It’s not nearly the most popular item on the Valley restaurant’s menu, but its owners daren’t take it off lest they start a revolt among regulars.
I once walked into Happy Boy with a bunch of out-of-towners, spent 10 minutes convincing them to order the Emperor’s Breakfast, and then sat back in satisfaction when, after tasting it, they immediately ordered two more.
Such is the power of this spectacular prawn omelette, which is a kind of shorthand for the restaurant itself: delicious, comforting and ridiculously good value. I think about it all the time. I’ve even dreamed about it.
It’s not the most popular dish at Happy Boy – that honour belongs to your three-cup chickens, eggplant and porks, and duck fried rices of this world – but it’s hugely popular with regulars, and one of the few items that dates back to the original restaurant in Spring Hill. There, it began life as a staff meal.
“We did a char siu chicken version quite often,” Happy Boy co-owner Cameron Votan says. “It was such a nice meal. We’d chop up the chicken, roll that through with green shallots and shallot oil and other bits and pieces.
“On a special night the chefs would do up a prawn version and you’d get the extras on the side: the ginger shallot sauce, maybe some Cantonese soy, and some XO sauce.”
This was about 10 years ago, Votan says, and the prawn version soon made its way onto the regular menu.
The Emperor’s Breakfast is based on furong dan or egg foo young – a fluffy Hong Kong-style omelette that’s cooked fast in the wok and is traditionally packed with fillings such as shrimp, char siu pork and bean sprouts.
Happy Boy’s version is also cooked fast in the wok, but Votan says it’s actually one of the slower and more intensive dishes on the restaurant’s famously swift menu, because of the prep involved.
“You wok fry the prawns first,” he says. “They come out, and then the aromatics go in. And then the chef is whisking the eggs with the shallot oil – at least four eggs – together in a bowl, each omelette separately. It’s a three or four-step process.
“Yes, it’s very quick in the wok, but the mise en place leading up to it can’t be done before service.”
Happy Boy’s omelette is relatively simple, with the chefs adding shallots and just a few other flavours, such as soy sauce. But that keeps the focus on the prawns and lets you enjoy the little hint of wok hei it carries with it from the kitchen. Also, Votan reckons the joy of the dish is as much about its texture, which is crispy and golden brown on the outside, with a light and almost silken fluffiness on the inside.
“There’s that element of the egg and prawn and how they interplay,” Votan says. “But then you have the three sauces – XO, ginger and shallot, and a house soy – that really lift it. That, with a bowl of rice, makes for such a pleasant meal.
“It’s pretty tricky. Wok chefs will control the flame with their legs and just one degree off can sometimes turn it from perfect to overcooked.”
Happy Boy owner Cameron Votan
“It’s definitely typical of a good one in Hong Kong. It’s pretty tricky. Wok chefs will control the flame with their legs and just one degree off can sometimes turn it from perfect to overcooked … the prawns should be just cooked.”
It doesn’t look like much on the plate – ugly delicious, David Chang might call it – but such a simple treatment rendering such spectacular results means there’s something equal parts homey and luxuriant about this dish: “Emperor’s Breakfast” seems about right.
Over the 11 years I’ve been dining at Happy Boy, I keep waiting for the day or night I walk into the restaurant and it’s not quite as good as I remembered. That moment is yet to come, and nothing on the menu captures its knack for consistent, delicious excellence quite like this brilliant dish.
Where to get it
The Emperor’s Breakfast is $28. You can order it at Happy Boy, East Street, Fortitude Valley.
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Matt Shea is Food and Culture Editor at Brisbane Times. He is a former editor and editor-at-large at Broadsheet Brisbane, and has written for Escape, Qantas Magazine, the Guardian, Jetstar Magazine and SilverKris, among many others.
