Leading the wild into the ways of the man…
Board ferry from Hong Kong to Macau
Puke on the ferry
Spend 2 hours clearing immigration
Get accosted by representatives of various casinos and board one of their free shuttles
Lose an insane amount of money
Eat a pork chop bun to try and cheer yourself up
Walk aimlessly around Senado Square
Contemplate suicide, settles for shaking fist at Grand Lisboa
Return to Hong Kong
Lan Kwai Fong – The Movie
We went to Lan Kwai Fong the very first night we arrived in HK. It was a Saturday and the place was packed – there were people cavorting on the streets, literally spilling out of the bars. What impressed me the most is despite the close quarters and loads of alcohol, I didn’t see any fights break out.
Dispel the gu wak jai (triad) movies you watched as a kid, man. Hong Kong is totally cosmopolitan now. 
Anyway, fast forward to a couple of days later. We woke up with no plans and it was decided that we’ll take the MTR and pick a random station and see what’s there. I reckon it’s a good way to explore HK so that’s exactly what we did. We ended up in the MTR that exits from Telford Plaza and into this futuristic looking cinema.
The cinema is built like an edged structure with different colors somehow transported in from the future. It was then then I declared I’m going to watch a movie…in Hong Kong. Hey, it’s one of the things you’ve gotta do when you’re there.
Watch a Hong Kong movie in Hong Kong. Tickets should be around HKD 50 (RM 20) per person. Expect HK schoolgirls in uniform sitting behind you.
We picked a local production called Lan Kwai Fong (although the Cantonese characters apparently says something else). I half expected to be bored coz I was never a huge fan of Hong Kong movies and the ex warned me that it has a very cliched storyline. Hell, if I didn’t know better I would have though she didn’t want to watch it. Heh.
However Lan Kwai Fong (the movie) surprised me. The plot is very meh but the character development is something I can relate to. I see myself in one of them and my friends in most of the main and supporting cast. Definitely a must watch if you’re ever in HK.
Oh, you might want to visit Lan Kwai Fong first – I found that it increased my enjoyment of the movie tremendously, having been to the places in the movie. 🙂
Che Jai Meen is one of the great hawker delights of Hong Kong. It’s literally translated as “small cart noodles” but commonly called peddler noodles.
These wonderful push carts carries a mind boggling array everything from pork, eggs, veggies, beef, offal and of course, the all important fishball.
You choose the ingredients you want and it’s served up in a huge bowl with noodles and hearty beef-flavored broth.
This is one of the local delights that you just have to try out. I first saw it in a Stephen Chow movie. Heh. The shop that we went to has very limited seating but that’s part of the deal – it adds to the ambiance.
This is Jeanie’s bowl – it has a fish slices, meatballs, sausages, stomach and some vegetables. Each ingredient you choose adds to the total price of the dish.
My very own che jai meen is much more opulent. I think I ticked half of the options that were available and would have gone for more if the cook had not stopped me and said it won’t fit into the bowl. You can barely see the noodles as it is.
It makes for a very hearty breakfast – the piping hot broth is flavored with a stock that tastes as if it’s been boiling for a long time. However, the beef balls is hands down the highlight of the che jai meen. The huge beef balls practically squirts its juices when you bite into it and it’s springy and chewy. Superb!
Hong Kong does beef balls really well – it seems to be a cultural thing and a pride of the nation…but don’t quote me on that as I gleaned the information from Stephen Chow’s God of Cookery film. 😉 However, it is one of the most delicious bowls of noodles I’ve ever tasted in my life – it ranks up there with the best!
Don’t forget to order the beef balls when you’re eating from a humble che jai meen stall in Hong Kong – it’s delicious and probably one of the best you’ll taste in the world.
…and if you’re up to it, you can do like the locals do and stick a toothpick in your mouth after the delicious che jai meen meal to clear any pesky debris sticking to your molars. I’ve never seen Jeanie use it before but she seems to have gone native during our trip there.
Tim Ho Wan is reportedly the best dim sum restaurant in Hong Kong. I’ve heard a lot of good things about it and even the concierge at our hotel recommended the place when we asked where we can eat dim sum.
I was already dead set on eating here before I even got to HK. I finally convinced the ex to head down to Mongkok to check out Tim Hou Wan Dim Sum on our very last day there. This is the outlet which received One Michelin Star!
You see, the problem was that the concierge told us that it’s the best dim sum in Hong Kong but you might have to wait up to 3 hours. I have heard about the legendary waiting time but also about the equally impressive food so I really wanted to go.
Tim Ho Wan has a lot of branches now but the original is in Mongkok. It is run by an ex Lung King Heen (a prestigious 3 Michelin star restaurant in Four Seasons Hotel) chef and the reason why it’s so popular with the locals is coz it’s cheap and delicious.
We waited for over an hour before we managed to get in – the menu is very limited and you choose what you want before you enter the restaurant. There’s a perpetual long queue in front of the dim sum shop. I think Tim Hou Wan has had some altercations with its neighbors coz everyone was told to keep within the confines and not stand in front of the shops beside it.
Anyway, we were finally seated in the extremely small and cramped dim sum restaurant. I love the ambiance though – it’s just people enjoying dim sum and you don’t feel pressured to leave (which I half expected).
Har Kow (Steamed Fresh Shrimp Dumplings) – HKD 22
I loved it! I always like har kow, it’s an order I judge each dim sum place by and Tim Ho Wan did not disappoint. The prawns are huge and juicy and the wrap is delicate and thin. It’s perfection!
Steamed Chicken Feet With Black Bean Sauce – HKD 14
I like how the chicken feet came out just right. Dim sum is cooked fresh in Tim Ho Wan and the black bean sauce complements the chicken feet nicely. It has a spicy note from the chillies too! Delicious.
Braised Pig Knuckle in Sauce – HKD 15
Hmm…this was a major letdown. There’s more bone than meat or skin/fat and I’ve had much better braised pig knuckle in Malaysia. I would avoid this. It’s very meh.
Vermicelli Roll Stuffed with Pig’s Liver – HKD 16
OMG! This is like an orgasm in your mouth! It’s chee cheong fun, except it’s stuffed with pig liver.
Here’s what it looks like. Don’t be fooled by the simple presentation – the vermicelli roll wrapping is translucently thin and the pig liver is extremely creamy with a very rich mouth-feel. Highly recommended!
Steamed Rice with Beef and Pan-fried Egg – HKD 17
This was a mistake. I wanted to have the lou mai kai but my ex accidentally ticked this one instead coz she thought it was lou mai kai in Cantonese.
It was alright, but we didn’t come here to eat a rice dish.
The actual lou mai kai (sticky glutenous rice) looks like this – unfortunately it’s our neighbors and we didn’t know them well enough to ask for a bite. 😉
Baked Bun with BBQ Pork – HKD 14
This is what Tim Hou Wan is famous for. It’s their signature dish – almost everyone I saw ordered at least one basket of this. There are three buns in a basket and it’s not enough!
The bun is has a layer of crispy goodness and the rest is exquisitely soft and fluffy. I don’t know how they managed to achieve that texture complexity but it works very well. It’s basically a baked char siew pau but it’s so delicious that I was tempted to order more. The BBQ pork filling is sweet and savory, tender, done to perfection. I could eat this all year! You *have* to order this.
Tonic Medlar and Petal Cake – HKD 10
I don’t know what this is. The translation doesn’t even make sense but Jeanie told me that it’ll be delicious…and damn was she right!
It’s made with goji berries and Osmanthus flowers. Those are the only two things I could identify, but there’s a host of herbal goodies inside the jelly. You can taste the flowers and berries when you bite into the jelly – they’re whole and intact! It’s like drinking (eating?) tong shui that has been solidified into Jello. This chilled jelly is wonderful – a perfect ending to a near perfect meal.
Tim Hou Wan Dim Sum Specialists might be a tad overrated but it’s still great dim sum at unbeatable prices. It only cost us HKD 112 (about RM 46) for two, inclusive of tea. The baked char siew bun is absolutely fabulous!
However, be prepared to wait to get into Tim Hou Wan in Mongkok – it’s usually about an hour, so it’s not too bad. Also, the tables are really small so if you order a lot of non-stackable items, you’ll have to eat them really fast, lest you invade another table’s space. 🙂
Portuguese egg tarts are just one of those things you have to eat when you’re in Macau. It’s practically the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Macau and food.
There are a lot of places selling this delightful snack but one of the best I’ve had when I was there last week was surprisingly in the touristy area below the Ruins of St Paul’s.
Choi Heong Yuen Bakery (established in 1935) makes amazing Portuguese egg tarts – it’s piping hot and comes with a buttery flaky crust encapsulating a creamy, melt-in-your-mouth egg custard.
The confection is incredibly light and paradoxically rich at the same time. It is usually priced at around MOP 7 (about RM 3) for a pastel de nata. There are many outlets selling these and you can’t go wrong with most bakeries.
Portuguese egg tarts are the pride of Macau, so you can be sure of getting a mouthful of epicurean heaven no matter which one you go to.
I just love this shop. I found heaps of them in Hong Kong around Mongkok. They have exact replicas of most firearms – except these aren’t replicas per se. It uses 6 mm BB pellets loaded into a shell casing, which goes into your magazine. The Airsoft guns are remarkably realistic – you rack the slide back and a shell goes into the chamber. The pellet is released when you squeeze the trigger with a burst of propellant.
It’s made with stainless steel parts so it’s about as heavy as a real gun. I really like how these things work – they can be used as a prop or for paintball games, with a harder hit (steel BBs can kill a bird).
Unfortunately, you can’t get these things into Malaysia. The person told me he can break it down into three parts and I’ll have to take the risk in bringing them back. However, the largest part still looks like a piece from a firearm and replicas like these (realistic make, color, shape and to a certain extent – function) is not legal in Malaysia.
…and guess what? It just so happened that we were selected for secondary inspection at customs when we got out. It’s a good thing I didn’t buy it then. 😉
I guess if you’re pressed to name a dish that is representative of Hong Kong street food, the answer would be wanton mee (wonton noodles). I’ve had it several times during my recent trip to Hong Kong – it’s a very light meal with subtle notes – there are no overpowering flavors here.
The best wanton mee I had came piping hot with al dente noodles and a couple of wontons in a savory broth garnished with a healthy sprinkling of scallions (spring onions). Simple, but delicious.
It is interesting to note that the wontons in Hong Kong are made with prawns, with just a little bit of pork. It usually is made of pure pork over here and I much prefer the prawn wontons in HK.
You’ll be very surprised at just how such a simple dish can taste fabulous. I was told that it’ll be difficult to find a place that serves bad wonton mee in Hong Kong and they were right! Just walk into any establishment in HK and you’ll find great wonton mee. 🙂
No, I don’t know why there’s a shirtless man behind me either.
Hui Lai Shan is one of the extremely popular dessert chains around Hong Kong.
There is basically no seating – it’s like the bubble tea establishments on the street, except this offers a new twist by having “healthy drinks”. You get a number when you order and you wait for your drink to be prepared at a side counter.
The drinks are in the HKD 20+ range and there are heaps of options you can choose from, all with a local twist.
I notice the trend is to have a local base with various fruits on top, such as the tongue twisting Glutinous Rice Balls in Mango Cubes & Coconut Juice with Red Bean.
I ordered from the Bird’s Nest and Honey Jelly Series – this is the popular E4 – Bird’s Nest & Honey Jelly in Mango & Coconut Juice for HKD 25 (about RM 10). I added HKD 3 for a larger 16 oz drink.
These drinks are surprisingly addictive. It tastes really good. The bird’s nest and honey jelly breaks apart into soft and slurp-able pieces when you stir it with the huge straw. The coconut milk (not juice as stated on the menu) goes very well with the mango pieces (that’s your daily dose of fruit right there) and jelly.
It’s the perfect drink while walking around Hong Kong on a hot day. 🙂
Stinky tofu is one of the great gastronomical items that Hong Kong does very well. It’s available from most street vendors and you just have to follow your nose to find this wicked delight.
The smelly tofu in Hong Kong is astonishingly odoriferous. It smells really, really bad. It made me wince the first time I had it. The pungent stench is quite intense.
This is what the innocent stinky tofu (called chao dau foo) looks like before it’s deep fried. Smelly tofu is basically marinated and fermented tofu, which produces the signature smell. I remember an old HK movie where a Caucasian complains about the smell, tries it and then becomes an ambassador of sorts, loudly proclaiming “This smells really bad but it tastes wonderful”.
That was exactly how I felt. I’m not a big fan of tofu but I was eager to try stinky tofu in Hong Kong. I had it twice at two different street vendors. It’s usually eaten with long wood skewers straight from a paper bag. The smelly tofu costs around HKD 9 (RM 4) for two pieces and you can opt to have spicy hoisin sauce on it.
Stinky tofu has a crumbly crust that smells strongly of ammonia. The odor is palpable – it smells like a public toilet that has not been cleaned for months! The intense aroma is matched by the equally breathtaking taste. Smelly tofu tastes like someone dusted the tofu pieces with dried urine.
It also makes for very messy eating as the entire thing is so greasy it dripped everywhere. However, the experience is very rewarding. Stinky tofu tastes like nothing else in the world. You can smell/taste the ammonia as you chew it and the crust is quite salty. It’s crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside and best eaten piping hot on the street.
You’ll have really bad breath for the rest of the day but it’s worth it!
Cha Chang Teng (literally tea houses) is the equivalent of mamaks in Hong Kong. They’re everywhere and they cook up a fusion of East-meets-West cuisine. The waiters are loud, the place is packed and the locals all wind up eating there at some point or another.
You’ll be served with Chinese tea (complimentary) as soon as you sit down and since I can’t read Chinese, my ex patiently narrated the daily specials for me.
I later found out that they have an English menu. It is a significantly abridged version of the Chinese menu, but it’s available.
I went for a HKD 24 (RM 10) noodle dish which contains slices of char siew (barbecued meat), bak choy and pickled vegetables. It came in a thin broth but was surprisingly good. You can choose the noodles you want – I went for the ramen-like instant noodles.
My ex had the bizarre macaroni meets pork slices in soup. It costs HKD 36 (RM 15) and comes with a side order of…
…buttered toast and a deep fried chicken wing.
I didn’t quite like her dish though. The macaroni fusion idea wasn’t executed very well. It sounds like an intriguing dish but it tasted rather bland.
However, I highly recommend their milk teas (nai cha). It’s brewed strong and tastes a little like our teh tarik minus the bubbles.
There is a very popular evaporated milk brand called Black & White which they use liberally in their tea. The cup and saucer even comes with the brand of the above mentioned milk embossed on it.
I highly recommend going to a char chang teng when you’re in Hong Kong. The food can be hit and miss but you’ll have plenty of options – both inane and out-of-the-ballpark weird. There’s also something very appealing about the ambiance – the loud conversations, the shouted orders, the waiters jesting with you.
It’s the definitive Hong Kong epicurean experience. You can’t get more local than this. 🙂
Posted: 9:12 PM Hong Kong time.
