This trip was very comprehensive, 8 days 7 nights, we ate alot of meals, saw alot of things, and more importantly, it sticks true to the catch line of 买东西，吃东西. We ate so much, there was hardly any time to get hungry, and in times of food savouring, many dishes were left uncaptured in its moment of glory as well, so on the whole, you just have to go to Hongkong and experience for yourself the true meaning of good Chinese cuisine.
On the day of arrival, which happened to be 10th March, Kinghei our HK tour guide was there to pick us up and direct us to our hostel. Yiyang, our local guide had booked the hostel in Tsim Sha Tsui, pretty cosy interior, though the exterior looked extremely hideous. Anyway, for a first taste of how good food in HK was, we didn't have to look further than a humble cafe located just a couple metres away from the hostel. Since Jiale wanted roast goose, and I wanted wanton, we decided that we will have the best of both worlds, and we ordered both roast goose noodles and wanton soup!
Our 2 guides for the trip King and YY.
Max goose meat! Soft, juicy and meaty!
The wanton is partly hidden, but its just as good, the skin melts in ur mouth, and the meat makes up less than half of it, with the rest being crunchy prawns. Sluppp.
By the time we finished dinner, it was almost 10 already. Since it was only the first night, we intended to walk around and check out the area around our hostel. Victoria Bay was a 5 minute walk away, and yes, more beautiful than what Clarke Quay can offer. The one big plus about HK is the weather. Extremely cooling! I never broke into sweat when travelling throughout the stay there, and with the exception of the last 2 days, there was a need to don a jacket almost anywhere we went.
We wanted to have deserts at the very popular Xu Liu Shan (XLS), but missed the last order timing of 12am. Yes you heard me right, another great thing about HK is the late closing hours of shops. Unlike in SG, where you struggle to find eateries open after 10 (pls dont mention Al Ameen), there is no such worry in HK. Even shops like Giordano close their doors after 1230am.
A fine example of a Chinese hotpot restaurant still open, waiting to serve customers at 12:47am, without any sign of closing soon.
Although there were no deserts to be eaten, we were in store for our first taste of streetside food!
Pretty tasty finger food, varying from meatballs/fishballs, siewmais, squid, to the local favourite that's a internal organ of a cow. (still yet to find out what it's called in English XP)
Our first morning in HK was a trip to some Chinese restaurant in Mongkok for Timsum breakfast. While there's no lack of similar restaurants in SG, the difference in quality, quantity and variety is clearly there. We were all busy eating, and all I could was take a picture of this stir-fried Chee Cheong Fun, which tasted something like our Char Kuey Teow.
Please do not think lightly of this dish. The thought of having to put Chee Cheong Fun into a wok and try stir frying is actually as difficult as getting Hongkongers to converse in Mandarin with you. Its quite nice, and the other timsums were fabulous as well.
We visited this shopping centre in Mongkok where there was this very long escalator, stretching 4 floors.
Langham Place.
The escalator stretching 4 floors, somewhat cool.
I have to emphasize that my personal agenda in this trip was to literally get a taste of HK food, so pardon me if I didn't bother to mention too much about the sightings in HK. Haha the variety of food there was enough to keep me busy most of the time.
Of course, as we were side-seeing in Mongkok, there was a need to get a drink. And yes I had an excellent time sipping into my pet drink, Schwepps Cream Soda, which cannot be found in Singapore unfortunately.
Throughout the 7 days in HK, I drank at least 1.5 litres worth of Schwepps. Now I'm already missing the sweet taste of it as I type this. We even bought a 2.25 litre bottle to King's house for dinner on one of the days.
The seemingly inexhaustible supply of Cream Soda in one of the supermarkets. I believe this drink should be no less popular than Coke, since it can be found commonly, from restaurants to vending machines.
King and I. I always look forward to his visits back to SG, as it means I get to drink some of this wonderful stuff he brings back!
Before we went to King's house, there were quite alot of eateries in the area he lives.
An example of a eatery, which served some really delicious fake sharkfin soup.
There was also this pancake-like pastry called 'Kai Dan Choi' in Canto, and is one of King's favourite snacks.
After dropping by King's place, where I got to see how the flats in HK were (ok this was one minus compared to Singapore, in the sense that flats were really much smaller than the HDBs flats here), we headed for Thai cuisine. Couldn't remember the exact location though. One funny thing about doing business in HK is that shops selling the same thing like to house themselves next to each other. For instance, they have a street selling nothing but shoes, one selling nothing but ornamental fish, one selling nothing but computer accessories. In a way its excellent for consumers, since you get the cheapest price and the widest selections in a specific location, but that left me wondering how exactly do these shops make profit?!
Anyway, back to the Thai cuisine, we ate some really good pandan-leaf wrapped fried chicken..
Some decent tom-yum, though not as nice as the one I tried in Bangkok..
Oh yes, one other complain I had in HK. Chilli is scarce here! I never saw any chilli in raw, either green or red, and even if I saw some, they came in the form of chilli oil, which doesn't really contain much other than oil and chilli seeds. -_-'' Even supermarkets don't sell chilli ketchup. All you see is tomato ketchup! Unbelievable.
Oh yes, the restaurant also served a very nice desert, made of mango, white and black glutinous rice topped off with coconut milk.
The next morning, we had breakfast at the same eatery we ate at when we reached. King ordered this Satay beef instant noodles soup.
Jiale and I decided to be sinful, as we ordered roast goose rice and roast pork rice respectively. What a start to the day!
Seriously, the Chinese cuisine is so good there, that stepping into any restaurant or eatery, ordering any form of roast meat would almost certainly guarantee you that it will be better than the best roast you can find in SG.
After breakfast, we embarked on a pretty long trip to Shenzhen. Seriously, the trip to Shenzhen was quite disappointing. What we saw there was nothing much different than Orchard road, just that there were alot more people, and everything that could be read were written in Chinese. The only things that I found interesting were that vehicles had steering wheels on the left-hand side, and they have a much bigger market selling pets, especially dogs!
Seriously, there were dogs all over the place, and I doubt it'll be anymore expensive than say, a pair of shoes to get one of this fellas home. On another note, I really believe there's also another reason why dog breeding is so widespread in China. Dog meat to stand the winter cold? =S
The food in Shenzhen was disappointing as well, coupled with the fact that our guides weren't familiar with that place as well, we didn't enjoy our time there. The lunch was bad as well, possibly the worst meal I had in that 7 days. The only saving grace for this part of the tour was this....
The roast ducks you see were going for only 35RMP, which converts into S$7! Their salted chicken brothers were going for 28RMP! With this kind of prices, you cannot even get raw chicken or duck in SG! And it was pretty decent, even though we only ate it almost 2 hours later.
Supper that night was a trip to XLS, where we tried the critically-acclaimed mango deserts. Prior to my trip, there were many recommendations by friends who said that the mango deserts were a must-try.
On the left, mango ice-cream in mango juice with mango cubes and glutinous balls. Yummy!!! The mango juice was so smooth it slides down your throat and leaves a cool fragrant aftertaste. The glutinous balls were like gummybear candies but even chewier!
On the right, the same mango ice-cream and fruits platter, including strawberries, melons and jelly, and not forgetting the generous serving of fresh mango which was uber sweet!
Indeed, XLS's mango deserts lived up to our expectations, and we were to eat it on another 2 occasions during our stay there. This is a must-try for anyone of you going to HK! Haha.
Our following breakfast was a trip to one of the most popular Chinese fastfood chains in HK, known as Cafe de Coral. Its your Eastern style fastfood, with a meat, rice or noodles, with a soup/curry and a drink.
I ordered a pork cutlet with curry meal. For everything you see here, you only pay S$6 for it! Give me this over Mac/KFC/ BK/ LJS anytime! The pork cutlet was crispy and fragrant, not to mention juicy and a big serving. The curry was not spicy, and extremely flavourful. Being a curry addict myself, I shall try cooking this kind of curry next time, more flavour and less spiciness!
In the curry, there was also my favourite potatoes! Well cooked! Not too soft, and not too hard. Perfect!! In fact, this meal was so filling that we even skipped lunch!
After which, we visited one of the most well-known temples in HK in 黄大仙.
There was also this scenic part of the temple where we couldn't resist taking photos.
Later in the evening, we decided to go western and tried out a steak house, again located within walking distance of our hostel.
What you see here.....is possibly the best steak I have eaten so far!!! Called the Scotland Beef Steak, this piece of meat here is everything you could ask for in a steak! Juicy, fresh, flavourful... ahhhh I am running out of adjectives! (ok my vocab wasn't fantastic to start with). The BBQ sauce was also very thick and tasty, a beautiful combination with the meat! Its a pity we didn't get to eat it another time, but I will definitely go for another meal there next time!
What followed was a trip to the Central District, where we went to scout for the famous HK pastry 'Wife Cake' or 'Lao Po Bing'. Took a ferry to Central District, the HK equivalent of SG's CBD.
Also got to take the tram ride which I used to see it on HK dramas last time! Very much like a mini-bus and it runs on electricity.
Here's a pic in which I took sitting in the tram, trying to snap a photo of the on-coming tram.
On the way there, we also saw this particular restaurant which I found, very much to my surprise.
Hahaha, I really wonder how long this restaurant can survive, considering the unbelievably huge number of eateries/restaurants in HK, how good Chinese cuisine actually is in HK, and the inevitable fact that HKers dont eat chilli. Hahahaha.
After a 20 minute ride, we arrived at Causeway Bay, where the famous pastry shop was located in the SOGO shopping centre.
The wife cake was seriously good! Crispy pastry skin, with a not-too-sweet, not-too-sticky wintermelon paste within as you take a bite out of it.
After accomplishing the objective of scouting the wife cake, we went to Mongkok again to window-shop at the 女人街, but not before another trip to XLS, where I had another desert!!
Pure bliss.
In HK, the streets really light up with signboards of all shapes, sizes and colours, which make it a lot livelier, even during weekdays.
Things on sale in 女人街 were much similar to the bazaars in Bangkok. From replicas of brands like Rolex, LV, Guess, to those t-shirts with funky prints, and lots of fashion accessories or toys which should keep a girl busy shopping whole night long.
There were also alot of roadside stalls selling finger food, and since we stayed there for quite a while, it wasn't strange I found myself looking at what's on offer in those stalls...
And to my pleasant surprise...
猪肠!!! No words can describe how much I love this stuff.
I guess the fourth day was indeed the most tiring day for my mouth and digestive system. Too much good food!!
Day 5 was a shopping day for us, visited some factory outlets, where Yiyang bought a pair of Air Jordan. I got myself a Nintendo Wii in a store in Sam Shui Po. Jiale got himself a pair of Nike Air Force 1. We were dealt with a big blow to our wallets, but the satisfaction we got from our purchases more than made up for it. Heh.
YY and his Jordan.
May the force be with him.
A new Wii-nner.
While we got my Wii, there was also this stall selling roasted cuttlefish! Superb! Crunchy, cheap, good!
Despite the fact that we were much poorer after our splurging, we could still afford to have a fine dinner of roast yet again!! Some really 'touching' pictures.
YY who's in a loss for words, having eaten what's believed to be his favourite choice of roast charsiew with a half-cooked egg. The egg yolk that oozes out coating the rice a rich bright yellow has moved him to tears. Hhahaa.
JL with his roast duck rice. Apparently fearful that I will snatch the plate of rice away from him, he gives the '看什么看' look and is strongly hinting me to mind my own business (or rather my own food) before he eats up my share. Its not hard to see why.
A combination of roast duck and roast pork, together with mustard and plum sauce. The rice is served with some light sauce, and every bite was really tear-inducing. T_T godsend delicacy.
After dinner, one of the few things we could do without having to spend any money was to walk around, and we decided to walk the Avenue of Stars, located along Victoria Bay, where you got to see handprints of the prominent stars who have graced the HK entertainment industry.
Lol some of the nicer photos.
Day 5 was to include a trip to King's university, and as well as some much anticipated seafood dinner.
For breakfast, some really simple but tasty ham macaroni.
After which, we visited King's uni, HKUST (HK Uni of Sci and Tech). Very big school that is located by the sea, the whole place is like Genting!! Staying in the hostels there should feel like a holiday. Oh yes, and we also took a mini-bus there, which in my opinion, is damn comfortable to ride in.
Now to the dinner part, A SEAFOOD PARADISE at Saigon!
The seafood market here is impressive! Fishmongers sell their catches from the boats, and its still alive.
The gates that bring you into somewhere with heavenly seafood.
For a mere S$30 per person, we were in for a 9 course dinner, including
Stir Fried Prawns
Steamed Tiger Gouper
Mini Abalone
Scallops
Cheese Lobster with noodles
This special prawn that looks like a giant worm larvae, you peel it like a crayfish, and has got texture similar to that of lobster (I haven't figured its english name yet)
Sea Urchin Sashimi
Seafood Fried Rice
Seafood Soup
This dinner was simply.. SHIOK. We were so full we actually almost wanted to give up upon the most famous desert shop in HK (according to King), but somehow or rather, we still made some room for the desert.
The shop that was pretty nearby where we had dinner, and as King put it, it has got long queues of customers waiting to try some of its most delicious deserts.
Yes, the above picture is a very very very very very nice piece of banana pancake. You have to eat to believe. Though it does not look very special, but let me tell you, the skin melts in your mouth! The cream that you see inside goes in very smoothly with the sweet banana. OOoooooooo, I want to eat it again!!
After the sumptuous feast, King's aunty decided that we will all go to Victoria Peak for some sightseeing. According to many, its got one of the best views in HK, but unfortunately due to the foggy weather, the trip was quite a wasted one. Anyway it was still pretty cool to take the tram ride up, and got to see some of the places where HK's rich people live in. Lots of Porches and Lamos drove past!
Oh well, this post is simply too long, there's still 2 days worth of happening which is simply too time consuming to include in this post. Hahaha. Watch this space.
1 comment:
your blog makes me hungry.
hahas
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