Stuffed suckling pig @ Kimberley Chinese Restaurant, Hong Kong

Hong Kong streets are inundated with the sights of roast whole chicken, ducks and geese hanging behind the windows of siu mei-style shops and restaurants, but I don't think I've ever seen a roast whole suckling pig before. Roast pork, char siu and other pork dishes are usually already cut into pieces when served, which helps make it easier not to conjure up images of Babe when eating pork. When I read about the stuffed suckling pig on this food blog, I knew that we would be making our way to Kimberley Chinese Restaurant soon. It was meant to be. I mean, what are the chances that I would check out a certain blog that I hadn't looked at for ages, read a post about a dining experience in Hong Kong (the blogger is a Singaporean who had made a trip to HK), discover that the restaurant is actually quite nearby us, and also needing to find a place for dinner for a group of 6? We don't often get the opportunity to eat in a group big enough to eat a pig, and a hearty Chinese meal seemed like the perfect option for a get-together dinner with Rob's dad and family, shortly after my dad arrived in Hong Kong on the night before they returned to Australia.

The restaurant itself was nothing spectacular - just another Chinese restaurant inside a rather unremarkable hotel situated a little away from the main street. It may not be fancy or special, but we received wonderful service from the cheerful manager who was particularly cordial and helpful. The other waitstaff don't speak or understand much English, and we were so grateful for my dad's linguistic ability in Cantonese (and several other Chinese dialects).

Little piggy!

The restaurant's specialty is the Suckling Pig Stuffed with Sticky Rice, which requires advance booking and a deposit payment at least one day prior. And it is quite special - the suckling pig was deboned with innards removed, stuffed with glutinous rice and then slow-roasted to a perfect crisp. This dish was incredibly rich and definitely not for those on low-fat diets. Even the glutinous rice was heavy, having absorbed some of the fatty porcine juices. One slice was almost too much for me!

We also ordered half a Roast Goose, which was fabulous. More meat, less fat and more flavourful than the more readily available duck.

Roast Goose:

The manager recommended the Grouper, which was prepared two ways: the flesh fried with garlic, and the fins and tail fried then braised in a claypot. I loved both, but the braised fins and tail proved a little too challenging for Rob and his family, and my dad and I had the whole claypot to ourselves.

Grouper with garlic - the best way to enjoy fish! Zak loved the steamed broccoli:

The braised fins and tail were delicious!

It was a good dinner, but we had a lot of the suckling pig left over, which we took home with us and the three of us ate it over the following two days. I would love to go back to this restaurant to try out other dishes.