Man Sing Bing Sutt and Its Meatloaf Mountain
I dug in, as soon as the waiter set down the steamed meatloaf.
Man Sing Bing Sutt’s Food
What is Hong Kong without its Bing Sutt’s? In Chinese, “bing sutt” means “ice room,” named as such because these establishments were the first in Hong Kong to run air-conditioned eateries. It is an old-fashioned way of naming Hong Kong’s tea deli or cafes. They serve food that is very much characteristic of the Hong Kong diet. Macaroni for breakfast, steamed meatloaf for lunch and wok-fried seafood for dinner. Most people finish their meals at the bing sutt with a good cup of silky milk tea.
Man Sing Bing Sutt is a Cantonese restaurant in the ambrosia haven of Tai Hang, serving down-to-earth dishes that cater to the locals’ homesick palates. Its best known dish is the steamed meatloaf with salted egg yolk. Normally, this very common dish would probably not top the list of a restaurant’s best because of its commonality. But the restaurant gave it a creative spin and patrons responded with explosive enthusiasm.
At home, we would spread the meatloaf flat and evenly in a tin plate for steaming. At Man Sing Bing Sutt, the meatloaf has the shape of an inversed cone with the egg yolk on top. As such, many food critics have called it the meatloaf mountain in their descriptions. As a lover of homemade Cantonese dishes I wondered how this could have been done without sacrificing the qualities that made the steamed meatloaf a comfort food for many.
When making meatloaf, we usually add a bit of water into the patty to soften the texture and to keep it moist. The Cantonese steamed meatloaf is not supposed to have the solid, meaty texture of a burger patty. Surely, it should be chewy enough, but smoothness is also the key to a good steamed meatloaf. A patty with water in it would not be so easy to be formed into a cone and hold through the steaming, let alone having the weight of a salted egg yolk on its top.
Furthermore, the uneven shape of the meatloaf would have made it rather tricky for steaming. I would imagine that a longer time is needed to make sure that the meatloaf is thoroughly done, because of the thickness at the wider bottom of the cone.
Savoring the Meatloaf Mountain
I had all these questions on my mind as I waited for my meatloaf. Then I noticed that the young man next to me stopped working on his, which was half-way finished. It seemed odd because everyone seemed to like this dish very much on the food reviews. Why would he let half of his meatloaf go to waste?
The waiter came around soon and set down another full bowl of rice for this young man. I smiled when I saw that. This meatloaf was so good that he would get two bowls of rice to go with it. When mine came, I dug in right away. He has just tendered a vote of supreme confidence in the food.
And surely, there was no sacrifice of the steamed meatloaf’s innate qualities in making it into this shape. It has retained the solid texture of meat and yet smooth and juicy, just as we have it at home. The sweet soy sauce was another reason why the young man needed two bowls of rice to go with. Every scoop of this richly-flavoured meatloaf encourages double mouthfuls of rice intake.
Man Sing Bing Sutt’s Story
I believe the original of Man Sing Bing Sutt’s story came in a report in the Apple Daily. Needless to say, there is no more access to the Apple Daily now. But the story circulates and resurfaces in some other blogs. Let me re-tell this here briefly.
Man Sing Bing Sutt was the first restaurant that opened in Tai Hang in the 1950s. It was first owned by Mak Wai-yee’s in-laws. Mak Wai-yee married into this family at a very young age of 16. Her marriage did not last long. Her husband was a gambling addict and he also cheated on her. Despite having borne three sons, Mak Wai-yee bit the bullet, and left her husband’s family and her sons. She struck out on her own.
Mak Wai-yee learned her trade in beauty care, and opened a successful beauty salon. She would have never imagined that she would go back to her ex husband’s home, but she did. One day, her mother-in-law told her that they could no longer manage both the Man Sing Bing Sutt and her three sons. They needed her to come back home.
She returned to the business to sort out the mess. She had to earn enough to pay off her ex-husband’s gambling debts, and to support her whole family. There was a point where she could not afford to hire a proper chef. Although having no culinary skills whatsoever, she forced herself through the learning. She ended up being so overworked that she came down with liver decease.
In 1997, she moved the restaurant from the King Street location to the current address. She had a complete makeover of the menu as well. The steamed meatloaf was her innovation then, and it worked. Long queues formed at the restaurant. She was finally seeing better days. She then added even more special items. The bbq pork with scrambled eggs, the steamed crab with eggs and the shredded chicken have become every customer’s favourites.
The dining space is very small at Man Sing. I think at any one point it can only accommodate a dozen diners in its indoor space. Therefore avoid the rush hour. I went at around 1:45pm on my first visit and there was no line, but the tradeoff was that some menu items were sold out. I was very glad that I got to try the meatloaf.
Some More Thoughts
I think Man Sing Bing Sutt stands for the spirit of perseverance, resilience and hard work. These were the values that made Hong Kong, especially during the golden eras of rising prosperity in the 1980s to 1990s. In here I tasted the goodness of an older generation. The hospitality was clearly that of kindness and warmth. I would certainly go back for more.
How to Get There
The address of Man Sing Bing Sutt is G/F, 16 Wun Sha Street, Tai Hang.
Sources
iemiu.com, An Unfortunate Woman Forced Away from Home; Returns Later to Turn the Restaurant Around.
For Further Reading
I have written before about the China Cafe (now closed), the Hoi An Cafe, the Tai Ping Koon and the Gala Cafe in Tsuen Wan. There shall be more to come!