Valentine’s Candies – We exchanged candies on V Day. W got this box of chocolates with multiple flavours! These are mostly truffles covered with milk chocolate, some with small pieces of nuts or rock candies hidden within.
Me to W, fruity flavoured truffles plus a bar of chocolate ‘Love Potion’…..
This was one of the sweetest V Day so far! It’ll take us weeks to finish all of the above!
Saturday marks the seventh day of the Snake Year, which is an auspicious day on the Chinese Lunar Calendar. As for the Chinese, each New Year brings on a new zodiac, 2012 was the Dragon year and next year (2014) will be the year of the Horse. How the coming year unravel will remain a mystery.
As a tradition within my family, we would visit the Chinese temple and get our blessings for the year. Then, we’ll pay homage to our family fortune teller, Mr. Y, whom we know well. Mr. Y predicts my Snake Year fortune will be not as good as last year’s. He predicts that certain members in my family or friend may depart us. As for myself, this will be a year of luck as well as misfortunes. Well, all that sounded quite ominous, but I think I should have this “wait and see” attitude, before getting too depressed. My way to start the New Year is to visit a Chinese temple, ask for a blessing by the monk and then make an offering. This should be done on the eighth day of the Lunar New Year.
Anyhow, as a gesture to good fortune for the Lunar New Year, W and I made Korean dumplings (mandu/만두) and paired these with rice cakes (dduk/떡) and soup. To start the process, we have got ourselves some ground pork and beef, mushrooms, green scallion, tofu, wonton skins…. 
Chop all these ingredients into small bits, then squeeze liquid out of tofu…..
All ready to be mixed together…..
Just need a small spoonful for each wrap…..
We made some pot stickers too…..
Condiments for dduk-mandu-gook (dumplings and rice cake soup)…..
Vóilá! The finished product, 떡만두국, dduk mandu gook, let’s eat!!
It took us only a couple of hours to make this, it was a delightful and delicious meal! 맛있었어요!!
Sunday Dim Sum – Golden Leaf (金葉庭). When Sunday comes along, we’d like to have dim sum for brunch. But most of the dim sum places in Hong Kong are quite crowded on the weekends. What to do? No problem. Mom just happens to be a regular at Golden Leaf, so getting a table there would be a quick phone call away. So, here we go.
Golden Leaf is situated at the lower level inside the Conrad Hotel Hong Kong, with its traditional Chinese-styled carved teakwood and rosewood furniture, the subdued lighting gives it an ambiance of grace. Most Chinese restaurants are known to be noisy but The Golden Leaf is an exception to the rule. Their dishes are known for the light touch, without excess oil or overpowering flavours, a welcome change from the heavy-handedness of some of the city’s dim sum chefs. Golden Leaf received a Michelin “One Star” rating during 2009 to until 2011, Gourmet Traveller named it one of the top five Yum Cha restaurants in Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Tattler magazine listed The Golden Leaf restaurant as one the best for the past 19 consecutive years.
The entrance is quite formal, this makes some sense since the restaurant is inside an upscale hotel…..
As the name implies, at least something is decked with gold…..
First course, steamed dumplings with vegetables and shrimp…..
Baked BBQ pork pies…..
Inside filled with BBQ pork…..
Starchy rolls with fried donut and dried shrimp…..
Steamed Shrimp dumplings (Har-Gouw) topped with gold-foil…..
Close-up…..
Baked sea whelk stuffed with diced seafood, abalone, chicken and onions…..
Dessert, baked egg tarts…..
Steamed multi-layered egg and coconut cake…..
Mango pudding…..
Overall, it was a savory brunch in a relaxing surrounding. The service was attentive and discrete. The Maitre d’ appeared a little cold but this is typical Hong Kong-style efficiency which can at times seem impersonal to the point of impoliteness. The restaurant is also conveniently located next to the Pacific Place Mall with direct access to MTR. This place is sure worth another try on my next visit to HKG!
Golden Leaf | Lower Lobby, Conrad Hong Kong, Pacific Place, 88 Queensway, Admiralty | (852) 2521 3838 | www.conradhotels.hilton.com |
