rkkwan

12/29 Dinner.

My parents were heading back to Houston the next day, ahead of me. And I wanted to have a nice comfortable dinner with them. My mom suggested that really yucky Chinese restaurant "Tak Yu" with the spitoon (read "12/26 Breakfast&quot, but I had another idea.

We headed down Nathan Road to Tsim Sha Tsui, and went down to the basement of the Holiday Inn Golden Mile. That's where we found the <b>Delicatessen Corner</b>. This is the place that has not changed its location or its menu for 30+ years.

My parents first brought me and my sister (Fodorite &quot;yk&quot there when we were kids, so there were lots of memories. What's amazing is that even the service has remained the same. We sat down and a server immediately came to us with a basket of bread to choose from. Same way it was years ago, and same bread - poppy-seed buns, rye bread, pumpernickel, etc.

They have more beer choices now - but not as many as the King Ludwig in Stanley - and there are newer items in the menu, but the core items remain exactly the same. Various German sausages, meatloaf, German knuckle - served the same way with mashed potatoes and sauerkraut. I think my dad had the Nuremburg, I had the big veal sausage, and my mom had her favorite - whole boiled German knuckle. Wow!

Well, one thing that has changed is the price. A sausage dish is about HK$130, which is, oh, around 6x the price it was in the early 80's. As a deli, they also sell pre-cooked sausages and various bread. However, I don't think they sell sandwiches.

Delicatessen Corner, Basement 1, Holiday Inn Golden Mile, 50 Nathan Rd. MTR: Tsim Sha Tsui.

marcy_

rkkwan,
Thanks for the fascinating report!
I'm going to be in Hong Kong in a couple of weeks, and I really want to try some of the foods that I can't get at home, but I don't have any idea what to order.

For example, I wouldn't ever know to try congee with pork blood and fish slices- I've never had congee before, much less pork blood-- so your report really helps!

Do congee places like the one you went to have signs in English? Would someone who doesn't speak or read Cantonese have a problem going to the places you've mentioned?

Thanks for all the information!

rkkwan

marcy - You'll have problems at some places I visited.

That little hole-in-the-wall place that I had congee will not have English menu, and I doubt the servers there speak much English at all. You may want to get a little translation booklet, or have someone translate a few dishes for you.

For example, congee sounds like &quot;joke&quot;; coagulated pig's blood is &quot;jue hoong&quot;; fish slices is &quot;yue peen&quot;. So, what I had is &quot;yue peen jue hoong joke&quot;. Don't need to sound close - they'll understand.

At those diners like the one I went to in Yuen Long, they usually have a printed menu in English. However, all the good stuff, i.e. the specials, are posted on the wall in Chinese only. Servers there also will speak very little English.

But those eateries in Central, like &quot;Mak Un Kee&quot; and &quot;Kau Kee&quot;, are visited frequently by expats. And since their menu is so simple, you won't have problem. But if you want to be slightly prepared, say &quot;Won Ton Meen&quot; at Mak Un Kee (meen = noodles); at Kau Kee, say &quot;Larm Yee&quot; for brisket noodles.

marcy_

Thanks,
I'm printing out your instructions, and I'll give it a try!

rkkwan

Stay tuned. I still have several days of amazing eating in HK (and one day in Macau) to be reported.

rkkwan

12/30 Lunch.

Met up with a few friends in Tsimshatsui, and we ate at a more mainstream and popular place. <b>The Spice Market</b> is in the Harbour City shopping complex on Canton Road. It's one of the restaurants run by the Marco Polo hotels that are in the same complex.

I had eaten there long time ago, when it was located above the entrance to the Ocean Terminal, with a view of the harbour and the Star Ferry. But they've moved north for many years already.

For lunch, one can order from the menu, or they have a nice buffet for HK$150, which is quite reasonable. We all went for the buffet. As its name suggests, The Spice Market focuses on South and SE Asia cuisine - from Pakistani curry to Singapore noodles to Tong Yum Kung soup. But the buffet also adds north Asian food like sushi, udon, and some Chinese dish. It's truly Pan-Asian.

If you're in the area, I can highly recommend it. But keep track of time. Unlike all-you-can-eat places in the US, their buffet hours relatively short. If you go late (say after 1:30), you may find that many food is out.

The Spice Market. Marco Polo Prince Hotel, Harbour City 3206 (Zone GW), Tsimshatsui.

---

12/30 Afternoon Tea.

Well, I had really wanted to try the afternoon tea at The Peninsula. So, after doing some window shopping in Tsimshatsui, my friends and I headed in to the lobby of that landmark hotel. Well, let me describe the scene. They basically used up 80% of the lobby space for tea, leaving a narrow walkway from the front door to the reception desk. All the tables are occupied and there was a pretty long line along one wall for a table. [However, the seats look very comfy, and the tables were placed pretty far apart.] So, I said forget it. One of my friend did notice one semi-famous movie actor having tea there.

Well, so where to go? We thought about crossing the street to the Sheraton, or the InterContinental. But the &quot;cheapness&quot; of my friends prevailed, and we went to the <b>H&auml;agen-Dazs Cafe</b> in the Hyatt Regency arcade. Well, the Hyatt Regency is going to close soon, and the whole building will be torn down for a new shopping complex. So, you will need to find another H&auml;agen-Daz location.

Anyways, while they sell only ice-cream on the Nathan Road level, there's also a sit-down coffee shop in the basement. Hm, not bad. Lots of well-dressed young people there. But what was most amazing is their afternoon-tea special. I can't remember the detail, but I think it's like this - about $28 for one scoop of ice cream on a dish, one piece of cake (various type to choose from), and a tea/coffee. It's especially cheap when you consider that it'd cost you about $18 just to get a ice-cream cone! So, for not much more, you get to sit down, have cake and tea!

H&auml;agen-Daz Cafe. 11 locations in HK (not sure if all have sit-down area with afternoon special).

rkkwan

12/30 Dinner.

Right after ice-cream/cake/tea at Haagen-Daz, I was already late for my next &quot;appointment&quot;. Couple of grade-school friends asked me to go to this restaurant at 6:15pm sharp. Okay, so I had to take a taxi to the new Olympian City 2 shopping center and found this place with the funny name <b>6 Dings Kee</b>.

[Well, the English name makes absolutely no sense. What's a &quot;Ding&quot; anyways? Well, that's the Cantonese pronounciation for a heavy 3-legged ceremonial pot used in ancient times, usually made of bronze. But then why six of them? Actually, the whole name is a Cantonese homonym of a popular kung-fu novel &quot;Duke of Mount Deer&quot; by Louis Cha (Jin Yong).]

Anyways, this place opened not long ago, and was extremely popular. The way it works is that it's an &quot;all-you-can-eat in 2 hours, conveyor belt hot pot restaurant&quot;. What, you say? Okay, let me explain. We had a 6:15pm reservations, so we were allowed to eat as much as we could from 6:15 to 8:15, for a set price (which I believe was HK$88 per person). Like other hot pot place, they placed a big pot of broth on a propane stove in the middle of our table. But instead of going to a buffet table to get our stuff, there's a conveyor belt that circles around the restaurant so we can get our food from our seats without getting up!

Conveyor sushi bars are common all around Asia, and there are probably some in the US too. But this is the one and only conveyor belt hot pot place I've been. What a concept! Unfortunately, I was too busy chatting with my friends (one of them I haven't seen in 15+ years), I didn't eat fast enough. At just past 8:15, the server brought us the bill so we had to go. And there were more people outside the restaurant waiting for a table.

The food is pretty fresh. Lots of ingredients you can put in your pot - beef, pork, shrimp, various vegetables, etc. But more importantly, it was just fun.

6 Dings Kee. UG level, Shop 05. Olympian City 2, Kowloon. This mall is connected to the Olympic MTR, but it's on the Tung Chung Line and not very convenient to get to from the rest of Kowloon. Cheap taxi ride from Tsimshatsui or Mongkok.

rkkwan

12/31 Lunch.

I spent the whole morning in the Tai Wai and Sha Tin districts of the New Territories, and had just finished visiting the pretty nice Hong Kong Heritage Musuem at lunch time. I was starting to wonder where to get food when I discovered that there's a <b>Museum Tea House</b> on the ground floor of the museum, next to the book store. And they serve lunch. Perfect.

In the last few years, several high-end Chinese tea house has opened. They usually don't serve food, and are kind of equivalent to high-end coffee houses. Prices depend on the type and quality of the tea leaves. From around HK$20 to over HK$100. (Yes, you can spend &gt;US$12 on a pot of tea!)

I had wanted to try one of these places, and was very tempted by the one in the basement level of Seibu in Pacific Place a few days prior. But I didn't have time then, so I knew I had to have tea here.

The cheapest teas cost HK$20 at the museum, but their lunch special only cost HK$35, which comes with rice or congee, one meat/vegetable dish, a small bowl of desert AND a pot of standard Pu'er tea. Like that deal at the H&auml;agen-Dazs, it's crazy cheap!

Now, being Chinese, I've had tea for all my life, but I'd never seen this &quot;show&quot; before. For my tea, the server brought out SIX items onto my table:

- A electric kettle that recycles to bring the water back to boiling every few minutes.

- A tea pot

- A smaller pot to pour the tea into

- My cup

- Tea leaves in a metal canister, with enough for about 3 brews

- Another pot to dump old tea leaves into when you want to start a new brew

Well, that was not your standard pot and cup anymore, and I actually had to ask the server to explain to me what to do!

Anyways, even though it was just basic level Pu'er, it was still very good. My grandpa was a Pu'er (a dark fermented black tea from Yunnan Province in SW China) drinker, but I usually drink milder green or white teas. Most Pu'ers they serve in regular restaurants irritate my throat, but this one was very smooth.

As for the food, there were 4-5 dishes to choose from. I had stirred fried beef with Chinese brocolli. It'd be best if you go with several other people so that each can order a different dish and share.

[Both the musuem and the restaurant were very quiet, but while I was eating, a young mixed-race family came in to eat. I started chatting with them and found out that they just came back from Phuket, after surviving the tsunami. Pretty amazing tales.]

Museum Tea House. (I actually like its Chinese name a lot better - &quot;Man Bok Heen&quot; which means &quot;literature&quot;, &quot;scholarship&quot;, &quot;porch/balcony&quot. Hong Kong Heritage Musuem, Sha Tin. KCR Che Kung Temple station.

[From the city, take MTR to Kowloon Tong. Switch to KCR train for one stop to Tai Wai; then walk across platform for the Ma On Shan line for another stop. The museum is across the Shing Mun River from the train station, 5 min walk.]

Both musuem and tea house closed on Tuesdays.

rkkwan

12/31 Afternoon tea.

Someone organized a little highschool reunion at the <b>Lounge on the 1st</b> in the Excelsior Hotel in Causeway Bay. The place was hectic as the staff struggled hard to get the ~20 of us to sit together on New Year's Eve. Lots of people everywhere in the Causeway Bay area already.

Can't really remember what I had or the price, but they have English-style afternoon tea that comes with a multi-level tray of biscuits/sandwiches. And the staff was courteous despite our gang moving all over.

If you get a table near the front, you can get an view of the harbor and the yatch club; but since it's only on the 1st floor (hence the name), that view is pretty obstructed. I would recommend it as as place to rest your legs in the afternoon after shopping in Causeway Bay, but not because of its view.

[The Excelsior is run by the Mandarin Oriental group, and its ToTT (for Top of The Tower) restaurant is a very popular place with a great view. Their Yee Tung Heen is a highly regarded Chinese restaurant as well.]

Lounge on the 1st. The Excelsior, 281 Gloucester Road, Causeway Bay. Causeway Bay MTR, use exit D3 and walk north on East Point Rd for 1 minute.

rkkwan

12/31 Dinner.

Finding a place for dinner on New Year's Eve is always a problem in Hong Kong. Most of the nicer places have special (i.e. expensive) set dinners. And it's especially a problem in the Causeway Bay area where huge crowds were already gathering for the countdown celebrations at Times Square.

I met up with a friend, and she made a great suggestion in walking through the Victoria Park to the Tin Hau district. On Lau Li Street are several little eateries specialized in Chiu Chow food, and we went to one called <b>Fat Kee</b>. Not fat, but &quot;Fat&quot; as in movie star Chow Yun Fat.

Chiu Chow is a place in far eastern Guangdong Province, about 200 miles ENE of Hong Kong along the coast. Many of their locals moved to HK over the years, including tycoon Li Ka-Shing. Their eating habit is a little different from Guangzhou/Hong Kong people's, and one popular form is called &quot;Da Larn&quot;. &quot;Larn&quot; means cold, and all the dishes are cold, but they eat it with hot plain congee.

The cold dishes include duck in a special soy sauce, squid/octopus, sausages, picked vegetables, sliced pork, etc. Nothing is too fancy, and there's no expensive ingredients. And you don't need to order too much in advance. Most of the food are hung or placed in a counter near the front, so they can bring it to you in 30 seconds whatever you want to eat next.

For whatever reason, I rarely had Chiu Chow Da Larn. So it was an interesting meal for me. And fairly inexpensive. I think the meal for the three of us cost about $120 or so.

[Now, there's also other Chiu Chow cuisine. Shark's fin is a Chiu Chow delicacy, and there are many high-end Chinese restaurants that serve that other type of Chiu Chow food, with all hot dishes. The &quot;Da Larn&quot; places are much smaller and look like a regular noodle shop.]

Fat Kee. Lau Li Street (I don't know the street number, but it's in the short block between King's Road and Electric St.) Tin Hau MTR, Exit A2, walk two blocks north along Electric Road.

---

12/31 Midnight snack.

We went to a countdown party outside the City Hall, but it was very very cold that night, so everybody disappeared by 12:02. I took the MTR to go back to my hotel, and again passed by <b>Ho Kee</b>. Well, even though it was New Year's Eve, that place was still open. So, I went in a had another congee. This time I had a &quot;Kup Dai Juk&quot;. &quot;Kup Dai&quot; is a term about scholarship, kind of like making it to the top of class and qualify to go to university in the capital in the old days. Or something like that. Anyways, Kup Dai Juk is basically one with all kinds of pork organs in it - stomach, kidneys, liver, intestine, plus regular meat balls.

[For more info about Ho Kee, check post about 12/28 midnight snack.]

rkkwan

1/1/2006 Lunch.

My aunt wanted to see me and treat me to dim sum, so I met her and my cousin at the <b>Federal Restaurant</b> at the Plaza Hollywood in northern Kowloon. Nothing special about it, and the wait was long for a table. It's the most forgettable meals during my stay.

Federal Restaurant. Level 3 &amp; 4, Plaza Hollywood, 3 Lung Poon Rd, Diamond Hill. Right above the Diamond Hill MTR.

---

1/1 Dinner.

Got a call from my friends late in the afternoon. The whole gang were driving around the New Territories and wanted to go to eat in Yuen Long at a popular restaurant, but they needed me to go get into queue ASAP. So, I took an express bus and got to <b>Tai Wing Wah</b> before 6pm. Incredibly, they told me that I was lucky to get the last table for the night! They handed me a queue number and told me to come back around 7:30pm.

Wing Wah is a very famous bakery and restaurant on Castle Peak Road, the main street, in Yuen Long. It opened in 1950. They later opened a larger restaurant on a side street, and called it Tai Wing Wah (&quot;Tai&quot; = big; &quot;Wing Wah&quot; = properous). You can buy their mooncakes at Chinatowns around the globe from August to October for the Mid-Autumn (aka Lantern) Festival.

I've been to this restaurant many times before, but years ago. Their business is so good that they've expanded beyond their 2-3 main floors into smaller rooms in the upper floors of the building. And even though we got back at 7:30, we didn't get seated until 8:20pm. We had to walk up a floor and through small undecorated hallways to find our table, which was in a room of about four to five 10-person tables. No decorations of any type at all. It has the feel of those recently popular &quot;private kitchens&quot; in the city.

But what's so &quot;special&quot; about this restaurant is that they continue to serve traditional rural Cantonese dishes that most restaurants in the city stopped doing years ago. Nothing fancy, but just well prepared dishes like soy-sauce chicken, taro-roots simmered with pork, steamed fish. Food that my mom still cooks.

One of the more &quot;scary&quot; food they serve is one of the most basic - rice! Well, you can order regular rice that they scoop into bowls for you, or you can order the special rice that's cooked in small clay pots. The scary part is that they also give you a bottle of lard that you can add to the steamy rice. That's what poor people used to eat in the old days when they couldn't afford a lot of meat - they just put lard and soy sauce in their rice and that was a meal. Well, I can tell you that it's blood-vessel clogging good!

Another reason why the restaurant is so popular is that despite the crowds and lines, they keep their prices low. There were 10 of us, and I think the bill came out to about $800. That's almost half the price you'd pay at a Maxim's or Jade Garden in the city. Unfortunately, that also means only the really faithfuls who're willing to get there before 6pm to get a number and a 2+ hours wait time can taste it.

Yuen Long Tai Wing Wah. 2-4 On Ling Road, Yuen Long. KCR West Rail - Long Ping; or light rail - Tai Tong Road. On Ling Road is north of Castle Peak Rd, on the opposite side of the diners I went to on 12/29.

yk

I re-read this about a week ago and was wondering if you were ever going to finish writing it.

The food makes me salivate. I need to plan a trip to HK soon - just to eat!

KMLoke

That's what my wife and I do ie go to HK to eat! For my wife there's shopping as well. Unfortunately some of the posts are too late as I've just returned from HK!

While waiting for the food to digest I would like to share this little nugget with those who have nice little sweet tooth.

It's done in a fashion of a traditional tea house and is extremely packed and noisy. Once seated you will be given a menu. You can ask for one in English. It can be quite overwhelming as there's over a hundred items.

http://www.sweetdynasty.com.hk/eng/index.html

rkkwan

I'm glad that plenty of people are reading this thread. I'm not recommending all places for everybody here, but to provide some snapshots of what kind of eateries and food that are out there in Hong Kong, apart from the Hutongs, Felixes and Yus that we hear about all the time here.

Instead, it's just personal journal of my adventure, as a Cantonese speaking visitor.

Also, I don't even choose most of the places myself. They are choosen by my friends and family - and most of them know food better than I do.

marcy_

Thank you so much for taking the time to report all of this information!

Your descriptions paint a picture of a different aspect of Hong Kong than what is found in the usual guidebooks.

I'm hoping to try some foods and places in Hong Kong that I wouldn't have known enough about to try, thanks to your report!

rkkwan

I went on a overnight trip to Macau on 1/2-3. So, the next few meals will be in the former Portugese territory.

1/2 Lunch.

&quot;Roast leg for lamb for &lt;US$5 and glass of red wine for &lt;US$1?&quot;

I didn't get up particularly early, so after breakfast at the YWCA, crossing the harbor to HK Island, get my hotel/ferry tickets, the actual jetfoil ride (55 minutes, about HK$160 each way), it was lunch time by the time I clear immigration at Macau. (No visa necessary for most visitors, same as HK).

Well, I decided to revisit the restaurant I've been to the most time in Macau. My family used to have a little apartment there, and we went there for weekends about once a month for many years in the late 70's. The place is Chinese-run/owned Portugese restaurant called <b>A Vencedora</b>.

Its sign says it was established in 1918, but I wasn't old enough to verify that. Basically, it is a no-frills restaurant serves dirt cheap Portugese food. The owners are Chinese, but they speak Portugese and many of the customers are local-borns of Portugese descent. When I got there the owner's wife was chatting with a table of these frequent customers in Portugese mixed with Cantonese. And serving them liquors too - during lunch. It was a very lively place.

Red wine do cost only 7MOP (&lt;US$1) per glass, but don't ask what type - they come in large bottles. And they're served in small water glass, not wine glass. While they have a printed menu, it's best simply to ask what's the special for the day. I had a typical Portugese kale soup, and then the roast leg of lamb (already deboned when served). The soup probably cost about US$2 and the main dish US$5. In all under US$10.

They also have other stuff like ox-tail, grilled sardines, stewed duck, etc. Served with a small salad and potatoes on the same dish.

A Vencedora. 264 Rua du Compo. It's on the main street between the Octagonal Pavilion Library and the Vasco da Gama monument/garden.

---

1/2 Dinner.

All the sightseeing took a little longer than I anticipated, and I spent a little too much time visiting the casinos (no, I didn't play). So it was like 10pm when I started looking for dinner. I was staying at the New Century Hotel on Taipa Island, so the logical place to eat would be one of the restaurants on Rua do Cunha. However, I found out that all of them were already closed on that weeknight just after New Year.

I wasn't too interested in the restaurants at the New Century, so I walked across the street to a place called Comidas <b>Keroppi</b> or something like that on Avenida Dr Sun Yat Sen. [Chinese name for the restuarant translates to &quot;New Green Frog&quot;; &quot;Keroppi&quot; is the name of that frog figure from Sanrio, the same Japanese company that created Hello Kitty.] Well, knowing the name I should have known better, as I had the most disappointing meal of my whole trip to HK/Macau there.

I ordered their bacalhau - dried and salted cod, a famous Portugese dish. Not that it's bad, but the portion is small, food is not very hot (no excuse, as there were only 2 tables of customers), and way overpriced at over 100MP. At least overpriced in Macanese at a restaurant like that. Well, maybe I was too hungry and grumpy. But don't go there.

---

1/3 Breakfast.

My hotel rate didn't come with breakfast, and all I had all morning is a HK-style (or they'll say Macau-style) milk tea at the little visitor center in the Ghia Lighthouse complex. It's wonderful that around Hong Kong and Macau, you can always sit down and have tea anywhere you go.

---

1/3 Lunch.

After visiting the Kun Iam Temple, I found a little noodle shop nearby, so I went in for lunch while getting my pictures transferred onto a CD-rom at a photo place next door. I asked them what's their specialty, and they seem proud of their tendons in curry. And then they said their cuttlefish balls are also good. So, I just ask for a bowl of noddles with both! That's the beauty of noodle shops - everything can be customized. And another milk tea.

Food's not bad, but I was surprised by their portion size. A lot bigger than the typical ones I'd find in Hong Kong. Can't remember the price, but perhaps around 18MOP (US$2.5).

I didn't jot down the name of this place, but it's on Avenida do Ouvidor Arriaga.

---

1/3 Afternoon Tea.

Yes, I actually had my third milk tea of the day. This time at a fast food place at the ferry pier. I have about 20 minutes to burn before my ride back to Hong Kong, so I got a afternoon combo of the famous Macanese pork-chop bun &amp; the tea.

Now, I really can't even remember any pork chop buns when I visited Macau as a kid. I think they're popular only after Macanese diners opened in Hong Kong selling it, along with the Past&eacute;is de Nata (Portugese egg and custard tart). The pork chop is deboned, and lightly fried. It's served with sauteed onions inside a toasted bun that's pretty light.

If you're interested in the Macanese snacks, you can also get them in Hong Kong. The &quot;Macau Restaurant&quot; has two locations. One in the Shun Tak Center (Macau Ferry) in Sheung Wan, 2nd floor, just across from the ferry ticket counters and entrance. Another one is at 25-27 Lock Road in Tsimshatsui.

rkkwan

Well, I headed back to HK, and my trip was coming to a close; but my friends really saved the best for last for me.

1/3 Dinner.

Straight from the ferry, I took the MTR to Causeway Bay. Destination: <b>Modern China Restaurant</b> on the 10th floor of the huge Time Square mall. The 10th to 13th floor of Time Square is known as the Food Forum, with 19 actual sitdown restaurants, not food court. They serve all kinds of cuisine - from standrad Cantonese to California Pizza Kitchen. But Modern China is probably the most popular.

My friend arrived before I did, but we still have to wait a long time - like 1.5 hours to actually get seated. They have a board outside to indicate what number they're &quot;calling&quot;, but if you don't want to share a large table with other customers, they'd have you wait some more.

The decor is extremely modern looking. Minimalistic, with low chairs and tables that has a Northern European feel. And the food is what I'd called &quot;Pan-China, except Cantonese&quot; - they serve Shanghaiese, Sichuan, Peking. From hand-pulled noodles, to pan-fried dumplings, to steamed dumplings that have broth inside - it has all the classic regional dishes. Very well prepared, presented again in a minimalistic way. The menu was extensive and everything we ordered was great. Even the tea they serve is of much higher quality than most Chinese restaurant in town. But it's not the cheapest to eat - probably about HK$150 per person. Doesn't sound a lot, but there's no expensive ingredients (shark's fin, pricey fish, abalones) in the stuff we ordered.

I'd highly recommend this restaurant to anybody, despite the long wait line. To tell you the truth, I wasn't happy when I got there - I was tired from my trip to Macau and I had a plane to catch the next day, and my friends wanted me to wait for over an hour for food when most of the other 18 restaurants have tables ready. But I'm really glad I waited.

Modern China Restaurant. [It has a much fancier Chinese name - &quot;Gam Moon Ting&quot; (gam = gold, moon = filled, ting = courtyard) ] 10F Times Square, Causeway Bay. Causeway Bay MTR &quot;A&quot; exit.

One other note: Causeway Bay really has the highest concentration of newer fancy Chinese/Asian restaurants. Besides the Food Forum at Times Square, there are other such restaurant &quot;complexes&quot; at the Lee Garden next door, the Windsor House next to Victoria Park and the Elizabeth House on Gloucester Rd.

Okay, I'll finish this up on the next post...

rkkwan

1/4 Breakfast.

I had to check out early for my flight, so didn't eat breakfast at the hotel. Instead I visited the <b>Cafe de Coral</b> at the airport. I made a mistake and ordered a western style breakfast - eggs, bacon, etc - which was pretty bad. Should have gotten their Chinese breakfast instead.

I used to eat at Cafe de Coral perhaps 4-5 times a week during my highschool days.

---

Now, one final note. On my flight from Newark to Hong Kong, they showed a short program about a eatery in Hong Kong. It's called <b>Wing Lai Yuen</b>, which is now in the Whampoa Gourmet World in Humghom along with 8-9 other famous Chinese restaurants.

Well, this restaurant has a really interesting history. For many years it's a little eatery famous for its Sichuan &quot;Darm Darm&quot; noodles, and is located in a squatter area in Kowloon, which was levelled about 10 years ago. In the old days, their noodles were all hand-pulled by ONE SINGLE chef who could only make so many noodles a day. So, they have a strict rule of only one bowl of noodles for each person. Even if you want more, they won't serve you.

And their &quot;Won ton chicken&quot; is sold to only parties of 4 or more. No exceptions. Well, their old noodle chef has retired, and at the new much larger and fancier location, I don't think they have a limit anymore. Still I think they should be called the &quot;Noodle Nazi&quot; as in Seinfeld's Soup Nazi.

Anyways, so I thought about going there to eat, but didn't have the time. And since I found the same food at Modern China, I don't feel like I'd miss it. Still, you may want to go take at a look at the Whampoa Gourmet World. It's in Hung Hom, behind the ship-like structure, and a short walk from the Hung Hom Star Ferry and the 5* Harbour Plaza Hotel. [No MTR to that area, but it's a short taxi ride from Tsimshatsui; or take Star Ferry from Central.]

Also, in Chinese, the Whampoa Gourmet World is known as &quot;Choi Lan's Gourmet World&quot;, named after the most popular and famous local food critic. So, if you jump onto a taxi, tell the driver to take you to Choi Lan in Hung Hom, and he'll know.

Also, you may wonder why there's a landlocked ship strcuture in front of that complex. Well, that area used to be the Whampoa Docks which serviced all the ocean-going vessels. It was later merged into the Hutchison conglomerate, and is now part of tycoon Li Ka-Shing's empire.

rkkwan

Well, that'd be all for this report. Hope it's interesting to some of you. All comments and questions welcomed.

rkkwan

Check this out:

http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/...s-go-list-2008

The first restaurant on this 2008 list is <b>Kau Kee</b>, which I posted about in the entry for 12/28/04.