Eason Chan enjoys street-side dining too — the "filial" steamed egg with snow crab

Text & Photos / Ng Ka Fai | Excerpted from / MK Publications’ *Hong Kong Old Flavors: 50+ Hidden Gems Loved by Locals*



We all love Min Sheng Café. "We" includes not just me, but also a host of former patrons such as celebrities and stars like Michael Hui, Eason Chan, Denise Ho, and Alan Tam. Everyone is willing to wait in line for the food, and even if they can’t sit inside the café, they’re just as happy eating on the street.

Irresistible Dishes One After Another
We love her steamed egg with snow crab. The cooking method for this dish isn’t difficult but it is labor-intensive. First, the snow crab is steamed until half-cooked, then egg mixture and crab juice are added in three separate steps and steamed together. Before serving, chopped scallions are sprinkled on top, adding a touch of green to the already vibrant yellow-orange presentation, first treating the eyes before the taste. Scoop up a spoonful of the now-set egg — the wobbly motion before it enters your mouth is certainly enticing, but it can’t compare to the tempting aroma of egg and crab that spreads slowly across your tongue after the first bite. Even someone like me, who dislikes shelling crabs while eating them, finds this crab dish irresistible.
I also love the creative flavor of their version of spicy chicken. Breaking away from the usual numbing-spicy profile of authentic Sichuan cuisine, they mix cilantro, celery, chili, mashed garlic, sweet vinegar with peanuts, Zhenjiang vinegar, and soy sauce to create a sauce that’s tangy and spicy, yet not so overpowering as to mask the chicken’s natural freshness. The glass noodles underneath the chicken are equally impressive — tender, bouncy, and soaked in the flavorful sauce, making for another delicious highlight.

But the hardest to resist is the salted egg steamed meat patty. Unlike typical flat meat patties, this one is shaped like a tower, which is why customers fondly call it the "meat tower." I personally think it looks more like a volcano. Take a bite, and the juices burst onto your taste buds, then spread through your whole body like molten lava erupting — truly, no metaphor fits better than a volcano. The reason for such rich juiciness is the use of fresh pork belly, minced by hand rather than ground, then steamed. This preserves the meat’s fibers and juices. Simply paired with sweet soy sauce, it’s already incredibly flavorful, and the addition of the savory salted egg is the perfect finishing touch.

A Life Journey from Bitterness to Sweetness



Beyond loving Min Sheng’s food, there’s another layer of affection for the place, stemming from a success story I read in the newspaper. It all began over thirty years ago when the current owner, Ms. Mak, married into the Min Sheng family. Little did she know her prince charming was a gambling addict, and with the interference of a third party, she finally couldn’t take it anymore after giving birth to three sons and decided to divorce. She left the children in the care of her ex-husband. Later, her ex-husband disappeared due to massive gambling debts, and her mother-in-law fell seriously ill, asking Ms. Mak to return and take over Min Sheng. Since her son still lived with his grandmother, she saw an opportunity to reconnect and mend their post-divorce estrangement, so she agreed without hesitation.
But life rarely goes as hoped. To pay off her ex-husband’s gambling debts, Ms. Mak threw herself into running Min Sheng 24/7. Having never cooked before, it took her ten years to establish her signature salted egg steamed meat patty and clear her debts. She had hoped to reunite with her son and live together, but he didn’t understand his mother’s sacrifices. Ms. Mak thought material things could bridge the gap, but it only made her son more reckless — her car was vandalized, and loan sharks came knocking. Fearing a repeat of her past hardships, Ms. Mak once considered running away, but then remembered that her own departure had led to her son’s current situation. In the end, she stepped up, handled everything, and set things right.



Watching his mother silently bear the consequences of her mistakes, her son finally came to his senses. From then on, things improved, and he began helping his mother run the business at Min Sheng. In the final section of the newspaper article, he expressed his feelings: "My mum has helped me a lot. I’m really grateful to her." After reading this story — one that has nothing to do with me — it reminded me of my own sometimes rude and impatient attitude toward Auntie Wu, often using the generation gap as an excuse for my faults. So every time I return to Min Sheng and taste the delicious steamed egg with snow crab or salted egg steamed meat patty, I’m also reminded to "be nicer to my mum." Since then, I’ve grown to love Min Sheng even more.

[Min Sheng Café]

Address: 16 Wun Sha Street, Tai Hang, Hong Kong
Phone: +852-2576-7272
Business Hours: 12:00–15:00, 16:00–22:00
Even Stars Love It: Eason Chan, Shawn Yue
Even celebrities love it: Eason Chan, Shawn Yue