WU KONG SHANGHAI RESTAURANT 27 Nathan Road, Basement, Alpha House, Tsim Sha Tsui. Phone 366-7244.
ALL of Hong Kong seems to eat at the Wu Kong and at an amazingly fast rate. In the time it takes to serve yourself a never-ending noodle, the large table opposite can change not only its clientele from 10 to two, but the tabletop can also shrink dramatically, the large round top sent bowling between diners to its next resting place.
This dynamic demand bears testimony to the popularity of Shanghai's mildly spicy cuisine. So does the gigantic neon sign hanging over the Wu Kong's canopied entrance in Peking Road which proclaims: 'Best Shanghai food in town'. The dozen-page menu offers everything from the feted shark's fin with crab meat for $420 to cold vegetable goose for $52.
However, it doesn't tell the whole story. On the advice of a Shanghainese friend who had recommended the restaurant, we had a couple of dishes which weren't listed; crispy pork with noodles ($34) and onion cakes ($20). Obviously, there could be other unlisted delights as well as variations on those listed. For example, we had sliced beef with onions ($54), although on the menu the closest offering to this was sliced beef with chilli and bean paste sauce. The rest of our meal comprised prawns with chilli and hot garlic sauce ($180), drunken chicken ($56) and apple fritters ($42).
The prawns were superb but required plenty of finger-cleaning equipment, the beef was delicious and the pork served with noodles and soup a rewarding challenge. I really enjoyed the crisp, warm onion cakes, too, but the drunken chicken or chicken with wine sauce as it's described in the menu is something of an acquired taste. (As, presumably, is another cold dish called strange taste chicken.) As my dining companion commented: 'This chicken certainly didn't get drunk on a Wolf Blass or a Brown Brothers . . . I think that's its problem.' The apple fritters, covered in toffee and crunchy on the outside after their dunking in iced water, were an ideal end to our 90-minute stopover. We had lingered longest; no mean feat, given the lightning, though smiling, service. The bill, including 10 per cent service charge and tip, was $570.