Shatin is famous for roasted pigeon (烧乳鸽) and chicken porridge. Located at Fo Tan Cooked Food Market (火炭熟食市场) in Sha Tin, Tai Yuen Dai Pai Dong (泰源大排檔) is one of the stalls you should go to for the two dishes.

It is located at a bus depot and only opened for dinner and supper. After midnight, you will get to see many bus drivers enjoying their supper here with some beer. We were seated under a makeshift tent and it was pretty crowded even though it was a weekday.

Roasted pigeons is Hong Kong’s version of Peking duck. The boss uses younger pigeon to roast hence it is smaller in size as compared to other restaurants. However, skin is cripy yet not oily. It is almost good on its own so we actually skipped the dipping salt.

Another specialty of the place is razor clams which you can choose the cooking style. This razor clams is served with a marriage of ingredients that gives it a unique taste of black beans, garlic, subtle chillies, aromatic garlic .They were really good, I must say and pairs well with rice.

Tai Yuen is also famous for its frog leg congee and it was sooooo smooth that it felt like I was drinking soup.

Boss gave us a free plate of fried spicy garlic tofu!

So the boss recommended us to try his fish done two ways – one braised with tofu, and another stir fried with bean sprouts. If you think we had a whole table of friends eating with us, you are wrong. There was only 3 of us and this dinner is really overkill. The boss kept introducing us to more and more dishes (he thinks we are 菜头 — 砍菜头) and my Hong Kong friend, WingK, just obliged willingly. So in the end, he paid a lot and we can’t finish the food.

Here’s a shot of WingK and me. We still went to have dessert after such a heavy meal.

The food here is not bad lah, but the atmosphere also plays a part. We enjoy more of being in a group eating and drinking in dai pai dong stalls, speaking and laughing out loud.

Tai Yuen Dai Pai Dong

Address: Fo Tan East Food Market, Hong Kong
Phone:+852 2697 3656
Opening hours: 6pm to 3am