I'm always up for fine dining where over the top precision in presentation and meticulous composition of flavors are usually the highlight of a 4 hour evening. But at times, all that ones craves for is some comfort food that tastes like home. Traveling back from Amsterdam to The Hague, I decided to sample flavors a little closer to home. Thankfully my veteran friends have a little place in Chinatown for that.
Stepping into Fat Kee in Chinatown, this well-known Cantonese restaurant offers traditional Cantonese cuisine along with several other Indonesian dishes on their menu. For the three of us who were starving to death, we ordered three dishes which were plenty to go around.
Stir fried Kangkung with Belachan
Simple stir fried in the aromatic Belachan. The sticky consistency of the stir fried greens makes it a close match to what's found at home minus that fragrant "sambal" bite. A noteworthy find considering how most places serve Kangkung that is still wet.
Mixed Roast - Soy Chicken, Roasted Duck, Roasted Pork and BBQ Pork.
This large roast combination that we got was a bit of a mixed batch. My two friends very honestly called the Roast Duck an "overly roasted duck". It's not far from the truth but it was yummy. Something like the Hong Kong Violin duck. However, the Roast Pork was my favourite of the lot with its crispy skin and salty five spice rub bearing close resemblance to what I would expect as a minimum. The biggest loser would be the BBQ Pork. The lack of caramelisation and smokiness made it no more than lean pork coated in plum sauce.
Yong Tau Foo stuffed with Prawn Meat.
The last dish on the table was the Yong Tau Foo. A dish where bean curd and other vegetables are usually stuffed with meat and flash fried before being cooked further in various ways. At Fat Kee, these were beautifully braised in oyster sauce. Quite delicious I must insist.
Fat Kee is my first venture into the Cantonese food scene here in the Netherlands. The food is simple, humble and ridiculously tasty. So do not be surprised to come any day during dinner and find the restaurant jam packed. The good news is that Fat Kee serves the food really quick and so the turn over is only 10-15 minutes long. The three dishes including the usual suspects rice and tea would set you back 43 Euros which is pretty decent!
WenY
WenY
