Hong Kong House

The Hong Kong House has gone the way of its predecessors. CLOSED.

I just came back yesterday for a lunch (brunch?) with the owners (in honor of a friend that came from China), and I am upgrading for several reasons.
The food was somehow better than the last 3 times I was here.
Free starters: peanuts (Chinese believe it helps your brain activities), fried wonton strips with this sweet, buffalo-​colored sauce, and pao cai, or preserved vegetables. This was very crispy, very goof.
We started off with dim sum, which consisted of:
daikon cake– luo bu gao– (you can really taste the luo bu in here)
–sesame balls — ma chiou– (these were so fresh and hot!)
century egg and pork congee (good, but it was chilled… I don’t know why…)
canto style chicken feet –ji tue-(not tenders, literally, feet)
shumai
wonton wrapped pork dumplings
Canto red bbq pork buns– char siu bao– (don’t, tastes like red sugar and fat blend D:)
lotus leaf wrapped chicken and rice — ji bao fan — this was really sticky and pretty good
then we got started on the entrees:
–pepper steak, done L.A. galbi style (this was really good!)
–green leaf vegetables in garlic (I don’t know the english translation, but my favorite here, SO good!!)
2 black bean Canto-​style lobsters (for $ 22-​apparently you can get lobsters at the special price if you go over $ 50 or something like that)
–lettuce wraps with assorted meat (oh my, this was absolutely delicious)
clams with sauce– an entire plate of clams, very briny, very good. The sauce accentuated the clams well, but I don’t think I would’ve ordered this because I could do it at home (maybe even better, kekeke :3).
Drinks: Gekkeikan sake (just barely tried it, very fragrant on the nose and slightly stronger than other sakes… I believe it was 14.6% alcohol. But who am I to say, I don’t ever drink.)
I think the key to unlocking this restaurant is to order ONLY authentic food– it tastes slightly above average.
Our servers were young ‘uns, probably from Northview High and the like. The guy that looked like a Korean spoke Chinese, and the young girl spoke Chinese. The hostess/​waitress is the owner’s wife, and her English can be a bit spotty at times.
I got to try a wide variety of dishes that tested the varying breadth and depth of the chef here; I’d say the experience overall was very good. I was blown away by dishes with the (-) marked. The chef was the same as before, and now that the management is back with the owner, Peter (his co-​owners left…), and the hostess his wife, I hope they do well in the future.

After watching a movie my friend and I decided to try HKH since it was in the same shopping center as the Regal Theatre.
We ordered 4 dishes:
Mapo Tofu — tofu in spicy sauce– I didn’t even taste any spice in it at all and we asked for medium.
House Chow Fun — I thought it was very bland and I didn’t see much seafood. It was probably my least out of the four.
House Seafood — veggies, chicken, beef, and seafood in a brown sauce. This was probably my fave at of all the dishes bc of the variety but again a little bland.
Salt and Pepper Squid — good flavor, but very tough! It was hard to chew.
Most of the dishes that we ordered were bland. Once you added some hot sauce it was a little better. The portion size was plentiful and the prices were reasonable. The restaurant was pretty busy on a Sat. night. This restaurant has changed so many times, so for their sake, I hope they are able to make it! Yes, the man was great for entertainment and people were clapping at the end of each song. Too bad, he was on break during half of our meal.

If you live in the city, this place is a good 35-​minute drive into Johns Creek. Hong Kong House is located in its own stand-​alone building on the left side (if traveling northwest) on State Bridge Rd, just after the Medlock Bridge intersection. I’ve had two separate people send me the Chow Down ATL blog article for this place (
).
HK House takes up an old space — I don’t know what restaurant used to be here before — and serves up a variety of authentic Cantonese cuisine. The restaurant has a couple different dining areas with plenty of seating (booths and tables). The décor is not much to speak of. Interior is relatively new. They have small aquariums in the back like other Chinese restaurants. Servers are friendly.
Among the food items ordered:
Chive flower with Chinese sausage (white board special)
Beef chow fun
Clams with black bean sauce
Chicken with mushroom hot pot
Steamed tilapia
Overall, I thought the food was okay. Nothing really stood out or was memorable except perhaps the chive flower with Chinese sausages. That was my favorite dish of the five. A little greasy, but tasty. I’ve never had chive flower served with Chinese sausage before (only the chive flowers by themselves). The sausages are just like the ones inserted into the dim sum sticky rice. There were also yummy bits of fatty bacon. If anything, the rest of the dishes were a little bland for me. Sauce in the chicken hot pot was thick. Some small dish appetizers were served before the meal and included nuts, cabbage, bean sprouts, and noodles. Prices can be found in one of my photos.
The highlight of the restaurant, though, is most definitely the harmonica-​playing Asian man who sets up shop at 7pm. He has a nice little stand with his drink, CDs for sale at $ 7 a piece, and a small desk lamp. He sings everything from «Stand By Me,» «Fry Me to the Moon» and the Beatles’ «Ret It Be» — bilingual too! Although, we could not recognize the non-​English language. Our Chinese/​Korean/​Thai ears could not decipher the other language. Check my Local Photos to see pictures of this adorable man (did I really just write that?).

HAHA — most memorable part of our evening was probably the unexpected live music performed by this random Chinese man. He sang in multiple languages — mostly Mandarin & English but even some Italian. And a wide repertoire of music — I’m talking Beatles, Elvis, Disney, & Christian. it was just unexpected music for a Chinese restaurant. He definitely entertained us :)
Food was ok — although I’d love to come back and try some of their other dishes. The food is Cantonese, and based on the big fish tank in the back, I’m thinking seafood is probably their specialty.
For our party of 4, we ordered 5 dishes which was plenty. Portions were good. But prices do seem higher compared to other Chinese restaurants. I did like the complimentary Chinese banchan (sides) served at the beginning of our meal — honestly I thought these had more flavor than most of our dishes.
BEEF CHOW FUN — $ 8.99
Always a good dish to order for the sake of comparing. Tasted pretty good but could’ve used a little more flavor. And a little less oil.
BONELESS CHICKEN W/​BLACK MUSHROOMS HOT POT — $ 10.50
Another dish that could’ve used more flavor. I think it was my least favorite. Maybe the least group favorite too — just b/​c it was the only dish that didn’t get cleaned up. But Daniel B helped take care of that part.
CLAMS W/​BLACK BEAN SAUCE — $ 12.95
Clams alone were really good but wish the sauce had more flavor. It was also disappointing b/​c I couldn’t help but compare to Ming’s version that is really very delicious.
STEAMED LIVE TILAPIA — $ 15.99
Fish definitely tasted fresh but again, wish the sauce had more flavor. I actually thought the sauce did get more flavorful as the temperature cooled down. I’d probably try the fried version next time.
CHIVE FLOWER W/​CHINESE SAUSAGE & PORK — $ 12.95
This dish had a lot of flavor which was a very welcome change compared to the other dishes. But it was on the salty side, too. Still, the chives together w/​the sausage & pork tasted pretty good.
Service was very friendly & attentive, but our server’s English was very broken. Fortunately we had Kit & Pam to speak Cantonese — which also came in handy when asking questions about the dishes. They also confirmed the back half of the menu is an exact translation of the English dishes — so no secret Chinese menu here :)
Customers were mostly Chinese families — so that was a good sign. Always nice to see authentic ethnic restaurants adding diversity to Johns Creek :)

This building used to be home to a diner… and you could never tell now. It’s very ornate — lots of marble and mirrors. I had take out (brought back by my boyfriend) from here before I actually ate inside, so eating in there was the first time I saw it.
The entrees are big enough for two people, no problem. I almost made 3 meals out of the first take out order of kung pao chicken. It was pretty good, and I liked that it came in a plastic container.
When we went in to eat, our server, Frank, automatically recognized my boyfriend from his previous visits to pick up food, which was pretty cool. He had been there during their opening week about two weeks ago. About half the tables were Chinese, and the back half of the menu is in Chinese. Frank saw my boyfriend looking at the Chinese and made a suggestion for an entrée of beef chow fun, as it’s his favorite.
It was most excellent. It was a mix of noodles, sprouts, onions, and beef, and we ate it so fast. The one dish was enough for both of us, and it was only $ 8.99, which was awesome.
There was also a guy in there playing guitar and harmonica, he sang «It’s a Small World» and played it on the harmonica. It was pretty cute. I was sad it seemed like everyone else was ignoring him, and I’m not sure if he’s there every night or what, but that was different from some sort of silly ambiance music.
It’s kind of out there, but very interesting. Plus if you want to see a movie with a bunch of high schoolers, there’s a movie theatre in the shopping center too.