Central - Wan Chai - Causeway Bay - Central

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After dim sum at 莲香楼, time still very early (~8:15 am), what can we do now? Take a short walk along Central's main roads: Queen's Road Central (皇后大道中), Des Voeux Rd. Central (德辅道中) and Connaught Road Central (干诺道中) is really a good option, because there are a lot of spectacular buildings along these roads, besides, you can also check out how Hong Kong OL dress up ;-)

HSBC Main Buiding and Legislative Council Building, only can show you 2 photos as the others are either not nice or contain our face. From Central, we travelled to Wan Chai (湾仔) by tram with merely HKD 2 per person. Visit Wan Chai because I heard that Kam Fung Cafe (金凤茶餐厅) has great prestige with Hong Kong milk tea (奶茶).

And here is the famous Kam Fung cold milk tea (HKD 13), best record sold 200 cups in 2 hours. It is smooth but again I don't like the taste (yet), more enjoy the butter polo bun (HKD 4.50). Most tables ordered the penne in clear soup, must try this next time as I'm already full.

We spend the next 2 hours window-shopping at Time Square, Sogo and some shops around Causeway Bay, didn't try any food there except a cup of latte from Pret a Manger (HKD 26), should have more sandwiches chain shops like this in KL because I love sandwiches :-)

Go back to Central again by tram to have lunch at Honolulu Coffee Shop (檀岛), the initial plan is to try the roasted goose at Yung Kee (镛记), but too bad it already sold out. Read from somewhere Honolulu's egg tart also one of the best in Hong Kong and has been around for 40 years, sounds like a must try therefore become our 2nd choice after Yung Kee.

I know instant noodle is not healthy but I love it, so still ordered it with roasted duck and char siu. The not healthy noodle is good to me ;-), but the signature coffee taste a bit bitter and smell like charcoal roasted, not really fond of the smell. Their egg tart is almost like Tong Kee's in KL, I think the quality more stable as they managed to sell about 4000 pieces a day! The lunch costs HKD 45.

Kam Fung Cafe (金凤茶餐厅)
14, Spring Garden Lane (春园街), Wan Chai (湾仔)
See map T9

Honolulu Coffee Shop (檀岛咖啡)
33, Stanley Street (士丹利街), Central (中环)
See map R6

Technorati Tags: Hong Kong + Central + Wan Chai + Causeway Bay + Egg Tart + Milk Tea

Lin Heung Tea House 莲香楼 @ Wellington Street, Central

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Some might say Central (中环) is mainly a financial district, but I found quite a lot of historical places and restaurants here, which I'm still regret because I didn't spend enough time in this district. On a windy Tuesday morning, both of us wake up really early just for a dim sum breakfast at one of the oldest restaurant, 莲香楼.

Established since 1918, 莲香楼 still maintain its food quality according to most reviews. Sitting in the restaurant like this will feel a bit strange since we are the youngest among the crowd and only 2 of us order the teapot instead of tea bowl (茶盅). At 莲香楼 don't expect you can get a nice table, so just grab any seat available and aim for the dim sum cart ladies.

Curious to compare our first dim sum with the usual dim sum in Malaysia, so we go for the most typical har kao (虾饺) and siu mai (烧卖) first. Both taste good and the ingredients are so fresh. No frozen meat I guess, every single bite you can feel how serious their selection and preparation. Of course this doesn't make me shout out loud, but this is no doubt an enjoyable breakfast combined with the hums and old ambience.

Something not that usual here; the beef ball (鲜竹牛丸). This looks not so interesting due to crude cuts but I can assure you this is delicious. The pork tripe "mai" (猪肚卖) also new to me and I like this because without the typical pungent smell. Rice noodle rolls (肠粉) should be the one less exciting, think I will just skip rice noodle rolls next time in order to save more rooms for other stuffs (their dim sum portion is quite big, so be prepared).

Finally, we tried their cha siu baau and again like Hong Kong tea, I think the taste will need time adapt to, it is quite different with what we have here, more like our fermented bean curd baau (南乳包) but the meat is a lot less oily. I don't think I like this :-). Total bill HKD 102.

莲香楼
Lin Heung Tea House
160-164 Wellington Street, Central (See map R6)
Tel : 2544 4556

Technorati Tags: Hong Kong + Central + Wellington Street

Dinner @ Temple Street

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If you ask me which place I'm most disappointed in Hong Kong... I think should be Temple Street (庙街). After so many scenes and memories we got from Hong Kong movie and drama series, we always looking forward to this place, it should be very antique, old-time feel and happening, but in reality it just a very normal street, maybe one or two fortune tellers if you are lucky, and I don't see anyone singing on any stage. Let's hope for the food.

Read about Hing Kee (兴记) claypot rice from some reviews, maybe it is a bit risky to try claypot rice here since this is so common in Malaysia, but it is hard to skip this because they are located at the beginning of the road and waiters keep on yelling their name when you walk by.

Coke in bottle, how many restaurants still selling this here? I drink so many bottles in my life, why? There are 3 things that my mum will refill regularly: Gas, Coke and Cintan noodles. Unhealthy life isn't it ;-)

We didn't order the typical Chinese sausage chicken claypot rice as we want to try something new, so we decided to go for the Pork Neck Jowls Rice Pot (猪颈肉煲仔饭) with an egg (HKD 30) and Mantis Prawn (椒盐拉尿虾, HKD 50). They also serve whole crab with rice pot if you want to try.

The rice pot come with almost plain rice and you can add as many sauce (sort of soy sauce but not that salty) as you like. We are glad that we have added an egg, else this pot of rice will be too simple. I like the rice as it's cooked just well and the meat is so tender, but Cantonese people like me wish to add more stuffs into it if possible, sausage, salted fish, mushrooms... ha ha, but aunty doesn't allow me to add salted fish as she thinks this combination will not work.

I basically give up on the mantis prawn because it hurts my finger, my tongue and my mouth. It tastes good but I have no idea how to peel it, so ended up I don't enjoy this. As a visitor I don't think you should travel all the way here to try this claypot but if you have tried most of specialties in Hong Kong, you can give this a try too.

As usual, a complete meal must ends with dessert. We went to the nearby Yee Shun Milk Company (义顺牛奶公司) to try the Double Boiled Milk (炖双皮奶), my first time to this dessert but not quite like it, maybe can do it again next time at their main shop in Macau or try the double boiled milk with ginger. I'm more enjoying the milk that I took away, how good if this can be delivered to my house everyday.

It was so happening along Nathan Road because of China National Day count down event, we joined the crowd and handsome ah sir to watch the fireworks and that ends our second day in Hong Kong.

兴记菜馆 (Hing Kee)
Yau Ma Tei Temple Street (See map V6)

义顺牛奶公司 (Yee Shun)
Jordan Pilkem Street (See map U6)

Technorati Tags: Hong Kong + Tsim Sha Tsui + Temple Street + Yau Ma Tei

Yuen Kee @ Kimberley Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

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So lucky for those who born in Hong Kong. Why? Look at the 牛杂...

This is my lunch at Kimberley Road (金巴利道) and it's so delicious. I have no complaint about my bowl of noodle, with cowhells (牛筋), tripe (牛肚), meat, etc., even SG who usually not prefer beef also give a thumb up to this. I always thought Chinese will eat pork more than beef, but this statement somehow not that true in Hong Kong. In almost all cha chaan teng that we have visited, they also serve this, the only difference is either okay, good, or very good, I've never stumble upon a bad one (so lucky...).

We also ordered the typical Hong Kong tea (奶茶) and a 菠萝包 (don't know what the name in English is). Second try on their tea, but still cannot accept it as good, have to wait until I've sampled the most famous tea in Hong Kong then only I can conclude this. The 菠萝包 is a typical snack for tea time, it's something new to me, not bad but I don't think I will order this too often. Simple 3 orders cost us HKD 38.

Technorati Tags: Hong Kong + Tsim Sha Tsui