Hong Kong | Hui Lau Shan

I believe Hui Lau Shan requires no introduction. The spreading of outlets all over Hong Kong is a testament to its popularity. I would always get my tong shui and mango desserts at Hui Lau Shan whenever I am in Hong Kong, rain or shine.

Mango and Mango Juice with Mango Jelly (HKD 36, below). Every bite and sip was mango goodness. And I loved that the mangoes were sweet, not sour. 4.5/5

Mango with mango ice-cream and glutinous rice balls (HKD 52, below). This is a combination of my two favourite things - Mangos and Ice-cream. The glutinous rice balls gave this little dessert a chewy dimension. 4.5/5

Mango with pomelo (HKD 52, below), the zesty and pulpy pomelo cum juicy mango pieces is a favourite combination that I always order. 4.5/5

Bird's Nest and Honey Jelly in Watermelon Juice (HKD 36, below). A different type of offering apart from the mangoes. The "bird's nest" was smooth and together with the watermelon juice, it was a perfect thirst quencher for a hot day. 4/5

Address: Various outlets all over Hong Kong

Hong Kong | Bubba Gump Shrimp Company

Imagine you are at the Peak Sky Terrace staring at this view. You take out a camera and ask a passer-by to help take a photo of you and your friends. Suddenly a wind blows and you are eating your hair. With the winds that do not stop wrecking your nice hair, it's really impossible to take a nice photo at the Peak, don't you agree?

Sometime ago, I discovered a "one stone kills two birds" solution : Bubba Gump restaurant. 1) You get the view, and 2) You don't eat the hair. You eat good food.

Located on third floor of the Peak Tower, you can't miss it if you are taking the escalators to the Sky Terrace. It's just probably 2 to 3 levels (can't remember) below the Sky Terrace.

They have the main dining room and a smaller dining room. I was seated in the smaller dining room which had a partial view. The main dining room has the full view and ceiling to floor glass windows. My recommendation would be to get a reservation at the main dining room.

Main dining room picture from Bubba Gump website

The smaller dining room's view

As the restaurant name suggests, it specializes in shrimps and you would expect a wide variety of shrimp dishes. In fact, they were two pages of the menu dedicated to their shrimp dishes. We ordered the Cajun Shrimp (HKD 76, below), sautéed shrimps in Cajun spices and butter served with garlic bread. The fragrant garlic bread was crispy and make a good complement for the fresh and savoury Cajun shrimps coated with Cajun spices. It's a bit of saltiness cum sourness taste which was interesting. 4/5

Want something more than shrimps? Get the Forrest Seafood Feast (HKD 198, below) which comprise of fish and chips, fried shrimps, and coleslaw. Dip in the accompanying sauces - tar tar, cocktail and remoulade. Though it's fried stuff, it isn't overly oily or salty. Very addictive and it was wiped out pretty quickly. 4/5

To call for the waiter's attention, flip the board provided on the table to "Run Forrest Run". Service was attentive and our food was served pretty fast after we placed our orders.

My verdict: Definitely beats squeezing with others on the Sky Terrace. Head down to Bubba Gump. Life should be this way - immersing yourself in the lovely night lights, and chilling comfortably and indulging in good comfort food.

Address:
Shop 304-305, 3/F, The Peak Tower, 128 Peak Road The Peak, Hong Kong

Hong Kong | Tim Ho Wan

Tim Ho Wan. The famous Michelin star from Hong Kong. That hole-in-the-wall eatery. The name that caused heart-beats to stop when it first landed in Singapore. The shop that had rumbling tummies queuing up for hours waiting to devour the handmade dim-sum. 

This is a story of how I went to the Tim Ho Wan outlet in Hong Kong and how I didn't queue for long.

As the original outlet at Mongkok was closed down due to high rents, we went to the IFC outlet at Central. Had a bit of issues in finding the outlet. But nothing is going to stand in between me and my beloved Char Siu Pau. With a bit of help from shop attendants, passerbys and a policeman, we found it :)) It's actually quite simple. Once you exit Central station, find Airport Express check-in signs. Take the lift that goes to Airport Express level but alight at level P1. It's right outside the lift.

Somehow there weren't a lot of people during dinner time at 6.30pm. We took a queue number and waited about 5 minutes.

The ordering system is fuss-free one where you indicate the number of items you want and pass to the waiter. The waiter will then pass the list to kitchen.

If you
1) don't know what to order, and/or
2) don't know Chinese,
just make sure you put more than "1" for the item I circled in red below.


I was referring to the Char Siew Pau. One has not visited Tim Ho Wan if one has not eaten the legendary Baked Char Siew Pau (HKD 18 for 3, below). It is seriously the best Char Siew Pau in the world!! The baked crust is crispy yet soft at the same time. As the teeth sinks into the crust, it crumbles.. into the sweet and savoury Char Siew meat that's filled in the bun. 5/5



The Siew Mai with prawn (HKD 24, below), was fresh and had the springy nom nom factor. I've eaten a lot of Siew Mai and Tim Ho Wan's version ranks high in the list for me. 4/5


The reason why Tim Ho Wan's dim sum are so good is because they make the dim sum only when the customer orders, hence ensuring the freshness of the dim sum. This is very evident in its Prawn Dumpling or Har Kau (HKD 24, below) which I could taste the freshness and sweetness of the prawns beneath the skin. 4/5


I loved its Carrot Cake (HKD 14, below) which has bits of shrimp, giving it the savoury taste. 4/5


My favourite way to end off the excellent dim sum dinner - the refreshing and light Osmanthus cake (HKD 12, below). It's not heavy and gives the feeling of cleansing of the palates. 4/5


So that's my Michelin dinner that cost less than S$10 per pax. And most importantly, it's satisfying and once again proves that good food need not necessarily be expensive.


Address:
添好運點心專門店
Shop 12A, Hong Kong Station (Podium Level 1, IFC Mall) Central

Hong Kong + Macau = Foodie's heaven

This is the first post of a special series relating to Hong Kong and Macau..

Wheeee!!

Just back from my holiday cum business trip in Hong Kong and Macau. I love Hong Kong. And I go there almost every year, either for work or for play.. Despite being the nth visit this time, I am never bored of HK.

For my personal trip, I went with my Mama who was a first-timer to HK + Macau. HK + Macau is a foodie's heaven. After my friend saw the food section in my itinery, she was like, "I hope you gain 5kg". Anyway I've come to a conclusion:

It's not possible to gain weight from all the eating in HK.

That's because we were walking (which I insist it's a form of exercise) most of the time.. Erm yes from all the shopping.. And when your legs are tired, it's a natural instinct is to find a place to sit down, rest and eat, right? And I think Hong Kongers walked a lot.. Their MTR stations have more stairs than escalator.. No wonder every Hong Konger looks slim.. Anyway long story cut short, here's a snapshot of what I did and ate. 

Our HK trip began with a magical adventure at Disneyland.

Saw an old grandpa watching fireworks in his wheelchair.. Life is like fireworks. It's short but it's up to you to make it as beautiful as you like.

 

Interesting glow-in-the-dark Booberry Mist drink, available at the new Mystic Point section.

We stayed at Disneyland Hotel for one night. The hotel was like a castle.. Everything was so princessy:

We woke up to have a buffet feast at Enchanted Garden..

..where some friends paid a visit :)

We ate really good dim sum at Tim Ho Wan.

Erm ya that's 6 Char Siew Pau for two pax 

And I had Hui Lau San almost everyday. Mangoes are my favorite food and I swear Hui Lau San's mango desserts are the best ever!!

Breakfast were the Polo buns at Kam Wah and Crispy Condensed Milk buns at Tsui Wah.

My mama was fascinated by the Big Buddha. It was Day Fifteen of the Eight Lunar Month 八月十五 and we had a simple vegetarian meal at the Po Lin Monastry next to Big Buddha.

Since we were at Lantau Island already, we also went to Tai O village. Tai O is a small fishing village and we went on a boat tour to see dolphins ! For just HK$20! Best value for money activity.. 

The beloved dolphins! You have to do the boat trip!

Growing up in Tai O..

We went up to the Peak on the same day as the moon was supposedly the roundest and prettiest on that day. We got a terrible shock to see that the queue up the Peak was insane.. There were a lot of China visitors as Mooncake festival was a public holiday. Anyway we were insane enough to go up..

What we were supposed to be squeezing our way up for:

The Sky Terrace on top of the Peak was so cramped and it was difficult to take a decent shot. We had dinner at the Bubba Gump on level 3 of the peak tower. View was great, no squeezing with insane crowds, food was affordable and good.

We had very nice Creme Brulee at Paul Lafayet at Hysan Place in Causeway Bay. The caramelized top with the soft vanilla cream made it the most perfect Creme Brulee that I've ever eaten.

We also had really good Hong Kong style fish congee at Sea View Congee (海景) shop in Mongkok Argyle Street. But the fried fritters wrapped with rice noodles was the real star. We have eaten a lot of food which is crispy on the outside but soft on the inside. But this one was the opposite - soft on the outside and crispy on the inside. The result - unforgettable and touched.

Must try:

Roast goose is also a Hong Kong specialty food. We had our fill of roast goose at Yung Kee. Sadly, I find that the standard has been dropping everytime I visit. The meat was getting tougher each time I visit. The only redemption was the crispy, sweet, roasted skin. Certainly not worth the price I paid (HK$150).

The last time I ate the egg tarts from Tai Cheong Bakery (泰昌餅家) was almost a decade ago. I remembered I happened to visit it on the last few days of its operations as it had decided to close down due to high rents. I remembered it was the best egg tarts ever. It was subsequently bought by Tao Heung group and several outlets opened. Happened to pass by one of its outlets in Wan Chai and I bought the egg tarts. Sadly, it's not the same as the old ones which were hot, and had a softest and smoothest egg filling ever, and crispy crust.

We also ate roast meat at Joy Hing Roasted Meats, a famous hole-in-the-wall eatery with Michelin mention. The jovial uncle recommended the Three Treasure rice, which consist of char siew, soy chicken, and roast duck.

I will ignore the uncle next time and order just char siew rice. I swear the char siew was to die for! Unlike Singapore's version which the char siew was dry and thinly slice, Joy Hing's version was tender, juicy, sweet and salty, and the charred parts were fragrant. Best char siew ever!

Our food adventures continued in Macau. We had a Portuguese cuisine feast at Albergue 1601. Ok now why doesn't Singapore have Portuguese restaurants apart from Nandos?

Seafood rice

Look out for upcoming detailed reviews for these places mentioned above:
HK
- Desserts at Hui Lau San
- Dim Sum at Tim Ho Wan
- Breakfast buffet at Disneyland's Enchanted Garden
- Bubba Gump at the Peak
- Roast meats at Joy Hing Roasted Meats
- Experience at the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel
- Breakfasts at Tsui Wah and Kam Wah

Macau
- Portuguese cuisine at Albergue 1601
- Chinese desserts at Yee Shun Milk Company
- Crab porridge at Seng Cheong
- Sedurra dessert from Gelatina Mok Yi Kei
- Portuguese egg tarts from Lord Stow's Bakery
- Har Zi Meen
- Traditional Chinese desserts from 杏香园
- Experience at Conrad Cotai Macao Sands, best hotel stay ever!!