While Daniel was drinking fancy beers and sampling dishes that I can’t even pronounce at Chambar, I was eating chicken wings at the mall.
Don’t pity me though. For it wasn’t just any mall and they weren’t just any chicken wings. I was at the Aberdeen Center food court munching on the famously greasy chicken wings from Wo Fung Dessert.
A confession – lately, the Aberdeen Center food court has been one of my favorite places to dine out. This is a caf that definitely does not suck. My girlfriend doesn’t even mind when I take her here, especially when the meal ends with a Beard Papa cream puff, Mondo gelato, Frappe Bliss shaved iced dessert, or a stroll through Daiso – all conveniently located inside the mall.
Your normal mall probably has a food court with Burger King, Arby’s, Manchu Wok, Orange Julius, Taco Time, …booooring. Asian malls (e.g. Aberdeen Center, Crystal Mall, Parker Place, etc.) are so much more interesting, and usually cheaper too. It’s debatable as to which Asian mall has the best food, but there’s no arguing that Aberdeen Center’s is the nicest. It even has free wifi if you want to geek it up.
But back to the wings.
One of the busiest places in the food court is Wo Fung Dessert. They’re most famous for their deep-fried chicken wings ($3.50 for 3 wings). Unlike western style buffalo wings, which are deep fried and then smothered in sauce, these wings are battered first and then deep fried.
They are VERY crispy. Wo Fung cooks only after you place your order. Because of this, you’ll have to wait a few minutes for your food, but it’s worth it. The wings arrive straight from the fryer, dripping in sizzling hot grease. Of course like most deep fried things, they taste great. The batter crunches like a potato chip and there is a curious hint of ginger spice.
With no regard for my arteries, I also ordered some deep fried squid tentacles ($3.75). Delicious. Even crispier than the ones at Pearl Castle.
Who needs fine dining? Grab whatever you have, throw it in a deep-fryer, and I’ll be one unhealthy happy customer.
Filed under: Chinese, Richmond | 9 Comments
Tags: aberdeen center, chicken wing, deep fry, Richmond, wo fung dessert
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You’re so bang on with the comment about the Asian vs. non-Asian malls when it comes to the food component! Those wings at Wo Fung, they look kind of spicy, curious as to what flavor are they? Here I was yesterday on my site talking about the healthy non-fried alternatives for a classic like fish & chips, but now I have a craving for it after all, upon seeing these pics!
shokutsu
@ http://foodosophy.wordpress.com/
Hey, this is one of my favourite food courts too. Wo Fung also has very cheap lemon iced tea or iced coffee/milk tea. I’m kind of limiting the intake of greasy foods, so I can’t indulge too often, but those wings are very popular and yummy.
The japanese udon/ramen and katsu are also well priced and delicious over at Ajijiman.
I like to sit with my food choices of the day and watch the dancing water show.
shokutsu: Nope. Not spicy at all. The batter has a hint of ginger and is salty, but that’s about it. It’s very different from KFC-style batter and much crispier. You can find these types of wings at most Hong Kong Cafes as well (they usually come with fries).
Holly: agreed about the lemon iced tea! $1.75 :) I actually paid yet another visit to the mall today and made sure to pick up a drink. I’ll have to give Ajijiman a try next time, the menu looks great – thanks for the tip!
Thanks for the added description of the fried chicken, I will definitely try this out next time I am at that Richmond mall.
shokutsu
@ http://foodosophy.wordpress.com/
Hey again, so I went and had my fix of these two items you wrote about. Both were very good, though I think the squid was the better of the two. Thanks for the intro!
shokutsu
@ http://foodosophy.wordpress.com/
Glad you enjoyed them shokutsu :)
I agree about the ‘unbalanced’ feeling you get after eating all that deep fried stuff.
Chinese people call that feeling “yeet hei” (熱氣) which translates to “hot air” but can be more generally thought as “hot energy”. It’s the state you get into after eating too many fried things… and it usually leads to things like pimples, greasy skin, etc.
The opposite of that, in true ying-yang fashion, is “dong hei” or “cold energy”. With respects to the Aberdeen Center foodcout, you can get some of this “dong hei” to balance the tentacles/chicken wings by eating stuff like shaved ice, mondo gelato, or even drinking the hk style coffee (which I noticed you smartly ordered) ;)
I went to Wo Fung to get my greasy foods fix today. The chicken wings were ok (maybe because they just opened), but I was really disappointed with the squid. I was expecting more of a spicy/pepper salt flavour and instead got the plain fried kind. They were definitely crunchy though.
It’s a lot of grease to take in one sitting, even when shared with others. My sister felt nauseated for the rest of the day. I can still feel the grease in my stomach hours later.
It probably didn’t help either when we added shrimp okonomiyaki and takoyaki balls on top of all that grease. But it sure tasted yummy at the time.