Holes-In-the-Wall

Debbie Chow finds no-frills joints serving good food on the cheap.
While splurging on the holiday season, you might work up a hunger that can only be satisfied with a big, no-frills, meal. And after making a dent in your savings account with all the holiday shopping, why waste anymore on ambiance? Hong Kong is filled with old-school, back-to-basics restaurants dishing up high-quality fare at low prices.

Tung Po Seafood Restaurant

Located in a cooked-food complex in North Point, Tung Po is renowned for its “fung sha” (“wind sand”) chicken, so-called because fried garlic and chopped spring onions cover the meat like a light dusting of sand. Sounds questionable, but the herb-infused skin is super-crispy and the meat is tender and juicy, not oily. Equally famed is the “typhoon shelter” crab, which is sautéed in chilies and garlic. Tung Po is only open for dinner, but get there no later than 7pm, unless you want to join the massive starvation army queue outside. Tung Po is so popular, booking a table will prove futile.

Atmosphere: Lit with rows of fluorescent tubes, it’s cramped, loud and untamed. Expect to find customers talking at top volume and gesticulating wildly. Floors are greasy and several parties are squeezed onto a single table like so many sardines in a tin box.

Highlights: Let your hair down. Feel free to talk with your mouth full and prop your legs up on a chair (if you can find a free one). Beer is served in a Chinese rice bowl, just like in the classic kung fu movies. And there's tiramisu for dessert. Yes, tiramisu.

Feral factor: Sewers (albeit covered) lining the slippery floors, beer ads from the 80s, and basins of dirty plastic dishes lying around.

Attire: Tops optional. Men may choose a shirt that can be left unbuttoned or rolled-up, revealing bare skin and a nipple or two.

Address: 2/F, 99 Java Rd., North Point, 2880-5224.