Reports on Hong Kong dining

[Shelby]

Once again I wish I could reach through the computer and nibble on your leftovers lol!

The steamed breads with that gorgeous duck: do they have a filling inside?

[WillLack]

I found I don't have enough time to post and work and eat - I still take photos except tonight when I plain forgot and spent most of the evening in Lan Kwai Fong catching up with an old school friend.... until 2.30am....

Supper at Tsui Wah Restaurant on Wellington Street - offers a mixed Chinese, European and Asian menu - again with the Beef chow mein as I love it and a plate of Young Chow Chow fan

then a trip the next day to Stanley and to a restaurant owned by the same group that owns Hutong on 1 Peking Road very nice Dim sum with rice and daofu... will post more when I have time tomorrow.. enjoy

Shu Zhai, G/F 80 Stanley Market Main Street

pickled vegetable appetiser

spring roll

chau siu bao

har gau

siu mai

yeung chow chow fan

braised dao fu with soya & blackbean sauce

views of restaurant

nicely done with old Chinese Tea house ambiance - we were the last to leave after lunch hence it looking empty - delicious food and lovely atmosphere and happy staff....

[WillLack]

more from my trip - a spot of lunch with my mother at the Ka Ho Restaurant at Lok Ku Street - just below 'Cat' Street and Hollywood Road - western end - just the sort of local restaurant I like - noisy and full of bussle

outside

yee heung kei gi (spicy aubergine with minced pork

hong sui dao fu - 3rd version so far

oh no that's beef chow mein again - doesn't he get sick of it ( you must be thinking)- err ....no!

I also mentioned I would show pictures of Sai Kung wet market and our lovely meal - Italian but using ingredients from China so allow me some leeway - please...

on the hunt for the clams and prawns -

prawns and other goodies

scallops looked really good - menu almost changed ...

a couple of catty ( 2 2/3 lbs - 1.2kg) HK$90

clams from here - 4 catty $60 ( clams cheap in HK - mussels expensive)

more market photos

you have heard of the floating market in Bangkok - here's Sai kung's version

a couple of prawns and a cray fish and a small fish managed to make a break for freedom ....

back to the village house my sister and husband have in the country park

cooked with garlic ( alot ) olive oil and chilli....

gambas a ailos ( spelling might be wrong)

clams cooked in their own juice and water, garlic, shallots, tomato and parsley etc

lovely shells left over

Hope you enjoyed that as much as I did eating it!!

[canucklehead]

Great pictures! The village house is very cool!

Your Central location gives you access to all the places I love. Have you tried the egg tarts at Honolulu? The Central location is the best...

There is a restaurant accross from Yung Kee - that has been nicknamed the "Snake Pit" (I can't remember the real name) - cause all the office workers go there to hide out and be lazy ("fong sai" or "sai wong" - litterally releasing snakes or to be the king of snakes). Hong Kong and its weird little places - crazy.

[WillLack]

okay some more images firstly lunch after a visit to Zhuhai & Zhongshan on business

Roast pigeon . sadly some of it had already disappeared before I got the camera out

ye heung kei gi - nice one as the dried fish was not too strong.

ordered by one of my Chinese colleagues - promise!!!

steamed prawns and garlic... delicious...

hong sui dao fu

they call this four seasons pork - so good...

braised lettuce with garlic

no meal is complete without...

beef chow mein.

then a day later quick meal in Jaffee Road in Wanchai in a local Beijing restaurant... their dumplings are really good so was the soup and the fried rice....

fried rice with ham, chicken and prawns and lot of eggs...

sliced pork and pickled vegetable soup.

fried pork and chives dumpling.

a trip to Shenzhen

hong sui dao fu

sadly this ye heung kei gi is not so good - very strong dried fish over powering the flavours...

and guess what.... beef chow mein

then supper at my sisters and her husband's flat cooked by their Thai housekeeper who is a really fantastic cook

red chicken curry

prawn and lime soup - never had this before - so easy and good....

vegetable stir fry

chau siu from Canteen at Prince's Building

then we had a trip to Macau and we went to Fernando's which I love -

fantastic bread

salt cod - not my favourite though

African chicken - super crispy skin and very moist flesh

sardines - actually 4 but one was taken before the photo

beef stew - flavoured with alot of garlic and cinnamon - very good...

famous garlic prawns

salad Portugese.... they soak the onions in vinegar... very nice, and tastey tomato....

thats almost it as I am returning to the UK in the next few days - will post more if they are interesting....

Edited January 18, 2008 by WillLack (log)

[Prawncrackers]

Roast pigeon

Great photos Will, and anyway you sold me on this first picture - roast pigeon is one of my all time favourites. There's nothing wrong with sweet & pork btw either!

I love the way these threads have all been merged (knitted if you must), i can see it running for looong time. I'm popping back to HK in May for a few days and seeing all these photos and descriptions is making the wait almost unbearable!

[canucklehead]

Will - glad you enjoyed Fernando's. I used to go all the time - but I had heard things had slipped (good to see there has been a turnaround). I loved their spicy crab hot pot, roast crackling pig, and the sardines that you had above.

Prawncracker - unless someone goes before you - the HK food photo baton is passed onto you!

[Ling]

Hi everyone! We're going to be in Taiwan next week, followed by a short 3 day trip to HK. I was wondering if anyone had any recs for dim sum in HK. (We're covered in Taiwan as my fiancé's aunt is a food-lovin' local and will show us some great spots, I'm sure.)

In addition to dim sum, I plan on eating a lot of street food and maybe hitting up a seafood restaurant one night. Also, I love HK style pastries/buns...which bakeries are your favourites? TIA

Edited January 30, 2008 by Ling (log)

[hzrt8w]

I had been to "Maxim Palace" located on the 2/F of Hong Kong's City Hall, Central in my latest trip. I really like that restaurant. Many varieties of classical dim sum dishes. It has a good view of the Victoria Harbour. However, the city workers have just torn down the old Queen's Pier and are working on building a new harbour-front walkway project (will be for a couple of years), the view was partially blocked by construction bamboo scaffolds.

They are very crowded during lunch time. If you get there before 12:30 pm you probably don't have to wait. Before 12:00 pm if you want a good view seat.

[prasantrin]

I really enjoyed the Luk Yu Tea House, though it was many years ago that I ate there. My HK friends say it's more of an old-style place--well-regarded amongst locals, but not really accessible to all locals (they said it was quite expensive for the average HK resident). No carts after 11, just a menu, but fewer people, too (it can be very very hard to get a table during peak hours).

But if you went, you could also say you've dined at one of the few places that had a real HK-action-movie-like assassination! Wouldn't that be fun!

[bethpageblack]

Hi everyone! We're going to be in Taiwan next week, followed by a short 3 day trip to HK. I was wondering if anyone had any recs for dim sum in HK. (We're covered in Taiwan as my fiancé's aunt is a food-lovin' local and will show us some great spots, I'm sure.)

In addition to dim sum, I plan on eating a lot of street food and maybe hitting up a seafood restaurant one night. Also, I love HK style pastries/buns...which bakeries are your favourites? TIA

←

My friends and I usually go to Lei Garden on Hennessey Road between the Wanchai and Causeway Bay MTR stations. IMO, that's the best branch for dim sum out of the other Lei Gardens in HK. One perk of the location of that particular branch is if you walk from the Wanchai station, you can stop by Honolulu cha chaan teng for an egg custard tart and a panty hose tea. I think canucklehead posted a lot on other restos for dim sum.

One more recommendation - you better bring a jacket when you arrive; it's been quite cold here. Supposedly it hasn't been this cold in 50 years. Humidity plus cold is not a good combination.

[canucklehead]

Hi everyone! We're going to be in Taiwan next week, followed by a short 3 day trip to HK. I was wondering if anyone had any recs for dim sum in HK. (We're covered in Taiwan as my fiancé's aunt is a food-lovin' local and will show us some great spots, I'm sure.)

In addition to dim sum, I plan on eating a lot of street food and maybe hitting up a seafood restaurant one night. Also, I love HK style pastries/buns...which bakeries are your favourites? TIA

←

Dim Sum

Fook Lam Moon (Kowloon Side is better) - they get all the details right

Victoria City (SHK Center in Wanchai) - crab roe xlb, beef buns are a must

Four Seasons Hotel - just for the sheer niceness of the room, desserts are as standout.

Sea Food Dinner

If you make a trip of it - Lamma Island and Sai Kung are fun for picking out sea food from giant tanks. Ming Yuen in Sai Kung also has incredible roast duck.

Have fun!

Edited January 30, 2008 by canucklehead (log)

[hzrt8w]

nicely done with old Chinese Tea house ambiance - we were the last to leave after lunch hence it looking empty - delicious food and lovely atmosphere and happy staff....

←

This is excellent! Thank you WillLack! I knew that there are a few bars/restaurants serving western style food along the water-front main drag. With the Murray House moved to Stanley, there are 4 more non-Chinese restaurants now in that building. (Thai, Pizza, Spanish, German)

It would be nice to have dim sum in Stanley...

[Ohba]

Hi everyone! We're going to be in Taiwan next week, followed by a short 3 day trip to HK. I was wondering if anyone had any recs for dim sum in HK. (We're covered in Taiwan as my fiancé's aunt is a food-lovin' local and will show us some great spots, I'm sure.)

In addition to dim sum, I plan on eating a lot of street food and maybe hitting up a seafood restaurant one night. Also, I love HK style pastries/buns...which bakeries are your favourites? TIA

←

I don't expect everyone will agree with me, but I think Hong Kong offers poor opportunities for real street food, particularly if you're coming from Taiwan, which would be worth a trip for street food alone. The variety is huge in Taiwan, while finding any at all in Hong Kong can be a challenge. Hong Kong's strengths lie elsewhere - as far as I'm concerned, chiefly in (cost-wise) mid-range restaurants, though that's mainly a matter of personal taste.

[hzrt8w]

RE: Street Food

I think it depends on what one has in mind about "Street Food". Years ago, these common, day-to-day snacks or goodies were once offered by hawkers literally "on the street". These on-the-street hawkers are mostly gone. But the common, day-to-day snacks or goodies are still around (and will be for a long time). They are:

1) picked up by dim sum restaurants and are now offered as dim sum items (e.g. fried fish paste with bell pepper, egg plants, tofu; beef organs; etc.)

2) offered by merchants who set up small shops (typically selling things like fish balls, squids, cheung fun, daikon cakes, faked shark fin soup, gai dan tsai (egg-shaped waffle)

3) offered by other restaurants

So the Hong Kong Street Food as we knew them back in the 60's and 70's are still around, but the way they are served is no longer "on the street".

Is there any particular "street food" item that anybody is unable to find any more? During my last trip to Hong Kong (Nov 07), I was able to locate everything that I remembered eating on the street when I was in high school.

Edited February 2, 2008 by hzrt8w (log)

[hzrt8w]

In addition to dim sum, I plan on eating a lot of street food and maybe hitting up a seafood restaurant one night. Also, I love HK style pastries/buns...which bakeries are your favourites? TIA

←

RE: Bakeries... HK style pastries/buns

Well... time has changed. It used to be that we know "so and so" bakery is famous for "such and such" items. We would make special trips to that store to buy that item. Nowadays... it is not the same any more.

The mom-and-pop bakeries are everywhere. Really! Those typically are small, family run "tea house" style restaurant (Cha Chun Tian). In general the HK style pastries/buns are pretty good.

And so are the famous bakeries in Hong Kong: Maxim's, Kee Wah, Aroma Bakery, etc.. (there are a few others). They set up outlets in almost ALL of the subway stations. You can get their bakery goods just about anywhere you go. You don't even need to make a special trip to look for them!

My favorite is Aroma Bakery (there is one inside the TsimShaTsui MTR Station, and many others). The second one is Maxim's (they are everywhere). Kee Wah is good for the old-style (I mean really old style) Chinese bakery items: things like wife's cakes, little chicken cakes, Chinese egg rolls, etc.. (There is one outlet in TsimShaTsui - Hankow Road, and another one at the Central Pier.)

Yes there are specialty bakery shops in Sheung Wan, Tai Po, Shaukeewan or wherever else. But for me, I would rather not spent 1 hour in transportation or US$30 taxi fare to visit these "great" bakery shops to taste a dan tart. What I can get from Aroma or Maxim's are good enough...

Edited February 2, 2008 by hzrt8w (log)

[canucklehead]

I have to agree with Obha and say the Tawainese street food is absolutely amazing - the night food market is a wonder. Anything grilled, fried, steamed, stirred fried - that you can imagine. Tawain has a snacking culture that really exceeds Hong Kong's (who are more meal and afternoon tea focused).

[Ling]

Thanks so much! I'll get my fill of street food in Taiwan. I'll be back in a couple of weeks with photos!

[FDE]

Got back from Hong Kong recently and tried a wide range of food -- from fish balls to shark’s fin.

Those live seafood markets/restaurants are awesome. These jumbo-prawn-like creatures are particularly tasty:

This is a bowl of USD$65 Shark’s fin soup!

Full report here:

www.finediningexplorer.com/HongKong

[Lei Feng]

Hi,

Just my two cents on where to enjoy dim sum in HK.

I've been going to a place in North Point called "Superior Choice" for a couple of years & find that almost all of the standard dim sum items there just taste better than other restaurants. Surly, indifferent service, but.... it wouldn't be HK without!

No trolleys, unfortunately - order from a menu/checklist if you can read Chinese. I think they have sort of an English menu if you ask for it.

No tourists and virtually no gwailos. Very local.

1/F Cheong Ming Bldg, 480 King's Road, North Point, Hong Kong

Try it out!

[BonVivant]

Sai Kung is nice but now that i've been there Lamma island will be next. btw, is it worth paying for this beast?

[WillLack]

It is a Horseshoe crab - It would be a shame as they are supposed to be endhangered through loss of habitat - buy it and release it - as I did once! Frankly I am amazed there is enough to eat on it to even bother - mostly it ordered for face....

[hzrt8w]

I have seen these seafood vendors using horseshoe crab to tout the visitors since I was a kid, some forty years ago. But I have never tried it. All I know is the crab body is rather small under that huge shell, and its blood is blue. How much of a horseshoe crab is edible, really?

[canucklehead]

I've alway thought it was used for soup - but now that I think of it - this does not make sense - as a soup would be slow cooked for hours to extract as much flavor as possible.

I've never eaten one - and I've never heard of it being good.

[Prawncrackers]

I've eaten one of those Horseshoe crabs in HK years ago. If memory serves me right the only edible bit is the eggs that you scrape from under the shell. I don't remember it being particular good either but ate it anyway because it was bought for us. I love crabs but i've read somewhere that these creatures are closer to lice than crabs!