One late Friday evening with no particular destination in mind, we drove aimlessly past the cross harbour tunnel in search of dinner. Being a bit more adventurous, we headed all the way to Sha Tin for Lung Wah and its famous pigeons. (see my friend with her flying pigeon below!)
Those that are from HK will most likely have been to Lung Hwa at least once in their lives, likely when they were young as kids ( if you were my age). Back then, as the traffic system wasn't as well developed as now, we always got very excited with this big outing all the way into nowhere. Catering to crowds like ourselves, Lung Wah, perched on the side of a hill, built a small playground out front, raising peacocks and pigeons (what else!) in cages and also incorporating an outdoor mah jong area for the adults. Our revisit this time round sees these facilities sadly either have been boarded up or poorly maintained. After going past the long and empty corridor, we were greeted by a bustling dining hall, our appetite kept growing as we saw the endless plates of pigeon being brought in while we waited for a table.
In addtion to the normal roasted pigeons and pigeons braised in soy sauce, it was amusing to see that Lung Hwa had been creative and now includes variations such as Korean-style spicy pigeons. We played safe and ordered the trustworthy roasted pigeons. While there is only a HK$5 difference between the regular and large size pigeons, we opted for the regular, as the younger version normally is more tasty with a more tender texture. (I know this sounds cruel and heartless but the same applies for many other meat that you eat right?)
Wonder if it were Sha Tin pricing but the beer was outrageously cheap at HK$18 a large bottle we couldn't resist not ordering it. The dishes are priced affordably at HK$50-80, which is hard on HK Island. Cheers & the obligatory victory sign!
The star of the show arrived first and we all eagerly took our first bite. Roasted to a golden finish, the pigeons were crispy on the outside, and bursting with flavour and juice on the inside. As expected, the meat was extremely tender. While appearing not very greasy at first, by our third piece we started noticing the pigeon oil dripping onto our plates and all over our mouth, giving us hints on how fattening this is. As we have come all the way to Sha Tin for this, we put our health aside and managed to down a whole pigeon each very quickly! 
Regrettably, as we were all a bit filled up over the pigeon dish, that didn't leave much room for the many dishes we ordered on the side. It was no big shame as we discovered. Although looking extremely appetizing, the kale fried in ginger sauce was coarse and tough, and the fried milk verged on the oily side. The other pigeon-related dish we ordered, minced pigeon served with lettuce leaves was the best of the bunch - best eaten without the sauce though, as that was too sweet to our taste. We did not order Lung Wah's other famous dish, chicken congee, this time round, but saw that many nearby eaters were happily finishing their portions, so would assume it would be a good dish.
Would I come back to Lung Wah? Probably, for old time sake and also for the pigeons, which still tasted as good as I remember. But next time, I'd just order the pigeons plus chicken congee and maybe one additional dish, as it seems that while the rest of its dishes are priced extremely reasonably (HK$50-80 in general), the quality was only just average.
Lung Wah Hotel, Sha Tin 沙田下禾輋村
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