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Is that a snake head- and if so, how does it figure into the menu? Great trip report and thank you so much for sharing with us. ← Not a snake head. It's a rock crab. Half of the crab got cropped out so perhaps it looked like a snake.

Day 1: Dinner The first dinner, my second brother treated us. The Leung's brothers/sister reunion. Venue was set at "Chao Inn" Restaurant on Nathan Road. It was supposed to be a Chiu Chow (Teochew) specialty restaurant. But I found that their offers were not really all that different from Cantonese. My brother ordered a "half size" banquet-style dinner. (Note: a "full size" banquet dinner is always set for 12 people. "Half size" is for 6. They charge half the price.) Their food tasted okay though I must say not the top ranked. First course: some Chiu Chow style braised ("Lo Shiu") goose slices and eggs. Quite good! A customary condiment for Chiu Chow braised goose: some white vinegar (diluted?) mix. Braised "yee fu mein" with shrimp in a creamy sauce. I didn't think this was quite a Chiu Chow dish. Shark fin soup with some fish maw (the big piece). Shark fins are so small that I needed to look very closely into the soup to see them. Stir-fried snowpeas with squids and conches. Stir-fried "dou miu" (pea sprouts) with shredded dried scallops. Fried chicken. Very similar to the Cantonese fried chicken. Except: no shrimp chips. Instead, a Chiu Chow touch of placing some deep-fried chili leaves. Braised goose feet with baby bok choy and straw mushrooms. Cantonese steamed fish (with green onion shreds on top). I had no idea what species. I didn't ask my brother and these fish look all about the same after steaming. Some "eight treasure" sticky rice at the end. Eight "treasures"... right! They all name these dishes as such. But who's counting? Drinks? Budweiser! I didn't order it! I swear! My brother's idea! I didn't say a thing! (I would have preferred Tsing Tao.) It's the first time I saw a Budweiser bottled in "large" size (22 oz bottle) though. Here came dessert: steamed "Lai Wong" bao (sweet creamy egg (??) filling). One per person. Perfect! As we were leaving the restaurant, I saw them show-casing these interesting, "peculiar" thing, Jars of pickled (I think) fruits (mostly apples but there might be other fruits). Jars and jars of them. I have no idea about this custom or its origin or how people consume (in what occasion) them. Anybody who knows please enlighten us. Is this a Chiu Chow custom? Chao Inn Restaurant, Nathan Road, Mongkok, Kowloon Tel: 2780-8193

Years ago I passed by the outlet of Hsin Tung Yang (新東陽) on Nathan Road who sold very similar food products. That one was definitely a Taiwanese brand new. http://www.hty.com.tw/ aprilmei: you are right. I searched on the net and Bee Cheng Hiang (美珍香) is a Singaporean brand new, setting up shops in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Thank you. I have corrected my earlier post. http://www.bch.tw/

I thought it is Taiwanese. But I might be wrong. In any case, they do a pretty good job.

Man! I am making myself wanting to book a flight back! I just might in November 08.

Day1: In between meals (more) There are some Singaporean and Taiwanese brand names setting up shops along Nathan Road to sell their snack food. I passed by this Bee Cheng Hiang (美珍香) (Singaporean based) outlet. The store offered free samples to visitors. Chilli pork jerkies. HKD$105 per 1/2 Kg. Roughly USD$13 per pound. I prefer beef jerkies over pork ones and bought some. After I came back from Macau and had tasted theirs, I found that these Singaporean beef/pork jerkies are much better. Thinner (Macau ones are quite thick). The flavor is much stronger. The BBQ charcoal taste is intense. More sweet. I love the sheen.

Day1: In between meals Strolled along Nathan Road in the Jordan/Mongkok area in the afternoon. It is the main drag of Kowloon. Nathan Road is the equivalent of 5Th Avenue in New York City, or Champs-Élysées in Paris, Oxford Street in London, Orchard Road of Singapore... There are many restaurants along Nathan Road. But most small eateries are not on Nathan Road because of high rents. If you walk along the side streets parallel to Nathan Road on either side (or the cross streets), you can find plenty of small shops selling all kinds of small eats. One thing I like about Hong Kong is that there are plenty of drinks offered by vendors: not manufactured in factories and sold in cans or bottles (although there are plenty of those too), but prepared by small vendors. "Ma Tai Lo" - a Cantonese sweet drink made with water chestnuts, beancurd sheets and eggs swirled in. Sweet! Very refreshing! Haven't had one of these for ages! Some vendors cooking up a cauldron of beef organs: tripes, briskets, lungs, livers, intestines, etc... they cut up the organs per your oder. Some skewers of this-and-that. Cuttlefish, octapus, pig intestines, to name a few. I found a street vendor selling some freshly made peanut candies. There were plain ones (peanuts only) or ones coated with shredded coconuts. We ordered one roll. Surprisingly - only like HKD10 (USD1.20) a roll. The vendor then sliced it up with a big cleaver. Chop, chop, chop... done in less than 5 seconds. A close-up view of a small piece. Hmmm... I have never tasted a peanut candie so good! Usually the ones we bought at the stores are hard and brittle. This one was so soft. When I held it up, it started to curl up. Must have been made only hours ago. More drinks: This one is mango juice with sogo pearls. The mango taste was so strong. Fantastic! I looked at the business sign and the menu on the wall... all kinds of fresh fruit juices and sogo drinks. You name it, they will freshly squeeze the juice for you. Can't help it. One more cup! Watermelon juice. Just when I thought I had enough, this caught my eyes... kiwi icey! Gotta have one. They mixed fresh fruit juices with shaved ice. Very nice!

(Deleted... duplicate post, sorry)

Got hit with a cold and a nasty flu since coming back to the cold/rainy/misery NorCal climate from the warm subtropics. I didn't think anybody would miss it. Yes, yes. Mainly lazy too.

No worry. I have a lapse of almost 3 months.

To lure more readers to follow Rona to visit Hong Kong just to eat, I am posting the rest of the food pictures during my last November 07 trip to Hong Kong (as promised)... Day 1: Lunch We stayed at the Harbor Plaza Hotel in Hung Hom, which is very close to the tourist hot spot Tsim Sha Tsui. Got off the 16-hour plane ride at 6:30 am, we had totally lost our temporal orientation. Couldn't really sleep at the hotel after checking in at 10:00 am because of jet lag. What to do? Have something to eat, of course! First meal: The "Haiphong Road Temporary (nothing temporary about it) Market" as mentioned by aprilmei and HKDave a few times. I used to live in a housing quarter provided by the "Kowloon Godown" in the early 60's, which used to be right where this food market is. The government has torn down the old housing quarter and built the Canton Road "bypass" in the 70's. These "dai pei dong" eateries used to be at the corner of Peking Road and Canton Road. They were moved to this present-day location and continued their businesses. I had seen how they used the big machine to pound on the beef to make "beefballs" since I was a kid. The trip to this dai pei dong eatery is a trip down memory lane... "Tak Fat" (name of the business): specialized in beefballs, beef organs, beef briskets. It happened to be around lunch time (12:30 pm or so). This place was very elbow-rubbingly crowded. The one and only stall with "Orange bowl, yellow spoon". Found it! A bowl of beefballs with rice vermicelli ("Mai Fun"). And a bowl of beef brisket with rice noodles ("Ho Fun"). Most of these eateries make their own chili oils, which are gems in their own right. Some make it really good. Some not. Typical: Chili, garlic, coarse salt and tons of MSG. Addictive! I wanted to have some varieties and tried to order a bowl of wonton soup. The operator scolded at me: "We do all BEEF only!"... pointing to their business sign (Don't you know any better?). All beef it is! Okay... more beefballs. Which I didn't mind cause they were really good. Chewy, bouncy (Cantonese say "bouncing off your teeth" kind of texture). The temporary market is underneath the overpass at the corner of Canton Road and Haiphong Road. A hole-in-the-wall outfit. 海防道臨時街市, Haiphong Road Temporary Market.

During Chinese New Year in Hong Kong: while it is true there are many people going out of Hong Kong, the eateries are not necessarily less crowded as a result. Reasons: 1) During CNY, most of everybody don't need to work. There are more people on the street than usual. More people = more demand for meals. 2) Many of the Chinese restaurants are closed for 3 days during CNY. Typically the big restaurants. They let their workers "go back to their home village" to spend time with family. Eating out during CNY in Hong Kong has alrways been a challenge. Less places open, more people. Most would stay home and enjoy home-cooked meals during this time to avoid the dine-out hassle.

Have a good trip, Rona! And be sure to bring back some photos to add to this wonderful thread and share your experience. (We can help you compile a "must eat" list. )

aprilmei: Is "dried shrimp roe" same as "har gee" in Cantonese? Those that they put on noodles (Har Gee Mein)?

I think this thread has served its purpose.

I am not sure what "look fun" is. Taro puffs (croquette) and "ham siu kwok" (the pork turnover you mentioned) are pretty traditional. So is "lo bok goh" (daikon cake) and taro cake. The traditional ways of making dim sums are: (mostly) steamed, deep-fried and pan-fried. "Hung Dou Sa" (red-bean sweet dessert soup), "Chi Ma Wu" (black sesame sweet dessert soup): they are quite traditional Cantonese dessert soups, though I don't recall seeing them offered in dim sum restaurants back in the old days (before the 70's). Maybe the introduction of mobile dim sum carts (with portable burners) really has changed the dim sum "industry". Way back when, dim sums are placed on a rectangular box strapped to a worker's (typically male) shoulder and he would walk around selling baskets of dim sums. Nowadays, some restaurants set up a "frying station". They would deep-fry anything your want "to order".

There is a thread on cook-off of "cha shao bao": Char Siu Bao--Cook-Off II, eGullet Recipe Cook-Off Series The recipes for the dough should be very similiar to "baozi". And I don't think rice flour would work for making baozi.

Nowadays when you go to a dim sum restaurant, you can see all kinds of items carried out on dim sum carts. Many non-Chinese diners simply think that's part of the "dim sum" experience. But this is quite far from the truth. Many of the items you see sold in dim sum restaurants today are simply not real "traditional" dim sums. But if the patrons like them, why not? The restaurant operators would be happy to carry those items. They would sell you slices of cheese cakes or apple pies from a dim-sum cart if there is enough demand. I am judging from my own experiences - dating back to the 60's on what I ate and saw in dim-sum restaurants in Hong Kong and Guongzhou: two of the most populous cities in Canton. The traditional: Har gow (shrimp dumplings) Siu mai (pork dumplings) Steamed beef balls Steamed spareribs Cha Siu Bao (steamed BBQ pork bao) Nor Mai Gai (steamed sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves) Steamed Chicken feet etc.. (the list is long) Those are traditional, "real" dim sums. Now... Suckling pigs, roast goose, roast pork, barbequed pork slices, jelly fish... no. These are traditionally items sold in Cantonese barbeque specialty shops. But because of popularity, they push them out on a dim-sum cart. Congee (jook), cheung fun (steamed rice noodles), zha leung (steamed rice noodles wrapping a deep-fried crueller)... well, these are traditionally items sold in "dai pei dong" specialized in making congee. For that matter, soy-sauce chow mein too. Beef organs: tripes, intestines in a big pot... these are traditionally sold in specialty noodle houses. For that matter: wonton (soup), boiled brocolli, boiled squid or tripe. Dan tarts (egg tarts), baked BBQ pork baos, cha siu so (BBQ pork pastry): these are sold in western style tea restaurants made by their bakers. Fried "stuffed" bell peppers, mushrooms, eggplants, tofo with fish paste: these used to be "street food" sold by hawkers. "Ma Lai Goh" (Malaysian steamed cakes) - imported from Malaysia. "Dou Fu Fa" (soyamilk custard sweet) - used to be sold only in tofu specialty shops or by hawkers. Xiaolongbao - sorry, that really is a Shanghainese small eat rather than Cantonese dim sum. Mango pudding - you think this is Chinese??? As you can see, the real traditional dim-sums have rather limited varieties. As time progresses, the society changed. Food once sold by specialty shops or hawkers on the street are now included in the "dim sum" umbrella. But... food is food, right? Who cares where it came from and what classification it has as long as you can conveniently point and order from the dim-sum cart and have it delivered right to your table, right?

The "peculiar thing" is "牛干菌" in Chinese. A kind of mushroom. What is your question? The "cross-the-bridge" rice noodle ("Guo Kwiu Mai Fun" in Cantonese) is similar to Vietnamese pho I believe. It makes sense because it is popular in southern China provinces - geographically close to Vietnam and Laos, etc.. The "jellied eggs": I have no idea about its Chinese name. But it looks like a kind of salted eggs.

XO Sauce is not just the addition of MSG. I agree with what canucklehead and aprilmei said. The XO sauce sold in the Asian markets do not do justice to the "XO sauce" name. I have bought many times the "XO Chili Sauce" made by Yank Sing, which they charge close to USD$6 for a small bottle. The taste is better, IMO one grade higher, than their flagship Yank Sing Chili Sauce. But still far from the real XO sauce that I have tasted in some high-end Chinese restaurants. Perhaps this sauce is simply not replicatable as a industrially manufactured, jarred sauce - much like those "King Pao" sauce, "Mapo Tofo" sauce, or "Black Bean" sauce made by Lee Kum Kee or the likes - far inferior than the real thing. What makes a "XO sauce"? Different restaurants have different recipes. Most are a combination of dried scallop, dried shrimp, dried ham, shrimp roe, chili, garlic and other seasoning. It is a very nice condiment for dim sums and for stir-frying seafood, Cantonese style, along with some vegetables like snap peas, snow peas, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, straw mushrooms, etc.. I doubt it if a restaurant (in North America where I live at least) would provide XO sauce for free. Most that I have seen - the restaurant charges about USD$2.00 for a small dish. If you can squeeze some extra dollars out of a customer, why not? I can testify hat "XO Sauce" was not heard of before the 80's in Hong Kong. Now it is quite well-known. I found the following NY Times article that talked about the origin of "XO Sauce". I quote: Click here for the full article.

I have been to the Ding Tai Fung in Arcadia, California (San Gabriel Valley, East of Los Angeles). The food from that branch looked very much like what you showed in your pictures. Their menu didn't offer a whole lot of choices from what I remember. Steamed dumplings, noodle soups, etc.. I can't recall seeing pork chop over rice on their menu. Their signature xiaolongbao are excellent. Dan Dan Mein was very good too. What kind of struck me, I wonder if that's just me..., was that the xialongbao and other steamed dumplings look PURE WHITE compared to the ones I got from other restaurants. Why is that? Only DTF uses bleached flour? For comparisons: Xiaolongbao - qty 10 in 1 order: US$7 to $8 (if I remember it correctly) Dan dan mein - US$5 - $6 per bowl There was supposed to be a Ding Tai Fung branch in Hong Kong, at the Whampoa Food Mall. When I was there (Nov 2007), that DTF location was closed down. Why is that? Hong Kong eaters don't like xiaolongbao???

My father, a typical retiree, used to order 1 to 2 dim sums for his breakfast every morning. From my experience, the average is about 3 to 5 dim sum orders per person depending on how hungry we are. My record was 10-12 dim sum orders (can't remember exactly) per person. But that was with my buddies the day after our Outward Bound training where we were starved of decent food for over 25 days (and I was 18)... Back in those days, they kept the dim sum baskets on the table for tallying up how much you need to pay at the end of your meal. Between the four of us, empty dim sum baskets stacked up so high that we couldn't see each other's faces...

I agree whole-heartedly. Of all the places I have been to, Victoria City makes the best XO Sauce Fried Cheung Fun (rice noodles). The thin shreds of dried scallops, the touch of hot sauce and the soy sauce. So perfect! This picture brings back vivid taste-bud memories... (And it hasn't been that long ago...)

Taiwan is included in this same forum, as it is considered part of China. Perhaps post a separate thread and name it "Reports on Taiwan dining" and let the forum moderators merge it with other ealier spotty posts on Taiwan dinings as they see fit?

Lovely report, Lorna! Way to go! The restaurant name you mentioned... In Cantonese it sounds "Lung Kee". Lung is "dragon". "Kee" is sort of an adjective that signifies it is the name of the business. (Remember Yung Kee where you ate at?). So if you were to translate their restaurant's name, "The Dragon Restaurant" would be it!