Reports on Hong Kong dining

[NancyH]

Uncle! Between this thread and Ah Leung's - my husband and I went out and had dim sum this morning - we just HAD to!! Just the two of us.

I'll get some photos up shortly.

[ahuacatl]

Is that pig really that small on a platter or is it an illusion?

The mango pudding fish is lovely- taste??

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That's not the whole pig- they just put the head there for effect. The platter was pretty big, maybe 1.5 feet long. Mango pudding (the traditional dim sum item) is basically like a very rich gelatin containing cream and mango puree, plus some mango chunks.

Now, on to more photos:

Sun Keung Kee (新強記) roast goose restaurant, right near the Tai Wai MTR, Sha Tin

Can't go wrong with a half-liter beer for US$2

Complementary or mandatory?

The infamous egg drop soup! (with corn)

Oyster pancake

An unusual hor fun that's cut in thin strips... delicious

Fried mantou to dip in condensed milk

Fried soft tofu with a very thin batter

Croquettes of corn and fake crab

It was like eating battered mayonnaise

Lemon chicken

Roast goose

Goose brain, on a dare

In an alternate universe, the goose survived to serve us a fish.

[ahuacatl]

Here's some more photos from Cheers Restaurant.

Steamed mantou

The infamous fish maw... this one tasted awful!

Thin, tender slices of squid fried with yook gua and red pepper

Lobster noodles... sounds elegant but the shell makes it hard to eat

Some fried things: crispy nests of some sort, and deep-fried lumps of pandan pudding

More sucking pig... this is the good kind, with jellyfish (sometimes it has intestines instead)

Sweet and sour pork (gu lu yuk)

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And a few tidbits:

You can get chocolate popcorn at movie theaters in HK. It's not super chocolatey... it's more like chocolate breakfast cereal, like eating dry Count Chocula.

Some delicious sweet bread with chocolate inside. They're some kind of "face bread," which is a pun in Cantonese, because the words for "face" and "bread" sound the same.

[somemale]

oh I can't believe you went to Victoria Harbour! This is a must visit for me every time I go back to HK. How much was the crab meat XLB? $30HK for one? Unfortunately for me, ast time I went they didn't have it!

Which location did you go to?

[aprilmei]

This morning I went to yum cha at Victoria and yes, the hairy crab dumplings are HK$30 each. We had two each (we were being austere today; the friend I was with isn't as greedy as I am). They were wonderful. They also had some gorgeous shrimp and pea shoot dumplings - so beautiful, you could see the colours - bright green and pink - through the skins.

I always go to Sun Hung Kai Centre. There are three other locations - Citic Tower, the Repulse Bay and Harbour City - but I've never been to those.

[somemale]

thanks for the update aprilmei!

When I used to live in HK, I used to visit the Citic Tower location for dim sum and usually the Sun Hung Kai location for dinner, it just worked out that way for my family for some reason...

Someone on another forum mentioned the head chef for Victoria Harbour went to a different restaurant...have you heard anything about this?

I will hopefully be headed back to HK this feb/march. Can't wait for my trip!

[canucklehead]

This morning I went to yum cha at Victoria and yes, the hairy crab dumplings are HK$30 each. We had two each (we were being austere today; the friend I was with isn't as greedy as I am). They were wonderful. They also had some gorgeous shrimp and pea shoot dumplings - so beautiful, you could see the colours - bright green and pink - through the skins.

I always go to Sun Hung Kai Centre. There are three other locations - Citic Tower, the Repulse Bay and Harbour City - but I've never been to those.

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SHK is the best one. It will be one of my first stops when I am in HK!

[ahuacatl]

Some photos from Chuen Cheung Kui (津味居), a Beijing style restaurant in North Point. Highly recommended if you're in the area.

Baby bak choy

Boiled lamb dumplings, lots of lamb flavor and wicked spicy

Lamb haam beng (savory pie), like the scallion pancakes you can get in the US but crispier and filled with meat

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Chicken faan-tastic: not good

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Some various Maxim's food

Japanese curry

Bad Western-type foods

[ahuacatl]

Pictures from Peking Garden, Tsuen Wan

Cucumber, tofu, and roast peanuts in sesame oil

Cold fried fish in a sweet and salty sauce

Jellyfish

Cold roast pork in vinaigrette

Deep fried jumbo shrimp coated with raw egg yolk

Sweet and sour pork

Deep fried sweet and sour fish

Chicken and dumpling soup

Mushrooms and yook gua

Here comes the duck

Duck was dry

Steamed vegetable bun

Interior

Stir-fried duck meat etc.

[hzrt8w]

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Wow! Fanta! I havent had one of those as long as I haven't had a bottle of Green Spot. I haven't seen them in the USA. I like Green Spot more. It seems to me that Fanta is a bit watered down.

[lemoncoke]

Ahuacatl, I really love your pictures. It makes me want to jump on a plane to Hong Kong just to try the food. I love the picture of the chicken sandwich at McD's..... very asian.....

[DylanK]

Fanta in glass bottles is everywhere on the mainland. I've never seen Greenspot before, though.

Soda is glass bottles is still another reason why China is the greatest country in the world.

[aprilmei]

Oh, I love it that we can still buy coke in glass bottles - it tastes better that way.

[NancyH]

Here comes the duck

Why was the server wearing a surgical mask?

Oh - and these pictures are simply fabulous - Cleveland dim sum won't cut it (though I've got pictures of it up on my blog now); I want to go to Hong Kong!

[hzrt8w]

Why was the server wearing a surgical mask?

Oh - and these pictures are simply fabulous - Cleveland dim sum won't cut it (though I've got pictures of it up on my blog now); I want to go to Hong Kong!

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So that they make sure they don't introduce foreign tastes in the duck???

Your dim sum in Cleveland pictures look interesting, Nancy. But if you get a chance, you gotta go to the Cantonese food Mecca of Hong Kong to sample the best ones.

[NancyH]

I have been to Hong Kong - but only once and almost 10 years ago, so I am way overdue for another trip - especially after seeing all of these wonderful pictures from ahuacatl and you, Ah Leung!

Cleveland Dim Sum is actually not bad at all - it is freshly made by skilled hands - but no where near the creativity and variety to be found in Hong Kong.

[hzrt8w]

Actually I think Vancouver is a close second to Hong Kong, Cantonese-food-wise. In some cases may even surpass Hong Kong because of the quality of ingredients. It's a more affordable trip for us, if just to sample the food.

[ahuacatl]

Here are some photos from a meal at Chuen Cheung Kui (泉章居) near Times Square. I mistakenly said in a previous post that the photos from a North Point Beijing-style restaurant were from this restaurant- those photos are actually Chuen Mei Kui (津味居). Hence the problem of restaurants using crappy transliterations for their English names instead of standardized ones (e.g. Jyutping).

Anyhoo, I think hzrt8w recently posted some photos from this Hakka restaurant, Chuen Cheung Kui, or possibly another location with the same name. Here are photos of a bunch of different dishes:

Pineapple water

Yuen yoeng (coffee and tea with cream)

Chicken rice

Left to right: kidney with pickles, congealed blood soup, jellyfish

Gai lan with two kinds of lap chong

Braised pork belly with preserved vegetables

Seafood noodles

Fried tofu with salted chilies

Singapore noodles

Meatballs with crispy bits

I would describe Hakka food for those who haven't had it as an insane man's version of Cantonese or Fujian cuisine. It's simple, savory soul food that's somehow totally uncomforting to my palate due to the odd use of preserved and smoky flavors.

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Down the street, a couple steamed milk puddings at Yee Shun Milk Company

"double steamed milk"

chocolate flavor

[liuzhou]

$22+ for 10?

Wow! I think I'll stick to the mainland. More like $3

[hzrt8w]

Here are some photos from a meal at Chuen Cheung Kui (泉章居) near Times Square.  I mistakenly said in a previous post that the photos from a North Point Beijing-style restaurant were from this restaurant- those photos are actually Chuen Mei Kui (津味居). Hence the problem of restaurants using crappy transliterations for their English names instead of standardized ones (e.g. Jyutping).

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From what I understand, Chuen Cheung Kui (泉章居) has 2 locations: one on Nelson Street in Mongkok, which was the one I have been to. The other one on Lockhart Road in Wanchai/Causeway-Bay, perhaps that's the one you have been to?

I read many bad reviews on Chuen Cheung Kui on openrice.com. My evaluation of it is okay. The salt-baked chicken was good. Braised pork belly with preserved vegetables was excellent. And the beefballs with choy sum was good. The service was so-so, but the price was good - around HKD100 pp for dinner.

Edited December 25, 2007 by hzrt8w (log)

[aprilmei]

Chuen Cheung Kui used to be in CWB near Times Square - it was there for ages. Then it closed and I never knew where it moved to. Can you give me the address in Wan Chai? I loved that place - the food was excellent (and cheap). The waiters were so grumpy, though. I love Hakka food. Do you still have to wait for a table during busy tijmes? They don't take bookings.

[hzrt8w]

.....Can you give me the address in Wan Chai? I loved that place - the food was excellent (and cheap). The waiters were so grumpy, though. I love Hakka food. Do you still have to wait for a table during busy tijmes? They don't take bookings.

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Sorry to barge in. From my Google research, the CWB location is:

食肆名稱: 泉章居

類型: 中國其他

地址: 銅鑼灣軒尼詩道489號銅鑼灣廣場一期8樓

地區: 銅鑼灣

價錢: $100 以下

電話: 2577 3833

489 Hennessy Road, Causeway Bay Plaza 1, 8/F.

But another web page gave the address of:

地址 : 銅鑼灣駱克道463-483號銅鑼灣廣場一期7-8樓

463-483 Lockhart Road, Causeway Bay Plaza 1, 7/F-8/F

I am not sure which address is the "official address" as Causeway Bay Plaza 1 is on Lockhart, Percival and Hennessy. And it's only one block from Time Square.

(Info as current as Sept 2006)

[bethpageblack]

Actually I think Vancouver is a close second to Hong Kong, Cantonese-food-wise.  In some cases may even surpass Hong Kong because of the quality of ingredients.  It's a more affordable trip for us, if just to sample the food. 

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I actually think it depends on what kind of Cantonese food you are ordering. For luxurious items such as shark fin, abalone, etc., HK is tops. But if we're talking other stuff, I think the Guangzhou and other sub-provincial cities, i.e., Shunde, are better. Guangzhou's cheung fun, freshwater fish, veggies, chicken and pork dishes, etc., IMO are generally superior to Hong Kong. Luxuriant ingredients are where HK excels.

That said, I don't know where the heck the ingredients in China have been, or where they are purchased, so I just put my head down into the trough and try not to think about it.

[canucklehead]

Ah Leung,

Did Farmhouse move when you were in town? I went by the other day - and it looked papered over... my heart completely sank. My mother said she thinks they have moved. I am hoping you can shed some light.

[hzrt8w]

Did Farmhouse move when you were in town?  I went by the other day - and it looked papered over...  my heart completely sank.  My mother said she thinks they have moved.  I am hoping you can shed some light.

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I don't know if they have moved or not because it was the first and only time that I have been to Farmhouse.

I found the current address and map and phone number from their official website. It is the location that I visited only 4 weeks ago:

http://www.farmhouse.com.hk/c_contact.php

Some webpage said they are in the AIA Building, which is not correct. They are in the Ming An Plaza, right next door. On the second floor. There is an escalator running to it. Still couldn't find it, give them a call.