Tuesday 9 February 2016

Food & Dining: Crab & Prawn Soup Udon by DONKA @North Point


DONKA
Image from Locky's English Playground
What's better than a bowl of hot noodles for lunch on one of those coldest days of the year?

DONKA in North Point could be one shop you might want to visit some day. The shop is about 5 mins walk from Fortress Hill MTR station, right beside City Garden Hotel.

Looking out from the shop
Image from Locky's English Playground
The shop is not exactly a big one, and not exactly at a popular area where there are numerous pedestrians, instead it is one family-owned mini-restaurant which you will expect quality food from.

Green
Image from Locky's English Playground
Before we placed our orders, we were drawn to the garden-style decor.

Homeliness and coziness
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Very simple blend of real plants, wooden furniture and ceiling, warm ceiling lamps to create focal points. It is like one of those warehouses in the gardens, or a sweet little wooden hut up on hill tops.

Daily lunch sets
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It offers a variety of selection for lunch, but its signature dishes are not on the lunch menus.

A la carte menu
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The best are on the a la carte menu.

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The four most lethal soup bases: crab soup, vegan soup, fish soup and prawn soup.

Crab soup udon
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My wife is a crab lover, so she never hesitated. Crab soup was thickened with eggs, perfect for mixing with adequately chewy udon.

Hot lime tea
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And it comes with a lime drink! My wife loves this set, and wants to go back for more just by looking at the photo.

Prawn soup udon with prawn and fish fillet
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As for mine, the prawn soup udon with prawn and fish fillet was definitely the best choice for someone like me who adores richness and depth in taste. One sip and I could tell the soup was the essence of hundreds of prawn shell extract. Never have I encountered a more stimulating version of this soup. It is the one soup that is capable of making all bland tastes great!

Charcoal grilled prawn and deep fried fish fillet in soup
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In addition to the incredibly mesmerizing soup was the charcoal grilled prawn. Too bad there weren't four or five of them in the bowl because one was less than my bare minimal requirement.


Deep fried fish fillet failed
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The udon was almost perfect, except that this wonderfully golden deep fried fish fillet was only semi-cooked. Probably because the fillet was frozen before fried, so the centre had little time to reach maturity.

Beautifully fried fish fillet (second piece)
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The chef cooked a second attempt for me without hesitation, but in spite of this, the second attempt yielded similar result. This confirms my prediction that the fillet had not been probably defrosted. The second piece did have a better bite as it was soaked in the soup, and maybe it should be served separately in the future.

Done
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Overall, it was a great experience and I drank every last drop of the soup. The fish fillet though, I did not dare to consume.

Happy couple feeding
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At over $120 a bowl, I would say once in every 3 months is about what we can afford, but if you can afford it, it is the one bowl of udon you will be impressed with every time you have.