[Hong Kong Cuisine] ‘Delicious Kitchen’ – a modern hotpot restaurant at MTR Wan Chai Station

Hong Kongers are absolutely mad about hotpot, and ‘Delicious Kitchen’ is a modern hotpot restaurant renowned for its original and innovative hotpot broths. It has been listed in the Michelin Guide for several years running and has also been featured on numerous international travel websites. The restaurant’s décor is simple, dominated by white and off-white tones; rather than being opulent, it has a more understated and stylish feel. The seating is spacious and comfortable. The restaurant’s specialities include its fusion broths, premium ingredients and signature snacks, with the unique selling point being that its signature hotpot ingredients can only be found here. The selection of hotpot condiments is impressive, with no fewer than 11 options to choose from, including onion, minced garlic, fried garlic chips, shredded chilli, sesame paste, chilli sauce, XO sauce and peanut butter. First up is the pre-meal appetiser, the soft-centred ‘Songhua preserved egg’: crystal-clear on the outside, with an oily, runny centre; served with tender ginger, it isn’t too runny and really whets the appetite.
One of the highlights of the hotpot is the soufflé-style tomato and crab broth, which looks absolutely stunning—from a distance, you’d swear the puffed-up broth was a cake! However, a savoury soufflé seems a bit odd; next time, I’ll go for the Sichuan numbing hotpot instead. The hotpot ingredients include melt-in-the-mouth snowflake Wagyu beef—each slice is thinly cut yet generously sized—followed by the vibrantly coloured rainbow squid balls. I tried the bright red ones, which were mixed with beetroot, and the pale red ones, which contained diced red peppers. I didn’t get round to trying the others, but they looked as though they contained spinach, taro and sweetcorn kernels. Whilst the flavour wasn’t quite as surprising as the broth, their appearance more than made up for it; not only were they photogenic, but they were also truly unforgettable at first glance.

Address:5th Floor, Lok Kee Centre, 165–171 Wan Chai Road, Wan Chai
Directions: A ten-minute walk along Wan Chai Road from Exit A3 at Wan Chai Station
Restaurant telephone number:+852 2866 8305
Opening hours: Monday to Sunday: 12:00–15:00, 18:00–23:30
Signature dishes: Japanese A5 Wagyu, Crab and Tomato Soufflé Soup, Seafood Platter, Rainbow-coloured Squid Balls