Reports on Hong Kong dining

[Prawncrackers]

It's a bit long in the tooth this thread so it's past time i made a contribution to it! Just come back from probably the most gluttonous week of my life. Was in back in Hong Kong for a wedding. Since all the relatives were back for the festivities too it seemed each meal became more and more extravagant during the week.

I'll start on Monday 27th Oct (the wedding was on the Sat 1st Nov).

Day 1 - Crystal Jade Restaurant in Harbour City Tsim Sha Tsui. For the first time ever we stayed in hotel in HK. The Renaissance in TST to be precise and we were met when we landed by our cousins so we tried a local place. I believe this restaurant is part of a chain but the food here is fantastic. Mixture of Shanghai & Sichuan dishes:

Sichuan Mouthwatering Chicken:

This ham terrine dish that i've had before but can never remember the name of (any ideas anyone?)

Siew Long Bao (regular pork ones):

Tea-smoked pigeon:

Wor Tip:

Spring Onion Pancakes:

Won-tons:

Fried Rice with Ham:

Fried Pork Buns (Sang Jing Bao)

Poached Salty Duck:

Baked Mooli Buns:

For me the best dish was the pigeon, though that is probably partly because we can't get it here in the UK. The most disappointing was the Siew Long Bao, just not as juicy as they should be. This place was packed, we had to wait 20 mins even though my cousin had already booked ahead. Not surprising though as the bill was very reasonable and the service very efficient.

More tomorrow - have so many photos to upload and it's such a chore!

[HKDave]

I've been a twice-a-week regular at the Harbour City Crystal Jade since they opened, but recently have stopped going there as much because the service can be absurdly random (like waiting 40 minutes for food to hit the table while everyone around me, who got seated after me, gets their orders, finishes eating them, and departs...). Can't argue about the food, though; good value and sometimes surprisingly good quality. Their dan dan mein is excellent, my favorite in HK.

They are a chain, from Singapore, but not all branches specialize in the same styles of food. Most of the branches in HK are the "Crystal Jade La Mein Xiu Long Bau" variety, same as the TST one.

Better xiu long bau can be found across the street at Xin Tai Fung, in Silvercord.

[Prawncrackers]

Ah, glad someone is still reading this thread! Any ideas what that ham terrine dish is properly called HKDave? More to follow later.... much more

[prasantrin]

Those spring onion pancakes!

I'm going to have to try Crystal Jade in Singapore. I really really need some of those pancakes!

What are baked Mooli buns?

[Prawncrackers]

The Mooli buns I think are baked, they have a thin crumbly pastry shell stuffed with cooked soft juicy shredded mooli (aka daikon or white radish). They only taste of mooli so are quite bland but good texturally.

[HKDave]

Ah, glad someone is still reading this thread!  Any ideas what that ham terrine dish is properly called HKDave?

←

"Cured Ham Zhejiang Style".

[Prawncrackers]

Days 2 and 3

Actually these two days were relatively quiet dining wise. Most of our relatives live in Yuen Long and on day two we had some pretty decent dim sum lunch at the newly opened Nice Invitation restaurant opposite the Citimall (if anyone is familiar with Yuen Long that is). In the evening we had a quiet meal at Hang Heung's Kitchen in the New World centre TST, a very 'traditional' Chinese eatery with ridiculously small and uncomfortable wooden stools. Started with soup then roast meats, prawns & celery, beef & mushrooms and liver sausage & veg:

The roast meats were good but the rest of the meal was very ordinary. Maybe it was the stools or maybe it was the loud constant annoying sound of steam whistling somewhere but i couldn't wait to get out of this place. This is probably the closest restaurant to our hotel and the only reason we stumbled into it.

Day 3 we went to Ocean Park to see some Pandas!

Couldn't resist posting one pic, my wife and i love pandas Foodwise this day was pretty quiet, had some squid and the only non-Chinese meal of the trip, a Japanese Eel Rice somewhere in Times Square, Causeway Bay, in the evening.

Edited November 8, 2008 by Prawncrackers (log)

[Dejah]

Prawn:

You bet I'm still reading this thread!

It's got me thinking salt'n'pepper softshell crab as my next dish to cook at home. Picked up several packets of frozen crabs while I was in the city. Hope I can make them like your photos. if you have any hints, pass 'em on!

[Prawncrackers]

Okay let's get back to it! Not sure whether this post should be in this thread but for continuity i'm putting it here. Moderators please move it if you think it is best. Though bear in mind this was only a day trip from Hong Kong.

On Day Four we were in Macau, having never been before i wasn't sure what to expect. I was with my wife, sis-in-law and cousin and was outvoted when i said i didn't want to go to the new Venetian casino. Not being a gambler or much of a shopper it didn't appeal to me whatsoever. There was a little mild (be or a?-)musement in the sheer scale of the place, the fake gondolas and Venetian squares. We stopped at the food court there, had a light lunch and sampled the first Po Tart of the day:

As you can see this specimen was a little pathetic. Very disappointing but not wholly unexpected considering this was a Casino food court. The next one at the bottom the steps to the ruins of St Paul's Basilica was a completely different proposition altogether:

As was the pork bun:

If there's any memory i will take back from Macau it is the taste of that Tart and Bun. Simply superb.

Along the Rua de Sao Paolo there were so many snack shops selling pork jerky:

Amongst my favourite was the Spicy Piglet. Still warm and perversely for jerky it tasted so fresh! I've never tasted better.

We ended up at the the A-Ma Temple and along the harbour road there we stumbled into the O Porto Interior restaurant. I was intending to eat at A Lorcha after all the recommendations in the Macau thread but it wasn't open for another hour. The interior of O Porto Interior was very chintzy but the staff welcoming. Alas we didn't have much of an appetite after a lot of snacking but did manage some Portuguese Sausage, Macanese stuffed crab (very cute), fried rice with salt cod and African chicken:

All the dishes were very good, so much so that even my usually very picky Hong Kong sis-in-law found it tasty. My only regret was that we didn't have more of an appetite with which to sample more dishes. There is always next time i suppose!

[Shelby]

I'm still reading here, too! Oh, and drooling a lot.....

[Prawncrackers]

Day 5 was really when the serious eating began! In the daytime i met with some relatives on my side and the evening there was a big family gathering on my wife's side for a wedding's eve meal prior to blessing the bride's head. So double stretch on the waistband that day

In the day again we found ourselves in Harbour City, TST, but this time it was the House of Jasmine restaurant.

Started with fried Dace balls, bit unexciting but nice:

Gai Lan:

Roast goose, very delicious in this place. Even made my normally stoic HK uncle declare it so. Though he did caveat it by saying it may be because he's not had it for a few months. You just can't impress these people can you?

Fried rice with crab roe and scallop:

Juicy and bouncy Prawn and Fish Maw dumplings:

Siu Mai topped with Abalone:

Suckling piglet, accompanied surprisingly with leafy salad dressed with balsamic. Sampled a few suckling pigs on this trip and these few morsels were the best of the lot:

Big prawns and chive dumplings:

I'd thought we finished our meal until my uncle spotted this trio of pork on the menu:

We waited a good 20 minutes for this dish to arrive right at end of the meal. It was so late that we had to pay the bill before it arrived as cashtill was being closed after the lunch service. But it was worth the wait: left was a breaded pork cutlet, right was some crispy fried nam yue pork and in the centre was the star of the show Dong Po pork. I think this maybe the single best dish of the whole trip. So deep and succulent, the other two preparations although tasty in their own right were there simply to contrast the melting quality of the Dong Po pork. Has anyone else had this?

The restaurant was excellent, comfortable, modern, light and moderately priced. I'm planning a return visit next time i'm back in HK.

After going back to the hotel for a wedding rehearsal/rundown we had to dash back to Yuen Long. Unfortunately i didn't get the name of the restaurant where we ate next. Only that it was a very large establishment in the older part of town.

To start was peking duck:

Suckling pig and jellyfish:

Large juicy prawns in a Shanton broth sauce with crispy noodles. Best dish of the meal, prawns were unbelievably moreish, i have no idea what kind of prawns there were but i could've eaten that dish on my own or at least tried to:

Scallops with broccoli:

Stir-fried grouper with celery. The skin on this grouper was so thick that it had a meaty texture in itself:

There was some soup that i omitted to photo, but here were the tasty remains; black chicken, pork and load of clams:

Braised Pork with Bitter Melon in black bean sauce:

Stir-fried battered fish - not sure what kind:

Sui Gow (water dumpling) and Fried Glutinous Rice:

Lotus Buns:

Sweet Red Bean Soup:

That's it, Day 5 over. Yes, that was one day!

[Shelby]

I love how they plated the suckling pig. It's like it had the air sucked out of it lol.

[Prawncrackers]

I love how they plated the suckling pig.  It's like it had the air sucked out of it lol.

←

If you like that Shelby you'll love the next one!!

[Prawncrackers]

Day 6 was the wedding day. We'd never been to a Hong Kong wedding so the whole day was a real experience for us especially as my wife was one of the "bridesmaids". I'll speak no more of it lets just say i'm glad we never had to go through all of it ourselves. In the evening was obviously the banquet, here is the menu:

At banquets the food is served to each guest rather than the usual help yourselves family style.

Yes, those are red bulbs in the eyes!

But disappointingly it was the least tasty of the three suckling pigs we'd sampled on this trip. Not as crisp, it felt like it had been hanging around for a little too long.

Scallops with Honeyed Walnut is a fantastic combination:

Never had bamboo pith before, really wonderful texture:

The spotted grouper was particularly lush, managed to bag my favourite collar piece first and when no-one was interested in the head i snaffled that too!

[hzrt8w]

Prawcrackers: You ate very well!

[Prawncrackers]

Prawcrackers:  You ate very well!

←

You can say that again! But i haven't finished yet...

On Day 7 we took a trip to Tai O fishing village in Lantau Island. Just to have wander and see a side of Hong Kong that we'd never experienced before. I loved the market with all the fresh and dried seafood. For lunch we had some fried rice and noodles at this place:

Pork Ho Fun:

Prawn and Ham Fried rice:

Saltfish (very salty, very delicious) & chicken fried rice:

and cuttlefish fried noodles:

Whilst doing some wandering i couldn't resist trying some char-grilled dried cuttlefish:

Wasn't actually that great, a bit too tough. Opposite from the cuttlefish was a man char-grilling Gai Dan Jai, and as this is one of my wife's favourites i joined the surprisingly long queue to get served. It was worth it though, he made you wait because they were extra crispy:

See the little portable fan he used to fan the coals to get extra heat? Had to wait 25 mins for a portion, he was in no rush at all:

In the evening there was a post wedding celebration in Lau Fau San:

Lau fau shan is a town past Yuen Long near Tin Siu Wai and my relative always rave about the quality of the seafood. So let's see...

Started with an oh so sweet pork and geoduck soup, with the soup residue served separately:

Actually, you can see how much they've put into it:

Simply boiled sweet shrimp:

Pay Dan, not usually a fan but not a trace of ammonia so quite edible:

Salt & Pepper Mantis Shrimp:

Steamed fresh abalone:

Grouper and Celery (same dish as Day 5 evening):

Deep fried battered fish - i think a type of sole:

Deep fried fresh oysters with lettuce wraps. There was a spicy salt dip to go with this:

Deep fried dried oysters:

Simply steamed crab:

Choi Sum:

and Deep-fried Fresh Tofu:

Everything was excellent and epitomised great Cantonese seafood; generous, uncomplicated & above all fresh. The only thing missing for me was a whole steamed fish, that would've made this the perfect seafood meal for me

[Shelby]

Gosh, I love seeing all of that gorgeous seafood. I can't imagine being able to sample all of those different dishes. I love the second pig, too--I gotta do that light in the eyeball thing for Christmas dinner I also love the roe in the rice that you showed during the wedding feast.

[hzrt8w]

Wasn't actually that great, a bit too tough. 

←

In some shops, they are equipped with steel rollers. (If they have it) you can ask them to roll-cut the char-grilled squid.

Steamed fresh abalone:

←

Wooooooooooooooooooooooooollllllllllllllllllllll!!!!!

Wholey Abalone!!!! In California, these fresh abalone would probably sell for US $30-$40 EACH! I had paid US$18 to eat one about half the size of what you showed!!!

[Prawncrackers]

Yup i'm glad i didn't have to pay for that meal!! The extended family were there - 4 generations - we were in fact two large tables. My biggest uncle 大伯 (who's only daughter just got married) arranged this memorable feast.

Abalone is truly a beautiful thing to eat, here are some more shots:

We'd actually over-ordered so some of us had the pleasure of eating two of these beauties. I was one of the lucky ones.

Last day of eating to follow tomorrow...

[Prawncrackers]

Okay let's wrap this up with Day 8!

We spent the day in Yuen Long again and just grabbed a quick lunch on the ground floor of the Citimall. Sorry didn't get the name of this place, just your local joint around here.

My wife always has Taiwanese Beef Shin and Bubble Tea when she comes back to HK, so it was on the last day that we actually managed to squeeze some in:

I had some curried beef brisket:

and side dishes of lobster balls, shredded pigs ears and squid:

We had an early morning flight home the next day so in the evening we stayed close to the hotel. We ate at the Shanghai Xiao Nan Guo restaurant in the Tsim Sha Tsui Centre (another chain i think).

Interesting appetiser of peanuts floating in a syrupy sauce - very moreish, sweet and vinegary:

and pickled radish:

Sweet and sour ribs:

Chow Leen Goh - a type of noodle made with glutinous rice flour:

Sichuan Boiled Beef - not nearly spicy enough but good all the same:

Crab Xiao Long Bao:

Sang Jian Bao:

Braised pork belly with buns. I was hoping this would be as good as the Dong Po pork dish we had on Friday but was a big let down. Very tough, not nearly cooked enough:

Soup with Sui Gow, veg and chicken:

Wor tip:

Two sweet dishes, first Tong Sui (Sweet soup) with little Tong Yuun and fermented rice (possibly the best dish of the meal)

Sweet potato fritters:

This meal was actually very similar to the first meal we had at Crystal Jade but overall i think i enjoyed the first a little more.

That's it! That was 8 days of eating, i feel full again just writing it all out. Hope you've all enjoyed seeing what we got up to.

[adey73]

Prawn, if you ever need an extra 'family' member, y'know, I am always there for you mate

What a glorious trip!

[Prawncrackers]

Prawn, if you ever need an extra 'family' member, y'know, I am always there for you mate 

What a glorious trip!

Are you young, rich and good looking? We still have a couple of cousins to marry off!

[adey73]

..........I've got a face like an old tin opener and a bank account of broken dreams. Damn.

[HKDave]

Thanks for the detailed report. Interesting to hear about House of Jasmine, because although I eat in Harbour City several times a week, I only stumbled across it last night. H of J is part of the massive Maxim's Catering group, which I normally avoid, but I'll have to give them a try.

[SpikeHK]

Hi all,

I'm new here, this is my first post, some may know me via my blog (Hongkie Town) or my column in BC Magazine but probably not.

Anyway, I know I have a lot of catching up to do in terms of reading the posts, so forgive me if I'm asking something that's already been asked, but am wondering if anyone can recommend any places for Yum Cha in or near Sai Kung Old Town.

I'm assuming that the touristy places along the waterfront don't have it (or if they do, it's not very good) but surely there must be some places there that do it? What about Wing Wo? Anyone ever try there?

Thanks!