Classic Hong Kong restaurants: Shui Kee, Central
Shui Kee sells fish balls and beef brisket noodles and offal, but its owner fears supplies of the latter may dry up
"My grandfather started this dai pai dong some time after the Japanese occupation in the 1940s," says Lam Kin-wing, the third-generation operator of Shui Kee. "My grandmother told me that he started off selling rice dishes, but switched to noodles, and we've continued that way.
"We're Chiu Chow people, so maybe fish balls and beef brisket noodles made more sense to him.
"My grandfather and my father both used to make their own fish balls from conger-pike eels," Lam says. "They were completely handmade. I helped out when I was younger, skinning and deboning the eel, but never learned the complete process, so now I have to buy the fish balls from a supplier. We still need to control the quality, or we'd be no different from a fast food cha chaan teng."
Beef brisket and offal are other Shui Kee specialities, and Lam insists that the parts come from freshly slaughtered cows. "It's completely different; even the offal. Taste, texture, everything is different with frozen brisket and offal. Beef intestines will shrink and become very thin when frozen. There's no joy in eating that," he says.
Lam worries that it has become difficult to buy fresh brisket and offal. "There are now fewer people who collect offal from slaughterhouses. It's not a nice job."
