Hong Kong Food

Hong Kong takes special pride in its culinary scene. With 63 Michelin starred restaurants, including the world's cheapest Michelin starred restaurant (hello, Ho Hung Kee Congee and Noodle Shop 何洪记), there's something special about this region's Chinese steamed goodness.

The last time I was here, Dawn and I took a food tour that spanned some of the greatest city haunts. I even wrote about one of them in a previous blog entry. I tapped into the memory to find some of the food tour locales and, in the process, found a whole new world of similarly delicious, cheap eats.

Paul and I decided to start our great whizz of a tour at the delightful Dim Sum Square in Sheung Wan, home to a queue that often wraps around the building. He might look overwhelmed but we ate it all.

In the search for the perfect wonton noodle soup, we stumbled across two family-run establishments. Both shops have now opened multiple branches across Hong Kong and both offered cheap, filling, warming bowls of goodness. At Mak's Noodles on Wellington Street, a bowl of wonton noodle soup will set you back roughly 40HKD. 

And, after a wild goose chase to find the right shop, we stumbled into Tsim Chai Kee on Queen Street in Central. This is apparently the 'original' branch and is tucked into a basement so you're unable to feast with your eyes before entering. But my goodness, take the stairs down to the basement; it's so totally worth it. The shrimp wonton noodle soup is epic for completely un-epic prices.

After a bowl of wonton, dessert was on the cards. For the life of me, I can't remember the name of this place but what's good to note is that Hong Kong egg tarts (L) and their coconut egg tart (R) counterparts are ubiquitous in the city's bakeries.

 We feasted throughout the trip but fortunately my appetite stopped me from taking too many pictures. What looked less appetising but still quite beautiful were the many shops of dried food, sauces and beans dotted across the old part of the city.

A feast for the eyes and the stomach.

Hong Kong Beach Life

With one final full day in Hong Kong, we joined forces with Victoria and she took us to her favourite secluded little spot. This involved a metro ride to Lantau Island, HK's biggest, on to a local bus (or taxi, if you can find one). We got off the bus at Cheung Sha Village and its glorious stretch of sand lay before us.

For me, Hong Kong was never somewhere I associated with world class beaches so I was, yet again, massively impressed with this little territory.

  

 

 Our day at the beach was fairly typical: sun, sand and a kayak/SUP rental. Roughly half an hour into our rental, the wind picked up our seafaring vessels got a little ride downstream. Finding our way back was a struggle, particularly for the less nature-practical person of the group. (Hint: the one who grew up in London).  Nearly four hours and several new muscles after our journey started, we returned to the beach for a drink and a nap.

 

As far as I'm concerned, HK's got it all: city, great cuisine, beach, endless day trips, friends who can show us the ropes. Step one of convincing Paul complete!

Island Hopping: Cheung Chau

The island of Cheung Chau is a 10km, 70 pence ferry ride away from Hong Kong island. Its true claim to fame is the annual Cheung Chau bun festival that's held there every year. In a feat of human ridiculousness, the local community erect a tower made entirely of buns, 60,000 of them to be precise. I'd love to see it but since the festival takes place in May, we had to settle for the island itself.

The port is crowded with locals seeking sun and buns (the food, not the body parts) but once you escape the narrow maze of roads, the island opens up nicely. I mean, as far as as 2.5 square kilometre island can open up.

 

 The island is flanked by a bike-friendly road, much of which we traversed in a few short hours.

 As we headed east, the island became more secluded and we found some gems.

 Including some little beaches:

 

 A cemetery with a stunning sea view:

 A monastery:

 

 And some great house graffiti.

Rosa was desperate to get back to the main island to get some sunset views so our adventure ended there. But without time constraints, we could have easily spent a few more hours pottering, drinking and being by sea.

Hong Kong City Scapes

I would be putting it mildly to say that Paul lacks a sense of wonder and awe. I go to new cities, new countries and am overwhelmed by the beauty of small things. Paul, in his typically Londoner fashion, is unflustered.

This all changed when we approached the architectural feat that is Hong Kong's midlevel escalators, a 800-metre long outdoor escalator that climbs 135 metres over its distance. It's free, it's fast and the city changes the direction of travel in the upper escalator based on the direction of rush hour traffic. Paul was transfixed.

The view from both sides of the escalator shows a city in perpetual motion. It's both a throwback and rapidly changing and that's part of what makes it so special.

 

Turn down one street and you can buy an assortment of fruits and vegetables:

 Turn left to buy all your electrical and house supplies:

 Tradition abounds:

 As does some very fun graffiti:

How can one small island be this cool?

Welcome to Honkers

This is the story of a backpack.

I could re-live the moment by carefully narrating our journey and first day but sometimes an email you've sent to a friend will suffice. Important details to understand the following are: Paul and I were offered our friend Victoria's Kowloon flat for a few days over the Easter Holidays. We said yay! We brought her a huge tub of Almond Butter (something hard to find in HK) as a gift. Rosa flew from Bali to hang out for a few days. The rest is history.
-----

V--

It’s been a fairly epic day and I felt the need to memorialise it in words. 

We start in London where Paul and Jen check in for the flight only to realise there’s no two seats left next to one another. Fast forward to the Cathay Pacific check in desk where Jen convinced Paul to sweet talk the desk agent into moving seats around. Only they get Nish, the 60-year-old Asian man, and Jen goes into hyper mode about Paul’s excessive flatulence that no one else should be subjected to. Winning move and the pair secure extra legroom in the exit row seats. 

Jen and Paul proceed to share their row with a Swedish man who requests packet upon packet upon packet of peanuts and litres of ginger ale. They worry but he does not fall into diabetic coma. 

Landing, airport and arrival into Kowloon all go to plan. Cherry greets newcomers in friendly Hong Kong manner and the pair go off to meet Rosa at a local Japanese Tonkatsu establishment. Rosa proceeds to drink two large beers while Paul and Jen scarf down their first appropriately timed meal of the day. Rosa talks. Jen drinks a beer. Rosa talks. Paul’s eyes roll into the back of his head from lack of sleep. Rosa talks. 

Jen and Paul eventually separate from Rosa and weave a dangerous path home down Victory Avenue. Pet shop window to pet shop window, the pair peruse. Paul pulls Jen away from gorgeous, sad, denigrated dachshund puppy in the window and the pair make their way to Victory Mansions. 

Jen attempts to complete IB marking scripts on two-hours of fitful airplane sleep. As the words dance across the page, she throws down the laptop lid in humble defeat and falls into a five-minute trance-like power nap. 

Paul brushes teeth whilst Jen finds pyjamas at bottom of suitcase. She turns to Paul’s bag that appears to have sustained some kind of liquid explosion at the bottom. 

As the pair unzip the rucksack, a flood of warm, brown, sticky, organic material seeps out from every angle. Rather reminiscent of cleaning a baby’s nappy, Jen begins to wonder when her boyfriend decided to shit in his backpack. Then the scent, rather nutty, jolts them to the reality that the extra large tub of Planet Organic purchased almond butter has exploded all over the contents of the bottom of the bag.

Which is how Jen and Paul end the night: lovingly cradling a green rucksack full of almond butter in the bath tub. 

What WILL tomorrow bring?

Dim Sum Beachy Joy

One of our greatest finds of the week was just around the corner from our hotel. Reasonably priced Dim Sum Square was a haven of small steamed parcels. A steady stream of locals, tourists and expats alike filtered through this no nonsense family business and queues often extended around the door. It was so good, we went back several times including on our culinary tour with Hong Kong Foodie. 

 Dawn swore by the local special BBQ pork buns:

The steamed delights are meant to compliment the hot, humid weather that Hong Kong experiences. Whilst that might be true, we didn't care. We just kept on returning at any and all available opportunities.

Midway through the week, Petra arrived from Shanghai, Dawn left back for London and Rosa came to join me from Vietnam. Having lived in HK for several years, Petra introduced us to destinations further afield--an free-access elevator that gave us panoramic city views, Causeway Bay, the many city beaches. We crisscrossed the city to join Petra and her eclectic group of friends at various local haunts.

Call me naive but I had no idea that beaches existed anywhere in China. Hong Kong's beaches were plentiful, accessible and quite charming. A 30-minute bus ride separated us from a string of beaches past Causeway Bay. Most of them were blissfully empty and we made our way past the golden sands of Repulse Bay to Stanley for a couple hours of pastoral respite:

Then wandering and walking a mile or so up the road, we found another secluded beach:

The weather was less than perfect but it didn't matter; good company abounded and we eventually made our way to Petra's friends' house in Shek O, a decent taxi ride away from the city centre. Their home was a marvel of architecture--it was built into the rocks on a settlement of houses the government hadn't officially recognised. The views from their roof were spectacular:

And a short walk away, two beaches, Shek O and Big Wave Bay, and a secluded bar filled with locals greeted us:

After a day on the beach, our adventure was nearly at its end. And still we hadn't hiked any of Hong Kong's award winning trails through places like Dragon's Back or past the Tian Tan Buddha. Miles and miles of trail still await a return visit, as if I needed a reason.