Ho Ho Congee & Noodle

> Location : G/F, Two Chinachem Plaza, Central, Hong Kong
> Cuisine : Chinese style congee, nice, noodle
> Tel. # : N/A
> Website : N/A

Throughout hong kong, there are a lot of these "hole in the wall" restaurants which serves simple rice, congee and noodle dishes. when we say "hole in the wall," it means the place isn't very big or fancy and sometimes it doesn't look very comfortable to sit at because it seems unclean. yet, if you visit the right places, these "hole in the wall" places can be extremely good! if you think about it, not everybody wants to cramp into a small place to eat or some just simply don't feel comfortable with these places. so this is where ho ho congee & noodle comes in. having multiple locations in hong kong, ho ho serves the same rice, congee and noodle dishes as a lot of the "hole in the wall" places without the unpleasant atmosphere. built to run like the fairwood restaurant chain, ho ho is designed to serve simple, good, fast yet cheap meals. ranging around $20 hkd to $40 hkd for set meals, it really is a good deal if you don't mind about having the best quality and quantity. seriously speaking, first timers wouldn't even get the fast food chain feeling when you enter this place (the central store). the style and decoration of the restaurant is done nicely for a place that sells cheap food. so okay, enough with all the random stuff, so what's the food like?

so it was lunch time on a weekday in busy central district. most 9 to 5 empolyees are rushing to eat there lunch on their very limited lunch break. so much work and so hungry, you want to get the most yet get the most out of your money. so you would go with the set meal that comes with a drink, a plate of vegetable of your choice with regular fish balls and pre-fried fish balls and of course choice of you congee, noodle or rice dish for about $45 hkd. here's the kick, anytime starting 12 pm (my apologies, i'm not 100% certain if it's before or after 12 pm, so please check if you actually go!) if you can sit down, eat your meal and get the heck out within 15 minutes, they will reduce the cost down to the amount of the main dish you ordered (congee, rice, noodle which ranges around the 20's). so you save like $20 bucks! that's like $2 dollar something in the states. not much, but hey! you can get like 4 apple pies at micky dees with that! =)

okay okay! onto tasting. i went with one of their popular rice dish which is the salty fish and meat pie with rice. you get about two small pices of salty fish and yes, they are salty, haha. usually, salty fish (it's not a type of fish if you are clueless but basically it's fish prepared in such a way it becomes dry and salty) is a compliment to congee and even used in fried rice and pot dishes. in our case, it compliments with the white rice because it is a contrast to it (saltiness helps the bland flavor of rice). as for the meat pie, they used pork to make literally a pie that fits the whole bowl. within it i also tasted some squid. this meat pie is strong in flavor holding a somewhat sharp saltiness to it. of course it is not as salty as the salty fish, but for good amounts of asia people, this can be very salty already. however, to balance things out, they also give you some sweet soy sauce which helps balance out the saltiness a little bit. the sauce is mainly for you to pour and mix in with the white rice. this is common with potted rice dishes here in hong kong. ultimately, the sweet soy sauce and the salty fish does the job with hightlighting their respective flavors. i don't think the meat pie needs to be marinaded too much. just make it slightly milder for a more balanced taste. lastly, out of three types of vegetables, i picked morning glory. it's pretty much bland in taste. i'm sure it's boiled in some type of light broth and that's about it. on the side, fish balls are served to give the simple dish some flavoring.

lastly, i ordered a deep fried fish ball. it is different from the ones i mentiond above because it has a lot more ingredients in each ball. the dish comes with an oyster dipping sauce. yes, sodium high isn't over yet, haha. the sauce is pretty salty but that's normal for a sauce like this. the fried fish balls had a pretty nice flavor to it and with this sauce, i think it is just a tad bit overboard.

anyways, places like this isn't design for top notch quality. like i said before, it's basically like most fast food in america, where it's cheap, fast and good enough for you to swallow. like i mention plenty of times, every remark i make can differ each and everyday. restaurants like probably don't have that consistency with every minor detail. so if one day it's negative, the next could be positive. plus, so much more on the menu i need to try! but for now, with what i've tried so far, i give it a...

< 3 out of 5 >