Joy Hing is famous, so famous, in fact, that it passes the Wikipedia benchmark of notability– behold its Wikipedia article [link]. Joy Hing has been around in some shape or form since the tail end of the Qing dynasty. It is an old school food joint, very low-key and unpretentious, serving up Cantonese-style rotisserie meats called siu mei (燒味). And Joy Hing does a wonderful job at living up to its Chinese name, “happy again.”
While in Wan Chai, we stumbled across this place after searching the OpenRice app. (OpenRice is Hong Kong’s equivalent of Yelp.)
I was immediately drawn to the window display facing Hennessy Road. Several beautifully glazed ducks and geese, alongside the constant hustle and bustle within.
Joy Hing, like a lot of Hong Kong food establishments, is very bare-bones. Real estate is a premium, so Joy Hing makes the most of it. The emphasis is on food, not the fluff. Service was fast-paced, but not unkind.
At the entrance of the shop, there’s a full service kitchen in full view of the diners. It’s quite a feeling to see meats being butchered, rice being cooked, and to know that you’re just inches away from where the magic happens.
In Chinese, three treasures (三寶, saam bou) typically invokes the divine: the 3 prime virtues of Taoism – compassion, frugality, and humility, or Buddhism’s triple gem – the Buddha, his teachings and the monastic community.
Well, Joy Hing’s most popular dish is called just that: three treasures rice (三寶飯, saam bou faan). One could say it’s the trinity of roasted meats: roast pork, chicken and duck （叉燒、油雞、燒鴨）generously piled atop a bed of fluffy white rice. We also got a healthy dollop of ginger scallion sauce (薑蔥蓉, geong cung jung), a common condiment in Cantonese meals.
Look at that slick glistening sheen, that beautiful coat of honey sauce. All the slices of meat were tender, succulent, and just plain delicious. The protein to fat ratio was also perfect.
I didn’t get to try their roast goose, but there’s always next time.
A word of precaution: all the menus are in Chinese.
Joy Hing Roasted Meat 再興燒臘飯店
灣仔軒尼詩道265-267號地下C座
Oh My Food Coma! 