Hua Yu Wee (华友园) Chinese Restuarant @ East Coast Road

We had an impromptu branch lunar new year Lo Hei at the most unimaginable restaurant. Unimaginable because we are so used to the regular brand names like Tung Lok, Paradise Inn or Imperial Treasures. So it was a nice surprise that we are going Hua Yu Wee along East Coast Road.  Hua Yu Wee will be a splendid place to consider for a Chinese New Year Lo Hei dinner for its unpretending, homecooked style.

The indoor, air-conditioned restaurant is housed in part of the bungalow house, and its interior is very spacious. The serving staff were wearing SIA style top so its rather hilarious when I first saw it. The whole atmosphere feels very different stepping into here versus your regular restaurant with the windows all around the house.  It isn’t posh looking but very down-to-earth.  Overall it just feels so pleasant being able to eat in a place without pretendence.

In the backyard, there are more alfresco-style sitting. In fact the reason why our dinner is so impromptu is also because today is the only day left where we can eat in air-conditioned comfort. Which means if you were to book towards Chinese New Year, likely you will end up in the backyard.  I really like to dine during the Chinese New Year period with all the dishes having very new year and auspicious names.  Let’s explore now!

Of course we started with the Lo Hei. (七彩发财鱼生) The narrator was rather monotonous so it wasn’t spectacular nor very exciting. But I’m pretty sure our “huat ah” was the loudest for the day. We almost tossed the whole dish out of the plate!

Next dish is the sharkfin soup with crab meat thick soup. (财富广进). This is one of the must have dish for my boss as no Chinese meal is complete without sharkfin soup. I like the starchy soup but there isn’t much of the fins or crab meat as evident from the picture.

Next is (金鸡贺喜) or what is known as feng sha chicken. Basically the outside is roasted until crispy and marinated with garlic. Overall, I like the texture of the chixken. The dish taste rather unique however it is a little too garlicky for my liking.

年年有余 will of course be a fish meal. Steamed rock fish in H.K. style was served. I like the balanced taste of the fish and you can taste the sweet freshness of the fish. Was so good I wish we can have more.

Next is the deceiving 黄金满袋, or inariage stuffed with jade abalone. I was fooled to think that it was a whole abalone. But on closer inspection did I realised it’s not. But I must give 2 thumbs up to the creative designer of the chef.

Another unique dish we had is braised sea cucumber with Chinese mushroom and pig tendon with pumpkin sauce. (心旷神怡) This collagen rich dish has a very light pumpkin sauce that is very refreshing indeed.

One dish I enjoyed very much have to be this dish (一团和气) which is hor fun. You can see it comes with prawns and clams. The crunchy bits add a very special touch to the dish. A must have order in the menu.

Finally the black pepper crab known as gong xi fa cai (恭喜发财) as it is a finale dish. This has got to be the best black pepper crabs that I ever had. I usually didn’t like the overwhelming taste of the black pepper but today’s dish just upped the ante. I will never see black pepper crab in the same way again. In this dish, the black pepper didn’t steal the thunder from the crab!

By dessert time, we were already up to the neck. A cold dish of ice jelly and logans were served. (合家庆团圆) It is a good respite of all the heavy meal we have.

Hua Yu Wee is located at 462 Upper East Coast Road.  Above menu for 8-10pax was priced at $498++.