I thought I'd take a short break from food blogging and share some photos I took in our first two months in Hong Kong. This city is what you would expect a big city to be: a crowded, noisy and smelly concrete jungle. But there are also beautiful parks with lots of green, lovely flora and wonderful fauna, each one providing a tranquil haven away from the hustle and bustle of the claustrophobic city space. The parks featured in this post were located within 30 minutes' walk from where we stayed at the Four Seasons and where we are staying now.
The fauna at the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens in Central District: monkeys swinging...
... and tortoises... um... dancing!
A waterfall somewhere in Hong Kong Park, also in Central:
Filipino maids on their day off, hanging out on Chater Road, a section of which is usually closed off to motor traffic on Sundays and public holidays. There are up to 200,000 Filipinos in Hong Kong, many who work as domestic helpers, and they gather at various locations to socialise and picnic on their day off. This is the only photogenic shot I have of them, as it is difficult to compose a good shot from crowded passageways where they like to hang out.
Colourful costumes worn by the participants at the Central Rat Race, a charity relay event which raises funds for a mental health organisation:
In Kowloon Park, you can pretend you're not in the city, but only if you can ignore the tall skyscrapers:
A graceful white swan in a still lake in Kowloon Park:
Kowloon Park boasts a Bird Lake that houses a flock of flamingoes amongst other types of birds:
Flowers are aplenty in Kowloon Park, and here is a shot of a lotus flower (impressive zooming capability of my Canon point-and-shoot:
The messy, cluttered streetscape of Jordan in Kowloon extends above street level:
Hong Kong is a wonderful city, and we're stoked to finally have the opportunity to live here (6 years after we first fell in love with this city during our honeymoon trip). There are of course some undesirable aspects to living in a big city (e.g. air pollution, big crowds), but these are just things we have to take along with the good stuff.
Friday 26 November 2010
Saturday 20 November 2010
Al fresco Italian: dinner @ ISOLA and lunch @ Joia, HK
Italian restaurants are dime-a-dozen in urban Hong Kong, but al fresco dining isn't. The main reason is the climate - there are only brief periods during spring and autumn when the weather is pleasant enough for outdoor eating; but summer is usually too hot, humid and plagued with typhoons, and you just don't dine outdoors during winter. Space in this crowded city is another issue, and until recently, outdoor eating and drinking were often too restricted or prohibited. Al fresco dining is something I'd admittedly taken for granted back when we were still living in Perth, where the weather is perfect almost all year round, and space is not an issue. Fortunately for us, shortly after our move to Hong Kong, we managed to have two al fresco meals within weeks of each other. I've grouped these two dining experiences in one post because they happen to belong to the same restaurant group, Gaia Group, and because they both feature upscale al fresco dining.
ISOLA bar+grill, IFC Mall (Central)
ISOLA bar+grill is an Italian restaurant that occupies two floors of the IFC mall with sweeping views of the Victoria Harbour. If al fresco dining is not the usual in Hong Kong, then waterfront al fresco is even rarer! We had dinner here with one of Rob's colleague who was in town on business, which gave Zak and I a chance to catch up with D because we didn't get to when we were still in Tokyo. D had eaten here previously and liked the food, and it was a convenient location for a weekday dinner, near their office and our temporary apartment when we were still at the Four Seasons.
ISOLA's open kitchen: a couple of the chefs saw the camera and took the opportunity to pose:
The restaurant interior has an airy, spacious feel with a stylish yet minimal decor so as not to detract the attention away from the gorgeous views and lovely dishes. Service was professional, and my only gripe was the fact that our waitress never got back to me about my enquiry regarding allergenic ingredients in the bread that came with the complimentary bread basket. The menu offered a good variety of antipasti, pasta and stone-baked pizza as well a number of grilled, broiled and roasted items. Simple and rustic northern Italian is the food theme here, but the quality of the ingredients really shone through. There was also an impressive wine list, and both Rob and D got a glass each of a red, the name of which I have forgotten. We enjoyed our meal in the warm but windy outdoors (Typhoon Megi was forecasted to reach HK in a couple of days, but thankfully that super typhoon never did).
We got a Trifola Pizza to share: black truffle, crescenza, mozzarella and mache leaves. The thin crust were baked to perfection, both cheeses complemented each other and the mache added a lovely peppery accent to the pizza. I felt that it could do with just a little more black truffle though.
Specks of black truffle on the pizza:
Rob ordered the Carré d`agnello arrosto alle erbe con funghi e carciofi (roasted rack of lamb baked with aromatic herbs, mushrooms and artichokes), which he enjoyed. I only had a couple of bites from his plate because I know how much Rob likes lamb (and how much I don't) and it was pretty juicy and not too gamey.
Roasted rack of lamb:
I much prefer to go for seafood, and went for the Merluzzo gigante arrosto arromatizzato al pane d`erbe (oven broiled black cod with aromatic lemon, basil, parsley crumbs served with sautéed mix vegetables). This was really good. The simple preparation and presentation ensured that subtle sweetness of the cod wasn't overpowerd, and I relished every bite of the juicy cod.
Juicy black cod:
To finish the meal, we shared Crispy Vin Santo cannoli with ricotta, pistachio and candy orange mousse which was on the daily specials menu. I loved this - everything from the lovely crispy shell to the smooth and creamy nutty centre. Simply divine!
Delicious cannoli:
It was a pleasant experience, and I would love another opportunity to go back to ISOLA and enjoy the al fresco dining in calmer conditions. It was also great to see D again who is now based in the New York office.
Joia, Elements Mall (Kowloon)
Shortly after we moved to our apartment near Elements, we invited Rob's aunt and her family (who are residents of HK) to have a look at our place, and then head over to Joia for lunch. This Italian restaurant is located on the rooftop dining area of the mall (named Civic Square), which contains several other restaurants and bars. We ate at the Mexican and Spanish restaurants in Civic Square before, and we were only too happy to have an opportunity to dine at another restaurant on the rooftop garden. Joia is a more modern counterpart to ISOLA, serving a more contemporary style of northern Italian cuisine. The antipasti and dessert buffet on weekends are a popular choice with families living in the nearby apartment complexes. The service was just as professional as ISOLA, and I greatly appreciated the fact that when I enquired about allergenic ingredients, our waitress went to get someone from the kitchen who was well-informed about the food ingredients.
Carbs in various bread forms: focaccia, sticks and sliced, served with olive oil & balsamic and a couple of other dips:
Rob went for the Il Branzino Cotto al Sale Grosso Profumato al Limone e Rosmarino (oven-baked whole sea bass in a rosemary and lemon-scented rock sea salt). I think he enjoyed it - fresh fish and produce - but was rather underwhelmed. Perhaps it was too simple a dish?
Is it really a whole sea bass if the head is not there?
I haven't eaten lasagna in a while, and I ordered the La Lasagnetta con Gamberi, Capesante e Carciofi in Crema Verde di Zucchini e Tartufo Nero (lasagna with prawns, scallops and artichokes in zucchini cream and black truffle). It would be fair to say that it was not what I'd expected. The lasagna sheets more closely resembled an eggy crêpe that had a chewy texture that required some careful effort to cut through. It was beautifully presented, the seafood were delicious, and the truffle shavings added a lovely earthy flavour to the dish. Nice idea that would probably work better with less gluten, but I must admit that I did feel cheated out of the lasagna I wanted.
Chewy lasagna:
Rob could not resist ordering dessert, of course, and he got a La Panna Cotta al Pepe di Sichuan con Granita di Mandarino e Croccante di Grue (Sichuan pepper panna cotta with mandarin granita and crunchy cocoa beans). He was intrigued with the idea of using a spicy pepper in a dessert, and so were the rest of us. The verdict? Well, the panna cotta was nice enough, but there was too much of the sweet mandarin granita which overpowered the subtler tasting cream. I couldn't taste any spiciness in this dessert.
Not-so-spicy Sichuan pepper panna cotta:
Joia is a pleasant restaurant, but it just doesn't compare to its sister restaurant ISOLA. Service was more attentive, but the food was only so-so. The weather was perfect that Sunday to have an outdoor lunch, but our table was ill-placed under the umbrella and half our table was in the sun throughout the whole meal. And it would be hard to beat waterfront views. Perhaps next time we'll go for the popular antipasti buffet because the spread looked pretty good and it is quite affordably priced too.
ISOLA bar+grill, IFC Mall (Central)
ISOLA bar+grill is an Italian restaurant that occupies two floors of the IFC mall with sweeping views of the Victoria Harbour. If al fresco dining is not the usual in Hong Kong, then waterfront al fresco is even rarer! We had dinner here with one of Rob's colleague who was in town on business, which gave Zak and I a chance to catch up with D because we didn't get to when we were still in Tokyo. D had eaten here previously and liked the food, and it was a convenient location for a weekday dinner, near their office and our temporary apartment when we were still at the Four Seasons.
ISOLA's open kitchen: a couple of the chefs saw the camera and took the opportunity to pose:
The restaurant interior has an airy, spacious feel with a stylish yet minimal decor so as not to detract the attention away from the gorgeous views and lovely dishes. Service was professional, and my only gripe was the fact that our waitress never got back to me about my enquiry regarding allergenic ingredients in the bread that came with the complimentary bread basket. The menu offered a good variety of antipasti, pasta and stone-baked pizza as well a number of grilled, broiled and roasted items. Simple and rustic northern Italian is the food theme here, but the quality of the ingredients really shone through. There was also an impressive wine list, and both Rob and D got a glass each of a red, the name of which I have forgotten. We enjoyed our meal in the warm but windy outdoors (Typhoon Megi was forecasted to reach HK in a couple of days, but thankfully that super typhoon never did).
We got a Trifola Pizza to share: black truffle, crescenza, mozzarella and mache leaves. The thin crust were baked to perfection, both cheeses complemented each other and the mache added a lovely peppery accent to the pizza. I felt that it could do with just a little more black truffle though.
Specks of black truffle on the pizza:
Rob ordered the Carré d`agnello arrosto alle erbe con funghi e carciofi (roasted rack of lamb baked with aromatic herbs, mushrooms and artichokes), which he enjoyed. I only had a couple of bites from his plate because I know how much Rob likes lamb (and how much I don't) and it was pretty juicy and not too gamey.
Roasted rack of lamb:
I much prefer to go for seafood, and went for the Merluzzo gigante arrosto arromatizzato al pane d`erbe (oven broiled black cod with aromatic lemon, basil, parsley crumbs served with sautéed mix vegetables). This was really good. The simple preparation and presentation ensured that subtle sweetness of the cod wasn't overpowerd, and I relished every bite of the juicy cod.
Juicy black cod:
To finish the meal, we shared Crispy Vin Santo cannoli with ricotta, pistachio and candy orange mousse which was on the daily specials menu. I loved this - everything from the lovely crispy shell to the smooth and creamy nutty centre. Simply divine!
Delicious cannoli:
It was a pleasant experience, and I would love another opportunity to go back to ISOLA and enjoy the al fresco dining in calmer conditions. It was also great to see D again who is now based in the New York office.
Joia, Elements Mall (Kowloon)
Shortly after we moved to our apartment near Elements, we invited Rob's aunt and her family (who are residents of HK) to have a look at our place, and then head over to Joia for lunch. This Italian restaurant is located on the rooftop dining area of the mall (named Civic Square), which contains several other restaurants and bars. We ate at the Mexican and Spanish restaurants in Civic Square before, and we were only too happy to have an opportunity to dine at another restaurant on the rooftop garden. Joia is a more modern counterpart to ISOLA, serving a more contemporary style of northern Italian cuisine. The antipasti and dessert buffet on weekends are a popular choice with families living in the nearby apartment complexes. The service was just as professional as ISOLA, and I greatly appreciated the fact that when I enquired about allergenic ingredients, our waitress went to get someone from the kitchen who was well-informed about the food ingredients.
Carbs in various bread forms: focaccia, sticks and sliced, served with olive oil & balsamic and a couple of other dips:
Rob went for the Il Branzino Cotto al Sale Grosso Profumato al Limone e Rosmarino (oven-baked whole sea bass in a rosemary and lemon-scented rock sea salt). I think he enjoyed it - fresh fish and produce - but was rather underwhelmed. Perhaps it was too simple a dish?
Is it really a whole sea bass if the head is not there?
I haven't eaten lasagna in a while, and I ordered the La Lasagnetta con Gamberi, Capesante e Carciofi in Crema Verde di Zucchini e Tartufo Nero (lasagna with prawns, scallops and artichokes in zucchini cream and black truffle). It would be fair to say that it was not what I'd expected. The lasagna sheets more closely resembled an eggy crêpe that had a chewy texture that required some careful effort to cut through. It was beautifully presented, the seafood were delicious, and the truffle shavings added a lovely earthy flavour to the dish. Nice idea that would probably work better with less gluten, but I must admit that I did feel cheated out of the lasagna I wanted.
Chewy lasagna:
Rob could not resist ordering dessert, of course, and he got a La Panna Cotta al Pepe di Sichuan con Granita di Mandarino e Croccante di Grue (Sichuan pepper panna cotta with mandarin granita and crunchy cocoa beans). He was intrigued with the idea of using a spicy pepper in a dessert, and so were the rest of us. The verdict? Well, the panna cotta was nice enough, but there was too much of the sweet mandarin granita which overpowered the subtler tasting cream. I couldn't taste any spiciness in this dessert.
Not-so-spicy Sichuan pepper panna cotta:
Joia is a pleasant restaurant, but it just doesn't compare to its sister restaurant ISOLA. Service was more attentive, but the food was only so-so. The weather was perfect that Sunday to have an outdoor lunch, but our table was ill-placed under the umbrella and half our table was in the sun throughout the whole meal. And it would be hard to beat waterfront views. Perhaps next time we'll go for the popular antipasti buffet because the spread looked pretty good and it is quite affordably priced too.
Saturday 13 November 2010
Birthday yummies
I am quite a simple girl, and I've never liked making a fuss over my birthday. It's only another day that marks another year to my age (which starts to not be a good thing from here on). Still, Rob despaired at not having had the time to book a fancy place for a celebratory meal, but I assured him that all I wanted was to have some congee at a simple congee eatery that I had came across on one of my exploratory ventures around the area on foot. That didn't stop him from surprising me with a box of expensive French chocolates from La Maison du Chocolat the moment he got out of bed that Saturday morning. Given that he did the same for my two previous birthdays, I should have at least expected a box of Godiva, but I was honestly surprised yet again.
Box of fine chocolates from La Maison du Chocolat:
This box of chocolates bore the title Tamanaco, and featured small squares of chocolates from different origins: Maracatou, Moroni, Acarigua, Soledad and Malambé. These little beauties are "fresh" chocolates with smooth melt-in-your-mouth ganache fillings, and each type has quite different flavours when eaten one after another, something I undertake with great enthusiasm. My favourite is the Soledad ("full-flavoured and refined dark ganache") followed by Acarigua ("sweet and mellow dark ganache"). No surprise that Malambé scores the least points ("milk ganache with caramel notes"), but it was pretty good for a milk chocolate. These won't last very long, both the fact that these fresh chocolates only have a short shelf life of 2 weeks, and that they will be long gone before then.
The weather sucked on my birthday, but the pouring rain didn't stop us from heading out to that congee shop on Jordan Rd. It is always an experience trying to place an order when no one in the shop understands you, and vice versa, and we somehow ended up with an extra bowl of congee. We didn't mind too much though, because congee is mostly fluid and not very energy dense, so it wasn't difficult to finish off everything. We got Century Egg and Lean Pork Congee (this was only so-so, but can't complain about the price - only HK$13 (~AU$1.70 or 140yen), Congee with Beef (raw minced beef placed in a bowl, and it gets cooked when the hot congee is poured on top), Fried Noodles (simple fried noodles that contained nothing else except for a small amount of cabbage), and a Savoury Rice Dumpling (with mung beans and pork, which was pretty yummy although Rob wasn't a big fan).
Carbs galore: two bowls of congee, noodles and rice dumpling:
There was Bak tong gou ("white sugar cake" aka Chinese White Honeycomb Cake, Steamed White Cake, White Sugar Sponge, Steamed Rice Cakes) at the entrance to the shop, and we ordered one because Rob had never eaten one before.
Steamed white sugar cake:
The serving given to us was huge, and we felt bad that we couldn't finish it, but we wanted to leave room for pastries at King Bakery I knew was nearby. We'd bought pastries from another franchise and liked them, so we knew that these would be pretty good too. We got an egg tart which was delicious enough, though not quite as good as the one at a certain teahouse. We also had the lao por peng ("wife cake" aka sweetheart cake) which is a popular Chinese cake yet I don't remember ever eating it before. It has a lovely filling made from winter melon (which, by the way, is yummy when candied, usually eaten during Chinese New Year), almond, sesame and five spice. These cakes were really cheap too, at HK$2.50 each (roughly AU$0.30 or 25yen). So far our buys from this bakery have been good, and I look forward to trying other baked goodies at King Bakery.
Sweetheart cake and egg tart:
I had a lovely birthday, eating lots of yummies, and spending it with the two people dearest to me. Couldn't have asked for anything more.
Box of fine chocolates from La Maison du Chocolat:
This box of chocolates bore the title Tamanaco, and featured small squares of chocolates from different origins: Maracatou, Moroni, Acarigua, Soledad and Malambé. These little beauties are "fresh" chocolates with smooth melt-in-your-mouth ganache fillings, and each type has quite different flavours when eaten one after another, something I undertake with great enthusiasm. My favourite is the Soledad ("full-flavoured and refined dark ganache") followed by Acarigua ("sweet and mellow dark ganache"). No surprise that Malambé scores the least points ("milk ganache with caramel notes"), but it was pretty good for a milk chocolate. These won't last very long, both the fact that these fresh chocolates only have a short shelf life of 2 weeks, and that they will be long gone before then.
The weather sucked on my birthday, but the pouring rain didn't stop us from heading out to that congee shop on Jordan Rd. It is always an experience trying to place an order when no one in the shop understands you, and vice versa, and we somehow ended up with an extra bowl of congee. We didn't mind too much though, because congee is mostly fluid and not very energy dense, so it wasn't difficult to finish off everything. We got Century Egg and Lean Pork Congee (this was only so-so, but can't complain about the price - only HK$13 (~AU$1.70 or 140yen), Congee with Beef (raw minced beef placed in a bowl, and it gets cooked when the hot congee is poured on top), Fried Noodles (simple fried noodles that contained nothing else except for a small amount of cabbage), and a Savoury Rice Dumpling (with mung beans and pork, which was pretty yummy although Rob wasn't a big fan).
Carbs galore: two bowls of congee, noodles and rice dumpling:
There was Bak tong gou ("white sugar cake" aka Chinese White Honeycomb Cake, Steamed White Cake, White Sugar Sponge, Steamed Rice Cakes) at the entrance to the shop, and we ordered one because Rob had never eaten one before.
Steamed white sugar cake:
The serving given to us was huge, and we felt bad that we couldn't finish it, but we wanted to leave room for pastries at King Bakery I knew was nearby. We'd bought pastries from another franchise and liked them, so we knew that these would be pretty good too. We got an egg tart which was delicious enough, though not quite as good as the one at a certain teahouse. We also had the lao por peng ("wife cake" aka sweetheart cake) which is a popular Chinese cake yet I don't remember ever eating it before. It has a lovely filling made from winter melon (which, by the way, is yummy when candied, usually eaten during Chinese New Year), almond, sesame and five spice. These cakes were really cheap too, at HK$2.50 each (roughly AU$0.30 or 25yen). So far our buys from this bakery have been good, and I look forward to trying other baked goodies at King Bakery.
Sweetheart cake and egg tart:
I had a lovely birthday, eating lots of yummies, and spending it with the two people dearest to me. Couldn't have asked for anything more.
Tuesday 9 November 2010
Cantonese food: traditional teahouse, mall restaurant and low-brow daipaidong
Over the past few weeks, we've had a few opportunities to experience the various types of food offered by the Cantonese cuisine in Hong Kong. There was bad service but amazing dim sum at Luk Yu Teahouse, upmarket dining but fairly unremarkable dishes at Lei Garden, and seriously cheap grub at Kwun Chung Market.
Luk Yu Teahouse, Stanley Street (Central)
My impression of Luk Yu Teahouse on Stanley Street is that it is one of the few places in Hong Kong that still functions as a traditional teahouse, where tea is the focus and the dim sum dishes are just side dishes to complement the tea. This teahouse is run and maintained by surly men in their 50s and 60s, and their brusque (bordering on rude) service is offset by the excellent quality tea and probably the best dim sum I've ever had. None of us were too impressed with being directed to the 3rd floor, climbing stairs with a 2 year old toddler, carrying a stroller and everything else that goes along with a toddler on any outing. Thankfully my sister Honey was visiting us for the week, and she could help us out with carrying stuff. The lousy first impression of Luk Yu continued when we had a look at the limited menu, which didn't have many of our favourites.
Now I'm done with the negatives of our experience, I can move on to the good part! The bolay tea was very good, and I have never before liked this type of tea because it can be quite pungent. I had read that the dim sum dishes here are very good, and we picked out seven dishes of both the usual suspects (like hargow (shrimp dumpling), beef meatballs and egg tarts) and also ones we have never heard of before (like duck pie and mashed dates cake).
The first set of plates to arrive at our table were the pastries - egg tarts, mashed dates cake and duck pie; and the second set were the steamed dishes - beef meatballs, shrimp dumplings, turnip cake and rice in lotus leaf
The hargow had a nice fresh wrapping that wasn't too thick or too thin, steamed perfectly and not overcooked to soggy texture like many I've had before. The egg tart was perfect in every way: pastry that was deliciously flaky, perfectly cooked egg custard filling, and a size that was easy to eat (although Rob would say it was far too small). The duck pie was hearty and filled with tasty goodies like minced duck meat, shrimps and chunks of vegetables. If this was a normal restaurant, I would have thought that it was a great way to use up leftovers, but since it functions strictly as a teahouse with only a limited number of dim sum, I am disinclined to think that this was a leftovers dish. The Mashed Dates Cake was, for me, the star of the table. The cake relied solely upon the unmistakable sweet flavour of dried Chinese dates, and the crust was reminiscent of the mooncake. The rest of the dim sum dishes were pretty good too.
The fillings of the duck pie and the date cake respectively:
Lei Garden, IFC Mall (Central)
On Honey's last day in Hong Kong (while we were still at the Four Seasons), we had lunch at a restaurant in the IFC Mall. Lei Garden a high end restaurant chain with restaurants also in China, Macau and Singapore. We basically chose this restaurant because of its convenient location to us, and also because the other two restaurants we were considering were fully booked. This is also a pretty popular brunch choice with the weekend shoppers, and we were rushed through our meal to make room for the next customers. The restaurant seemed like it could be a nice fine dining place, except that service was not that great, and the food was mediocre at best.
Stirfried Shanghai Hairy Crab that contained more eggs (and tofu?) than crab meat; and Lotus Pork Sandwich (a thin layer of seasoned pork mince sandwiched between two slices of lotus root, battered and deep-fried):
Tofu Ensemble; and Special Fried Rice:
Kwun Chung Market, Jordan (Kowloon)
I love exploring anywhere on foot - you discover so many things that would be easily missed when you take the subway, bus or taxi (or even bicycles!). Last weekend, after dismissing our concierge's opinion that it was too far to get to Kowloon Park by walking, we headed out for the park, and we came across another smaller park, the King George V Memorial Park. From the street we could see that there was a large playground area, and after playing a little while, we headed off for our intended destination. We didn't get far before noticing interesting shops and stalls set up in and around Kwun Chung Street area. It was almost lunchtime by the time we were done with having a "quick look" around, so we started looking for lunch. The Kwun Chung Municipal Services Building on the nearby Bowring Street contained two levels of wet market, and the 3rd floor was the "Cooked Foods" level, and we headed straight for it.
The daipaidong-style dining area on the 3rd level; and self-service:
We had no idea what to expect, and what we saw was like a hawker centre, called a daipaidong in HK. There were a few shops with a self-service set-up, where you can pile up as much food as you can on one plate for HK$22, which is very cheap even by Hong Kong standards. Steamed rice, plain congee and soup are also self-served. For obvious reasons, this set up is popular with the locals, and I won't be surprised if many of the diners were market workers. To be honest, we were happy just to take a look and then head off elsewhere for lunch. Popular dishes had high turnover, replenished steaming hot straight from the wok, but others had been sitting there with no constant heat source to keep it even slightly warm. Then there was the hygiene issue of self-service. It was highly tempting to act like cultured snobs and walk out (which we almost did), but then I remembered that this is the best way to experience the local food: to eat like the locals do. One particular shopkeeper, his wife and helper were friendly and prompted us to take a seat, so Rob grabbed a table while I went to grab the food. Our table received a lot of looks as Rob was the only Caucasian in the whole area, and Zak was the only child in sight (our 2-year-old didn't get even a taste, as I'm not such an irresponsible mother! He was happy with his packed lunch). One plate of food (not piled very high with food, so that we don't eat too much food of a questionable level of hygiene) and one bowl each of plain rice and plain congee were plenty for the two of us. The food was home-style cooking, simple, hearty and very filling. Quite tasty too. We didn't get food poisoning, so maybe we should start eating like the locals do - it will be a lot easier on the wallet compared to the dining options available inside the polished floor mall closer to home.
Braised chicken and potatoes, stir-fried greens, pork, steamed fish and Chinese-style omelette, as plonked on the plate by yours truly:
This was our first time in almost a week outside of the air-conditioned mall bubble since we moved to our not-too-shabby apartment above the Elements mall. Whilst I can see the busy streets several storeys below us, I was starting to wonder if there is actually a way out to street-level! We could get almost everything we need inside the mall, but it was so refreshing to reconnect with the noisy, dirty and not-so-shiny streets of real, local Hong Kong. I went out almost everyday last week, on my own with Zak in the stroller, since discovering the way out.
Luk Yu Teahouse, Stanley Street (Central)
My impression of Luk Yu Teahouse on Stanley Street is that it is one of the few places in Hong Kong that still functions as a traditional teahouse, where tea is the focus and the dim sum dishes are just side dishes to complement the tea. This teahouse is run and maintained by surly men in their 50s and 60s, and their brusque (bordering on rude) service is offset by the excellent quality tea and probably the best dim sum I've ever had. None of us were too impressed with being directed to the 3rd floor, climbing stairs with a 2 year old toddler, carrying a stroller and everything else that goes along with a toddler on any outing. Thankfully my sister Honey was visiting us for the week, and she could help us out with carrying stuff. The lousy first impression of Luk Yu continued when we had a look at the limited menu, which didn't have many of our favourites.
Now I'm done with the negatives of our experience, I can move on to the good part! The bolay tea was very good, and I have never before liked this type of tea because it can be quite pungent. I had read that the dim sum dishes here are very good, and we picked out seven dishes of both the usual suspects (like hargow (shrimp dumpling), beef meatballs and egg tarts) and also ones we have never heard of before (like duck pie and mashed dates cake).
The first set of plates to arrive at our table were the pastries - egg tarts, mashed dates cake and duck pie; and the second set were the steamed dishes - beef meatballs, shrimp dumplings, turnip cake and rice in lotus leaf
The hargow had a nice fresh wrapping that wasn't too thick or too thin, steamed perfectly and not overcooked to soggy texture like many I've had before. The egg tart was perfect in every way: pastry that was deliciously flaky, perfectly cooked egg custard filling, and a size that was easy to eat (although Rob would say it was far too small). The duck pie was hearty and filled with tasty goodies like minced duck meat, shrimps and chunks of vegetables. If this was a normal restaurant, I would have thought that it was a great way to use up leftovers, but since it functions strictly as a teahouse with only a limited number of dim sum, I am disinclined to think that this was a leftovers dish. The Mashed Dates Cake was, for me, the star of the table. The cake relied solely upon the unmistakable sweet flavour of dried Chinese dates, and the crust was reminiscent of the mooncake. The rest of the dim sum dishes were pretty good too.
The fillings of the duck pie and the date cake respectively:
Lei Garden, IFC Mall (Central)
On Honey's last day in Hong Kong (while we were still at the Four Seasons), we had lunch at a restaurant in the IFC Mall. Lei Garden a high end restaurant chain with restaurants also in China, Macau and Singapore. We basically chose this restaurant because of its convenient location to us, and also because the other two restaurants we were considering were fully booked. This is also a pretty popular brunch choice with the weekend shoppers, and we were rushed through our meal to make room for the next customers. The restaurant seemed like it could be a nice fine dining place, except that service was not that great, and the food was mediocre at best.
Stirfried Shanghai Hairy Crab that contained more eggs (and tofu?) than crab meat; and Lotus Pork Sandwich (a thin layer of seasoned pork mince sandwiched between two slices of lotus root, battered and deep-fried):
Tofu Ensemble; and Special Fried Rice:
Kwun Chung Market, Jordan (Kowloon)
I love exploring anywhere on foot - you discover so many things that would be easily missed when you take the subway, bus or taxi (or even bicycles!). Last weekend, after dismissing our concierge's opinion that it was too far to get to Kowloon Park by walking, we headed out for the park, and we came across another smaller park, the King George V Memorial Park. From the street we could see that there was a large playground area, and after playing a little while, we headed off for our intended destination. We didn't get far before noticing interesting shops and stalls set up in and around Kwun Chung Street area. It was almost lunchtime by the time we were done with having a "quick look" around, so we started looking for lunch. The Kwun Chung Municipal Services Building on the nearby Bowring Street contained two levels of wet market, and the 3rd floor was the "Cooked Foods" level, and we headed straight for it.
The daipaidong-style dining area on the 3rd level; and self-service:
We had no idea what to expect, and what we saw was like a hawker centre, called a daipaidong in HK. There were a few shops with a self-service set-up, where you can pile up as much food as you can on one plate for HK$22, which is very cheap even by Hong Kong standards. Steamed rice, plain congee and soup are also self-served. For obvious reasons, this set up is popular with the locals, and I won't be surprised if many of the diners were market workers. To be honest, we were happy just to take a look and then head off elsewhere for lunch. Popular dishes had high turnover, replenished steaming hot straight from the wok, but others had been sitting there with no constant heat source to keep it even slightly warm. Then there was the hygiene issue of self-service. It was highly tempting to act like cultured snobs and walk out (which we almost did), but then I remembered that this is the best way to experience the local food: to eat like the locals do. One particular shopkeeper, his wife and helper were friendly and prompted us to take a seat, so Rob grabbed a table while I went to grab the food. Our table received a lot of looks as Rob was the only Caucasian in the whole area, and Zak was the only child in sight (our 2-year-old didn't get even a taste, as I'm not such an irresponsible mother! He was happy with his packed lunch). One plate of food (not piled very high with food, so that we don't eat too much food of a questionable level of hygiene) and one bowl each of plain rice and plain congee were plenty for the two of us. The food was home-style cooking, simple, hearty and very filling. Quite tasty too. We didn't get food poisoning, so maybe we should start eating like the locals do - it will be a lot easier on the wallet compared to the dining options available inside the polished floor mall closer to home.
Braised chicken and potatoes, stir-fried greens, pork, steamed fish and Chinese-style omelette, as plonked on the plate by yours truly:
This was our first time in almost a week outside of the air-conditioned mall bubble since we moved to our not-too-shabby apartment above the Elements mall. Whilst I can see the busy streets several storeys below us, I was starting to wonder if there is actually a way out to street-level! We could get almost everything we need inside the mall, but it was so refreshing to reconnect with the noisy, dirty and not-so-shiny streets of real, local Hong Kong. I went out almost everyday last week, on my own with Zak in the stroller, since discovering the way out.
Thursday 4 November 2010
Thai @ L16 Cafe, HK Park
We finally have internet set up at home, after more than a week of being occasionally online. Surprisingly I didn't really miss it all that much, but it sure sucked not having the convenience of being able to do so many things from the home computer. Now I can blog again, amongst other things (such as paying bills, replying to emails, doing secure stuff otherwise unsafe on shared computers etc).
A couple of weeks ago, to sort of celebrate Zak's 2nd birthday, we went to Hong Kong Park with a Japanese friend and her family (she was an ex-student who moved to Hong Kong about six months before us). Her daughter is only a few months older than Zak, and it looked like they had fun playing alongside each other at the huge playground in the park. As lunchtime (and the kids' naptimes) drew closer, we went in search for the only restaurant/cafe inside the park, L16 Cafe. This restaurant offered mostly Thai dishes and a limited selection of Italian-style food (thankfully there weren't any fusion dishes on the menu), and to be honest, I didn't have high expectations for a restaurant situated in the middle of a park because usually these kind of places serve over-priced but mundane food. I'm happy to report that we were quite pleased with the quality of the dishes that came out from the kitchen at L16. The food was indeed a bit more pricey than you'd typically find at a Thai restaurant at, say, Soho, but mundane it wasn't. We were also pretty happy to find drinks from South-east Asia on the menu, such as Young Coconut Juice and Cendol.
My friend ordered the Thai Noodles (not pad thai, although pad thai is also available on the menu) which had a decent dose of wok hei ("breath of wok"), the smoky flavour infused into the food from a well-seasoned wok, which is always a good thing in fried noodles. Her husband ordered the Yellow Curry with Chicken which was very tasty especially with steamed long-grained jasmine rice. Both dishes were only mildly sweet, which was a nice change from the Thai noodles and curries I've had in the past.
Thai Noodles and Yellow Curry:
Rob really liked the look of Baked Coconut Rice with Seafood on the menu, and it turned out to be the perfect dish for coconut and seafood lovers. It did take awhile to come out to the table, but it was well worth the wait. Beautifully presented inside the shell of a coconut, the baked mixture of rice and seafood in a coconut broth was rich in the coconut flavour but not overpoweringly so. I ordered the ubiquitous Pineapple Fried Rice because I needed a benchmark dish to compare with other Thai restaurants we've eaten at. It was quite nice, but I think I had better in Sydney. I was a little baffled why the waitress asked "Two rice dishes?" with a hint of incredulity, but when the two rice dishes arrived, I realised that these rice dishes were meant to be shared, as the serving portion is far too large for one.
Gorgeous presentation: baked seafood rice in a coconut husk and fried rice in a pineapple shell:
It was a fair experience, and I was surprised that it wasn't at all that expensive, though I wouldn't want to pay more than that. Glad to know that L16 is a good emergency dining option in case we find ourselves at HK Park around mealtime next time.
Remember the birthday cake? We enjoyed the rich chocolate layer cake covered in a generous layer of chocolate ganache, and it was gone in three days!
A couple of weeks ago, to sort of celebrate Zak's 2nd birthday, we went to Hong Kong Park with a Japanese friend and her family (she was an ex-student who moved to Hong Kong about six months before us). Her daughter is only a few months older than Zak, and it looked like they had fun playing alongside each other at the huge playground in the park. As lunchtime (and the kids' naptimes) drew closer, we went in search for the only restaurant/cafe inside the park, L16 Cafe. This restaurant offered mostly Thai dishes and a limited selection of Italian-style food (thankfully there weren't any fusion dishes on the menu), and to be honest, I didn't have high expectations for a restaurant situated in the middle of a park because usually these kind of places serve over-priced but mundane food. I'm happy to report that we were quite pleased with the quality of the dishes that came out from the kitchen at L16. The food was indeed a bit more pricey than you'd typically find at a Thai restaurant at, say, Soho, but mundane it wasn't. We were also pretty happy to find drinks from South-east Asia on the menu, such as Young Coconut Juice and Cendol.
My friend ordered the Thai Noodles (not pad thai, although pad thai is also available on the menu) which had a decent dose of wok hei ("breath of wok"), the smoky flavour infused into the food from a well-seasoned wok, which is always a good thing in fried noodles. Her husband ordered the Yellow Curry with Chicken which was very tasty especially with steamed long-grained jasmine rice. Both dishes were only mildly sweet, which was a nice change from the Thai noodles and curries I've had in the past.
Thai Noodles and Yellow Curry:
Rob really liked the look of Baked Coconut Rice with Seafood on the menu, and it turned out to be the perfect dish for coconut and seafood lovers. It did take awhile to come out to the table, but it was well worth the wait. Beautifully presented inside the shell of a coconut, the baked mixture of rice and seafood in a coconut broth was rich in the coconut flavour but not overpoweringly so. I ordered the ubiquitous Pineapple Fried Rice because I needed a benchmark dish to compare with other Thai restaurants we've eaten at. It was quite nice, but I think I had better in Sydney. I was a little baffled why the waitress asked "Two rice dishes?" with a hint of incredulity, but when the two rice dishes arrived, I realised that these rice dishes were meant to be shared, as the serving portion is far too large for one.
Gorgeous presentation: baked seafood rice in a coconut husk and fried rice in a pineapple shell:
It was a fair experience, and I was surprised that it wasn't at all that expensive, though I wouldn't want to pay more than that. Glad to know that L16 is a good emergency dining option in case we find ourselves at HK Park around mealtime next time.
Remember the birthday cake? We enjoyed the rich chocolate layer cake covered in a generous layer of chocolate ganache, and it was gone in three days!
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