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The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land.” – G.K. Chesterton

Tuesday 31 January 2012

Revisit: Singaporean/Malaysian @ Katong (Elements), Hong Kong

We have found a decent place to get our Malaysian food fix in Hong Kong, and it's in our backyard! (By 'backyard', I only mean the mall downstairs.) This is quite a great find after four years in Japan where Malaysian restaurants are rare and expensive, and disappointing food experiences in HK where Malaysian restaurants are more numerous and affordable but poor in quality. We never realised how much we took for granted the abundance of good Malaysian food in Perth, until we left. We'd been to Katong once before, shortly after it opened, but that was during lunch when there was only a limited menu available. We revisited Katong recently for dinner to try out their other dishes, and we are happy to report that the food was delicious. It was fairly busy in the restaurant that evening, so the staff weren't as careful about separating the peanuts from the Nasi Goreng (fried rice) as they were last time, and it was just as well that the boy wasn't interested in eating very much that night anyway. In classic Expat Gourmand-style, I ordered way too much food for two people, but we did pretty well to finish all but a few spoonfuls of char kuey teow (which we asked to be put in a takeaway container to take home - we hate wasting food, especially when it's good food).

Nasi Goreng, served in a similar style to last time, except the satay sticks were placed on the plate sans peanut sauce, and we found some peanuts on the other side of the mound of rice (we'd specifically requested no nuts, soy or sesame on the plate). When I pointed this out to one of the waitstaff, the manager was about to whisk the plate back to the kitchen, but we didn't want them to throw out perfectly good food so we said we would just separate out the parts not touching the peanuts for our son. He didn't end up eating much of the food anyway, so I was glad we kept the plate:

Beef Rendang - tender meat in a delicious sauce. This rendang was about 100 times better than the one we tried at another place in HK:

Kangkung Belacan, my all-time favourite leafy greens. This version was not too spicy and not too pungent, perfect for HK people's tastebuds and sufficient for mine:

One of the dishes hubby was hanging out to try - Char kuey teow. This version was tasty with plenty of prawns to go around and many slices of lap cheong (Chinese sausage), to hubby's delight. There were even a couple of pieces of salty see ham (blood cockles), to my delight. The only thing missing was that complex charry wok hei flavour, which hubby thought was just fine without:

A relatively good rendition of one of my childhood favourite - Chai tau kueh. The cubes of radish cake were cut into the right size for the amount of sauce, and the texture was just right - not too firm and not too squishy:

Amazingly, hubby was so full that he didn't want dessert (that hardly happens!). Katong may be a bit more expensive than other Singaporean/Malaysian restaurants around, but that is perfectly justified, given the level of service, hygiene and food quality compared to the cheaper places.

Katong
Shop 2100A
2nd Fl, Elements
1 Austin Road West
Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon
Tel. +85 2 2196 8086

Friday 27 January 2012

Mini-reunion meal @ Yè Shanghai (Kowloon), Hong Kong

One of the most important occasions in the Chinese culture is Chúxī (Lunar New Year's eve), when families gather together for Tuan Yuan Fan (family reunion dinner). As I mentioned previously, most Chinese will make the effort to travel back to their homeland to be reunited with their families for this festive period. My extended family in Malaysia usually organises an annual reunion for a double celebration - to usher in the new lunar year and celebrate my maternal grandmother's birthday. We unfortunately couldn't make it this year (the last one we attended was four years ago), but we still made the effort to have a small celebratory meal here in Hong Kong.


When I was searching for Chinese restaurants for our new year's eve meal, I came to the realisation that we haven't eaten very much Shanghainese food. In fact, I don't think we'd eaten any Shanghainese food at all since coming to HK more than a year ago. There are a few Shanghainese restaurants here, and I heard that yè shanghai in Kowloon was awarded their second Michelin star for 2012. That was good enough for me, and I made reservations.


An empty dining area that filled up quickly with hungry people:

I liked the decor, which was distinctly Chinese, but sleek and modern. Service was a little patchy - the maître d' who greeted us and sat us at our table was unfriendly, abrupt and cold - not quite up to the standard we've come to expect from a Michelin 2-star restaurant. Other than that, the waitstaff were great and efficient at their job. We arrived at the beginning of lunch service, and we saw the tables fill up to the brim with mostly Chinese people (there were only two non-Chinese in the whole room, and hubby was one). The full a-la-carte menu, dim sum menu booklet and a festive banquet menu were all available, and I enjoyed flipping through the pages, feasting with my eyes on the beautiful food photos. The dishes were quite reasonably priced for a Michelin-starred restaurant, and the quality of the all the dishes we ordered were consistently good.

Chrysanthemum tea in a contemporary teacup:

Crispy Rice with Beef - yummy and fun to eat. We requested this to be soy-free, nut-free and sesame-free so that our boy could eat it too:

Sauteed Minced Chicken with Pine Nuts, served with Sesame Pastry Pockets. The chicken was nicely seasoned, and the pine nuts added a nice crunch:

A sesame pastry parcel stuffed with the chicken and pine nuts. This was another fun dish to eat:

Stirfried String Beans with Bamboo Shoots - this was a chef's recommended dish, and probably the most expensive vegetable dish on the menu. It was lovely but not mind-blowingly so:

Chicken with Bean Jelly in Peanut Sauce (served cold) - ordered from the dim sum menu (but a full-sized version is also available from the a-la-carte menu). I loved the chewy bean noodles and the peanut sauce:

Thousand Year Eggs and Beancurd (also served cold) - also ordered from the dim sum menu (bigger version is available from the a-la-carte menu). I adore century eggs, and the flavour carried nicely with the tofu:

Hubby couldn't resist having a little sweet at the end of the meal, and the Dessert Platter was the perfect selection for him. For HK$110, he could choose three of the yè shanghai's signature desserts - a good value considering one dessert can cost up to HK$48. We realised after placing our order that neither of the desserts were suitable for the boy.

Hua Diao Wine Ice Cream - quite pleasant to the palate, and the alcohol taste wasn't overpowering:

Chestnut Tiramisu with Chocolate Sorbet - this fusion dessert sounded promising with a lovely presentation, but we thought it was only okay. I think replacing the sorbet with a richer and denser chocolate gelato would be an improvement:

Black Sesame Crème Brûlée with Peanut Ice Cream. We liked this one the best out of the three desserts. Sesame pairs well with peanut, and the crunchy caramel topping gave a nice textural contrast:

We enjoyed our lunch at yè shanghai, though we think that the maître d' should work on improving her attitude. Shanghai cuisine is delicious, and I must make more effort to try out more Shanghainese food.

yè shanghai Kowloon
6/F, The Marco Polo Hongkong Hotel
3 Canton Road
Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon
Tel. +85 2 2376 3322

Tuesday 24 January 2012

Crossing the border into the mainland: Shenzhen

Gong xi fa cai! Today is the second day of the lunar new year of the dragon, and all of Hong Kong is in a festive mood. It is a long-held tradition for the Chinese people to reunite with their families during this period, which means a lot of travelling for many back to their home. On Saturday - the day before Chinese new year's eve when most families get together for a reunion dinner - I left the boy with my husband at home and crossed the border for the first time (since moving to HK) into Shenzhen. It is a bit of a crazy time to travel into China, especially at Shenzhen which happens to be the most heavily used immigration control point for passengers travelling to and from mainland China, but I got to witness firsthand part of what has been called "the largest annual human migration in the world". The train to the border from central Hong Kong took about 1 hour, and during that time I saw the train get more and more packed with mainland Chinese people and luggage bags. The excitement and the buzz of the travellers were almost tangible, and it was quite lovely seeing the happy faces of those who were looking forward to seeing their loved ones again. Thankfully my part of the journey didn't get too annoying considering how many people there were; getting through immigration and obtaining my visa were relatively quick and painless since there weren't very many foreigners like me travelling into Shenzhen.

At the station before the final stop on the train journey. This scene would be quite normal for peak hour on a weekday in central Hong Kong, but this was on a Saturday in the outskirts of HK:

People and luggage bags heading for immigration at Lowu:

The main reason for the trip was to meet a blogosphere friend, Stephanie of The Traveling Tastebuds, who had just moved over to this side of the world. Her visa is still being processed and she couldn't make it into HK for the new year's celebrations, so I decided to go over there and give her some company. That girl is just as sweet and bubbly in real life as she sounds like on cyberspace. Her dad - who is accompanying Steph in her first few weeks in China - is a real nice gentleman who reminds me a lot of my dad (it turns out that they are similar in age and their hometowns are less than 15km apart!).

The lovely Stephanie and me, at KK Mall, a high-end shopping mall that is similar to the countless high-end malls in Hong Kong, but without the crowd:

Father and daughter were great hosts in the few hours I was with them, feeding me a delicious and filling yum cha lunch, and being ultra-patient with me while I did some shopping at the Luohu Commercial City (I bought loads of stuff but none of them were for me). I don't often come across good bargainers, but these two might be even better at bargaining than my mum and me! I think Stephanie will have loads of fun shopping and bargaining during her tenure in Shenzhen.

Three varieties of dim sum cakes: water chestnut cake, the more ubiquitous turnip/radish cake and taro cake. It was my first encounter with the water chestnut cake, and I liked its crisp slightly sweet flavour:

We ordered too much dim sum, but we finished most of them! Char siu bao (barbecued pork buns), xiu mai, fung zao (aka phoenix claws or chicken feet), lo mai gai (sticky rice with chicken in lotus leaf), pai gu (spare ribs), and har gao (shrimp dumpling), all served in not-so-traditional steaming baskets. We also had har cheong (prawn rice noodle roll), but not pictured here:

Chinese new year decorations at Luohu Commercial City, which is five-storeys full of designer fakes and low-quality stuff - but the shops do tolerate hard bargaining (I recommend never buying things here at the asking price - in fact I bought all of my items at less than half the asking price). Popular with many "one-day" visitors from HK:

I don't get many chances to meet internet friends in person, so I was quite pleased to finally meet Stephanie. I'm sure we will have more opportunities to meet up in future.

Friday 20 January 2012

Revisiting the simply fresh seafood @ Fish Bar (Marriott), Hong Kong

We are spoilt for dining-out options in Hong Kong. There are so many dining opportunities here that it is entirely possible to eat out every single day for a year (or two) and never visit the same venue again. We are much more conservative than that - for the sake of our piggybank and health - but occasionally we come across a gem that is worth going back many times. This wasn't our first visit to the Fish Bar - in fact our last visit was only 6 months ago. I love the fact that this place offers the same level of service and food quality as other 5-star hotel restaurants, but without the pretentious atmosphere that you often find at fine-dining establishments. We were introduced to this restaurant by hubby's auntie and her husband (HK residents for more than a decade), and they are regulars here because they live in the area. (I still remember the jovial familiarity between the staff and this couple the very first time we came to this restaurant during our honeymoon trip more than 7 years ago.)

Casual restaurant by the Marriott's pool:

The Fish Bar has become one of our favourite restaurants in HK. As seafood lovers, we adore the restaurant's philosophy of "serving simply fresh fish", and they get extra points for sourcing their seafood from sustainable sources. The menu is simple, but there is something for every tastebuds, including a few non-seafood options. 'Today's Catch' is written up on several blackboards, and staff will helpfully advise which ones are better char-grilled, beer-battered or pan-fried. And there is the choice of creamy mashed potato, fries or baked potato.

Our 3-year-old loved the Crispy-fried Calamari, served with a jar of Fish Bar tartar sauce. Actually, we adults loved it too. Crispy and delicious, it wasn't greasy at all:

We had to order the Boston Lobster Club Sandwich on Toasted Brioche when we saw it on the menu. It came with sweet potato fries, which I thought was more yummy than the usual fries:

The sandwich came with large juicy morsels of sweet lobster meat, luscious soft mango, crunchy cucumber and crisp daikon, offset nicely by the slight bitterness of the arugula. It was a good sandwich, though hubby thought that the mango sweetness overpowered the lobster's flavour:

Char-grilled Yellow-fin Tuna with Baked Potato (the garnishes were served on the side - see next photo). Don't let the simple appearance of this fillet fool you - the fish was grilled perfectly to medium-rare, and it literally melted on the tongue:

Sliced green onion, crispy bacon bits and sour cream for the baked potato, thoughtfully served on the side with the health-conscious (me, not hubby) in mind:

We were served vegetable side dishes with our meal - leafy salad, buttered sweet corn kernels and creamed spinach. I particularly enjoyed the creamy spinach:

Excellent food and fantastic staff - it would go against our nature to dislike the Fish Bar.

Fish Bar
JW Marriott
Pacific Place
88 Queensway,
Hong Kong
Tel. +85 2 2810 8366

Tuesday 17 January 2012

International eats @ Café On M (InterContinental Grand Stanford), Hong Kong

Brunch - that awkward in-between time during which most western restaurants in Hong Kong are not open for business (except those inside hotel buildings). There are a few places on HK Island side where majority of the expats in HK live (eg Jaspas and Brunch Club), but there is a sore lack of places to eat a western-style breakfast on this side of the harbour except for hotel restaurants and cafés. There are plenty of local choices for breakfast/brunch - numerous cha chaan teng eateries, daytime dai pai dong and of course yum cha - but our 3-year-old's multiple food allergies means that he can't eat almost anything that comes out of a Chinese kitchen. So once again, we found ourselves brunching at a hotel café when we were stuck in the area in between appointments.

As viewed from our table, on the mezzanine level of the hotel, which I assume is what the "M" stands for in the café's name:

Café On M offers all-day dining inside the InterContinental Grand Standford, which is great for those seeking a meal outside of normal meal hours. We came to this same hotel couple of months ago for my birthday at another restaurant. Service was good, considering that the staff were busy cleaning up after the breakfast buffet and setting up for the lunch buffet. The a-la-carte menu had a good variety of dishes, and we could choose to have sandwiches, pizza and pasta or south-east Asian dishes like laksa and char kuey teow. Our food took almost 30 minutes to arrive after ordering, which was understandable because we'd placed our order just before the café opened the lunch buffet.

Our table was situated just outside of the buffet dining area, which was perfect because we didn't want the buffet. The cake display is on the left, not yet filled at the time the picture was taken:

The food was good quality, as to be expected from a restaurant inside a 5-star hotel. The buffet spread looked good, and quite reasonably priced compared to other hotel restaurants. Next time, perhaps.

Fried Oyster Pancake, with leek and egg (served with sweet chili sauce and fish sauce). This was pretty tasty, but quite greasy. Hubby thought it was too salty, which is unusual because usually I have a lower flavour tolerance than hubby:

Char Kuey Teow, with generous amounts of prawns and lap cheong (Chinese sausage). This was a pretty good version of hubby's favourite Malaysian dish, but it lacked the charry wok hei flavour:

Rare Charred Pepper Steak Sandwich, with grainy mustard mayonnaise and tomato pesto and served with salad and rosemary fries. The toddler could not get enough of the fries:

The rare steak sandwiched inside toasted crusty bread. How could something so simple be so delicious?

Hubby could not resist ordering one of the cakes - Mango Chocolate Pastry. It looked good, and tasted pretty nice, but it was hard not to make a mess with the flaky pastry:

We enjoyed lunch, and the meal worked out to be cheaper than at another nearby hotel.

Café On M
M Level
InterContinental Grand Stanford Hong Kong
70 Mody Road
Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon
Tel. +85 2 2731 2860

Friday 13 January 2012

Phuket trip: Phi Phi Island Tour

Continuing on in my photo-journaling of our recent Phuket trip. I bring you the final post on the subject. On our last full day in Phuket, we'd woken up very early to embark on a lengthy ferry journey to the beautiful Phi Phi Islands (these islands received worldwide attention when one of the islands was used as a film location for the 2000 movie The Beach). I'd booked the tour through the same guys that I used for the safari tour, and the itinerary ensured a comfortable day trip to the islands and back (and our 3-year-old son travelled free of charge since his age falls below the age requirement for a child's fare). We were picked up at our hotel and driven to Rassada Pier where we boarded the very crowded Phi Phi Cruiser ferry. Our tour package gave us VIP privileges, meaning that we could sit in relative comfort inside an air-conditioned room, and have some biscuits and drinks during our journey without having to pay extra. The VIP was nice enough, but the seating arrangement was first-come-first-served so there was no guarantee that our group of three could get seats together. In fact, by the time we boarded the ferry, the only available seats were single seats here and there. One family with a young child was kind enough to sacrifice a seat by sitting their child on the lap so that we could be seated close together.

The aircon in the VIP room was quite cold, and we stepped outside a couple of times. The boy pulled a lot of faces for the camera:

Phi Phi Islands are beautiful, with breathtakingly tall limestone cliffs, large caves and long white beaches. We saw Maya Bay, where "The Beach" was filmed (but didn't go in because the ferry was too big), and we went past the Monkey Beach. The following photos are more of what we saw.

This is Pileh Bay, which our ferry was too large to enter:

Viking Cave, where birds' nests are harvested for the thriving bird's nest soup industry:

The boy pulling more faces for the camera:

A panorama of the view as the ferry was approaching Phi Phi Don Island where we docked (click for larger image):


After the ferry docked at Phi Phi Don, we transferred to a snorkel boat that took us to Coral Bay. The VIP group got on to a barge that was moored in Coral Bay while the other group got ready to snorkel. On the barge, we could go down into the hull, where we could experience the Under Sea World Aquarium, which is apparently the "first and only live aquarium". It's a pretty unique concept - we stood on a wooden frame about 2m under the sea surface, and fish were swimming in and out and all around. We were also given some bread to feed the fish. Our boy was terrified and refused to let go of us the whole time we were in the thigh-deep water, but he loved feeding the fish.

The whole room was cast in a greenish blue hue because we were underwater:

We could also watch the fish swimming in the open water while staying dry in this Under Sea World Aquarium:

We also got to swim and snorkel with the fish in the open water. Super fun, but not easy with a non-swimming 3-year-old!

We then got on the snorkel boat which headed back to Phi Phi Do. Lunch was provided, and the food was pretty good, but my dSLR had just taken a fall as we were stepping into the restaurant, and I was too upset and distracted to take any food photos. There was time to explore the island, but we headed straight back for the boat so that the boy could get his nap. It was a fun day, but we spent so much time travelling. The live aquarium alone was worth the small extra we paid to get the VIP package.

Wednesday 11 January 2012

Home-style Thai @ Lucky Tom's, Phuket

Call me slow, but it was only recently that I gained an appreciation for Thai food. Having grown up with delicious Malaysian food, I spent most of my younger days snubbing Thai food which I'd thought to be similar but inferior. It was only when I consider them as entirely separate cuisines and not compare them, that I could start appreciating Thai food. On our recent trip to Phuket, we not only got to experience haute Thai cuisine, we also had the opportunity to eat some good home-style Thai cooking. After having had an early start to the day to join a safari-style tour, we were tired even before the sun went down. We still wanted to eat dinner out, so I did a quick search on tripadvisor, and found Lucky Tom's which currently holds the #2 spot for restaurants in Kata Beach. It was also not too far away from our accommodation, so it was the no-brainer choice for dinner.

Lucky Tom's from the outside. Various fish and seafood on ice for selection:

This small and cozy restaurant is owned by Lucky and his wife Tom, and they serve up simple but delicious local fare cooked by Lucky's mum. This place caters to tourists very well (the menu had translations in several languages as well as photos), and you won't see the locals eating here, but I think it's the best place in the vicinity to try the local cuisine in a hygienic and comfortable environment. The dishes are also affordably priced. The menu also had some European dishes, but we didn't pay much attention to them. There were a number of daily specials hanging up on the wall along with various memorabilia and photos, and these we studied more closely. Lucky was happy to accommodate our boy's food allergies to nuts, soy and sesame.

Some of the daily specials on the wall:

Refreshing and sweet coconut water:

A simple but tasty Fried Rice, for the boy:

One of the daily specials on the wall - Green Curry with Fish Ball in Coconut. The best fish balls I've ever eaten (and I've eaten a lot!):

These fish balls were sublime! Lucky informed us that these fish balls were hand-shaven from a mackeral. Definitely not like the processed ones:

Gai Pad Krapow (Thai Basil Chicken) - one of the most well-known Thai dishes, but this was my first time eating it. Spicy, just the way I like it:

My favourite leafy green was on the menu - Kangkung, otherwise known as morning glory and water spinach. Not kangkung belacan, but this garlic-and-oyster-sauce version was the next best thing:

The classic Thai dessert - Mango and Coconut Sticky Rice. A winning combination:

We spied Fried Ice Cream on the menu, and it had been years since we last indulged in one. This generous scoop of ice cream was enveloped inside a slice of bread:

We enjoyed this simple dinner of home-style Thai food.

Lucky Tom's
67 Taina Rd,
Kata Beach, Phuket
Thailand
Tel. +66 076-330240