Yat Tung Heen

> Location : 2/F, Great Eagle Centre, 23 Harbour Rd.,
Wan Chai, Hong Kong
> Cuisine : Canton, Shun Tak (Chinese)
> Tel. # : (852) 2878-1212
> Website : N/A

Yat tung heen is located very near hong kong convention center. it has a second location in kowloon at eaton hotel. yat tung heen at wan chai is a fairly big chinese restaurant with great service. next time you go to the wan chai chain, look for "peter." he's a great guy if you get to know him and he provides excellent service. my primary purpose of this review is to talk about the "purple clay" dishes served here. before i rant on and on, here's yat tung heen's description of what "purple clay" is:

"Purple Clay, pronounced as "Zi Sha" in Mandarin, has been using in China for thousands of years. Cooking in Purple Clay cookware can help to minimize the fat in food, reduce cholesterol content, and has wonderful effects on health. It also enchances the delicate flavor and original taste of food and soup. To satisfy the discerning taste of food connoisseurs, Yat Tung Heen is pleased to deliver tempting and healthy "Zi Sha" dishes."

ultimately, zi sha is a type of clay made into various things here in china from tea pots to cooking pots. here at yat tung heen, they have a full menu of zi sha items for you to choose from! they have purple clay casserole dish, double-boiled soup, casserole rice, and casserole seasonal vegetables all in purple clay pots. each section of the menu provide about 3 to 5 items for you to choose from. i'm a fan of potted rice so i went with the "chicken and black mushrooms with rice in purple clay casserole." besides the obvious from the title, the top of the dish has several green onion ends. on the side like most potted rice dishes, sweet soy sauce is provided to mix in with the white rice.

taste wise, the chicken is nice and tender (the skin is attached). the black mushroom is nice and juicy. these two things were strong in taste and were nice and lean. not very oily overall. i guess the purple clay really works eh? the rice inside is nice and hot with the rice sticking to the pot harden (which is normal). this is very much like korean tofu. the rice on the bottom of the stone pot is harden due to the extreme heat. in literal cantonese translation, this is called "rice fried" or "rice burnt." or just say "rice" and "banana" in cantonese and it's exactly the same, haha. this part of the rice is very good because it's slightly crispy and you can dip it into the sweet soy sauce or even come chili sauce. usually, it isn't the most healthy thing to eat anything too fried or burnt, however, it's good once in awhile!

if you actually go, i would like to recommend lettuce with preserved shrimp sauce in the purple clay menu. served in a burning hot pot, the lettuce and the sauce is still sizzling when it came. the aroma fills the area and just captures you. shrimp sauce has a salty flavor to it but a very unique one like bean curd paste. the lettuce with the sauce is very tasty with every bite. this is best with more rice! to me, it tastes better when it's hot and still sizzling because the sauce's flavor is heighten. this is the same type of shrimp sauce used in stir fried morning glory in chinese or even thai cuisine. besides preserved shrimp sauce, you can choose from belachan sauce or xo sauce to go with the lettuce. other available vegetables from that menu includes white cabbage shoots and kale.

yat tung heen is a good chinese restaurant with a lot of specialities to choose from. they also have a seperate menu for their shun tak, maindland china dishes. is shun tak the same as shun de? that's correct! shun tak is basically the cantonese pronouciation and shun de is mandarin. anyhow, i've had a good amount of experiences here in yat tung heen from their dim sum to their speciality items to their regular dishes. they're all overall done consistently good. so if you're ever in the area wan chai area and want chinese cuisine, go check them out!

< 4 out of 5 >