Food: The Search For Great Curry -- Part 4 @ Man Wah Restaurant

Curry beef rice with egg and tea, HK$47
Image from Locky's English Playground

Hi people, sorry, I am so hooked on Android app programming that ...

"There is absolutely nothing of interest to me, out there, on Earth, at all." -- Sherlock Holmes by Robert Downey Jr.

... other than, well, maybe... writing this blog and ...food!

Yeah, this is what I am doing every day these days, I learn, I program, I eat, I work and I sleep, for as long as my app is incomplete.

The Search For Great Curry -- Part 1 and 2 were disastrous, Part 3 was better but it came at a high price, literally, because I really cannot afford to have $70+ for a curry rice meal often, I needed a place more affordable to dine out at.

Image from Locky's English Playground

Back at my "canteen", Man Wah Restaurant has recently offered a few new choices on their menus, two of which are curry dishes. With such a good news, how can I not give it a go?

In fact, I did not just give it A go, I gave 7 in total -- 5 times for the beef and twice for the chicken in order to offer you my best comments on these dishes.

Bird's eye view
Image from Locky's English Playground

The overall presentation is above average if you compare it with the previous 3 restaurants' I have commented on. The rice is first moulded into a bowl before it gets on the plate. The curry came in a brand new large deep plate which is a nice touch that satisfies those who enjoy large portions. The curry is deep yellow with visible red chilli powder in it, making it look very pleasant to the eyes. The smell was slightly towards the strong side for a Hong Kong-style curry which is exactly the way I like it. The sauce is of a nice viscosity and is very consistent during all my visits.

Close up of the beef tendon on the left and meat on the right
Image from Locky's English Playground

The beef curry has the best consistency in the number of pieces of potato, but not for the tendons and meat. Sometimes I get more meat than tendons, sometimes just the opposite. I suppose if a special request is made, then you may get the perfect balance. I believe that the waitresses have adequate English to handle such request, as I have seen them handling similar requests in several occasions.

Tendons and tendons
Image from Locky's English Playground

Both the meat and the tendons are tender and chewy enough respectively, and because there is curry sauce in them after every bite, you can tell the chef has at least tried to cook the meat and tendons in the curry for awhile, unlike some other restaurants which prefer a cook-separately-and-mix-later method, which I REALLY REALLY dislike!

An over-easy egg
Image from Locky's English Playground

The egg is an over-easy egg every time meaning that the quality control for the dish is pretty well done.

Image from Locky's English Playground

At the same price, we have the chicken curry with rice.

The chicken curry is more oily than the beef one
Image from Locky's English Playground

Basically using the same curry sauce but tastes slightly different due to the chicken oil. It is more oily than the beef one and thus also taste lighter, possibly due to the presence of chicken skin.

Bird's eye view
Image from Locky's English Playground

Other than the oiliness, and a little bit of dryness in the meat at times, it is pretty good.

Image from Locky's English Playground

If you also love curry, here's my dining tip! The way I like to eat the rice is to throw all the rice into the deep plate so that all the sauce are being absorbed by the rice and no sauce is wasted.

In summary, the look is pretty decent so ... 4 stars, but the portion of the meat is only half of what I have expected, so that costs them 1 star. The taste is very good but not amazing, so it's a 4. The smell was the best part of the dish, so definitely a 5. The meat and tendons are tender enough but the chicken is a little dry at times, so 4 stars for textures. Temperature-wise, there seems to be quite a difference in range. It has improved since my first experience but I can only give a 3 for now until I see a consistency in the hotness.

So what do you think? Why don't you try it and leave me comments below to tell me what you think?


Scores:

Look:            ★★★★☆ 4/5

Taste:            ★★★★☆ 4/5

Smell:            ★★★★★ 5/5

Textures:       ★★★★☆ 4/5

Temperature: ★★★☆☆ 3/5

Overall:         ★★★★☆ 20/25

Vocabulary:
dine out -- (vb) [I] formal to go to a restaurant to eat your evening meal:
viscosity -- (n)[U]  specialized describes a liquid that is thick and sticky and does not flow easily

Resources:

Food: The Search For Great Curry -- Part 3 @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2013/04/food-search-for-great-curry-part-3.html

Food: The Search For Great Curry -- Part 2 @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2013/04/food-search-for-great-curry-part-2.html

Food: The Search For Great Curry -- Part 1 @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2013/03/food-search-for-great-curry-part-1.html