Hong Kong Express

This eatery has been renamed «Super L Hot Deli» — at least that’s what it says on the receipt. And the place has really gone downhill — the whole eatery looks run down. The prices are still very low — I guess that’s the main appeal now. I ordered fishball noodle soup and while it came steaming hot, the man putting the bowl onto the tray had the tip of his thumb in the inside of the bowl, slightly touching the soup. This would gross out a lot of people, but having grown up in a third-​world county I still decided to risk it, hoping that the high temperature of the liquid would offset that sanitation faux pas. I tasted the soup and it was … tasteless. I looked for condiments to try to put some flavor into it, and eventually found them tucked in a nook near the end of the counter area. The soy sauce bottles were all covered with smudgy-​sticky residue. That pretty much convinced me to leave the place and not return. Perhaps I should have given them one star for this update, but … nah, the only place I ever gave a 1-​star review here on Unilocal is a certain car dealership’s detestable automotive service facility; at least the folks at this eatery don’t have the questionable intentions that I associate with the car service facility.

Whenever I’m sick, I get the preserved pork and egg congee (porridge) to-​go with a side of extra Chinese donut to dip in. I haven’t tried anything else, but that congee always hits the spot.

From 5 stars to 2 stars. Used to be operated by a third party, and as of the past week, switched to operated by the store employees. Went from heaping portions to portions that didn’t even fill the styrofoam container’s compartments. Very skimpy. From a great deal to now run by a stingy manager man. Lost my business after going there every week for over a year. Disappointing.
Update: January 2012. The food choices have improved. Prices are still the same as before, very affordable. They are not as friendly to the customers as the previous operators. But improvement in food choices and freshness is good.

This place is pretty good, not the best, but it’s still satisfying.

Want Chinese take-​out or a quick lunch spot? Hong Kong Express might be your spot! They have many pre-​made selections to choose from and a menu that offers many quickly made Chinese favorites. Despite this convenient quickness and good prices, the food is still pretty good!
I’m a big fan of their preserved pork and egg congee. Yum!
Hong Kong express is located inside the Chinese center grocery store.
See ya there!

This place is located inside the Super L Market at the COFCO center. It’s as if Panda Express and Sam Woo got together and spawned a child restaurant called Hong Kong Express. In this case, it wasn’t Sam Woo, but Taiwan Express (it merged with HK Express). The result is a 3-​in-​1 place in an L-​shaped configuration; a western style chinese fast-​food line (similar to Panda Express) on one side, a BBQ meats counter at the corner, and a «more authentic» made-​to-​order counter with seating on the other side (what used to be Taiwan Express).
They proudly advertise «2008 Top 100 Chinese/​Asian Fusion — Top 100 Chinese Restaurants in the USA» — were the options that bad for chinese restaurants in 2008?
I haven’t bothered with the fast-​food line, so I can’t comment on the food there. It doesn’t make sense to me to go «chinatown» and eat westernized fast-​food — just go for the authentic stuff if you’re here.
The BBQ counter is typical chinese BBQ — BBQ pork, roast duck, and — well, not much else (at least I haven’t seen much else selection-​wise whenever I’ve visited). Flavors are pretty much on point — but nothing special. If this is what you’re after and you’re in this neighborhood, you might as well get it here; otherwise it’s a trip out to Chandler or Glendale — or make it at home.
The «authentic» takeout part is where I’ll focus this review. I’ve tried their soup noodles, curry, noodle dishes, and steamed dumplings. Overall, good flavors, but not the greatest cuts of meats. It retains the Taiwanese style of food (even if it’s called Hong Kong Express). On our most recent visit (2011-​05-​04) we ordered the beef noodle soup and wonton noodle soup. The beef noodle soup is spicy and also uses preserved vegetables in the broth — flavorful but probably not for every ones taste. The beef wasn’t tough, but definitely wasn’t tender; just seems like a lesser quality cut of beef. It is served with thin flat rice noodles, which helps balance the strong flavors in the soup. The wonton noodle soup is served with egg noodles. Flavors are good, but the shrimp-​and-​pork wontons are surprisingly hard. Either they used too lean a cut of pork in their filling, or the wontons have dried out (frozen?).
Price-​wise, it’s very reasonable.
Ambience-​wise, well, you’re inside a chinese supermarket at a fast-​food counter with fast-​food tables — use your imagination.
We stop here if we’re shopping at Super L and looking for a quick meal — but won’t necessarily go out of our way to come here. If it requires a trip, there are other places in the valley that are better options.

I’ve had a great experience here, personally. The Taiwanese Thick Pork Soup is out of this world and their pork-​by-​the pound tastes great (even when reheated). I have gone back a few times and each time it tasted great and consistent to the last time I tried it.

I am aware of this place for the past 10 years. I rarely bought stuff here… the displayed cooked dishes looked ordinary.
I went for BBQ pork today. I asked the butcher for one pound of meat. I asked her to pick the lean meat from the stacks.
She made a bad mistake and not shy about it. Even though she has picked a piece already more than 1 lb, she sneaked in another leftover piece and charged me accordingly. Finally tally was 1.33 lbs.
I have seen butchers picked meat to make over the requested weight, but they never added more on purpose.
By the way, the cut of meat is fatty even though I asked for lean meat. I believe all the meats were fat to start with.
So shoppers, this is a dishonest behavior. If it can happen to me, it will happen to you too. Heed my warning. BEWARE!!!

With 130 food items on the menu, there’s plenty to choose from. I went with the BBQ pork fried rice. What I got was an enormous portion of fried rice with pork — definitely enough to satisfy my hunger. Not the greatest food around, but good enough to come back and sample some of the other 129 items. And with prices hovering around the $ 5 – 6 range, it’s very affordable.

It’s not bad. I know the HKE in Westminster, CA, too. That one is famous for giving people GIGANTIC portions.
PS They sell roast duck but they won’t male roast duck chow fun. How come?

I come here often, its good food for cheap. I rather eat here than fake chinese food at panda express. They even have fresh hanging roast pork, roast duck which is not that easy to find around AZ

I think they need to hire a better chief; the food doesn’t taste right.
My mom said she can teach them how to cook for free.

A Saturday afternoon spent roaming the cofco center for the Chinese New Year celebration. My buddy was hungry so we checked out all the food vendors of which some looked good, some smelled great, but I knew there were better things to be found in the Super L.
Two parts to this hidden gem. One of them is a «panda express style» hot food line. Premade dishes that can be ordered in one, two, or three item combos. This stuff is decent, quick, and inexpensive but this isn’t what you want…
You want the BBQ meats hanging up in the hot box. The peaking duck, bbq pork, bbq chicken, and various roast pig parts. It’s all sold by the pound and will be chopped and thrown in a to go container.
Continue down the line and you will find an order counter with a large display menu and an even larger non pictured menu. This is all made to order gastrohappiness. You’ll find everything from the Americanized dishes to the crazy things you see them eat on your favorite travel channel/​discovery shows.
I agree fully with NormR, although the quality and taste is good/​great, they still fall a bit short of the amazing Asian food that can be found on the east coast.
My friend, being from that side of the country, is always craving and constantly let down by the General Tso’s chicken throughout the valley. He ordered it here, extra spicy, and he got what he asked for. His dish smelled so good that several random people in line asked him what he ordered so they could get the same. It was probably the best Tso’s I’ve tasted since living in NYC. Sweet, spicy, carb load, artery clogging masterpiece :)
I decided to get some of the BBQ pork from the hot box. It was very tasty and although had plenty of fat on it was on the lean side in comparison to most establishments. It had been cooked nice and slow and the glaze had caramelized to the pork just like it should. It had a very curious, but not unpleasant crunchy texture to the fat.
If I allowed myself to take pleasure in food regularly this would be a frequent stop on my lunch hour. This is saying a lot since my expectations for food have gone sky high in the last year. I guess its true that you never appreciate something until its gone.

The girls I work with go here quite often for lunch. Today I decided to try it myself.
You order from a buffet-​type set-​up so you can see all the dishes. The 2 item combo also comes with fried rice or chow mein for less than $ 5.
The noodles were a bit soft/​over-​cooked. The Kung pao chicken was good, not too spicy. The beef and peppers was good except the beef was short-​rib style and there was more bone than beef.
Overall — great flavors, value and selection. I will be going back.

Located in the Asian supermarket in the Chinese Cultural Center, this is almost as good as Chinese food gets in the Phoenix area. It’s also relatively cheap. They have the best milk tea outside of the Chandler area. Just make sure not to go to the cafeteria style area of the restaurant that serves more «American Chinese» fare, but head to the back part where it is much more authentic.
It’s good enough that anytime I make a trip to the Skyharbor airport I stop by.

Hong Kong Express which used to reside right next to Taiwan Express has taken over its space and also expanded its menu at this location. Incorporating many of the same menu items as Taiwan Express and including some SouthEast Asian favorites as Pad Thai, Indonesian curry, Singapore Curry Rice Noodles, etc. The place still has the cafeteria style feel but bowls and plates are no longer the throw away variety.
If you have had a hankering for chinese breakfast, then they have many of the food items. Egg pancakes, rice porridge, fried crullers, Sesame pancakes are all available.
They do passably good Cantonese barbeque and the stewed meats and on the go sections usually have good and tasty selections. If you are vegetarian, unfortunately, not a lot of selection but tofu skins are available and tasty.
Boba drinks are available as well as the Taiwan shaved ice desserts. Silken Tofu desserts are also a favorite with the crowd when the weather becomes quite warm.
So even though Taiwan Express as merged with Hong Kong Express, the results are still good and I can only think that we all get to benefit from the increased selections of tasty treats.