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Lee Kum Kee XO Sauce

Five of the best Hong Kong-made XO sauces

Janice Leung

Usually made of dried seafood, chilli and Chinese ham, the Hong Kong invention is named after the equally luxurious XO cognac. goes for a dip.
 

Contains plenty of shrimp paste and dry ingredients that have been cut to a finer size for easy dipping. The shrimp flavours are heavy, but are countered by a slight sweetness. Although large chunks of chilli are visible, they taste relatively mild.

HK$116, Great Food Hall, Pacific Place, Admiralty
 

The palest of all the sauces tested, this is full of strings of torn-up dried scallop, which makes dipping difficult - you eat it in the same way as a salsa, by scooping. It is rich with umami and has well-integrated flavours, although spice fiends will need to add a lot more chilli.

HK$76, Pat Chun, 75 Wellington Street, Central
 

A rather dry sauce, this looks more like dried scallops tossed in some oil than an actual condiment. It's likely you'll still be chewing on the sauce long after you're done with the food. The mixture is quite hot and has a bit of dried seafood flavour, but lacks richness and balance.

HK$42.90, Parkn'Shop and Wellcome, citywide
 

Made with a lot of shrimp paste, you can smell this sauce as soon as you open the bottle. The flavours are intensely savoury and moreish. There is a relatively small amount of dried scallops in this sauce, although the strands are quite chewy and slowly release a very hot chilli oil.

HK$230, Yung Kee, 32-40 Wellington Street, Central
 

Tempts with its bright red oil, garlic and chillies. The ingredients are not finely chopped so are separate from the oil. The shrimp paste is noticeable but less intense than the other samples. Tastes like a balanced, complex chilli oil.

HK$248, The Mandarin Cake Shop, M/F, Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong, 5 Connaught Road, Central

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