Cycle 3 – Item 141
25 (Fri) May 2012
Flying Roast Goose
3.5
at Yung Kee
-Central, Hong Kong SAR, China-
with AUSOM colleagues
AUSOM Class of 2012 Graduation Trip: Day 3 of 4
- Day 1 (3.139 Stir-Fried Flat Noodles in Soy Sauce)
- Day 2 (3.140 Noodles with Shrimp and Squash)
- Day 3 (3.141 Flying Roast Goose)
- Day 4 (3.142 Roasted Goose)
In Hong Kong. Here to facilitate the graduation trip for AUSOM’s Class of 2012, which I helped to organize. Any opportunity to visit my favorite food city in the world, to gorge on my favorite cuisine at its source – Cantonese – I’ll take it, gratefully.
ACTIVITY
The University of Hong Kong Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine hosted an official visit from Ajou University School of Medicine’s graduating class of 2012. The event involved our students engaging in various activities on campus throughout the day. Long story short: it was an awesome academic/cultural experience.
LUNCH
More in line with GMTD, I was particularly impressed at lunchtime, when we ate at the main cafeteria. 
As befitting the culinary traditions of Hong Kong, the menu offered over 60 dishes, not including combinations, all under HKD 30 (about 4,500 won). Now that was awesome.
By contrast, AUSOM offers 2 choices per day, both crappy (see most recently 2.343 The Final Cafeteria Dinner of 2011).
DINNER
Yung Kee is a Cantonese restaurant. Established 1942. Landmark restaurant among Hong Kong’s endless list of landmark restaurants.
One of the restaurant’s signature dishes is roast goose. Over the years, it’s earned the nickname “Flying Roast Goose” because customers often buy it to go and take it with them on the plane. That’s how good it is, apparently, this famous dish at this famous restaurant. It’s goose, roasted in the Cantonese barbecue style of siu mei, virtually identical to the more common roast duck but meatier and gamier. Also pricier, a half order as featured here cost HKD 240 (about 36,000 won), more than double the standard price of duck elsewhere – Yung Kee only offers goose.
With this experience, I’ve come to the sudden realization that siu mei all tastes pretty much the same to me. That’s strange because I tend to be really picky about what I eat, especially foods that I like. But siu mei always tastes the same, always good, but always the same. Maybe I like it so much that I’m incapable of maintaining objectivity.
Overall, the food at Yung Kee was the best that I’ve ever had in Hong Kong, though not necessarily the best Cantonese ever. Ordering à la carte, the higher-ups in the group started with several dishes recommended by Korean tourist guidebooks, like chicken in black bean sauce and oyster sauce beef, items sure to please Korean palates attuned to the richer flavors of the Mandarin-influenced cuisine prevalent in Korea. When they handed me the menu, I opted for more traditional Cantonese fare, like sautéed choi sum and crispy egg noodles with seafood. Regardless, every dish was perfectly seasoned and well-balanced. Good, good stuff. As an added bonus, the staff spoke English and appeared genuinely enthusiastic about service. Though certainly overpriced – a total of HKD 1,900 (about 285,000 won) for the five of us, including a few beers – the restaurant’s reputation seemed well-deserved.
(See also FOOD GLOSSARY)
(See also RESTAURANTS IN CHINA)