Hong Kong Chef

Much more impressed with recent visits than when I first ate there years ago. Working late, I just rediscovered it as one of a few non-Denny’s options for late night.
Favorite items are salt and pepper calamari, Mongolian beef over rice, egg tofu with pea sprouts and mushrooms, shrimp wonton soup, and beef chow fun with egg gravy (although I prefer it this dish over rice).
Walnut prawns and Peking duck weren’t standout, although to be fair, these two dishes are some of favorite things in the world (just ask anyone who is seated at my table for Chinese wedding banquets), so I’m pickier about their preparation.
Clean and above average service.

I’ve frequented this place a few times. I like that they have pictures in the menu because I don’t read Chinese. This place is very good in that the prices are inexpensive, the food is very good with decent to large portions, and the food comes out very quickly.

Great selection of food at a decent price. I do think it may be difficult communicate with the serving staff if you do not speak Chinese, though. The hours have also changed, as they are now closed from 3:30 to 5 PM I believe.

OMG!!! Great food … Had the Peking Duck & flounder … So so so gre8 … Wonderful service … Forgot to take pic of food … Now just left overs… Lol!!! Will be bck to get fried garlic crab & the lobster dish … Not as expensive as I thought either & to top that we learned how to use the chop stickz… Amazing u gotta try it 4 ur self … U won’t b disappointed …

I think the 3star average for this restaurant is pretty fair. It’s commendable that it’s open from 11am-​12am daily, and the quality is decent for the price point. Service is fine, and the décor is unmemorable, although there are unfortunately little bugs flying around at times as the door is usually kept open.
The dishes I’d recommend:
Sautéed beef over broccoli:
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The vegetables were poached well and the beef had good flavor. The meat was also quite tender and I liked that there was enough sauce but that the dish wasn’t drenched.
Steamed clams with savory egg custard:
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This was a decent version of this dish, as the clams were juicy and the egg custard steamed to a good silken texture. There may have been a tad too much soy sauce for my liking, but otherwise I thought this was a good rendition.
Chicken soup with ginseng and mushrooms:
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This soup has good flavor, but it has a really, really strong rice wine aroma to cut the gaminess of the chicken. I didn’t particularly mind, but sometimes the alcohol isn’t evaporated off enough so that the smell can be pretty overwhelming. Most times though, it’s evaporated off to reveal the nice flavor of the chicken soup.
Braised short ribs:
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These short ribs were very peppery, but they again had good flavor and a good amount of sauce without the texture of being too sticky.
Braised beef cubes with bell peppers and mushrooms:
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Continuing along the theme, it seems that braised and beef is a good combination. The mushrooms in this dish were also impressive, as they were pan-​fried and then integrated into the dish, so there was a good smoky flavor to go along with the nicely-​textured meat.
The dishes I’d probably pass on:
Egg white and scallop fried rice:
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This dish wasn’t necessarily bad, but I’ve definitely had better. This was mostly due to the curious decision and adding soy sauce into this dish; I find that the seafood flavor of the scallops is masked and made a little bitter by the soy sauce, so I wasn’t a huge fan.
Vegetable hearts in broth:
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There was a pretty impressive amount of vegetable hearts in this dish, but that was the only memorable part. The broth was somewhat bland, and the vegetables were a bit over-​poached.
Lobster noodles:
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These lobster noodles aren’t always available, but when they are, they’re offered for a really reasonable price. The price does reflect the quality in this case though, and the version I had sported undercooked noodles, not nearly enough but bland sauce, and rubbery lobster.
Seafood and bamboo pith squash soup:
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This was probably one of my least favorite dishes here. The soup was watery and had congealed chunks of starch at the bottom, most likely from attempts to thicken the consistency and the starch then not being properly dissolved. The flavoring was overly salty to compensate for the lack of other flavors, and the seafood consisted of some pieces of chopped up shrimp.
Chinese broccoli and Chinese sausage:
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I felt that this dish was just sloppily prepared. The sausages seemed to be strangely boiled so that they were waterlogged, and the Chinese broccoli was somewhat tough and slightly overcooked. I’m not even sure the ingredients were sauteed afterwards or just tossed together and brought out, as there wasn’t much flavor throughout.

Today is part one of my mom’s birthday celebration, and she has wanted to try this place for a while.
Ambiance: there’s nothing super special about the ambiance, and it is decently clean. There are smaller tables closer to the front of the restaurant, and larger, reserved banquet tabled in the back. There were no private rooms due to lack of space, so it was a bit loud in the back, but I think it felt lively!
Service: the waiters all spoke (or at least understood) English, mandarin, and Cantonese, since I spoke English and mandarin, and I heard them speaking canto. I personally enjoyed the service as it was typical of decent service from an Asian restaurant TBH. The waiters more or less left you alone unless you were ordering or called them, but they weren’t as hostile as some of the other reviews made them out to be, but to each her own! We took a while with the menu and they were patient with us.
Food: the food here is pretty damn good. I have no idea on its regional authenticity but it’s definitely proper Chinese food, for the most part. The spicy soup fish was not sezchuan style but it was savory and delicious nonetheless, with generous portions of fish and Napa cabbage. One complaint was that we found the base of the cabbage, where it meets the roots, floating in the broth, and we usually take that out at home. The clam/​bitter melon/​tofu soup was better than I expected. Everyone got two or three clams, which tasted fresh and light. The bitter melon was really bitter by itself but added to the soup, it had a much milder flavor. The broth is probably pork or chicken based, because it was WAY too savory to have been made with clams alone (if there are any pescatarians reading this, sorry man). The green beans are pretty standard for any Chinese place, and we ordered them because they are my sister’s favorite. She had no complaints. The stone pot pork intestines dish was my personal favorite, as artery clogging as it may be. There was a generous amount of intestine, as well as mushrooms and onion, and I’d say it tasted like braised pork belly. It was a lot fattier than what my mom makes, indicating less care taken in cleaning it. I was a little disappointed by the Peking roast duck. I was really looking forward to it, as I haven’t had it since I went to Beijing like 7 years ago. The half duck we ordered tasted just like I remembered, but there was almost no meat! We barely had enough to make the wraps with scallion and sauce. Our party of four got about one piece of crispy skin and one piece of meat each. At the end of the meal, we got a complimentary desert, some sort of taro soup. It was really creamy and sweet, and I liked it.
Overall: the potions are generous and the food tastes great, but the Peking duck is not worth your money. I would definitely return and try more of their dishes.

ATMOSPHERE: Hong Kong Chef is exceptionally clean, open, and relaxing. All too many Chinese restaurants have a slightly janky atmosphere and the smell of cooking is thick in the air, but HKC is very well maintained and soothing. The high ceiling also makes for very open architecture, and the restaurant is spacious and avoids feeling too packed. ⁴⁄₅
SERVICE: The service here can be slightly inattentive, and while they aren’t necessarily unfriendly, neither are they warm. They are to-​the-​point and practical. Yet even though hospitality is lacking, the servers work efficiently. ³⁄₅
PLATING: Even though the dishes are somewhat simple they are masterfully done. Knife cuts are clean, the colors are vibrant, and the arrangements are well balanced. While the dishes aren’t exactly works of art, they are nonetheless beat and tidy while being stimulating to the eye. ³⁄₅
FLAVOR: Hong Kong Chef absolutely SHINES in the flavor department. Everything they churn out shows a masterful control of temperature and balance of seasonings. The salt-​and-​pepper fish is tender and cooked absolutely perfectly so that the flesh is flaky and soft in the middle while the exterior is crispy and hot without being greasy. The stone pot dishes are brimming with silky tofu, succulent meat, and tender seafood draped in a velvety sauce. Whereas venues like Panda Express have dragged down the reputation of Chinese chisine, Hong Kong Chef shows that familiar Cantonese dishes can still be true revelations when they are executed with precision and skill. ⁵⁄₅
OVERALL: Whenever I want to introduce friends to proper authentic Cantonese Chinese cuisine (in contrast to whitewashed venues like Panda Express), I bring them to Hong Kong Chef. In fact, I treated a Midwestern couple to dinner here, and it was the wife’s first time trying shrimp (she enjoyed it very much) and she still mentions how much she loved the salt and pepper fish. In terms of value it’s genuinely shocking how the food can be so excellent yet be so affordable. If you need a regular place to go to when you’re in the mood for Chinese, come here. You will NOT be disappointed. ⁵⁄₅

My family decided to check this place out for my grandma’s birthday. They do have all the typical banquet food, but not as fancy. Service was ok, our server was a little awkward, but he got the job done. Their shrimp and walnut dish was surprisingly good with the shrimp still slightly crunchy. Rest of the food was ok. Some negatives: Their plastic water cups smelled like bleach. It was like, they forgot to rinse out the bleach. Also we found a random curly hair in the jelly fish appetizer…

Destiny for fans of Chinese. If it’s far for you, I will still tell you that you must make this trip. This is one of those two hundred and counting menu items restaurants, and they serve up hard to find dishes like CLAMS IN EGG SOUFFLE. If you’re fans of pan fried noodles, seafood clay pot, pork bun, soup dumplings, congee — all that authentic yums, then you’ll be walking on air on your way in, and passing out on the ground from over-​stuffing yourself on the way out. Of all the Chinese restaurants in this particular shopping plaza, this is the best one. Although, with all the madcap business their servers, while gracious, are constantly harried and worn-​out. Because of that, and other minor correllating reasons, my experience is just a tad short of ecstasy. #sublime

Just had dinner last night under the new management and have to say that the food was excellent. We had a large group (14) and decided to order off the menu instead of one of the set menus. Everything turned out great and some highlight dishes were: tea soy sauce chicken, beef brisket in clear soup, clams in spicy wine sauce, salt and pepper cod, pea sprouts, fish cake with watercress and the house special stir fry. The service was good and food came out very quickly which is always a plus with starving kids. I have to say though that the portions seemed a bit small so plan accordingly when ordering (although it’s still Chinese food so you’ll be hungry an hour later lol).
Only drawback is that this shopping center has gotten so popular that getting a parking space can sometimes be an adventure in itself.

Excellent claypot rice, especially the salty fish with ground pork. It is my favorite. Service is excellent so far for me. And my mom also like the roast pork. Nicely done guys. :-)

Yep! This is the real deal for Cantonese food. Just the right taste. Do ask for the vegetable of the day. We asked for pea tips stir fried the way we like it with just garlic. Yum! Salt and pepper flounder cubes and just salted fish (no chicken) fried rice. The little fish bits gives the right amount of salty umami flavor. Got to go back for some other food items on the menu.

This food is good. I have eaten here many times and have loved the flavor every time. Lots of Chinese people eating here so it is definitely authentic.
Some of my favorite dishes are: Singapore Noodles, Salt and Pepper Fish! Yum!

I definitely would recommend this place to anyone looking for authentic, great quality Chinese food. They are now under new management as of the new year, so if you didn’t have a great experience before, I suggest you giving them another chance. The food is very good, it’s located in a nice plaza, and it’s open until midnight!

My sister and brother-​in-​law come here on occasion and we had a family dinner here tonight. She made reservations and the place is big and bright. The parking lot can be crowded as it is in a shopping center with Marina Supermarket. You can even order Peking duck without advance notice. It is served with hoisin sauce and wraps instead of buns. The menu is full of photos and numbered so you know what you are ordering. We ordered Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce, steamed minced pork with salted fish, Peking duck, minced beef egg white soup, tofu with assorted meat clay pot, mixed mushroom with dried bean curd in abalone sauce. Portions were A-​ok and so was the service.

Great food, and one of my go to places when I feel like embracing out my inner Chinese with my boyfriend. I love that the décor for this place is modern, so it makes a really good place to just sit and chat.
Decent service, but it might just be b/​c I can speak Chinese. The food is also better than most Chinese restaurants.
Get the Salt & Pepper Fish!

Wonton had no shrimp, steamed egg with dry scallop and pork was really good, tea chicken tasted like soy sauce chicken, fish ball and water crest was so so.

Food here is good. It isn’t really unique to the other Chinese places in Fremont but it’s good.
One thing that isn’t good. The service. Our first waitress didn’t understand English at all when we told her we didn’t want our food to be very spicy. We weren’t angry but they brought in another waiter. This waiter spoke English but got parts of our order wrong. Still, not angry.
The annoying part was if we asked for anything like water or another order he would just come to our table and after we requested something, he’d just quickly nod and walk away. Didn’t even look at our table or say anything. This happened for the rest of the night. Very rude.
Anyway, I’ve been here many times and I like their clay pot dishes and spicy string beans. The flavors are very nice.

This place is okay for what it is, some things are really good while other dishes are meh.
Usually come with my bf’s family (who are from Hong Kong) and his mom makes delicious food — so she knows a thing or two.
This place used to be really good when it first open, we noticed recently it’s changed and lacked in flavor.
If anything, a few of my favorites are:
— the stone pot egg tofu and mushroom (always good, never disappointing)
— xo rice noodles (when they make it super crispy, it’s delish)
— crispy fried flounder cubes (goes well texture wise with the xo rice noodle)
— roasted duck (tender, honey glazed type heaven)
— lemon ice tea (refreshing and not too sweet)
— coffee milk tea (strong, unique taste a little too sweet but you can request light condensed milk)
The biggest issue here is the service, which took away a star. Came here many times when it was dead, even right when it opens and were the first customers — and service is so damn SLOW. Even worst is they are constantly forgetting dishes. When the nice lady (owner) is there, they’re on it. But when she’s not (which happens often) they talk and lounge around like they’re at home. It makes a quick café bite turn into a 2 hr lunch = not okay, that ain’t how HK does it.

Big family banquet dinner for a big and hungry family. Hong Kong Chef gave us a pleasant experience.
To celebrate our extended family’s move in we decided to come here and order the «family banquet» meal which came with around 8 dishes. We had 10 people and there was plenty of things leftover!
One of the first dishes included a platter of assortments. I’m not Chinese and so I don’t know the traditional names of these dishes so you will have to bare with me. It came with fried tofu, some sort of BBQ meat, sliced pig feet, stringy seaweed/​kelp, and one more meat that I’m not entirely sure the name of. Overall, it was pretty standard and my favorite would have to be the tofu and the seaweed. I thought the tofu was perfectly crisp on the outside and so silky and soft inside. The seaweed had just enough salt to it and was surprisingly tasty.
Another dish included honey walnut prawns. These were my all time favorite of all the dishes. The mayo sauce was not as heavy as I’ve had before in the past. The walnuts were perfectly candied and the shrimp was so plump and juicy. This was definitely a must have.
We got 2 veggie dishes. One had fish and the other did not. The one without meat seemed to be bok choy. These were slightly on the harder side so were slightly less enjoyable. The other veggie dish had more of an assortment of greens and some carrots. It had small pieces of soft fish that went well with the veggies present.
Lobster. We were given a whole lobster that was cut up and seasoned. The meat inside was so juicy but it was difficult to find pieces that actually had pieces of meat in it. Some of them had very little so you would have to make an effort to search for the pieces with meat in them. However, if you were lucky enough to get one with meat it was rich, buttery, lobster meat.
We were given a big bowl of soup. This was fish head soup and although it doesn’t sound appetizing it was surprisingly light. It didn’t have an overpowering fish flavor to it. Although this isn’t something I eat on a day to day basis, I found the soup to be tolerable and almost pretty enjoyable though I didn’t finish all of it. However, my Taiwanse family counterparts found this soup to be enjoyable, so maybe it’s a cultural taste bud kind of thing.
The main dish was a yellow chicken. This was served cold and there was plenty of meat portions on the plate. The skin was slightly on the chewy side but the meat was easily devoured. It came with a sauce immersed among some green onions. However, this sauce was extremely, extremely salty so use only a little.
We were given fried rice slightly later in the meal and it would have been nice to have it in the beginning. It was your typical fried rice but with pieces of taro and Chinese sausage. They didn’t put much salt in the fried rice since the sausage is pretty salty itself. I found the rice to be light but full of flavor and not overly salty thankfully.
After the meal there was dessert. It was a gelatin square that was opaque and white. I’m not sure what exactly the flavor of it was but in the middle there was red bean. It wasn’t overly sweet but it didn’t melt in your mouth either. It was definitely an interesting dessert.
The food I would say was standard with some goods, some bads, and some average. However, the service was amazing tonight so I am giving them an extra star. We were constantly checked up on and our tea and water was always looked after. Half way in people came and took our dirty plates and gave us brand new ones. They were very friendly and looked professional and were respectful.
For the family dinner the total did come close to around $ 200 though I was not the paying so I cannot give a more accurate number. But there were huge portions and much was taken back home.