, which has been around for 118 years. The family-run business is tucked within a six-storey building in West Kowloon. The unofficial ‘Kitchen Street’ of Hong Kong, this neighbourhood is filled with many longtime shops specialising in kitchenware like wooden chopping boards, Chinese weighing scales, and knives.The business was founded in 1905 in Guangzhou by the twin Liu brothers, and is now run by their grandson, granddaughter-in-law and great-grandson.
A young Mr and Mrs Liu at their shop. Chuan Kin studied under a kung fu master in his youth. Photo: Liu Ma KeeChuan Kin himself had inherited Liu Ma Kee from his father after helping out at the shop since he was a kid. During our recent Hong Kong visit, we dropped by to buy fermented beancurd . As it turned out, Chuan Kin is very knowledgeable about proper posture and form, having learnt kung fu and chiropractic from a master since he was young. “I also have a secret recipe for medicinal wine from my master,” he said.Since she married into the family, Sai Mei has been working at Liu Ma Kee for almost 30 years. Fermented beancurd is, naturally, a very commonly-used ingredient for home cooking in the Liu household.
We can’t speak for carbonara purists, which is traditionally made only with eggs, hard cheese, cured pork and black pepper, but Liu Ma Kee’s beancurd does make a pretty fab pasta sauce. The cubes are brined just right and not aggressively salty. When mashed it becomes smooth and creamy, with a flavour that reminds us of cream cheese.We have been tossing a flavour cube into our stir-fry and chap chye to ramp up the flavour .