chiuchow braised goose shop 潮州鹵鵝店 - michelin bib gourmand

In my most recent trip to Hong Kong one of the good meal that I had was a Chiuchow braised goose rice 潮州鹵水鵝飯 . I was bumming around in the Sheung Wan district and I found this small Chiuchow restaurant 潮州鹵水店 on Queens Road. It was selected amongst the Michelin's Bib Gourmand for 2012.
Sheung Wan is one of the most interesting area of the city because you can find many very old businesses there. You can also see few so called tong lau 唐樓 meaning Chinese style buildings in the old Hong Kong.
you can see the red signs proclaiming the Bib Gourmand; the store been around since 1948!

It was lunch time and it was jam packed with office workers. I was not hungry that noon as I had a huge amount of dim sum in the morning.

I would return a week later upon return from Macau. It was in the afternoon just after the lunch time rush so I had no trouble getting a seat. I order the braised goose (they call it soy goose in the menu)  with rice which is a bargain priced for the lunch crowd budget.

the lunch time set menu 

it has nice traditional chinese furniture - a rarity these day in such affordable eatery; it is also very clean

the goose is very good and flavorful - i should have order another plate; the dark brown cubes are very firm and dense tofu prepared in chiuchow style as a condiment; it is very salty as should be

 they drizzled some sauce from the braising liquid 鹵水 onto the rice

I really wanted to try some other dishes they made so I selected the Chiuchow oyster pancake. It is not that good as there is only a few very small oysters in it. Till this day I have yet to find a good Chiuchow oyster pancake.

the delicious looking goose wings belong to the two men i shared the table with; they obviously are chiuchow and know exactly what to order

 this is the kitchen area inside the small shop

Chinese braising 鹵水 of meat has much in common with French Sous-vide. The meat is cooked in low temperature for extended amount of time. It is typically dunk in a broth-like liquid with made with soy sauce, an assortment of dried spices, and some sugar. Most businesses guard the recipes as trade secrets. Depends on the darkness intended to achieve, light (not the reduced salt variety) soy sauce or dark soy sauce, or both may be used as well as salt. The low temperature and extended cooking duration allow the flavor to penetrate (入味) the meat without making the meat tough and dry.

I would definitely go back there next time in the city. With the skyrocketing real estate prices there you never know for how long these shops going to be around.