Yellow Door Kitchen, Hong Kong
Located on the 6th floor in a non-descript office building in the crowded district of central is Yellow Door Kitchen. The Yellow Door Kitchen specializes the renown spicy Sichuan cuisine. The Michelin Guide recently awarded them Bib Gourmand, which emphasizes acceptable pricing standards for locals. The small restaurant, which can be reserved for private dining parties, features only a 6 tables.
Though I had heard much about the Braised Pork Ribs, I was interested in the other offerings. Included with the set meal of Braised Pork Ribs was the Vegetable Rice. We also had an order of Steamed Rib & Sweet Potato with Rice, a Fish, Sichuan Dan Dan Noodles, vegetables, and Stir Fry Chicken Cartilage with Dried Chili.
The Braised Pork Ribs were tender and sweet. The heavy sauce coupled sugariness seemed to be Shanghai influenced. The Vegetable Rice, usually ordered together, is reminiscent of either Teochew rice or Shanghai vegetable rice. I like this type of rice, since it makes you feel good about having healthy white rice.
The steamed rib & sweet potato with rice was also unexpectedly good. From my understanding this is more of a Northern Beijing dish. I had something similar from a hole-in-the-wall northern Chinese restaurant in Shenzhen county years ago. The sweet potato and rice combination is steamed together with the ribs. The rice, not at all sticky or pungent, gives a nice soft texture with the tender meat.
The fish, vegetables, and stir fry chicken cartilage with dried chili were good, but not at all memorable. The last dish, the Dan Dan noodles, were nice. Though, true Sichuan Dan Dan noodles often have more of a mouth numbing sensation from the mala Sichuan peppers. The Yellow Door Version is more of a Western style, with more traditional red peppers with a few Sichuan peppers, for a slight the mouth numbing feel, to cater to a wider group. Personally, I admit that I enjoy this version more. And I think Hong Kong’rs would enjoy this iteration, as well.
Yellow Door Kitchen does the Ribs, both of them, quite well. And as we see today, restaurants are needing to cater to local palettes to crave a niche.
What to Order: Braised Pork Ribs with Vegetable Rice, Steamed Rib & Sweet Potato with Rice, and Dan Dan Noodles What not to Order: Any Fish – you don’t come here for the fish
Rating 2 Pigs Price Range 2 $/¥/NT
Links Loco Motoring Open Rice Listing Zagat Trip Advisor Hungry Go Where Restaurant Dining Critiques Food Easy Dim Sum Dolly Thomas Crampton
黃色門廚房 Yellow Door Kitchen 中環閣麟街37號祥興商業大廈 6字樓 6/F, Cheung Hing Commercial Building, 37 Cochrane Street, Central +852 2858 6555 yellowdoorkitchen.com.hk
