Awarded a Michelin Bib Gourmand in its Hong Kong hometown, Tasty Congee & Noodle Wantun Shop was an offshoot of Ho Hung Kee, a one Michelin-starred, 85-year-old restaurant.
The cuisine of Tasty takes cues from its mothership legacy. After all, Ho Hung Kee has for almost a century been regarded as one of the island's top-tier pioneers in hand-crafted egg noodles and wonton dumplings.
Tasty's first outpost in Bangkok opened last year at Siam Paragon.
Following its successful reception came the second outlet, this week's subject of review, in the upscale residential neighbourhood of Thong Lor.
The restaurant is easy to spot for its lilac purple exterior and a glass facade that allows a characteristic view of a Cantonese-style barbecue kitchen.
The menu lists more than a hundred items with the highlights being the house specialities and a selection of dim sum, prepared by a team of chefs from Hong Kong.
As its name suggests, all-time bestsellers here are the creamy smooth rice porridge and the springy egg noodles complemented by plumpish soft wonton dumplings. Tasty's dumplings boast a very soft, fine skin and a chewy filling of minced prawn and pork, while the noodles are always cooked to al dente perfection.
Should you be in the mood for a soothing crystal clear consomme, settle for wonton noodle soup (190 baht). Or you can have the noodles simply flash-blanched and served with a choice of toppings such as house-cured shrimp roe (300 baht), braised pork knuckles Hong Kong style (320 baht), braised beef (320 baht) and pork liver (320 baht).
Fans of pork innards will be delighted to know that the restaurant is a real master in preparing the delicacies. And they are options that you should not miss when ordering the rice congee.
Highly recommended are rice congee with minced pork balls and pork innards (300 baht). The dish may also include liver, intestine and bladder, all properly cooked to offer a superb succulency and very supple mouthfeel.
Other topping choices are conpoy (dried scallops), chicken meat, sliced beef, fish fillets, sliced salt-cured pork loin and preserved egg.
For more grandiose comfort, try rice congee with sliced abalone and tiger prawn (990 baht).
Nicely complementing the piping hot rice congee is a golden fried twisted cruller, aka pa-tong-ko or deep-fried Chinese dough stick (80 baht for an enormous piece).
A trip to a Cantonese restaurant wouldn't be whole without sampling its rendition of barbecued meat.
I found Tasty's roasted duck (380 baht), sweet barbecued pork (320 baht) and crispy roasted pork belly (380 baht) enjoyable.
Another signature dish is stir-fried flat rice noodles with sliced beef short ribs (360 baht), which nicely exhibited a characteristic wok-burnt aroma.
The restaurant's dim sum menu features more than 20 items, priced 120-280 baht, including ha gao shrimp dumplings, steamed barbecue pork buns, steamed baby pork ribs in black bean sauce and rice noodle rolls.
Top sellers are rice noodle rolls filled with twisted cruller (180 baht), served with a warm savoury soy sauce gravy and a special dipping sauce made with hoisin and sesame paste; and barbecued pork puff pastry (180 baht).
Special for the festive season, the barbecue pork pastry will be available in a three-piece gift box (195 baht) and six-piece gift box (360 baht) from Dec 22 onwards.
A meal at Tasty is guaranteed to end in perfect tradition with half-a-dozen Cantonese desserts.
Among options such as stewed pear with apricot seeds (140 baht), osmanthus jelly with goji berries (120 baht) and red bean soup with lotus seeds (100 baht), my personal favourite was the super silky and soothing black sesame paste soup (100 baht).
Clientele here are local families in the neighbourhood as well as Chinese expats.
The restaurant has four private dining rooms. To cater especially to elderly clients, there are also a wheelchair ramp and lift.
- Tasty Congee & Noodle Wantun Shop
- Thong Lor 21, Sukhumvit 55
- Call 02-108-1159 and 066-095-9173
- Opens daily, 10am-9pm
- Park at the private carpark on Soi 21
- Most credit cards accepted
