Back for More: Rouge Restaurant Offers Hearty Cantonese Dishes
We have to confess, until now, we haven't gone back to Rouge Restaurant since it first opened three years ago, even though we've walked past it hundreds of times. That's not because their food is bad, but the reason we go to Courtyard Four is always alcohol-related, and whenever we've left Jing-A, or on the way to the Local, Long Jing, d lounge or any bar in the yard, we would think “oh, we should go back to that restaurant again someday!” Well, after a few more drinks the memory vanishes, and someday never comes. To break that loop of procrastination, we finally went back to Rouge Restaurant.
Sitting next to Taco Bar, and a stones throw away from Home Plate, Rouge Restaurant is the “strange kid” in the Western food heavy neighborhood. Named after Shek Tong Tsui District on Hong Kong Island, this elegant place provides hearty Hong Kong-style food, such as clay pot rice (煲仔饭, baozaifan), steamed beef brisket with rice rolls (RMB 48), fried noodles, wonton soups, and fried rice.
If you are a fan of hot pot, try the Cantonese rendition here – the steaming hot clay pot is presented on the gas stove, stuffed with vegetables and meat, and topped with secret thick broth. Try the Zhanjiang chicken pot (RMB 138) or mutton pot (RMB 188), both served with a generous amount of meat in a clay pot that maintains the temperature without drying the pre-cooked meat out; after approximately a ten minute wait, the meat was cooked to perfection and flavorful, and each cut was coated with delicious sauce. The various vegetables under the meat, such as water chestnut, celery, and onion, were mouth-watering.
Sweet and sour pork (RMB 68) is a signature dish here; the pork was deep-fried, keeping it moist and tender, and coated in traditional Cantonese sweet and sour sauce. The dish also featured large cuts of pineapple and bell peppers. We loved the steamed pork with shrimp paste (RMB 48); the tender stripes of pork had a good balance of fat and lean meat, and were steamed in the shrimp paste. a fermented umami flavored sauce that's popular in Asia that the owner, Peter Tu’s, mother found in Tai O, Hong Kong.
Dim sum is popular here and comes in at a reasonable price, including curry fish balls, and barbeque pork puffs (RMB 10 for three pieces). We especially liked the pig knuckles (RMB 33) which were braised in sweet vinegar with ginger, you could smell the strong aroma of ginger before the first bite, and the pig knuckles were very tender in a caramel-like sauce.
My parents have always told me; To see if a Cantonese restaurant is good or not, just check if the owner is there. The owner of Rouge Restaurant, Peter Tu, hasn't taken a day off during it's three-years running, which might be a good sign. The neat place is set like any decent restaurant in Hong Kong with many tables for two, four, booths and private rooms for groups of people, and would make a great choice for the family dinner during Spring Festival.
Rouge Restaurant
Daily 11am-10pm. Bldg 1, Electric Research Institute, Courtyard 4, Sanlitun, Gongti Beilu, Chaoyang District
工体北路四号机电十号楼一层
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Photos: Tracy Wang, dianping
