Claypot rice is really comfort food for the soul, and it might seem a simple dish, but the combination of the soft rice steam boiled mixed together with the juices of the ingredients and meat, paired with the slightly charred crispy rice at the bottom, makes for a delightful taste explosion experience of textures, but not forgetting to mention is that the soya sauce over the rice is what really completes and complements this dish and elevates it to greater heights! 🤤
Absolutely agreed; it’s a simple-seeming dish that is actually incredibly complex and requires great skill to get right. And the soy sauce elevates it to absolute perfection!
Another great food video from Sam and we didn't have to wait too long for this latest one! 😁 We tried this claypot rice place several years ago when we visited Hong Kong and I agree with Sam that it was very good! Definitely worth a try for those visiting Hong Kong.
I stumbled onto your channel and I want to thank you for such a connoisseur's report of the food! I am HK born but spent my adult life in Canada. Makes me want to rush to my birth city to experience this place. Bravo!
Something about the "damp cold" of HK winters that brings chills to the bone. Clay pot rice and congee have to be my two favorite comfort food of all time. Simple to make but difficult to perfect. When the food finally arrived at your table and you began eating, I could not help but think of poor Vienne sitting across from you agonizingly watching you go at it while she was also probably starving herself; I hope the rice was still hot when her turn came! 🍲 Happy New Year to you both! Good health and prosperity!
It actually caught me by surprise and unprepared last time I was there. Having grown up in Toronto I'm of course accustomed to cold weather, but because of the humidity 10C in HK can feel a lot colder. For any Americans out there, a good comparison might be Houston, which because of the Gulf can feel really cold despite not hitting 0C.
Haha that’s right John, I felt sorry for her… she’s a good sport! 😝 and also definitely agree with the cold here- reminds me of the UK in feeling than the thermometer suggests! Happy, healthy and prosperous year of the Dragon to you and yours!
The last week of Jan or first week of Feb can drop below 10 degrees. When you see HK peeps wearing 3 or 4 layers of clothing on the bus, you know is going to be epic low temperature for the week.
Just got back from a short trip to Hong Kong to celebrate CNY with the extended family. Went to Hing Kee as well, and the claypot rice spots here in Toronto just don’t do it the same. The burnt rice has always been my favourite part growing up. They also serve an oyster pancake which is really good. Thank you for your videos, my parents and I always look forward to watching them!
Thanks for sharing your experience; hope your HK trip was a great one! It seems there’s something special about claypot rice that just can’t be replicated elsewhere! I saw the oyster pancakes at Hing Kee, but was too stuffed to try them on this visit. Next time!
On a two day visit to Hong Kong before flying to Vietnam. Visited this place today in the afternoon.. no queue, and about half an hr wait for the food.. it was delicious..thanks for recommending this place Sam, we went after watching your video.. it was a great experience for two northern English folk😂
That’s brilliant to hear - and great choice going there in the afternoon; it proved the right thing to do considering the lack of queue! Glad you enjoyed it, and, from one northerner to others, have a ball in Vietnam!
Absolutely beautiful sharing adventure documentary street food travel blog and the filming edition camera work looks spectacularly gorgeous .. thanks again
First of all, I wish Sam have a Happy Lunar New Year-Gung Hei Fat Choy. Since we're in Lunar New Year at this time where Sam did this video, I hope he could do a new year feast dishes where families, friends, and relatives gathered. In this cold weather condition, locals would most preferred for hotpot more than claypot rice. I've seen others did their food video at that place, the only thing missing here in claypot rice is vegetable. The next time when Sam go back to Hing Kee at Yau Ma Tei, I hope he can order a dish of Kang Kung aka Water Spinach or Morning Glory cooked with fermented bean curd to go along with the meal.
I sometimes think that the relationship between hk/Chinese people and rice is not fully appreciated. I'm 3rd gen UK immigrant but even for me, rice remains my comfort food and my parents/grandparents being of hk indigenous village origins, traditional foods like the lap cheung and hakka foods like shrimp paste, are more like luxuries. Things like these clay pot dishes and other things that are sometimes considered "lower" class is my connection to my culture. Rice is "home".
What a poignant meditation on rice and its meaning. I am obviously not Asian, but my wife and her family are, so I understand this sentiment completely, and agree that many outside the culture (and sometimes within it) fail to realise how intrinsic rice is to it! Thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts!
Oh yes Hing Kee the best for claypot rice. Always go there when I visit HK. One is my limit. Did you try the oyster cake? It's excellent. Excellent video enjoyed. Thank you.
I wished that you would have shared with your viewers on the price you paid for these clay pots and a glimpse of the menu and prices would have been nice.
Hi Sam, obviously you have not been to Guangzhou. If you go try the claypot rice there you would not eat claypot rice in Hong Kong again. Also the price is 1/3 of the cost of claypot rice in Hong Kong 😊
You’re correct; I have not been to Guangzhou - the visa requirements for this Brit make it a bit of a pain! Good to know though, and I’ll bear it in mind if/when I eventually do go!
Got in from work, had dinner then got all hungry again after watching this😅 As a fellow Brit it's so good to see someone else rave about the food culture in Hong Kong. So many different flavours. I haven't tried claypot rice but it's next on my hit list. Thank you for your enthusiasm for the food. Gung hey fat choi to you and your family.
Thank you Andrew, and happy year of the dragon to you and your family! Glad this vid made for good after-work watching and sorry it made you hungry again after dinner 🤣 definitely recommend claypot rice, it’s one of my all-time favs- an absolute feast and a slice of food heaven when done right!
Hi Sam. So glad you went to our favourite Clay pot rice restaurant which we recommended in the comments of one of your earlier videos. We are currently back in HK and will be going back to hing kee for some delicious food in the next few days. Great video as always, Marcus and Siobhán.
Thanks for an amazing recommendation guys, was every bit as good as you said it was! Hope the vid allowed you to relive those memories, and hope you enjoy your upcoming meal there!
Was here in January, went at lunchtime and it was clay pot rice and oyster cake only. It was FIT! I had to go back at night as they had full menu, only ordered a few dishes but they were so GOOD can't wait to go back again 2025
Sam, thanks for this exciting video. When the smoke comes out from the claypots upon your OPENING ceremony , i can smell the yummy ingredients condensed therein😊.....real excellent stuff which we can never make without a proper claypot nor high power burner at home. It is a proof of technique, experience and perfect timings calculated by the chefs. Thanks Sam for another fantastic masterpiece 🎉❤ !!
Thank you, Johnson, for your brilliant comment as usual! the opening is the best part- so much steam and the smell of all the flavours! I agree that the claypot is proof of technique and perfect timing from the chef- apparently it takes years to master!
I miss the superb Cantonese food found in Hong Kong. We find claypots here in Chicago, but not the kind of caramelization and juiciness in the claypots at this restaurant. Happy Lunar New Year! 🧧
That’s too bad, but It doesn’t surprise me; some things are hard to find outside HK, especially done as well as here. Thanks for watching and commenting, and Happy Year of the Dragon to you 🐉
I just spent 2 weeks in HK and was a part of that line on one of the cooler days, we probably missed each other by a day or two. I had the same spare ribs and lapcheung but I got the stir fried clams instead of a second bowl. For food tourism, that was my number one pick.
We must have missed each other by a matter of days or even hours! Thanks for sharing your experience, and couldn’t agree more as far as food tourism- a very unique dish and dining experience!
Sam, I am glad that you have discovered what Cantonese people have known all along.....GREAT foods! Cantonese foods are my favorite. I am so jealous of watching you eat that on my screen. It looks delicious!
Clay pot rice most of Hong Kong people love can have different toppings and special soya sauce and the bottom burn rice bit is just so tasty and taste amazing 😊
Delicious looking Hong Kong Claypot 🍚! I noticed that the cases of Coca-Cola bottles are stacked one on top of the other nearing the ceiling in the restaurant !?
Sam: It’s just so great every time I watch you, a fellow foodie, open minded and adventuresome, eat with gusto n enjoy the different foods HK has to offer. 👏👏👏👍👍🎉🎉
This one was unexpected but the claypot rice looks very tasty. It must be worth the hype with so many locals lining up for Hing Kee and it looks to be definitely a cantonese delicacy. I wonder if Sam does not order in Cantonese when it gets cold. Ha ha. Keep up the good work and expecting more surprises.
Thanks for watching and commenting as always Satish! It’s true that this place is very popular with locals; the lines must be every night as the night we went was a weeknight that was unremarkable besides the low temperature! The key to knowing whether I’m ordering in Cantonese or English is if I take the sound away- that’s when you know it’s in English 😝 more videos coming soon!
Marvellous video. You're so lucky. I was in HK recently and tried to get a seat for claypot rice around Temple Street. The crowds beat me to it. I consoled myself with a roast goose and suckling pig rice instead. 😉
Thanks for watching and the kind words! Oh no, that’s too bad! The lines at Hing Kee especially look intimidating, but they go down very quickly as we found out. Having said that, roast goose and suckling pig rice isn’t a bad meal, either!
It is a real pleasure to watch your video ,because you concentrate solely describing the delicious food you are eating. Mouth Watering. Kung Hei Fai Choi, Lai sei dol Lor
Thank you and Happy, healthy and prosperous year of the dragon to you and yours 🐉. We’re going to try and get more vids out this year! Cheers for all the support 🙏
Great video. I am a clay pot rice fanatic. I eat this in all seasons esp. during the cold months. Hing Kee is certainly one of the best but not the best. They have the right mixture of good toppings and burnt rice around the pot. The downsize, relative to some other places are: it is pricey; the toppings are better elsewhere, in particular when it comes to the sausage; and the portion is rather small. There is a place in Wan Chai that I found that is 20% cheaper and 20% bigger, no English name of the place except "Extraordinary Fish" not sure if that is the official name. Again, great video on my most fav food, thank you.
@@HongKongHoods Yes, I believe that is it. They only have 4 flavours of clay pot: preserved meats; frog; ribs; or chicken. But there is a lot more food on their menu and inexpensive (relatively). Address: 127 Lockhart Road, Wan Chai, ground floor.
if you have a claypot at home with gas stove, you can make the rice with experimentation.... but when you're in HK then there's no need to, just give them $50-60 dollars instead... but for us overseas we need more experiments
The traditional lid doesn't have enough height to cook the ingredients and generate enough space to heat. If you cook this at home with the claypot lid with the same amount of ingredients you'll end up with either burnt rice or raw ingredients. As these claypot wasn't originally designed to cook rice and ingredients
They looked amazingly good. I can't wait to have claypot rice again when i eventually get back to HK. I'm surprised this hasn't caught on in the UK during the long cold winter months.
We do have it here in england. It's always on the dim sum menu...However at least half of the Chinese dim sum places has stopped using claypot and steams a pot or most recently I went to one dim sum place and it was scooped boiled rice in a dish...They separately steamed the ingredients and poured it over the rice which isn't the same taste
Thank you Darren as always for watching and commenting, and really glad you enjoyed this one- it really is so, so good- definitely one of my all-time favourites; I have been known to eat it outside of winter also- pretty much any excuse!
And that makes a lot of sense re it hasn’t caught on- it is indeed very time consuming as you say, the chef needs to stand over all the dishes and basically monitor the cooking, so I’ve heard now from multiple sources!
@@HongKongHoods a few of the words sound so brummie, especially when you get involved with the description of flavours... 👍🏻video BTW. I had a bo-j-fan the other week when the temperature dropped.
