Hong Kong days 7-9
Since I'm way behind on these posts, I'm going to concatenate a few days together. We stayed in town for a few days. Day 7 started out in Mong Kok, on the Kowloon side of the harbour. We had lunch at a noodle place near the top floor of Langham Place, a nearly vertical mall full of spiral walkways. I had a bowl of noodles with these hybrid fish-tofu dumpling ball-type things. Pretty tasty. The fish-tofu was basically a blend of fish and tofu which had the soft texture of tofu with some fish ball taste. Really good. The rice noodles were chewy - they have a circular cross-section.
We had a couple of fried side dishes. On the left are deep fried fish fillets (dor chun yue) and on the right are fried milk balls. The fish was really soft, almost liquid inside the fried shell, which was coated with some spicy salt. The fried milk balls were a good blend of sweet and salty, crispy and soft.
Here's the inside of a milk ball. It's coated with a bit of white sugar which was used as a dip.
We also had some fried noodles with eggplant in fish sauce (yu heung keh zi) in a hot pot bowl, which made for some crispy noodles at the bottom. Not as inspiring, this dish.
Dinner was at Housaku Japanese restaurant in Metroplaza mall where we met up with a friend. Had some so-so (greasy) tempura pumpkin and yam,
weird but tasty mayo shrimp sushi wrapped in tofu skin,
and a yummy omelette-type square.
Later, at Tsuen Wan MTR station I had a cream puff from Beard Papa, a Japanese chain. Apparently these were a huge craze a few years ago in Hong Kong (which has had several other food crazes in recent memory). Well, I can see why: the pastry was crispy but not dry, and the cream, somewhat less custardy than Boston cream, was pretty addictive. I spent the rest of my trip with a promise to myself that if I happened upon another Beard Papa store (without actively looking), I'd get another cream puff, but alas, I didn't manage to fulfill that promise.
Day 8 was a Wednesday, which meant free admission to the museums out in Tsim Sha Tsui (so it wasn't ALL eating). But first, we swung by the Mid-levels escalator where we picked up some buns for breakfast. Here's a sausage sandwich; I also had a pork chop bun which wasn't very good -- I think I was pining for those Macau pork chop buns.
Lunch was at Din Tai Fung, part of a Taiwanese chain. The restaurant was in this eating complex called the Wonderful Worlds of Whampoa, which seems like a decent place to spend a few meals. We started with some five spice beef in noodle soup (on the right) and some tofu noodles with cucumbers and peanut sauce (left). Both very tasty.
Din Tai Fung is known for its dumplings, and its soup-filled dumplings (Siu Long Bao, or little dragon buns) in particular. The dumplings, at the front left of the picture below, were indeed excellent, with thin skin and plenty of liquid, while not feeling too fatty. We ended up having two "long" (containers?) of these, and of my 6 or 7, I managed not to rip the skin (and therefore lose the soup) of any of these, despite the thin skin. We also had some peanut sauce noodles (dam dam mein), which were okay, although I prefer more soup like at Moutai in Richmond.
Dinner was with some relatives in Kowloon, actually near the famous Temple St. (miu gai). I don't remember the name of the restaurant. Didn't manage to take many pictures either, which means that you don't get to see the goose feet (like gigantic duck feet -- I've decided that I don't like webbed feet, and much prefer chicken feet). At least I got a picture of some tasty crispy-skinned chicken with garlic on top.
Later in the evening, we saw these fish in tanks outside another restaurant. I don't think this picture does justice to the size of the fish on the right, but consider that the fish in the left tank are probably good for one dish. I guess you need a couple of tables with a couple of fish dishes each to take on one of those big fish.
Day 9 was at Ocean Park, an amusement park cum aquarium with some stunning views and predictably bad amusement-park food. The picture below was taken before I ate any of the fries. And the chicken steak hidden below one of the fries was not seasoned at all. At least that sausage was massive (although not entirely tasty).
At night we went to a "secret" pasta place called Te in the Mid-levels, an expat area. Secret, because we could see the restaurant from the escalator but couldn't find an entrance until we went through an unmarked door. The pasta was good but tiny. I compounded problems by munching on a dried chili which took revenge on me by searing my mouth for 5 minutes. Forgot to take pictures of the food, so here's the menu:
As a result of the small pasta, we went for another hamburger at Triple O's as a nightcap.
We had a couple of fried side dishes. On the left are deep fried fish fillets (dor chun yue) and on the right are fried milk balls. The fish was really soft, almost liquid inside the fried shell, which was coated with some spicy salt. The fried milk balls were a good blend of sweet and salty, crispy and soft.
Here's the inside of a milk ball. It's coated with a bit of white sugar which was used as a dip.
We also had some fried noodles with eggplant in fish sauce (yu heung keh zi) in a hot pot bowl, which made for some crispy noodles at the bottom. Not as inspiring, this dish.
Dinner was at Housaku Japanese restaurant in Metroplaza mall where we met up with a friend. Had some so-so (greasy) tempura pumpkin and yam,
weird but tasty mayo shrimp sushi wrapped in tofu skin,
and a yummy omelette-type square.
Later, at Tsuen Wan MTR station I had a cream puff from Beard Papa, a Japanese chain. Apparently these were a huge craze a few years ago in Hong Kong (which has had several other food crazes in recent memory). Well, I can see why: the pastry was crispy but not dry, and the cream, somewhat less custardy than Boston cream, was pretty addictive. I spent the rest of my trip with a promise to myself that if I happened upon another Beard Papa store (without actively looking), I'd get another cream puff, but alas, I didn't manage to fulfill that promise.
Day 8 was a Wednesday, which meant free admission to the museums out in Tsim Sha Tsui (so it wasn't ALL eating). But first, we swung by the Mid-levels escalator where we picked up some buns for breakfast. Here's a sausage sandwich; I also had a pork chop bun which wasn't very good -- I think I was pining for those Macau pork chop buns.
Lunch was at Din Tai Fung, part of a Taiwanese chain. The restaurant was in this eating complex called the Wonderful Worlds of Whampoa, which seems like a decent place to spend a few meals. We started with some five spice beef in noodle soup (on the right) and some tofu noodles with cucumbers and peanut sauce (left). Both very tasty.
Din Tai Fung is known for its dumplings, and its soup-filled dumplings (Siu Long Bao, or little dragon buns) in particular. The dumplings, at the front left of the picture below, were indeed excellent, with thin skin and plenty of liquid, while not feeling too fatty. We ended up having two "long" (containers?) of these, and of my 6 or 7, I managed not to rip the skin (and therefore lose the soup) of any of these, despite the thin skin. We also had some peanut sauce noodles (dam dam mein), which were okay, although I prefer more soup like at Moutai in Richmond.
Dinner was with some relatives in Kowloon, actually near the famous Temple St. (miu gai). I don't remember the name of the restaurant. Didn't manage to take many pictures either, which means that you don't get to see the goose feet (like gigantic duck feet -- I've decided that I don't like webbed feet, and much prefer chicken feet). At least I got a picture of some tasty crispy-skinned chicken with garlic on top.
Later in the evening, we saw these fish in tanks outside another restaurant. I don't think this picture does justice to the size of the fish on the right, but consider that the fish in the left tank are probably good for one dish. I guess you need a couple of tables with a couple of fish dishes each to take on one of those big fish.
Day 9 was at Ocean Park, an amusement park cum aquarium with some stunning views and predictably bad amusement-park food. The picture below was taken before I ate any of the fries. And the chicken steak hidden below one of the fries was not seasoned at all. At least that sausage was massive (although not entirely tasty).
At night we went to a "secret" pasta place called Te in the Mid-levels, an expat area. Secret, because we could see the restaurant from the escalator but couldn't find an entrance until we went through an unmarked door. The pasta was good but tiny. I compounded problems by munching on a dried chili which took revenge on me by searing my mouth for 5 minutes. Forgot to take pictures of the food, so here's the menu:
As a result of the small pasta, we went for another hamburger at Triple O's as a nightcap.
posted by Tim @ 12:32 AM
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