutely delicious soup. Again, this soup was absolutely appetizing.

The Lion's Head is a interesting dish. The shape of the meat ball looks like a the shape of the lion's head and this is how the meatball got its name. It is a dish from Huaiyang cuisine in Eastern China. The traditional way to eat this dish is to cook it in cabbage soup. Lei Bistro's large fatty pork meatball is fried and braised together with the vegetables and oyster sauce. This dish is delicious.

Wonton Noodle is a fusion of Southern and Western Chinese cuisine. Dumpling are now commonly found in all parts in China and Chinese community in different versions. Wonton is a kind of dumpling which pork is warped together with the handmade flour skin. This is a Cantonese dish, the southern Chinese cuisine. The truth is dumplings were actually originated from the northern part of China. La main (handmade noodles) are originated from Lanzhou, western part of China.  A well made noodle is firmed. A slight resistance can be felt when I bite the noodles. Again it is plain delicious.

Xiaolongbao (soup dumpling) is a "Shanghaiese" cuisine and it is originated from Shanghai, the eastern part of China. Xiaolongbao is one of my all time favorite dish and I never fail to order this dish whenever I go to China every meal. This dish is plain delicious with Zhejiang vinegar. But the juices in the dumpling are extraordinary hot, be careful when you eat it.

Lastly I have the most amazing and tasty Dongpo Pork.  Dongpo pork can be melted-in-mouth tender if you order the FATTEST pork belly.

There is an interesting story how Dongpo Pork was created: During the southern Song Dynasty in China, there was exiled minister who was also a poet by the name of Su Dongpo. One day Su tried to cook his pork belly by braising it in the wok. However an old friend of his came to visit him for a Chinese-Chess game. As Su was so engrossed in the game, he had forgotten his pork belly. At the same time the villagers brought some bottles of wine to Su and they left them to his servant. The servant reported Su about the wine and the cooking progress of the pork belly. At the same time Su was playing chess and he never paid attention what his servant told him. So he answered to his servant: “put it in, put it in”. Su meant to his servant to put the wine in his house. But the servant mistakenly added the wine into the braised pork belly, allowed it to simmer and absorbed the flavor from the wine. As the aroma of the braised pork drifted towards Su, he stopped his game and identified the aroma came from his wok. He tasted the pork belly and it melted in his mouth leaving a sweet taste behind. He also found that the pork belly was not greasy to be consumed. Thus Dongpo Pork was found and the recipe spread from Huangzhou where it was first created, to all parts of China, and subsequently to the Chinese community living overseas.

Source from http://www.cookingtrek.com/the-story-of-su-dongpo/

Address: Shop B217-218, Basement 2, Time Square, 1 Matheson Street, Causeway Bay

Tel: 2602 8283