Sorrowful rice with char siu and fried egg for under US$9 at Men Wah Bing Teng rivals famous dish
Founded in the 1970s, Men Wah Bing Teng has been a Hong Kong institution for several generations and has more than a dozen branches around the city. We recently tried out one of the newest, located in Causeway Bay.
We arrived at 1pm right in the middle of lunchtime, but it didn’t take long for us to get seats.
The speciality is “sorrowful rice” (HK$68 for the set) – a recreation of the famous dish featured in Stephen Chow’s 1996 comedy The God of Cookery – which includes slices of barbecue pork on a bed of rice with a fried egg on top. In the movie, the judge of the cooking competition sheds tears of joy after tasting the dish.
The freshly roasted barbecue pork (char siu) in the version we tried was juicy and tender. The egg, cooked sunny side up, had a liquid yolk that flowed out and slightly soaked into the Thai rice. Served with home-made light soy sauce, the dish was so good we couldn’t help gobbling up every last grain of rice.
We regretted ordering the ginger soup with instant noodles and pig’s liver. The thick slices of ginger were not enough to mask the strong smell of the liver. We did like the scrambled eggs and buttered toast that came with the set (HK$60).
Set dishes include hot milk tea or coffee; if you want cold drinks or fresh milk, you have to pay an extra HK$3, while special drinks such as red bean with ice cost an additional HK$6.
We also tasted two freshly baked egg tarts (HK$7 for one, HK$13 for two), which are in limited supply from around 7.30am to 6pm. They were crisp and sweet, with a crumbly pastry layer and a soft, eggy filling.
Another snack we tried was the deep fried chicken wings (HK$29 for three, HK$37 for five). The seasoned meat was juicy and coated in a light, crumbly crust. It was an addictive snack, especially when eaten piping hot.
Although we liked most of what we ate, the service was bad. We waited for our set meals for more than an hour, because the servers missed ordering them twice. Customers nearby also had trouble with their orders, and received the wrong food. It may be a good idea to go when it’s less busy.
Men Wah Bing Teng, Tower 535, 535 Jaffe Road, Causeway Bay, tel: 2882 8676. Open: 7.30am-10pm
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