December 3, 2008

Le Hong Kong in Cognac

Two things lured us back to Cognac; Cognac (of course) and Chinese food.
A strange combination, I know.

After almost six years in France, the best Chinese restaurant we have found in this country is, of all places, smack dab in the center of Cognac.

We met the owners of Le Hong Kong on our first trip to the Charente almost five years ago. A drive into town for some Cognac tasting serendipitously led us to this charming restaurant where we feasted on dishes such as Shrimp Dumpling Soup, Steamed Shu-Mai, Chinese Five-Spice Duck Breast, Chicken with Black Mushrooms and Fried Rice.

We vowed to return.


The dishes that come out of the chef 's kitchen are authentic and fresh, exactly the kind of Chinese food that we have yet to find down here in the Languedoc. Add to that the warm welcome you receive from the owners, comfortable seating and a nice dining room, the surprising addition of sushi to the menu since our last visit (yes, I know it's not Chinese, but when it is this fresh and delicious, who cares!), and you've got yourself the recipe for a perfect restaurant.



We gorged ourselves silly ate here twice on our trip last week. In three days.
Hopefully that will keep us satisfied until our next visit.


Restaurant le Hong Kong
15 boulevard Denfert Rochereau
16100 Cognac
054 536 8925 Pin It

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Aww, dayum, woman. You always make me miss France so much. I lived 20 km from Cognac for 18 months, but only went there a couple of times. Wish I'd known about Le Hong Kong.

Jennifer said...

We have lived parallel lives it seems. :)
We drove through Pons on our way to the gite. It is as lovely as ever!

Betty Carlson said...

I have been so underwhelmed by Asian food in France. It's funny, really, considering the colonial connection. Maybe one has to go to Paris -- or Cognac!

georgiegirl said...

When you find the food you like away fom home, it does not matter how many times you eat there during the stay. When we were in Luzern last year, we ate at the same restaurant 3 nights in the row.

wcs said...

I do miss SF for the variety of asian food. There are no asian restos near us here.

We've ventured into doing our own asian style meals (sushi, nems, stir fries, etc.) and that helps.

But a good restaurant is fun for the stuff we can't do.

Jennifer said...

Betty
I think they are out there, but we have had rather "blah" experiences down here. There used to be a fabulous Szechuan resto in Montpellier, but it closed down a couple of years ago.
I'm sure Paris has many great Chinese restaurants, but I've not yet had the chance to find out!

georgiegirl
Sometimes a place is just so good it warrants going back again and again. We'll definitely go back to Cognac!

wcs
We used to go for dim sum almost every Sunday morning out in the Richmond district when we were living in San Francisco. I miss that so much!
I cook a lot of Thai, Chinese, etc, but I still haven't mastered the delicate little dumplings that we both love so much.
It would be nice to have a place around here to go to.

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