Ocean Empire Food Shop, Hong Kong 海皇粥店

The shop name in Chinese says it all - Ocean Empire (海皇粥店) is a chain of food shops specializing in congee, along with some other simple foods such as soyabean milk (豆漿), fried doughstick (youtiao, 油條), rice rolls (腸粉) and turnip cakes (蘿蔔糕). 

This shop was recommended by the hotel concierge, as Ms K was craving for some soyabean milk and rice rolls with youtiao. The shop was a 15 minute walk away from our hotel, located near Yau Ma Tei MTR station. 

The shop can be spotted easily, with their purple signage and decor. 

We were lucky to get a table for ourselves, although it was still quite cramp. 

This is the riceroll with youtiao or 炸兩 in Cantonese which Ms K was craving for. It's a very common dim sum dish in Hong Kong, but not so easy to find in Singapore's dim sum restaurant. 

Next came the fish and century egg congee.

This is my favourite - plain rice roll (斋肠粉). If you eat it just like that with the soya sauce, it just tastes normal. You have to add "something" to it to make it special....

And this is the "something" which is actually the condiments on every table. Dip a little of the peanut sauce, sweet sauce, chilli sauce and a sprinkle of sesame seed to the plain rice roll... SUPER! especially peanut sauce is a must have. However, I think this must be another acquired taste of mine, as Ms K and Ms V didn't seem too interested in it. 

The fried noodles are so so, this is the typical type of fried noodles you get at most Hong Kong congee / soyabean milk youtiao cafes. 

Last was the steamed turnip cake (蒸蘿蔔糕) which Ms V ordered. It was very light and fluffy, but it's really a big piece of turnip cake! Luckily we had 3 person to share it, I couldn't imagine one person having to finish it.

Not to forget our hot soyabean milk. You have to add the sugar yourself if you want it sweet. I was expecting the soyabean milk to come in a bowl, like Yonghe doujiang style, but I guess they have made it more convenient for customers to drink it from a cup instead. Actually I still prefer those from a bowl where you drink from a spoon.


As the Chinese saying goes: 吃得平淡也是福 (It's also a blessing to eat simple food). For some simple pleasure of hot soyabean milk, plain rice rolls and fried doughstick, Ocean Empire Food Shop would be a good choice for you. 



Ocean Empire Food Shop 海皇粥店
 
G/F, 479A Nathan Rd, Yau Ma Tei

油 麻 地 彌敦道479A號地下

Open daily: 6am - 1am
Nearest MTR station: Yau Ma Tei exit C