March 20, 2010
Yellow Door Kitchen 黃色門廚房
Mel, a friend from university days, was visiting Hong Kong with her husband on the last weekend of February and the couple suggested eating at Yellow Door, a private kitchen in Central that they knew of. Dinner at this private kitchen comprised these dishes.
There were a total of eight appetisers that came to the table all at once.
蒜泥白肉 Sliced pork with spiced garlic sauce.
甜酸小王瓜 Pickled cucumber
凉拌鲜腐竹 Fresh soya bean sheets with spicy garlic sauce
凉拌三丝 Salad with potato, carrot and seaweed
葱油灵芝菇 Shimeiji mushrooms with oil infused with spring onions
麻香皮蛋 Century egg in sesame sauce
香辣鸡丁 Stir-fried dice chicken with dried chilli
松脆虾球 Deep-fried prawns with bread
The first of the main courses was the scallop and Chinese cabbage soup 翡翠元贝汤.
鲜山椒焖冬瓜 Winter melon braised with picked chilli
宫保虾球 Fried prawn in Sichuan sour and spicy sauce
口水鸡 Chicken and shredded leek with spicy sauce
烟熏普洱蜂蜜焖腩排 Smoked pork rib with honey and pu-er tea leaves
八宝鸭 Shanghai stuffed duck
京葱捞米 Rice noodles with minced pork and fried onions
芝麻汤圆 Sesame glutinous rice balls
To find it, look for this 7-Eleven at the Mid-levels escalator. It's the small building next to the right of this 7-Eleven. It's a three-minute walk from H&M.
Though Yellow Door Kitchen is mentioned in the Hong Kong edition of the Michelin guide, I wasn't bowled over by their food. Most of the food was mediocre and nothing to rave about. The stir-fried diced chicken was way too dry and hard. The biggest disappointments were the rice noodles and the fried prawns. The noodles were too bland and I didn't bother finishing the bowl after taking a bite. I made it a point to mention its lack of flavour to the waiter. He only apologised but didn't bother to follow up with the complaint. The prawn batter was too soggy and thick and the prawns didn't taste fresh. Dessert was also very uninspiring and boring. I mean, even if you wanted to serve a traditional dessert, at least attempt to put a spin on it! I wasn't impressed by the lack of imagination.
Only two dishes were good - the Shanghai stuffed duck and the smoked pork rib with honey and pu-er tea leaves. The Shanghai duck was stuffed with glutinous rice and the pork rib was very tender. There's nothing like a delicious piece of pork ribs!
Service was pretty good but not exceptional and the dinner cost us HKD298 each. It's not a place I would return to, and for the same amount of money I think there are better places to go to for a meal.
Yellow Door Kitchen
6/F Cheung Hing Commercial Building
37 Cochrane Street, Central.
Hong Kong
Nearest MTR exit：D2 Central MTR Station
Tel: +852 2858 6555