Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Where's my Pork and Duck? - Hung's

(Kindly "borrowed" from Isriya)

Right, I have decided to make this official. I am going to try and discover the best place to eat Roast Duck and Crispy Pork with rice in Chinatown.

After a recent visit to HK Diner, "the Wild Boar" commented and posed the question, where is the best? There are a gazillion restaurants in Chinatown and over the years, I have eaten at many of them. Some were good, some were great but most were on the lower end of average. So at the moment my favourite duck is still from Four Seasons, and for my sins, the best siu youk still comes from Wong Kee's. Many will disagree, some may even agree, but I will make it my mission to try somewhere new every time until I can definitively declare it the best. Recommendations warmly received.

So on this trip, as you can see from the pic above, Hung's. Located on Wardour street, and flanked by Pizza Express (it astounds me that people are in Chinatown and want to eat pizza???), this is one of the most lauded of the meat merchants. I have been here many times, but have never quite seen what everyone is going on about. But everyone deserves a second chance, right?

Wrong. Hung's was very poor. Arriving for an early dinner (about 6.30pm), the minimum £8 spend immediately incensed me. I mean, what is the need? I just wanted a quick plate of rice and meat but was made to order extra bits just to make up the £8 minimum. The food arrived promptly but again, was really a bit of a let down. The duck was so flabby, we are talking beyond Homer Simpson proportions. I realise that fat is flavour, but the fat was so thick that it was actually thicker than the layer of meat. The siu youk was dry and the skin was insipid. Not a sign of crackle.

Very disappointing, not good, not going to order this from Hung's again.

Hungs - 27 Wardour Street, London W1D 6PR

Hung's on Urbanspoon

4 comments:

catty said...

oh bum. Sad to hear Hungs was disappointing! I am a die-hard Four Seasons fan, be it Queensway or Chinatown. But this is an interesting mission indeed and I am keen to see how you go with finding the most awesomeness of awesome even more awesomer than Four Seasons roast duck :)

Hollow Legs said...

Oh dear. I love Hung's! Though to be fair I mainly go there for the king prawn dumpling noodle soup, or braised beef noodle soup.

The £8 minimum is odd - Is that new? I have been for just a bowl of noodles without complaint.

(I've never had the Four Seasons duck)

AdamM said...

I've had mixed experiences at Hungs too, the last (about 3 months ago) was a good one though.

I'll be following your quest with intrigue!

Wild Boar said...

Thanks for being so keen and taking up my challenge, but I take no responsibility for any waistline expansion!

I look forward to your results, and I will definitely cross Hung's off my list of places to eat.