Yu Joy - The joys of simple Chinese fare
Shop 1028C, Level 1, Elements, 1 Austin Road West, Kowloon, 2196 8100
Old-school street-style flavours meet modern health-conscious palettes in Yu Joy Chinese Restaurant's MSG-free menu, with the restaurant's 'back to basics' cooking philosophy and pledge to use only fresh ingredients without the common Asian food additive.
The restaurant reels in the ICC office crowd during lunch hours with its dim sum selection. We found the turnip cake to be very well-cooked, crispy on the outside but soft and chunky on the inside, whereas the barbequed honey pork had a good fat-to-meat ratio but was a bit on the tough side.
The menu also includes dinner-time classics such as blanched garoupa with white carrot and bean thread (HK$180), which was warm and soothing, with a good combination of textures from the fish, carrot and noodles. In the braised clam soup topped with Japanese tofu (HK$48/person) the tofu was soft and chewy, while almost-crunchy clams provide a nice contrast of texture as well as a clean taste.
Main dishes for sharing include the pan-fried oyster cake (HK$78), which tasted fine but was otherwise unremarkable, and the stir-fried fresh shrimp balls with hawthorn (HK$108). The latter is a spin-off of the classic Cantonese sweet-and-sour pork but with shelled shrimp balls instead of meat. The dish was very nicely flavoured but we thought the shrimp was a bit on the soft side and could have been firmer in texture.
The almond-flavoured bread (HK$26, above) for dessert was delicious. The bread is crusted with a sweet layer on top, not unlike the Hong Kong pineapple bun but without the ridges, and the inside of the bread is filled with an almond-flavoured paste. The key to this dessert's success was in the paste, which was incredibly flavourful without being too sweet. Combined with the sweet crust and the fresh, hot bread, it was the perfect ending to the meal.
