Chung King Mansion Hk: A Myriad of Cheap Halal Indian Restaurants in Tsim Sha Tsui

Pakistan Mess @ Chung King Mansion

I have never heard of Chung King Mansion before going to Hong Kong, all I know is that there are a lot of indian restaurants at Nathan Road and some muslim friends ate at the vegetarian indian restaurants for their meals during their Hong Kong trip. 

We on the other hand, being meat lovers, of course will go high and low for halal food :p coincidentally, we stumbled upon this place after an early dinner at Ziafat Restaurant (Harilela Mansion) at the opposite road of Chung King Mansion. We only noticed it because hubby wanted to look for a money changer and that place is full of money changers. The entrance of Chung King Mansion is easily missed, but it is just beside the huge SASA and directly opposite the traffic light signals. If you are a hungry tourist lost looking for halal food, fret not, the restaurants touts will zoom on you so fast, you will be helplessly escorted to their respective restaurants if you are not firm. But, once you said that "Oh, I just had my dinner" they will immediately leave your side as you are just wasting their time. 

I would not encourage you going exploring the Chung King Mansions on your own, trying to see which restaurants suit your fancy unless you just want to stick to the ones on the ground floor; as the floors of Chung King Mansions are separated by 3 different lift areas and each lift area has 2 lifts serving different levels. You will get lost trying to look around. But the food outlets at the ground floor of Chung King Mansion are more like small stalls and the chairs (if some have) are just red stools which can be quite uncomfortable if you have small kids and carrying lots of shopping bags. Food also seems to have been prepared before hand. When we were there the first time (which was around 7.00pm), we passed by 4 policemen escorting one man in handcuffs!

One of the many indian halal stalls at the ground floor of Chung King Mansion

Well, apparently that incident didn't deter us from coming two days later and I picked Pakistan Mess' representative to guide us to their restaurant. We walked straight on to the third lift landing and took the lift on the left that serves level 4. Apparently, there is an understanding between all lift users that they have to stand in queue waiting for their turn to take the lift. The lifts are also equipped with a camera, and the people waiting for the lifts can see what is going on inside the lifts, so no need to be anxious if you are with a stranger  in the lift. We saw numerous people of different nationalities staying at the innumerable hostels at Chung King Mansions, Indonesians, Nigerians, and also some Caucasians. Hubby was curious to take a peek at the hostels but I wouldn't let him haha.. 

Pakistan Mess but The Sign Says Bombay Club: Fresh Delicious Mysterious Halal Food Name in The Town!

Back to the indian restaurant, Pakistan Mess is on level 4 and on the right. It is a small restaurant, fits 5 tables and a few more at a private room at the back. Toilet was miniscule, only for emergencies. The restaurant is clean and the first night we were there, one table was occupied by 2 chinese gentleman having their dinner and another at the back room by a group of 4 African + Indian. The next night, one other table was occupied by a group of 3 chinese ladies. Pakistan Mess also do deliveries as I heard the telephone rang a few times and the person manning the phone taking orders from them. I assume the indian restaurant serves the hostels at Chung King Mansion as well. 

Halal Food In Chung King Mansion: Pakistan Mess 

Food? it was cheap and amazing. Finger licking good is what I would say. But, of course for the price that you pay, don't expect fresh seafood to be served here, best to stick to chicken and beef. The first night we had cucumber raita, butter chicken, lamb vindaloo, butter naan and plain bryani. The second night hubby wanted to try mixed grill and prawn masala. Drinks were lemon tea, masala tea and mango lassi.

Indian Restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui: Cucumer Raita

Cucumber raita was amazing, the yoghurt was creamy with just a hint of sweetness and the cucumber was crunchy, I am not sure what is the black powder covering the yoghurt (as per picture) but it just enhances the flavour of the raita! I love it!

Indian Restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui : Butter Naan, Butter Chicken and Lamb Vindaloo

Butter chicken was creamy and just a tad spicy, way way better than Ziafat Restaurant and thicker and spicier than The Great Indian Kebab Factory. Of course you can't compare between Pakistan Mess and The Great Indian Kebab Factory since there are both in different league but  I would say Pakistan Mess serves better indian food at better prices than The New Sangeet Indian Restaurant at East Tsim Sha Tsui. 

Lamb Vindaloo was devilish hot! Feels like steam is coming out of my ears, meat is very tender and wow.. yes I finished the whole dish haha.. 

Halal Hong Kong: Butter Naans at Chung King Mansion

Butter Naan was soft and big, it was very filling, maybe because the dough is thicker than the usual thin naans that you get at other indian restaurants. We, originally wanted to order 2 but the guy said that their naans are very big and advised us to take 1 first. 

Halal Food In Hong Kong: Mixed Grill

Halal Food Hong Kong: Prawn Masala

Plain Bryani rice was mediocre, edible when warm but a bit tough when cold. Mixed Grill consists of chicken and kebab only, chicken was ok, I can barely remember the kebab's taste. Prawn masala was a mistake.. not that the curry is not nice, there is nothing wrong with the curry, it's just that the prawn tasted like the frozen prawns that is sold at the supermarkets.

Halal Food in Hong Kong : Our home made lemon tea

Mango Lassi was superb, I don't know what brand of yoghurt this indian restaurant uses or whether they make their own yoghurt, but their yoghurt is one of the nicer ones that I have ever tasted. Lemon tea was home made, the next night when we wanted to order lemon tea again, they said they have run out of lemons and Masala Tea was brewed over fire..mmm..mmm... the first night's masala tea was just nice while the second night's masala tea was over brewed.

Halal Food in Hong Kong: The delicious mango lassi

If you are looking for cheap and good food in Hong Kong, you should try Pakistan Mess at least once and preferably before you begin to get sick of Indian food.. Restaurant open at around 11.30pm and closes around 11.00pm..

Map of Chung King Mansion:

  

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Halal Food in Hong Kong: Indian Buffet at The Great Indian Kebab Factory; Miramar Shopping Ctr

Halal Indian Restaurant in Hong Kong: The Great Indian Kebab Factory

Aahhh.. buffets.. never seem to like it cos I don't really like to stuff myself crazy, but I find lunch buffets very useful and time saving when on holidays :) You can eat till your pants seems like bursting at the seams and be full till dinner.. haha so you save time eating only one big meal a day during holidays to squeeze in more sight seeing :p

We headed for The Great Indian Kebab Factory at Miramar Shopping Centre for their halal lunch buffet and arrived at 12.30pm.. mmmm...mmmm... the spread was ready, warm and inviting, we were the first to arrive yeay :) 

Indian Food Buffet in Hong Kong: The Great Indian Kebab Factory

The Great Indian Kebab Factory lunch buffet costs HKD 98 per person and kids under 3 eats free while my 4 year old was charged HKD 75 (daylight robbery since my 4 year old won't eat anything, in retrospect I should have just said that my 4 year old will go ala-carte :p ) 

The halal indian buffet spread is limited though, 1 pilaf rice (no naans), 3 types of chicken curries, 1 type of fish curry (no lamb and no seafood) no tadooris, 2 types of beans, mint chutney and fresh salads. At the dessert side, there's some indian sweets (ok I never was a big fan of this, so I don't even know their names) 1 dish described as "Indian Street Food" -heh?- and small and crispy puri with mint sauce poured over it. Drinks are not part of the indian buffet.

I have to say that if you have the money to spend, The Great Indian Kebab Factory serves fantastic halal indian food in a very comfortable setting. Another plus point is, it is inside Miramar Shopping Centre, so you can do a spot of shopping after lunch and also a short walk from the groovy Kimberly Street and Granville Road for chic and affordable fashion fix.

We ate there twice, the second time for dinner on our final night in Hong Kong and the place was full. We were lucky to wait 10 minutes before a table clear but after that everyone seems to be taking their own sweet time drinking and chatting. This is one popular indian restaurant in Hong Kong it seems, all tables are occupied by indian patrons except for ours! Wow! You almost forget that you are in Hong Kong :)

For the buffet lunch this was what we had:

Halal Food In Hong Kong : The Buffet Lunch

Halal Food In Hong Kong : Buffet Lunch

Halal Food In Hong Kong: Grilled Chicken Ala-Carte

Halal Food In Hong Kong: Naan also Ala-Carte

The pilaf rice is light and fluffy, it goes very well with the thick and flavorful curries, the dhaals, potatoes and vegetables are all very nicely done, not soggy still crunchy. I especially like the fresh salad, even though its just plain carrots, cucumber, tomatoes and chilies, but the freshness of it just whet your appetite. 

The grilled chicken is tender and goes hand in hand with the sweet tasting grilled potatoes. Naan, is soft and buttery and not too big. My only disappointment with TGIKF is their drinks. We ordered mango lassi and masala tea -as usual- the mango lassi was ordinary -so no complaints here- while the  mango lassi was weak, they use tea satchet and you can barely taste the spices and milk. What a bummer!

For our farewell night dinner, we ordered ala-carte:

Halal Food In Hong Kong: The Great Indian Kebab Factory

1 Lamb Bryani, 2 Butter Naans, 1 Kadhai Chicken, lemon tea and strawberry lassi. Drinks were discouraging as per usual, but the food was outstanding yet again. If you are not a big eater, the lamb bryani can be shared by two person, the lamb portion is very generous and so tender it practically melt in your mouth. The bryani was infused with spices that makes it rich and aromatic.. yummy.. despite being sick of indian food already I couldn't stop myself from enjoying the food :) 

The Kadhai Chicken was the waitress' recommendation since we are quite sick of butter chicken, and we were totally blown by it's flavor.. I wonder if we can find this dish in Malaysia? Cos I am sure it will be our firm favorite. The curry is thick and slightly spicy with the chilies but the jalapenos gives it a sweet crunchy taste. Goes very well with the naan. 

Aaaah.. we walked out of the halal indian restaurant with our stomach full and our wallets thinner..eeekss.. better to stick to Turkish Kebab or Chung King Mansion for daily eats!

The Great Indian Kebab Factory is at Shop 8, Level 2, Miramar Shopping Ctr, No 132, Nathan Road, TST. Tel: 2317 7008

Map Of Miramar Shopping Centre:

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