Have A Lice Day!
Just got back from HK and feeling canto-fied and greasy. The food this trip was less than memorable apart from porridge and wanton mee at a small hole-in-the-wall in Causeway Bay and lunch at The Landmark. We arrived about 4pm at the hotel on Thursday and went out immediately to look for something to eat. We chanced upon a small coffee shop behind Sogo. It brought me back to my childhood in the 80's, a familiar scene from one of the many TVB series my mum had rented on video. The laminated stools and tables, the old men with white hand towels slung over their shoulder and the old man at the cashier with glasses sliding down his nose keeping a watchful eye on things. No English menus here! I had to rely on mum to order. I had a ling fishball porridge and mum had the wanton mee version. It was the best porridge I've tasted in a long time! So smooth! How the hell do they make it so smooth?! (Mum is hell bent on trying, so we are having porridge over the next few days!). Mum's noodles were pretty good too. Very bouncy with a nice clear broth. I want to say that it was cheap and cheerful but it wasn't all that cheap. It was about HKD50. Cheap for HK I suppose. That night after we attended the wake, all of us went to grab some food at a restaurant near the funeral home. I was unabashed taking photos of all these weird looking seafood while the waiters sniggered near by. The one that looks like a penis is funny! Anyway the food at this place was awful! Everything came with corn-starch gravy! Gross! The fragrant fried chicken was very good though. Oily but tasty.
The next day, thwart by rain, mum and I had to grab a quick bite at the food court in Lane Crawford Times Square before the funeral. I had a katsudon set which came with a drink and potato salad. I love Japanese potato salad! So tacky. This one was exceptionally good. Usually they put too much mayo but this one was just nice. I also liked that it was more like chunky mash than potato cubes. After the funeral we were escorted by bus to lunch at Wan Chai. I'm sad to say that the food there was even worse than the night before. Every dish reeked of stale oil. It was quite disqusting. The next day we encountered more rain. It poured for a good two hours. We had more porrdige at Hoi Wong (Ocean Emperor). It was tasty but not as good as the one we had at..... We had a late lunch at Landmark Cafe. We had to wait for half hour for a table and when we left there were still people queueing. I had lobster bisque to start which was surprisingly fantastic. I guess I wasn't expecting very much when it came in one of those hotel soup bowls. I detected some brandy in the broth. Mmmm. I then had foie gras sushi as my main. The sushi was actually grapes rolled with sushi rice and nori. The foie gras was perched on top with seared mango coulis. It was nice but I was quite full by then after eating mum's chicken, avocado & brie sandwich. Now that is what I would call a real sandwich! There was almost a whole avocado in there. And the poached chicken was moist, tender and tasty. Mum who doesn't like "chis" enjoyed the brie with the chicken. Best sandwich in a long time! Lunch cost as much as a meal in Cilantro's. Crazy! After that I insisted on looking for "really famous" egg tarts on Wellington Street. After I found them, I was less than impressed. I guess this is what good egg tarts are to them. For me I found the aftertaste in the pastry overpowering.
At the airport we had some dim sum at Mei Sum (Maxim). I don't understand why the eggs are bright yellow! Bit scary looking. The chicken treasure rice was very nice! I ate the last one before mum had a chance! Yes I am a good daughter, saving my mother from unwanted calories! I still haven't decided whether HKies are rude or polite. I encountered both extremes. I think overall, they are a relatively more polite bunch than we are. And customer service is of course exceptional. I was told my by Uncle that they launched a campaign to improve customer service recently. I would say they were successful. There are no "duh" and blank expressions when you ask a question, no shrug of the shoulder. Of course, a few years ago this was the same place that I got told not to try on anything because I was too fat! Hahaha!
The next day, thwart by rain, mum and I had to grab a quick bite at the food court in Lane Crawford Times Square before the funeral. I had a katsudon set which came with a drink and potato salad. I love Japanese potato salad! So tacky. This one was exceptionally good. Usually they put too much mayo but this one was just nice. I also liked that it was more like chunky mash than potato cubes. After the funeral we were escorted by bus to lunch at Wan Chai. I'm sad to say that the food there was even worse than the night before. Every dish reeked of stale oil. It was quite disqusting. The next day we encountered more rain. It poured for a good two hours. We had more porrdige at Hoi Wong (Ocean Emperor). It was tasty but not as good as the one we had at..... We had a late lunch at Landmark Cafe. We had to wait for half hour for a table and when we left there were still people queueing. I had lobster bisque to start which was surprisingly fantastic. I guess I wasn't expecting very much when it came in one of those hotel soup bowls. I detected some brandy in the broth. Mmmm. I then had foie gras sushi as my main. The sushi was actually grapes rolled with sushi rice and nori. The foie gras was perched on top with seared mango coulis. It was nice but I was quite full by then after eating mum's chicken, avocado & brie sandwich. Now that is what I would call a real sandwich! There was almost a whole avocado in there. And the poached chicken was moist, tender and tasty. Mum who doesn't like "chis" enjoyed the brie with the chicken. Best sandwich in a long time! Lunch cost as much as a meal in Cilantro's. Crazy! After that I insisted on looking for "really famous" egg tarts on Wellington Street. After I found them, I was less than impressed. I guess this is what good egg tarts are to them. For me I found the aftertaste in the pastry overpowering.
At the airport we had some dim sum at Mei Sum (Maxim). I don't understand why the eggs are bright yellow! Bit scary looking. The chicken treasure rice was very nice! I ate the last one before mum had a chance! Yes I am a good daughter, saving my mother from unwanted calories! I still haven't decided whether HKies are rude or polite. I encountered both extremes. I think overall, they are a relatively more polite bunch than we are. And customer service is of course exceptional. I was told my by Uncle that they launched a campaign to improve customer service recently. I would say they were successful. There are no "duh" and blank expressions when you ask a question, no shrug of the shoulder. Of course, a few years ago this was the same place that I got told not to try on anything because I was too fat! Hahaha!
*blogger is acting up again and I can't post pictures. Fortunately, links still work!
I was in Hong Kong a couple of months back. Aqua is a good place to check out.
ReplyDelete