Sun Kwai Heung

Barbeque, or

siu mei

, is

a crucial part of Cantonese cuisine, and Hong Kong is full of shops and restaurants that excel at it. Everyone has their favorite, and for a lot of siu mei aficionados, that’s Sun Kwai Heung, a humble little take-out spot in the far eastern reaches of Hong Kong island.

Everything is made on-site, from crispy-skinned roast pork to soy sauce chicken, to

char siu

, barbecued pork butt that is dipped in a gloriously sticky maltose glaze. The latter, in particular, is their specialty, and it’s not surprising to find a queue spilling out onto the sidewalk at certain hours of the day when it’s due to come out of the oven.

You can customize your order by letting the staff know how fatty you’d like the char siu to be – if you’re unsure,

boon fei sau

, which means “half-lean half-fat,” is a good place to start. Char siu—or any Cantonese barbecue, in fact—can be enjoyed on its own as a snack or appetizer, like charcuterie, or pair it with plain rice to make it a proper meal.