Tai Ping Koon Restaurant

太平館餐廳 TPK Restaurant has been around since 1860 cooking their version of «Western» food.
150 years ago just must be a novelty to have dinner at TPK and straightly reserved for the special occasion. I still remember when I was young, my father would take me to have a steak dinner for my birthday.
TPK may be one of the first Fusion restaurants: Hong Kong and Western Style cooking.
Swiss Sauce Chicken Wings ($ 62) has nothing «Swiss» in the dish and I doubt you will find this sweet soy based sauce in Switzerland.
Baked Soufflé ($ 138) for 2 as big as the size of a melon
Stir Fried Beef Noodle ($ 62) that uses their «Swiss» sauce and full of Wok Hay
Those were the few of the items I tried during their Afternoon Tea special.
The interior has this nostalgic feel to it as the deco is dated back to 1970s when it first opened. Eating here just feel like I took a time machine back to the black and white TV era. An unique dinning experience!

Tai Ping Koon is just as much a historical legend and landmark as it is a restaurant. Founded in 1860 (Qing Dynasty) in Guangzhou, China, it was the only Western restaurant in the region at that time.
One of their first Hong Kong Island locations was established in Wanchai in the 1930’s and they later relocated to Causeway Bay. In an area where restaurant competition is fierce and numerous eateries have come and gone, this Tai Ping Koon location, opened since 1971, is still as popular as it has ever been, and is still commanding long waits for dinner, especially on weekends.
Their specialties include roast pigeon (known as squab in the US), baked Portuguese style chicken, and Swiss chicken wings.
Urban legend has it that many Westerners liked these wings and asked a waiter what it’s called. The waiter, who spoke very little English, called them «sweet wings». But his bad pronunciation led the Westerners to think that he said «Swiss wings» and hence the name was born.
The «Swiss» sauce is actually a dark soy sauced based sauce made with brown sugar, Chinese wine and spices. This sauce makes the perfect wings, which are indeed «sweet» and not «Swiss».
This sauce complements poultry perfectly and is also served as a dipping sauce for their roast squab.
Their squab is one of the best and is a must-​have every time I visit Hong Kong. This time it was no different. The skin was crispy and the meat was juicy and flavorful. It was only lightly seasoned so that the natural flavor of the bird was retained. This is as good as it gets!
The freshly baked Portuguese style chicken brought an appetizing aroma of coconut milk to the table. The sauce was creamy, rich, and very tasty and it was best served over steamed rice. The potatoes pieces, which soaked up the juices during the baking process, were so good that I threw away my calorie counter.
The restaurant remains family owned, and is presently run by the 5^th generation of the original founder. Very few restaurants, whether in Hong Kong or anywhere else in the World, can claim one and a half centuries of family ownership, consistent quality, and popularity.
4 stars for the food + 1 star for its nostalgia.

Came here at Grandpa’s insistence… something about them having incredible pigeon. Walked in for a late Mother’s Day lunch. First flag raised is that the restaurant was mostly empty.
The table they gave us for our party of five was incredibly tiny. When I was eating, I needed to use a fork and a knife, and my left arm was hunched awkwardly against the wall, making eating quite difficult.
They began by leaving some hot towels for us to wipe our hands on. Second flag raised was that these hot towels were a grey, off-​white color. Do I really want to clean my hands on something that does not look clean? Rhetorical question. The answer is no.
Then we got our menus. They had Mother’s Day lunch sets. We opted for a la carte. The prices were ridiculous (in a bad way). Our family of four ended up ordering two meals for the four of us. We had the pork cutlet (can’t remember how much this one was, but definitely over $ 120 HKD), and the roasted leg of pork ($ 120 HKD?). Grandpa ended up ordering the pigeon with Swiss sauce ($ 140 HKD) and the Russian Borscht ($ 58 HKD).
The pork cutlet meal came with two fairly average sized chops. They looked like a mix between a cutlet with breadcrumbs, and a pan fried pork chop. Perhaps the best way to describe the coating is almost like beer batter, but nowhere near as puffy or crispy. Disappointing. It came with a small serving of green salad. That was it. No drinks, no soup, nothing. Assuming it was $ 120 HKD, which is about $ 20 CAD, I could get twice as much of the exact same food, in bigger portions, and have more of it… in TORONTO.
The roasted leg of pork was three super-​thin slices of roast pork and a small mound of boiled cabbage swimming in what tasted like the soy sauce one makes soy sauce chicken with. Good soy sauce chicken, but not what I was expecting with my roast pork. The thinness of the roast pork was like two or if I’m being generous, three slices of deli meat per slice. The pork was fairly tasty, but only because it was swimming in this Asian sauce. This meal served with a fairly large mound of rice on the side. The rice was decent.
They have two types of pigeon on the menu. The first is roasted, and the menu says it takes 20 minutes to prep. The second is the Swiss style, and the menu says it takes 30 minutes to prep. Upon confronting our waiter because our pigeon was taking so long, he said it takes 40 minutes to make. We told him what the menu says, and he said that’s only what the menu says (as if to disregard the menu). He then said the roasted one takes 30 minutes and our Swiss one took 40. Upon receiving our pigeon, all I can say is that it tasted like a soy sauce pigeon. Utter nonsense for 40 minutes of wait time and a ludicrous price tag. $ 140 HKD translates to about $ 24 CAD, for my Canadian readers. Did I mention that this was supposedly a Swiss sauce? I know next to nothing about Swiss cuisine, but I find it very odd that a sauce named Swiss would taste like sweetened soy sauce.
The Russian Borscht was what probably upset me the most. Russian Borscht, Chinese style, is mostly cheap filler veggies (carrots, tomatoes, onions, cabbage) in a tomato broth. For $ 58 HKD, Grandpa got a single serving of this soup, and left ¼ of it in the bowl. Clearly, it was not particularly good.
Did I mention that for these utterly ridiculous prices, this restaurant still charges 10% mandatory service charge?
I have great respect for restaurants that withstand the test of time, but unless they serve food that is up to snuff, they still deserve to be put down.

Was here with my Aunt and bf before I left hong kong recently.
From what I heard from my Aunt this place is famous for their swiss chicken wings and that big puffy dessert (which was something we didn’t order)
We came here because my aunt wanted to relive the days where my grandparents (who are no long here anymore) would come here when it was their birthday.
We ordered the pork chop on rice, swiss chicken wings and beef tongue on rice. I have to say it’s pretty good. I love how they have a lot of sauce for you to put on your rice.
In terms of service, people here are really old. It’s like they have been working here since they were young. But don’t get be wrong, doesn’t mean their service is slow. It’s decent I would say.
Cost of the food would be your average 70 – 90 hkd for a set meal which includes soup, drink and entrée.

The restaurant is near to Times Square, very easy to find. It’s classy inside, is like the 70s. The walls are hanged with black-​and-​white photos of the 1960s. Very old school.
Came here one night with five of my classmates, we ordered three rice and one chicken wings (one of their most famous dish) and we shared them all. All dishes are very delicious, and they came one by one, so we had time to finish one dish in order to start the other one that was just served.
Must try: Swiss sauce chicken wings (8 for one order) and the soufflé! Soooo good! Highly recommend!!!

This place makes me feel like I’ve stepped into HK in the 1960’s. Maybe its the food, the décor or something about it– it just doesn’t feel like this restaurant has anything to do with the 2014 Hong Kong outside.
Something must stem from the restaurant’s heritage– which from another reviewer claims that this place has been around for a century. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if it has because this is proper old school Hong Kong style restaurant. The essential nature of these places is that it is neither Chinese nor Western; it is a bit of both and you can draw some inference from the food to Hong Kong’s past. the Swiss Wings has nothing Germanic about them but in fact that «Swiss» comes from the fact that waiters couldn’t pronounce «sweet» in the old days so that just merely pronounced it as «swiss». the name stuck and now, I don’t know how many years after, we have a sweet chicken wing dish that’s coined Swiss. Not too sure the watch makers will be too happy with that but its here to stay. The other staple is stir fried beef noodle which is almost as sweet– this is the ultimate Hong Kong dish and a must try.
You will note that the staff are probably as old as the shop itself and their attitude is the same– after all these years they are still as nonchalant as ever. Perhaps this is what gives it that static feeling like you have stepped into a void in time. The prices have definitely kept up with the times though– its not the cheapest in the world but I think its still worth it for the heritage.
My advice? Go try the food and just ignore the guys who work there.

This used to be one of my dad’s favourite restaurants while growing up in Hong Kong. Whenever he comes to visit me, this is one place we must visit. He told me that as he was growing up, there weren’t that many «western» restaurants around so Tai ping Koon was always a treat. He would come here with my grandfather.
He is the one who introduced this restaurant to me when I first relocated to HK. He ordered the «swiss» beef fried noodles, the swiss chicken wings and a beef tongue rice. As you can tell, he does eat like a man. all meat.
I must say though, it was so yummy. i never knew what «swiss» meant and just thought it was inspired by the swiss? My dad told me that the reason why it’s called swiss is because back in the day, they didn’t know about to speak english and they called it «sweet» and eventually it became «swiss». How cute.
The servers who worked at Causeway were all old men, they looked very seasoned and that they have been there since their youth. I am pretty sure that was the case.
Eventually I had the opportunity to try most of their dishes, some of my favourites includes the chicken, swallow bird’s nest soup (so yummers) and the soufflé, it’s bigger than my face! When we ordered it for the first time, it really shocked me. The bowl was huge. We shared between the three of us and we still couldn’t stomach anymore.
It’s such a nice nostalgic restaurant and I would go back any time!

It shocks me when I hear from some of my friends that they’ve never been to Tai Ping Koon — ever. ‘What’s that?’ ‘Where is it?’ ‘It’s a dimsum place, right?’
Cue surprised expression from me, followed by disapproval. Maybe it’s just me? My parents and relatives were fans of Tai Ping Koon when I was growing up, and they would tell me how famous it is and how all the celebrities have been here.
Tai Ping Koon’s signature dishes are the chicken wings and the pigeon, both in their glorious Swiss sauces. I used to eat their chickens very often as a child — my mother would buy takeaway home — and I loved them. Well, every child loves chicken wings, right? The meat is tender and the sauce is nice and sweet. In recent years, I’ve become a bigger fan of the roasted baby pigeon — I love pigeon, and their Swiss sauce just makes it all the more better! The Swiss sauce, by the way, is basically soya sauce that’s sweetened and a little thicker. It doesn’t sound like much, but I like it still as much as I did as a kid!
My mother loves ordering the ox tongue noodles here. I’m always too busy feasting on my pigeon or my chicken wings, so I never get one of my own, but she’s let me try a little and it’s really not bad! The soup for the noodles isn’t too salty and doesn’t taste like it’s been loaded with MSG, and the ox tongue is great. The noodles are similar to wonton noodles — kind of chewy, but not too hard. The stir-​fried rice noodles here is really good too. There are two kinds — the normal and the one with Swiss sauce — you can probably guess which I like more! One good thing about this dish is that it isn’t as oily as stir-​fried rice noodles normally are.
I highly recommend Tai Ping Koon — as somebody living in HK, you have to have been here at least once! Side note — the Tai Ping Koon in Causeway Bay is permanently freezing. Be sure to bring a cardigan or two if you intend to come!