The Ardent Gourmet
Restaurant Review: YAU YUAN XIAO JUI
You Did Not Eat Eeyore
October 14, 2017
Eeyore — that is to say, donkey — was but one of many types of food on the menu at Yau Yuan Xiao Jui in Kowloon. Eeyore legitimized the place as nothing else could, like a French restaurant serving andouilettes. Horrible to eat (or even smell), but authentic. By the way, you did not eat Eeyore. So, if he’s gone missing, you’re not to blame.
Get thee to Yau Yuan Xiao Jui for the dumplings and biao biao noodles. As is generally conceded by gourmets, even the worst dumplings are okay (drawing the line at Chef Boyardee ravioli). So great dumplings must be exalted. Such were the pork and fresh dill dumplings here.
As you pulled up in the taxi, you knew it would be so. It had the aura. When you opened the door, the plasma of superheated garlic, ginger, cumin, and peppers confirmed this. The Chinese babushkas who waited on you made it certain. They had a brusque, imperious manner – reminding you of elderly waiters in a NYC Jewish deli -- that brooked no dissent. You asked to sit at one table and in the sharp tones that you associate with cutting sheet metal they shooed you to another that was partially occupied (redounding to your benefit when your companions selflessly shared their awesomely delicious deep-fried, sesame stuffed, glutinous rice, dessert dumplings). You didn’t like the buckwheat noodles in a sauce that tasted of petroleum product and you were gazed at reproachfully and admonished in astringent Chinese. In other words, they were by their lights looking out for you which is comforting.
Buckwheat noodles. Though they looked delicious they tasted odd.
Biting into the pork-dill dumplings jolted your soul off its spindle. You had to pick it up and reattach it, forever changed. The dumplings were unctuous, a bit soupy, and the dill jangled like an electrode to a pleasure center in your brain. This was what a dumpling was meant to be. Had there been an infinite number of these dumplings in front of you, you would have eaten until you fell over dead. Until now you thought that the best dumplings in town were the Shanghai soup dumplings at Cheung Hing Kee, but these dumplings were to Cheung Hing Kee’s as Yahweh to a graven image.
The biao biao noodles stood at the apex of noodledom, cut in the manner of pappardelle, perfectly al dente, with some green, some crushed peanut, and a sauce that you think contained stock which gave it the sub-woof so many noodles sauces lack. It came with three deep fried chicken wings that could duke it out with any of the bad characters from the Korean joints in town.
Biao biao noodles with chicken wings
The lamb chops were tasty enough, the cumin seed coating delightful, but too spicy and bony. With maturity comes the realization that the flavor of chilies is more important than the misconception that heat by itself is good. You don’t need many chilies for flavor. Re. bones, you shouldn’t need a PhD in Osteology to eat a chop. Remove them or braise the chops before frying so the bones slip out. That’s what Fu Run (in Flushing, NY) does with their genius, last-dish-before-you-depart-this-mortal-coil lamb.
Blistered string beans and eggplant. So so so so good.
The string beans and eggplant, cooked in a Vesuvian wok, were paradigmatic, what all other restaurants should emulate, crisp, blistered, redolent of ginger and garlic, amped by capsicum, to dream of.
Although only a small percentage of dishes on the menu were of interest (noodles and dumplings mainly), Yau Yuan Xiao Jui is cheap and gives great value. Just as the fabled pianist Arthur Rubinstein occasionally fumbled notes, it now-and-then fumbles. Using humble ingredients (Eeyore among them) it outclasses many places which try to seduce you with trophy ingredients -- truffles, caviar, foie gras, even gold leaf for goodness sake. Yau Yuan Xiao Jui is worthy of “go to” status.
Rating (on a scale of 0 to 5)
Food: 3.5
Ambiance: 1
Service: 1
Overall Value: 3.5
YAU YUAN XIAO JUI
36 Man Yuen Street, Jordan
+852 5300 2682