Restaurant review: Sun Hang Yuen, a cha chaan teng in Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong
The best mala egg and corned beef sandwiches in town
I don’t often say this anymore, but I found a new restaurant by literally following my nose. Not by reading a news alert or receiving a press release, but by noticing a delicious smell and wandering around until I found where it was coming from. I suppose it helped that I was starving. You see my friend and I were making a day of exploring Sham Shui Po. She needed to visit craft shops to buy velvet for her side hustle, and I wanted to eat new food and look at some street art. Since we started out at 10 am, the craft shops came first but after an hour my stomach started growling.
Enter the delicious smell.
I popped out of the craft shop, looked around, and noticed the sign for Sun Hang Yuen (a cha chaan teng established in the 1960s). Some quick googling later, I discovered it wasn’t exactly a hidden gem since even English publications like TimeOut were saying “There's nowhere else in Hong Kong that does better egg corned beef sandwiches than Sun Hang Yuen.” Egg and corned beef sandwich, huh? I’d never had such a thing!
With the velvet bought, we crossed the road and promptly ordered two egg corned beef sandwiches: a regular one with cheese and a mala one (with Sichuan peppercorn sauce).
Verdict
Well I’ve only ever had this one version of an egg corned beef sandwich but it really was very good. The egg and corned beef mixture is very juicy yet doesn’t make the bread soggy. Flavour-wise, it’s just right. Savoury and classic, without too many frills. Both kinds were good, but the regular one with cheese was my favourite. Just a perfect little comfort food snack for less than $25 each.
***
Update (8 June)
I went back with my boyfriend who wanted to try these sandwiches for himself, and I realized that there are actually two locations. Both are in Sham Shui Po. The one I went to (shown in the photos above) is the more modern, air conditioned location on Yu Chau Street. The original 24-hour location is on Kweilin Street. I've now had five of these sandwiches, and think the beef used in the sandwiches at the Yu Chau Street location seem to be thicker cut than at the original location so the overall feel of the sandwich is juicier. Also, the second time I had the mala sandwich at the Yu Chau Street location, it was twice as spicy (and twice as delicious) as the first! Maybe it's because I ordered it in the evening, and they toned it down during the day? I've read about consistency issues at Sun Hang Yuen and this does seem to be the case, but anyway none of the sandwiches were ever bad. Overall, I'd definitely recommend the Yu Chau Street location both for ambiance and quality of the food.
186 Yu Chau Street, Sham Shui Po, 2728 7118
38 Kweilin St, Sham Shui Po, 2386 2748
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