Farewell, Pui O Delicious

It's been our last stop on our hikes for the past two years... the thought of momoyaki and sesame sliced beef set has kept us going during our weekend walks.

So we were shocked to hike there today and find out that it was Pui O Delicious' last day of operation.

Owner Louis said it was because of rising rents and the fact that the chef is leaving for the mainland. He himself is taking a few weeks off to regroup and consider his next step.

Hopefully, it might mean Pui O Delicious II – perhaps in Mui Wo?

Sob sob... now where would we go after our hikes?

Support your local Japanese place

I sent Buffalo Wilbur an article from a local newspaper about how Japanese restaurants in Hong Kong are hurting because of the radiation food scare.

He emailed back: "Let's go support Pui O Delicious."

I never turn down an offer to visit the restaurant because I love the food there so today, we did our usual Mui Wo-Pui O hike and were there by lunch to have our favourite sukiyaki and stir-fried beef rice.

In case you're wondering, Pui O Delicious gets all its stuff from places outside Japan, including the US and Australia.

The only food items they import from Japan are the scallops and ice-cream but the stock is pre-quake so most of it has sold out anyway.

It has also added a new snack menu, which I was too full to try. But I am definitely eyeing that deep-fried Japanese cheesecake (which I'll bet won't be from Japan). Yums!

More Delicious

I've been meaning to go to Pui O Delicious (Tel: 2984-2298) for lunch ever since we had that yummy dinner at the place a few weeks ago. So today, I grabbed Buffalo Wilbur for an early hike over to Pui O, to reach there in time for (sneaky me) a nice Japanese set lunch.

The lunch sets at Pui O Delicious are really good value. They cost around HK$35-HK$45 and include a main dish, chawanmushi, miso soup and a drink (the mandarin orange is especially good after a long hike). I had the kaetsu set and Buffalo Wilbur had the stir-fried beef, which came with generous portions of enoki.

It was so good that I ordered another set to take home for dinner figuring that, seeing as I have to make that hike to get there, I might as well get my hike's worth.

Btw, I found that the restaurant has their own facebook page too here

Yummy teppanyaki

I love Japanese food and have been bemoaning the fact that we don't have a Japanese restaurant in Mui Wo. I know, I know, I'm totally spoilt... seeing as we already have an Indian, an Italian and a Turkish in addition to the local food. But hey, I'm a happy bunny now that Pui O Delicious (Tel: 2984-2298) has opened.

We first saw it emerging from our usual walk to Pui O (it's just across the road from the water buffalo viewing gallery). But it opens only for lunch (noon to 3pm) and dinner (6pm to 11pm) and we usually hike after lunch. So we didn't try out the place.

Then I saw its flyer in the Thai massage place and it strengthened my resolve to try it out. So, the next hike we took, I sneakily delayed it by so long that we finally arrived in time for dinner.

I'm glad we did. The chef, who is local, trained in Japan so the food tasted authentic. They have a teppan so you can watch your food being cooked – as in a traditional teppanyaki joint. And the grill gave a lovely smoky flavour to all the dishes.

The prices, while not dirt cheap, was reasonable. The dinner set is about HK$350 for two people. We had lamb, golden mushrooms, pumpkin and sweet potato tempura and rice and it came to HK$211. Everything we cooked to a T.

We will definitely be back. Maybe this time, I won't need to drag out the hike to persuade Buffalo Wilbur to dine in Pui O.

Pui O Delicious: G/F, 15, Lo Wai Village, Pui O