My dad was a keen cook, and most weekends would turn the kitchen upside-down to create a meal which was immense in size, calories and deliciousness.

Thick Yorkshire puddings with a crispy base that can only be achieved by the use of alarming amounts of oil, mixing bowls full of buttery mashed potato, bread and butter puddings which could feed a family for a week; even the vegetables would find themselves drowning in butter or reclining in a white sauce.

Boiled beef brisket was another of his specialties, usually served with a squadron of airy dumplings. I love beef cooked this way. As a child I wasn’t keen on a red-rare Sunday joint, and much preferred the tender slices of brisket accompanied by long-stewed veg and those heavenly dumplings. For years I tried to emulate the aforementioned dumplings, for some reason under the mistaken impression he had used butter and not suet. It was only when I had a go with suet one day that I recreated the taste I remembered so well.

You can probably appreciate, therefore, that when I saw brisket noodle soup on the menu in Hong Kong, I was very keen to try it.

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