January 21, 2011

• Song of the Day
  
  A duet by Aarif Lee and Janice, this is a slight departure from the original version by 哥哥 Leslie Cheung, still evoked memories from the 80′s…..

  常常在旅途中迷失…
  那種猶疑不定的感覺…讓自己錯亂在城市中
  自己到底扮演什麼角色…或者我以後要成為什麼樣的人…
  不斷不斷的嘗試和跌跌撞撞…

  
  (My heartfelt thank you to W for this fabulous harbour photo, as well as many other photos in this blog, especially the Din Tai Fung’s and Tim Ho Wan’s)

  HONG KONG (part 2) – “Tidbits” – one of the perks of staying near CWB (Causeway Bay) on Hong Kong Island is the abundance of good eateries, we can start the eating tour from sunrise until the wee hours at night. The restaurants in my last blog, Cova and Ding Tai Fung, were only a few blocks from where I was staying. One night, after a multi-course meal with my parents and relatives, I wanted some dessert. No problem. Just walk over a bridge towards the direction of Victoria Park and across from the Chinese Recreatin Club (CRC), there lies a couple of small and cozy dessert stops. One of them is “Xiao Tian Gu” which literally means “small and sweet valley”, serving traditional Cantonese sweeties. It was a cold night, so I ordered a “stewed sweet pear”, in which a whole pear is stewed in a sweet concoction of Chinese herbs. A soft and juicy pear bathing in a tub of sweet and pleasant herbal soup, just like home cooking, that sure hit my sweet spot!

  

  W ordered a tapioca pudding infused with kiwi fruit bits and coconut milk, it was equally refreshing…..
  

  The menu (with limited English translation) and a wall of famous clientele…..
  

  The ho-hum exterior…..
  

  SWEET “千口甘” – is another dessert shop just around the corner from “Xiao Tian Gu”. We needed some sugar infusion after a long luncheon, it was still early in the afternoon and there was no wait. I ordered a strwberry flavoured shaved ice, and my brother had a baked custard with red bean and sago…..

  I was told the shop utilized a special ice shaving machine to create this special “silky” texture…..
  

  Not too sweet, baked just right but the portion is quite huge for a single serving. Think Creme Brulee+baked egg custard+red bean+sage = super delicious
  

  Outside view / menu on the wall…..
  

  “Tai Ping Koon” Restaurant – is one of the oldest and well established restaurants that serves Hong Kong style Continental cuisine. They have branches located in Central, Tsim Sha Tsui, Yau Ma Ti and Causeway Bay. The one in Causeway Bay is just a few steps from where we were staying, and is the same place we have been patronizing since junior high school. So, having a meal over there is just like reminiscing back to the good old days.

  The interior design has not changed much from the 1970′s, even a few of the waiters have been working at the same place since then / the special menu celebrating their 150th year in business…..
  

  The menu even included a story about their famous “Swiss Chicken Wings”, one of their must-try items…..
  

  Bosch soup / Roast quail…..
  

  Roast squab / Grilled Canadian Angus Ribeye with pepper sauce…..
  

  We waited and waited, for almost forty-five minutes, and we got the largest soufflé in all of Hong Kong. It took up almost the whole table, and everybody in the restaurant was staring at it…..
  

  Man Fai, King of Cuttlefish Balls- was one of our destinations back in 2009. W really like their noodles with the special cuttlefish balls. So, one day on our way back to our place, we stopped by for a quick snack. The restaurant is still crowded even after lunch hour, at four o’clock in the afternoon? Lucky for us, there were a few emprty chairs just when we walked in. W ordered the usual – squid and cuttlefish balls, seaweed with noodle soup, and I had the stewed goose meat on egg noodles.

  Goose meat is apparently more meaty than duck, similar to turkey meat…..
  

  All cuttlefish noodle soup…..
  

  Everybody just kept on eating and eating / Simple menu, just nine items…..
  

  Outside is just a street full of eateries…..
  

  Tim Ho Won (添好運)- was again anointed a Michelin one-star in 2011, instantly becoming the CHEAPEST Michelin starred restaurant of the world! Compared with other Michelin-ranked restaurants where a meal can cost more than $400, Tim Ho Won is an excellent value. Tim Ho Wan is headed by a former dim sum chef at Hong Kong’s Four Seasons Hotel, where he worked at its three-starred restaurant Lung King Heen. In 2009, we went to their original smallish restaurant in Mong Kok. Since then, the chef has opened a larger place in Shum Shui Po, which in my opinion, is in the middle of nowhere. I can understand the owner wanted a place a hundred times larger to seat more people, so that we do not need to queue up every time we visit. But why in SSP? Maybe this place will service the inner Kowloon clientele much better. We arrived before noon and got seated in no time, the place was crowded with mostly locals from the neighborhood.

  “Shiu-mai” and beef balls with dried Chinese orange peel inside, just tasted so freshly put together and steamed….
  

  Steamed spare ribs and stewed chicken feet in black bean sauce….
  

  Crispy baos with barbeque pork fillings…..
  

  Dessert – jello with sweet Osmanthus pedals inside
  

  The entire meal costs HK$71, which is less than US$9…..
  

  We have to walk several blocks and through a wet market to find this place / While we were walking out at round half past twelve, the entrance was full of patrons waiting for a table.
  

  The appearance and presentation of the dishes was still as shabby as before, but still did not do justice to the calibre of the taste at all. It would help with a few garnishes and dressings here and there. But considering how quickly the dishes are consumed and nobody was complaining about the sloppy presentation. Why fix it ? Even so, I’d definitely return for future bites!

  Din Tai Fung- In my last entry, I went to the Din Tai Fung in Causeway Bay. A week has past since that visit, and we were itching for dumplings again. Why not do some shopping and eating in Tsim Sha Tsui on the Kowloon side? “Good idea, we should eat first and then shop”, W said. Well, for the record, each of the Ding Tai Fung restaurant was awarded one Michelin Star. This particular DTF in Tsim Sha Tsui is inside a shopping arcade, Silvercord, which is also across from a really huge shopping mall – Harbour City. Now, I’m really excited looking forward to eating and shopping!

  The entrance has very good lighting / access to the restaurant at the top floor is through an escalator…..
  

  The “kitchen” is at the rear end of the restaurant, out of plain sight…..
  

  Each of the DTFs has one of this “instruction label”, in Chinese, English and Korean (what about Japanese?)
  

  First up, pan fried river prawns. These little shrimp never tasted so fresh and crisp!
  

  Bean sprout leaves are just so tender and tasty…..
  

  Black truffle pork xiao long bao (which costs three times more than the regular ones)…..
  

  Crab roe and pork xiao long bao, these little darlings were just oozing with crab roe oil and soup, waiting for us to eat up in no time…..
  

  While we were happily eating up, I noticed there were only six dumplings in each serving. When compared with the ten dumplings we usually get at the DTF in Los Angeles, we get less value for the food here in Hong Kong. But the quality of the ingredients, texture and taste are far better than the DTF in Los Angeles. Just for that, I don’t mind flying over again for more meals.

  • 2:23 am
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