盐水铰

went to 10,000 buddhas monastery (man fat sze 万佛寺) in the morning.

my hiking shoes have been serving me faithfully for 5-6years. now the left shoe sole has open up. someone that affected my mood. maybe also running out of steam, or just destroyed by the scorching sun the past 2 days at cheung chau & lama islands.

decided not to go far so ended up in mong kok around noon on 5.6.2015.

旺角小肥羊 LittleSheep at agyle street

saw this place 旺角小肥羊 LittleSheep at agyle street. didn’t want to walk around too much so just try our luck.

小肥羊mongkok dimsum menu

we ordered 4 dimsum items – 3 were HK$9.80, only the beef fun cheong was HK$12.980.

beef fun cheong (this was horrendous!)

the first dish we were served, the beef fun cheong was absolutely horrendous!

beef fun cheong (this was horrendous!)

the skin was tough, and at the end of it we did not find 1 single piece of beef.

the char siew fun cheong i had at taoheung super 88 稻香超级渔港 the next day was just slightly better (meaning very bad too!). all the singapore restaurants like crystal jade, imperial treasures, canton paradise, tunglok etc were all miles better, made me realise that in HK do not order any fun cheong in dimsum restaurants except at timhowan & some other more notable places.

spicy pig stomach (just as horrendous!)

the spicy pig stomach was equally horrendous, maybe more!

spicy pig stomach (just as horrendous!)

totally dry & tough, not quite edible.

盐水铰

we thought we got into a wrong place, luckily there was redemption.

the hum shui kok 盐水铰 was good, nice crispy skin, nice filling, great texture.

teochew dumplings 潮州粉果

& so was the teochew dumplings 潮州粉果!

teochew dumplings 潮州粉果

same nice skin, nice filling, great texture.  the chefs from 2 different worlds!

claypot chicken feet pork rib rice HK$26.80

not satisfied we ordered the claypot chicken feet pork rib rice HK$26.80.

claypot chicken feet pork rib rice HK$26.80

unlike timhowan the little metal bowl type this was a larger serving, and it was very good.

claypot chicken feet pork rib rice HK$26.80

both the chicken feet & steamed pork ribs were very good, almost same as treasure lake restaurant 宝湖 at central (chicken feet at the latter was better i think).

but best was the rice! it was so very fragrant!^^

beef tripes 金钱肚

we simply had to order more dishes to go with the super tasty rice.

there was a ma bo 孖宝 which means a twin treasure order 2 dimsum items for HK$24.80.

beef tripes 金钱肚

so we ordered the beef tripes 金钱肚. it was excellent but just wee bit salty, just like the chicken feet here.

steamed pork ribs

the steamed pork ribs though was quite perfect.

steamed pork ribs

we emptied the whole plate onto the rice. so shiok!

lunch was HK$126 for 7 dishes, a bit cheaper than timhowan fuk wing street sham shui po, but less refine, and spoilt by 2 horrendous dish.

c.h.e.f andy

steamed live grouper for HK$128

the night before we went to chao inn at kwun tong for dinner (very good teochew 打冷) at 9pm & got back 11pm+.

this evening decided not to go far. also staying at royal park hotel at shatin, we had not walked around shatin park right behind the hotel. so we decided to take a 20mins walk along shatin park 沙田公园by the river 城门河 on the way for daipaidong dinner at chan kun kee 陈根记大排档 on 4.6.2015.^^

chan kun kee 陈根记大排档

it was quite straight forward. just walked along the river until the stadium part (need google map on the phone though else won’t know when we were at the stadium!) then got onto the yuen wo street.

anyway we found it!

chan kun kee 陈根记大排档

place looked great! good traffic almost all locals.

salt baked chicken盐焗鸡HK$48

we ordered the salt baked chicken盐焗鸡HK$48.

salt baked chicken盐焗鸡HK$48

this place is actually famous for the wasabi hand-pulled chicken手撕鸡, but sis not really into it so 盐焗鸡 which is a hong kong specialty will do.

salt baked chicken盐焗鸡HK$48

it was good, very sweet, tasty, came with ginger sauce like the samsui chicken.

steamed live grouper for HK$128

best was the steamed live grouper for HK$128. it was large, maybe 700g or more. very fresh, very tender, sweet.

steamed live grouper for HK$128

we made very good steamed fish at home, almost same, & we get very fresh fish (not live though) from chinatown, so i eat this often. still i found it very good!^^

fried mixed veg HK$48

we had a fried mixed veg, quite non descript i supposed. still i liked it, very good balance to the meat dishes.

dinner came to HK$224 = about S$40. really good meal!

after dinner we tried to take a bus back to royal park hotel but could not really find out which bus to take. my internet search says 85, but the bus at yuen wo street was 85k & driver not very helpful.

in the end we took a taxi back, anyway it was very near so just flag down price of HK$22.

c.h.e.f andy

steamed chicken feet

after pouring enough sweat walking 2hrs+ at lamma island 南丫岛 in the relentless scorching sun, we took the 2.35pm ferry arrived central pier about 3.05pm on 4.6.2015.

we thought of having dimsum (enough of beef briskets noodles type or 牛仔面, which we just had very nice ones in the morning at  lamma island 南丫岛, & not wanting heavy meal), so walked to central station via IFC with the comforting thought that we could always go to yat lok 一乐 for roast goose if need be.

we decided to try the dimsum at this treasure lake restaurant central 宝湖海鲜酒家, just because it was about the first ok looking dining place on the way to stanley street. haha! 🙂

treasurelake restaurant central 宝湖海鲜酒家

it was the typically bad service place. i asked to have a look at the menu, and the restaurant manager or lead waiter showed a black face. to is & other servers’ credit, they did later show more cheerful service.

treasurelake restaurant central 宝湖海鲜酒家

dimsum items were small HK$16, medium HK$19, large HK$22, special HK$27. there was a higher one i did not bother with.

steamed chicken feet

we ordered 5 dimsum dishes only – chicken feet, steamed pork ribs, chiu chow fun guo or teochew dumplings, char siew fun cheong & 4 treasures.

and waited very long, like >1/2hr, maybe 40mins? & 2 dishes we ordered, first char siew fun cheong after waiting for 1/2hr & then chiu chow fun guo after eating the other 3 dishes, were sold out.

not so satisfying experience eh? luckily the food was good.

steamed chicken feet was very tasty, & the first deep-fried type we like. we ordered a second portion

steamed pork ribs

steamed pork ribs was a large helping, tasty & quite meaty. 🙂

4 treasures

4 treasures

4 treasures

4 treasures

4 treasures was good too. chicken extremely smooth & sweet. mushrooms was the thick type, good.

bill was HK$109 for 4 dishes. food wise pretty satisfied.

c.h.e.f andy

车仔面

we took the 1010am ferry from central pier 4 to young shue wan 榕树湾 lama island 南丫岛 & arrived about 1040am on 4.6.2015.

walked towards suk ku wan & stopped by choy kee 蔡记 for breakfast = wow, it’s a very good find!^^

choy kee 蔡记小食

nice stall, good choices, and inexpensive, good value.

choy kee 蔡记小食

stall was nice & airy.

choy kee 蔡记小食

at a road turning.

select 4 for HK$38 车仔面

车仔面good selection 4 items for HK$38 (noodles can be included as 1 item).

车仔面

this one had large intestines猪大肠, 红肠 (which was ok like luncheon meat), pig’s blood 猪红(very smooth & tender), & pig’s skin (the yongtaofu type not braised pig skin so not our favourite).

车仔面

车仔面

this lone had large intestines猪大肠, braised briskets 牛腩, noodles. i ordered 肠子 at first think it was small intestines. when i came it was 2 like chicken sausage (already fried).

the stall ladies were super nice. i asked to change it to 牛百叶& they agreed!

车仔面

that’s about 1/2 the amount of 牛百叶 they gave me.^^

生菜鱼肉

生菜鱼肉

we ordered the 生菜鱼肉, asked & was told it’s cat fish 鲶鱼。。haha..i thought i heard anyway. we were having the idea of sliced dish, but it turned out to be like fish cake or patty. anyway it was just HK$18, huge amount.

spicy pickled radish

they had this spicy chye poh. pretty good with the meat items & in the soup too.

the noodles were very qq, like any good beef brisket noodle stall, & the soup just as good though nothing special.

ginger tau huay 姜汁豆花

my sis had the ginger tau huay 姜汁豆花. 🙂 i did not order as i wanted to try the one most recommended on guides, Fai Kee 辉记阿妈豆花 which i found further down the road.

as it turned out the tau huay here is even better than Fai Kee 辉记阿妈豆花.

c.h.e.f andy

yat lok 一乐 roast goose drumstick quarter＝HK$150

leaving cheung chau island长州岛, we got to the jetty at 3pm & again just missed the fast boat (next at 3.45pm), so took the slow boat deluxe (HK$20 with aircon), normal HK$13 no aircon at 3.20pm & arrived central pier 4.20pm. we walked over to stanley street via the IFC.

yat lok roast goose at stanley street

we found yat lok 一乐 roast goose at stanley street w/o much difficulty. 🙂

yat lok roast goose at stanley street

place had a constant turnover of patrons, even at 5pm. 🙂

yat lok 一乐 roast goose drumstick quarter＝HK$150

we ordered the roast goose drumstick quarter＝HK$150

yat lok 一乐 roast goose drumstick quarter＝HK$150

it was super delicious!^^ wow! the aroma. so very intense, yet the meat is moist, tender, flavourful & not really strong taste. really love it! ^^

dumplings=HK$48 for 7

dumplings=HK$48 for 7

the dumplings were pretty good. i guess not really cheap at HK$48 for 7, but quite ok. 🙂

shing kee daipaidong 盛记

stall before shing kee daipaidong 盛记

after that we walked further down stanley street to shing kee 盛记daipaidong…they only opened at 6pm. unlikely to come here as not so convenient from our royal park hotel at shatin to come here in the evening just to eat at the daipaidong.

c.h.e.f andy

mullet 乌鱼

had a most shiok teochew “her bun” dinner at chao inn 潮楼 at kwun tong on 3.6.2015….超爽！^^

after 9pm, they have 打冷 40% discounts 6折. so it was great value too! 🙂

don’t usually want to take teochew porridge (expensive & not nice) or even teochew “her bun” (expensive & not great) in Singapore. this one at Chao Inn (潮楼)super nice…

chao inn 潮楼 queueing system

chao inn 潮楼, like the other taoheung group restaurants, has a electronic queueing system. 🙂

chao inn 潮楼 queueing system

we waited 2 minutes. 🙂

chao inn 潮楼 @ kwun tong

place not really packed at 9pm.

chicken feet 粉葛soup

there’s a special soup chicken feet 粉葛soup for HK$19.

chicken feet 粉葛soup

it was was very good really, tasty!

chicken feet 粉葛soup

we ordered just 1 soup as we were greedy & intended to order 2 fish. haha! 🙂

mullet 乌鱼

the mullet 乌鱼 was really, really good! the best!^^ it was so sweet & fresh. i used to take a bit with my sister at lao ah tee 老亚弟 at whampoa boon keng which was good too, but not quite so tasty & a bit more fishy. i did that myself at home too, same.

mullet 乌鱼 – meat came off easily from scales

this one, the meat just fell off the skin/scales.

braised goose

braised goose

the braised goose was quite ok, above average, good flavours, just slightly tough.

braised goose

but that’s a long way from the yat lok roast goose kind of satisfaction.

yellow croaker 小黄鱼

we wanted the big eye snapper 大目紅鰱but it was sold out. so we had the yellow croaker 小黄鱼.

yellow croaker 小黄鱼

it was super good too. we still placed the mullet 乌鱼tops!^^

yellow croaker 小黄鱼

in singapore, unlike mullet 乌鱼, yellow croaker 小黄鱼flesh is more tender & softer & falls apart when you pick up with a chopstick. not so here, it held up quite nicely.

maybe it was just chilled..冻乌鱼 & 冻小黄鱼！

杨枝甘露

i took the 杨枝甘露. it was just HK$16.

杨枝甘露

as good as the 许留山 and maybe cheaper? the whole dinner was HK$213 = S$37nett. so good!

c.h.e.f andy

cheese onions lobster

we were late setting out for lama island 南丫岛 on 3.6.2015. we arrived at the central pier no 4 at just past 11am. the next ferry to lama island was at 12pm. so we walked over to pier no. 5 & managed to get on the ferry to cheung chau island 长州岛 instead. i forgot to check though for fast ferry so we got onto the slow ferry (1hr) journey to cheung chai, perhaps no difference anyway. we arrived at cheung chai 12.15pm. the morning porridge shop at the market which we intended to have was already closed.

Sea king 海龙王海鲜 on cheung chau island

we saw seaking 海龙王海鲜.

HK$198 4-course set

and had a look at the 4-course HK$198 promotion menu. it looked ok. i asked the grumpy fella if there were any other charges. he told me HK$25 all in for tea etc.

海龙王海鲜 on cheung chau island

海龙王海鲜 on cheung chau island

we decided to sit down & try our luck (maybe have our throat slashed…haha!)

cheese onions lobster

i saw cheese lobster on the menu, thinking it was cheese gratin. it seemed pointless when i tried to ask him for other preparation, so i told him to add less cheese. anyway it turned out to be a cheese onion sauce, and it was actually quite tasty. i added quite a bit to my rice too. haha! 🙂

cheese onions lobster

lobster was small, like 300g? but it was ok. very low price leh…let the shop earn some money. 🙂

pan fried cod

the pan fried cod didn’t look great.

pan fried cod

but taste was good. not that i think they cooked particularly well. just that it was a very good fish, and OMT (oh my 天) they did not destroy it! good, good. 🙂 it was tender & oily flaky like cod should be, of course not talking about teriyaki cod at mikuni. my own teriyaki cod etc also better, but this will do. 🙂

steamed scallops with garlic & tanhoon

we had 4 steamed scallops with garlic & tanhoon. this the same preparation as the razor clams at keung kee chicken porridge 强记鸡州。 their menu & signboard showed HK$35 for 1 for this dish alone was HK$140! (later i saw tons of bad comments on openrice & even a seaking Facebook site).

steamed scallps with garlic & tanhoon

similar to keung kee, somehow they slightly over steamed the scallops. but actually it was pretty ok dish. no complaints at the price.

fried lettuce

fried lettuce

lettuce pretty ok too. overall lunch cost HK$223. to me it was a very good value set. & the food was above average really, not cheap & bad. afterwards i saw loads of very bad reviews on both openrice & strangely a seaking Facebook site (probably not by seaking). in fact i think it was like 100% poor comments & i can totally understand why. service, cut-throat etc.

for us on the day though with this set, it was pretty good, and i would think much better value vs the HK$198 at keung kee the night before.

c.h.e.f andy

steamed razor clams in garlic & tanhoon – HK$95

after very late tea cum lunch at timhowan at 4.45pm, we were quite full.

i was considering trying out a daipaidong near royal park called chan kun kee 陈根记except it is really not that near, about 1.6km & 20mins walk. sis was not keen to walk in the dark through shatin park, so we decided to go back to keung kee chicken porridge 强记鸡粥，my usual daipaidong 大排档 introduced by a good friend jeanette of bespoke travellers.

keung kee is at tai wai, just 1 stop from shatin. we reached there about 9pm on 2.6.2015.

keung kee chicken porridge at tai wai

we got a table immediately. they have 3 adjoining shops, and were quite filled up.

keung kee chicken porridge at tai wai

haven’t research on the history yet, but their sign says 正牌沙田鸡粥, but is located at tai wai. maybe originally from shatin.

steamed razor clams in garlic & tanhoon – HK$95

we ordered the steamed razor clams in garlic & tanhoon 蒜蓉聖子粉丝。it came with heaps of garlic & tanhoon. 🙂

steamed razor clams in garlic & tanhoon

the small razor clams cannot match with large ones we have in singapore. & somehow the steaming is just slightly over. it appears to be same with scallops we had the next day.

steamed razor clams in garlic & tanhoon

it was a good enough dish, especially we had 13 razor clams for just HK$95.

roast pigeon HK$70

sis wanted to try their signature dish here, the roast pigeon. the skin was very crispy & great aroma. but the photo looked better than it tasted.

roast pigeon HK$70

the meat was like average, maybe less than average.

roast pigeon HK$70

i would rather spend HK$150 on drumstick quarter roast goose at yat lok.

keung kee chicken porridge 强记鸡粥 – HK$30

kueng kee is of course famous for its chicken porridge 鸡粥.

the last time we had a pot – HK$120.

keung kee chicken porridge 强记鸡粥 – HK$30

dinner for 2pax & 3 dishes came to HK$195=S$34…pretty ok la.. ^^

c.h.e.f andy

凤爪排骨饭

this is hk dimsum! very satisfying.

we had a late tunch (tea/lunch), whatever you call it, 4.45pm at timhowan shamshuipo on 2.6.2015. zero queue this time so we just walked in & got a table. 🙂

we arrived 1.55pm at the airport, got past immigration at 2.25pm, bought 2 octopus card & got my 3G data sim, and about 2.45pm we were waiting at the airport bus terminus for A41 to royal park hotel for a 50mins journey. by the time we checked into hotel etc, it was close to 4pm.

timhowan fuk wing street shamshuipo

still the place was 1/2 full, & progressively filled up.

凤爪排骨饭

we ordered the 凤爪排骨饭. this my favourite, very nice especially with the slight sweet sauce poured over it.

hargao虾铰

the hargao is always nice, fresh, plump prawns, thin smooth skin, but really crystal jade, imperial treasure etc in singapore does them just as well. 🙂

liver fun cheong

somehow fun cheong is always better in singapore. the skin is always very smooth & the sauce matches perfectly.

this liver fun cheong is 1 of the 4 signature dishes, the 4⃣️大天王。my sis wasn’t much into char siew pao (even if it’s crispy skin), and carrot cake is not a special dish for me & i don’t really like 马拉糕。so this best for both of us! 🙂

steamed chicken feet 豆汁凤爪

steamed chicken feet 豆汁凤爪

the steamed chicken feet 豆汁凤爪 is super. i liked this preparation with deep-fried chicken feet skin best. ^^

we also had the osmanthus jelly (i forgot to take photo). 🙂

bill + HK$117 (after adding HK$17 steamed pork ribs)

the price was just HK$100.

steamed pork rib

that was before we decided to order an extra HK$17 steamed pork ribs, as it went perfectly well with the rice. this one of the good standard steamed pork ribs.

so total was like S$20.50 for 2pax.

really shiok. 진짜맛있!^^

c.h.e.f andy