Hanwooooo in Hong Kong

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We've known for some time that Born and Bred was coming to Hong Kong. 30K had been having discussions about this since at least 2019, although that obviously got derailed thanks to the pandemic. There had been sporadic talk about updated opening plans but none of those ever came to fruition.

A few months ago we started seeing signs outside a space being renovating, so we knew that 30K was opening some kind of noodle shop in town. A bunch of us were very excited and waiting for this opening, because we knew that whatever project 30K decides to do, he would put full effort into it and deliver results that are up to his standard.

I hadn't been paying attention about their opening timeline, and certainly hadn't heard anything from PR8. So I was a little surprised when 30K asked me to join him for lunch today at Moo-Lah (牟樂).

The raison d'être, of course, was to bring Born and Bred's Hanwoo beef into Hong Kong. But instead of just copying the concept from Korea, 30K decided to open a place serving dishes that locals are already familiar with, and upgrade it with "better beef from Born and Bred". I was eager to see how that would work.

A set lunch menu is a 3-course affair, starting with a simple salad, a main dish with noodles or rice, and dessert. Tonight we would taste through a few options from the menu.

Tomatoes marinated in plum juice (話梅番茄沙律) - the salad is light, and the tomatoes which had been marinated in preserved plum (話梅) sauce were pretty interesting.

Hanwoo blade steak sandwiches (港式韓牛板腱蝴蝶包) - so our "sandwich" comes in the form of what diners outside Asia know as "bao". The steamed lotus leaf bun (荷葉包) is stuffed with 2 slices of oyster blade that has been cooked in Hong Kong-style "satay sauce (沙爹醬)". That is such a classic flavor profile found in many, many cha chaan tengs (茶餐廳) - which is really not like Indonesian satay but a cross between that and southest Chinese shacha (沙茶) sauce. In any case, the beef was very, very tender... and did kinda taste like tongue but without being so springy. This was very delicious, and I'd have it again in a heartbeat.

Assorted Hanwoo beef brisket in clear broth with egg noodle (招牌清湯韓牛三寶牛筋腩麵) - so this was the pièce de résistance, the classic Cantonese beef brisket noodle in clear broth (清湯牛腩麵). Normally this comes with brisket (牛腩), shank (牛搌), boneless short ribs (坑腩), and tendon, but today we've also got a piece of oyster blade (牛板腱) in our bowl as extra. One has a choice of Cantonese egg noodles, hor fun (河粉), or rice. The classic default option is egg noodles, and I decided to stick with this as I wanted to find out how much, if any, of the alkaline flavors from the noodles would remain. It's present in most egg noodles found in Hong Kong, and although I used to hate it when I first arrived in Hong Kong decades ago, I have now learned to live with it as an acquired taste. Well, it's definitely there, although thankfully it wasn't very strong.

The beef bone broth is made by roasting three types of bones - the neck, the ribs, and the leg marrow bones - then simmering them at low heat for more than 10 hours, with a 1:1 ratio between the bones and the resulting broth. One thing to note is that there IS MSG being used, although there wasn't enough of it to aggravate my tongue. We were given separate bowls of the broth on the side, and without being affected by the alkaline noodles, this was clean and sweet in part thanks to the radish.

I think next time I'll choose the hor fun for the clean and pure taste of the broth.

Aromatic HK style curry beef brisket with rice (香濃港式咖哩牛腩飯) - this was really, really good. That aroma and the taste was EXACTLY like the curry one would find in a cha chaan teng that has been made with curry powder.

The difference is the tender and tasty Hanwoo, of course. I don't normally have beef curry with a fried egg, but it sure didn't hurt.

Black peppered Hanwoo burger and Japanese egg on rice (黑椒窩蛋免治牛肉漢堡飯) - this was another dish I really loved. I've been a fan of Japanese hamburg (ハンバーグ) steak since the days of growing up in Tokyo, and this was served with a black pepper sauce.

I do love that black pepper flavor on the minced beef, and having the fried egg on top together with the rice was the perfect combo. I would have liked a little more sauce, though...

Jung Sang-won's homestyle jajangmyeon (鄭仕家鄉炸醬麵) - having grown up on mom's northern Chinese zhajiangmian (炸醬麵), I never cared for the Korean version myself... as I see it as a bastardized copy. But the Koreans do love it, and it's also very well-known to others, so they decided to test it out here. Unfortunately, though, even 30K didn't care for this bowl... so they'll be taking it off the menu for now.

White sugar cake and black sesame roll (懷舊白糖糕 港式芝麻卷) - I appreciate the effort of the owners in offering these very old school Hong Kong desserts. The white sugar sponge cake had the right flavors, and so did the black sesame rolls. A very good way to end our meal.

We were really, really full after this meal. In fact, I was so full I could not eat dinner. I am so happy that after years of waiting, 30K has finally opened something in Hong Kong. I am grateful for the preview I was given, and look forward to returning very soon with Foursheets.