Tucked in a quiet corner of Leighton Road in Causeway Bay, Lily Soup Shop is an ideal place for lovers of home-made soup, MSG haters and weight watchers.
We started with a dish that all other diners seemed to be ordering, deep fried beancurd ($38). The reason for its popularity was clear - the beancurd was brown and crispy outside, and soft and warm inside. It was delicious dipped in soy sauce.
We ordered three types of soup - papaya, Chinese red date with fish ($28), pak choi and Chinese almond with pig's lungs ($28) and watercress with sun-dried chicken kidney ($58). The pak choi soup was the tastiest, its homey flavour similar to the dish my mother cooks.
The papaya soup was fine, but the flavour of the papaya overwhelmed any traces of fish and Chinese red date. The sun-dried chicken kidney in the watercress soup was too subtle.
We ordered four steamed rice dishes - topped with chicken and mushroom ($32), minced pork and salted fish ($32), minced pork and marinated vegetable ($32) and frog and mushroom ($48). The four of us judged the minced pork and salted fish favourite, the others too plain in comparison.
We also tried two vegetable dishes - stir-fried tong choi ($42) and boiled spinach with garlic ($45), both of which were enjoyable because they weren't oily.