Guide in Hong Kong

Old Nov 29th, 2006, 05:52 PM
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Guide in Hong Kong

Happy Holidays to all fellow travel enthusiasts! I seek advice on a guide in Hong Kong. I will be in Hong Kong from December 27th to January 2nd. I am a pastry chef so I am enthusiastic about food as well as popular culture and history. Any recommendations?
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Old Nov 29th, 2006, 09:46 PM
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I was recently in Hong Kong for 3 full days and recommend the following:

day 1 - eat dim sum at maxim's on hk island with a view of the harbour for lunch (it's quite a scene, but seems very popular with the locals), take the tram up victoria peak and admire the view for a while, stroll through hk park afterwards enjoying the aviary and tea museum & tea house next door, take the ferry across the harbour and catch the stunning symphony of lights show from kowloon promenade at 8pm

day 2- take the train to Lantau Island and be one of the first to ride the new cable car to see the giant buddha statue, and visit the nearby po lin monastery. Skip the tai o fishing village on the island, not worth it! Also, cheng sha beach is good for a stroll, but not a must. If you have more time, then go back to Kowloon and visit the HK Art Museum and catch the light show again. If it's race night, go to Happy Valley on HK island for the horse races.

Day 3- Take a hydrofoil to Macau and walk the historical trail. It's an interesting island for a day once you get away from the casinos near the pier. At night back in Kowloon, have drinks at Felix in the Peninsula and enjoy the view from the bathroom. I was not terribly impressed with the food, but it was so late, I had to order off a limited menu. I think the desert was pretty good.

One night on HK island, make sure to ride a street tram and take the long string of pedestrian escalators to see the lan kwa fong bars. You will have more time than I did to see more of course. Hope this helps and have fun! I don't think you need a guide to see HK, as long as you have a good guide book. It's very easy to figure out and more fun to explore on your own, imo. I'm sure you will find plenty of interesting dining options, it wasn't my priority, so I only have the 2 to recommend above.
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Old Nov 29th, 2006, 10:52 PM
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You can read rkkwan's HK/Macau trip report here or http://www.hngweb.com/asia_travel/viewforum.php?f=21
It's very informative. Highly recommended!

For food, check out -> Cicerone's Cicerone’s Reccos for What the Locals Do for Fun in Hong Kong (Hint: We DON’T Go to those Awful Night Markets....) Part I
http://fodors.com/forums/pgMessages....Text=hong+kong
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Old Nov 30th, 2006, 06:10 AM
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For history, go to the Museum of History in Tsimshatsui East. You'll also want to visit some of the walled villages and ancetral halls in New Territories. For example, in Peng Shan near Yuen Long.

For New Year's Eve, go to Lan Kwai Fong in Central if you want to see lots of expats and rich kids who've gone to college abroad. For stronger local flavor, go to Times Square in Causeway Bay. That is, if you don't have an expensive place at a major hotel you're going to for dinner/party.

I don't know what kind of food you're interested in trying. Cicerone has a great list of the better places, both Chinese and Western. But if you want really local and cheap fare, there are lots of eateries everywhere - Mongkok, Kowloon City, etc. And in Causeway Bay, more expensive but still very local, at the various restaurants at Lee Garden or 10th-12th floors of Times Square, and so on.
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Old Nov 30th, 2006, 12:47 PM
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Velcrow,

For starters, be sure to search on postings by Cicerone and rkkwan because they are incredibly rich in knowledgeable advice.

There is an HK Tourism Bureau office at the Star Ferry boarding area on Kowloon/TST that might be helpful once you arrive. Some of the activities promoted there include limited enrollment culinary classes. While those would be beneath your level of sophistication, I do wonder if someone at the office could give you good advice about culinary activities that might suit you.

The History Museum is superb.

For delightful glimpses of local culture, do ride the Central-Mid-Levels Escalator, the old wooden trams on Central, and the Star Ferry.

Enjoy!
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Old Nov 30th, 2006, 06:53 PM
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WOW thanks! It doesn't appear that I will need a guide after all - I will have plenty to do. I am so excited! Thank you for all your input.
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Old Nov 30th, 2006, 09:57 PM
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I am thinking about the pastry chef part, and so far would have the following recommendations, I will ask around as well (while I make a mean rice pudding, I am pretty much a Duncan Hines gal when it comes to baking myself....:

Mandarin Cake Shop
Mandarin Hotel
5 Connaught Road
Central Hong Kong
Tel; 852 2522 0111

The cakes are amazing, they have cakes shaped like purses and other fantasies. You might see if they will let you observe the baking as a professional courtesy....

Hong Kong is famous for its egg tarts, so you have to try those. These are egg custards. The most famous place to try these is at Barista Caffe at 35 Lyndhurst Terrace in Central on Hong Kong Island, as the egg tarts are made by a very famous local baker. Another good place is just up the street at #50 Lyndhurst Terrace (no English name for the shop). There is a coconut egg tart that is excellent as well. You also will see egg tarts on offer all over town, and in dim sum restaurants for dessert.

If you go to Macau, the quintessential place for egg tarts is the Lord Stow Bakery in the village of Coloane on Coloane Island. (There are 3 branches in the town, which is about 500 yards wide, so you can’t miss one...). These are Portuguese-style and are caramelized on top.



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Old Dec 1st, 2006, 03:44 AM
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Now I'm drooling! so I've added these to my list!
I love dessert!
Pauline.
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Old Dec 1st, 2006, 06:38 AM
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Pauline.

Let me add my 2-cents worth of advices here. Since you are a pastry chef I want to tell you this.

In my opinion (my opinion only), dessert has never been an important part of Chinese cooking. It's different from the West where even in everyday cooking the meal usually ends with a dessert. When I was a kid in Hong Kong, dessert to us (at home or restaurant) means mostly sweet soup like red bean soup, green bean soup, lotus seed soup, or "puddings" like tapioca. Then there is the bean-curd custard dou-fou-fa.

If you looking for "inspiration" for pastry-making, you may find that in the Chinese dim-sum (which I'm sure you are already familiar with). The art of using mung bean flour, rice flour can be adapted to make "fusion" dessert. I have seen lots of East-West fusion cooking, for main courses, but I have not seen much fusion dessert or pastries.

Yes, as Cicerone listed in one of her posts, there are many world-class restaurants in Hong Kong, and many western ones will have amazing pastries. But try these restaurants as a food enthusiast and epicurean, not as a pastry chef.

One restaurant I tried about 3 years ago when I visited Hong Kong is the Tai Ping Hou. I read about it in a cooking magazine about Hong Kong restaurant. I forgot whether it was Gourmet or Wine Spectator Or Bon Appetit. The restuarant is quite peculiar but I'm not sure whether it is still there. I have saved the article and attached it below. I'll leave it to other experts to suggest whether it is worth trying. The restaurant is very hard to fine (we stood outside the restuarnt for about 5-10 mins looking up and down and did not realise it was right in front of us!!). I had actually taken a photo of the restaurant from street level so that I may be able to find it next time. If you want the photo I can email it to you:

"Tai Ping Huo: 49 Hollywood Road, Basement Central. Telephone (852) 2559-1317. Flat rate: HK$250 (US$32), open Tuesday to Saturday. Sittings at 6.30pm and 9pm. Reservations required, and best made two weeks in advance, although there are occasional last-minute cancellations. Near the junction of Hollywood Road and Graham Street find a black-clad waiter standing in the middle of the street holding a clipboard. Without his help you won’t find this secretive restaurant, run by Sichuanese artist Wang Hai and his wife Wong Siu-king. The unmarked basement space has only six tables, and is decorated with the owner’s works and shelves of books on Starck, Koons, and Bacon. Wong Siu-king supervises the cooking, and at the end of an excellent fiery nine-course banquet of Sichuan-style crab, eel, tofu, and more (you eat what you’re given), emerges from the kitchen to show off her operatic training with a window-rattling vibrato which draws enthusiastic applause from replete diners."



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Old Dec 1st, 2006, 08:18 AM
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There are two dessert chains in Hong Kong. They are not fine dining places, and the seatings at most are very very tight. But they are where locals go to for dessert.

One is Hui Lau Shan, the other one is Honeymoon. Honeymoon is famous for its dessert made with durian, an extremely pungent tropical fruit. If you go to their original store in Sai Kung, they have seperate areas for durian and non-durian sections.

If you go to Macau, they have many local dessert restaurants too. Many specialize in milk-based desert like the "double-skin milk" or "ginger-hit-milk". Most popular place is Yi Shun. There's another place our family goes all the time, "Heng Heung Yuan" (I can provide address later), with various ice-cream, fruits, tapioca, stuff.
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Old Dec 1st, 2006, 12:34 PM
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Just want to add that if you do decide to go to Yuen Long to see the villages and historic sites, you should stop by the two Chinese bakeries/restaurants on the main street in Yuen Long. Heng Heung, and Wing Wah.

They make traditional Chinese pastries. You may not like it, but you may still find them interesting. Heng Heung is particularly famous for its "wife's cake". While Wing Wah's "mooncakes" are sold in Chinatowns all around the world, they're only made and sold just prior to Mid-Autumn's Festival, and you're not going at the right time.

The egg-tarts that Cicerone mentioned earlier can be bought at many bakeries around town. They are popular for locals.
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Old Dec 1st, 2006, 03:44 PM
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Wow, reading about all those desserts and pastries are making my mouth water! This posting is fun!

Terry
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Old Dec 1st, 2006, 03:45 PM
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I meant to say, IS making my mouth water!
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Old Dec 5th, 2006, 04:56 PM
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While I am a pastry chef, I am also an enthusastic and very adventurous foodie of the non-sweet type. I will be sure to give a full report back on my culinary finds!
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