mixed fruit sago dessert @ teawood 茶木 cafe at tung chung

after a fun afternoon at tian tan buddha aka big buddha at ngong ping, we took the bus back to tung chung mtr station & walked around citygate.

teawood 茶木 cafe at tung chung

there was this teawood taiwanese cafe. we decided to take an afternoon drink & rest stop. 🙂

drink @ teawood 茶木 cafe at tung chung

a friend stick to his coffee.

another friend had the drink above. couldn’t recall what it was?

yam slush with red beans @ teawood 茶木 cafe at tung chung

another friend took a yam slush with red beans, quite interesting & not bad. i like every red bean dish. a bit heavy though.

honey lemon drink @ teawood 茶木 cafe at tung chung

i took a honey lemon drink, came with lots of slush ice as well.

honey lemon drink @ teawood 茶木 cafe at tung chung

drink was not too sweet, felt a bit dilute, nothing particularly special.

mixed fruit sdessert @ teawood 茶木 cafe at tung chung

we ordered a mixed fruit dessert to share. it came with also red beans, and black jelly, aloe vera etc, quite refreshing, ok dessert.

it was a good refreshing rest stop yes. not particularly attracted to the drinks here, just another cafe.

c.h.e.f andy

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TeaWood Taiwanese Cafe & Restaurant 茶木‧台式休閒餐廳 

ngau pang 牛棚 beef 3 treasures noodles 牛三宝

it was 5.30pm + when we returned to prince edward mtr station after a nice drink & rest at the taiwanese teawood cafe tung chun.

one friend wanted to go for late hotpot dinner so we decided to have a bite & really craving beef brisket noodles.

the beef brisket noodles at Lin Kee 联记面家 opposite our hotel metropark was ok but they do not sell innards 牛杂 & the taste not entirely what i was craving for.

ngau pang 牛棚 beef brisket noodles

we passed by ngau pang 牛棚 at fa yuen street on the Day 1 on 20.2.2017, and didn’t have difficulty finding it again.

ngau pang 牛棚 beef 3 treasures noodles 牛三宝

the 3 treasures noodles 牛三宝 looked impressive.

noodle menu @ ngau pang 牛棚

we all ordered it.

i think it was like HK$38.

ngau pang 牛棚 beef 3 treasures noodles 牛三宝

the broth was supremely good. smell was good. taste was good.

noodles was qq & perfectly for me. a friend ordered hor fun. very nice no doubt but for me it is noodles.

i think  Lin Kee 联记面家 version is clear broth 清汤牛腩. it was good too, but this strong intensive broth is also something that makes it attarctive for me.

this came with good helping of beef stomach, lung, tendons & brisket. brisket a bit less since many other items. if i take again i want to take just the briskets.

fried chicken wings @ ngau pang 牛棚

friend ordered one fried chicken wing to share.

good also, but this can get anywhere.

ngau pang 牛棚 beef 3 treasures noodles 牛三宝

i am still relishing this 3 treasures noodles 牛三宝. too bad didn’t get to take it one more time.

good also la then the craving will be there.

maybe i will try to make it again.

c.h.e.f andy

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牛棚粉麵專家

ming court restaurant – 1/4 roast goose drumstick

after some rest, chit chat in the hotel rooms & stuff, we walked over to portland street to look at the hotpot restaurant.

i think it was 正冬火锅料理but can’t be sure. place looked crammed & messy. there was some 40% discounts?? after 10pm. we decided to look around a bit.

ming court restaurant 明栈

the next day we were getting up early to climb dragon’s back, so did not want to go too far.

decided to try the roast goose across the street from our metropark hotel, a ming court restaurant 明栈.

ming court restaurant 明栈

it was nearing 10pm. the roast looked ok, finishing anyway.

we ordered a 例regular serving, and chose the drumstick quarter.

roast goose was good, flavourful,maybe better than tao heung but not as good as yat lok.

char siew @ ming court restaurant

friend ordered the char siew.

another friend & i didn’t think the char siew in hong kong is great.

char siew @ ming court restaurant

but this was pretty good for me. importantly, the meat was tender. my other friend prefers the very charred type so he was just so so with the char siew. this was good enough for me la…

braised goose wings & feet @ ming court restaurant

the goose wings & feet, nothing much to eat leh…didn’t consider this good at all.

steamed mullet @ ming court restaurant

steamed mullet with some black beans. it was a bit salty.

i pushed aside the black bean paste. not the best dish & not the teochew chilled mullet preparation, but i ok with it la.

poached kailan @ ming court restaurant

poached kailan was good. always enjoy vegetables in hong kong.

ming court restaurant – 1/4 roast goose drumstick

dinner was very average, mediocre, some friends commented the poorest dinner, quite agree too.

c.h.e.f andy

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one dimsum 一点心

after our morning excursion to mui kee congee 妹記生滾粥品

& then polo bun 菠萝包 @ hong lin restaurant 康年餐厅

the 3 of us got back to metropark hotel. our friend was up & about after catching up on his sleep & as planned, we were ready to try out the dimsum breakfast at one dimsum 一点心.

one dimsum 一点心 opens at 11am, and there was a queue outside at the opening time. on 20.2.2017 when we first arrived hong kong, we did not want to wait. today we decided gave it a try.  we were 4pax & waited about 15mins, not too bad.

i had many consistently great dimsum at timhowan at shamshuipo, most recently during my last trip a year ago with my RI friends on 13.1.2016.

shamshuipo is just one stop from our hotel metropole near prince edward mtr. this time though i thought we giveone dimsum 一点心 a try first since it is also one michelin star.

it was a big disappointment though!

one dimsum 一点心 menu 

the usual dimsum menu. not a big place. it’s crowded, but turnover is fast.

jasmine tea 水仙

we had jasmine tea.

steamed pork ribs 蒸排骨 

the 2 good items here were thesteamed pork ribs 蒸排骨, and the steamed chicken feet 蒸凤爪.

steamed pork ribs 蒸排骨 

it was competent, & no different from other good dimsum places.

steamed chicken feet 蒸凤爪 

likewise steamed chicken feet 蒸凤爪 was good too.

siew mai 烧卖 

siew mai 烧卖 was also pretty ok, though i have had better ones.

fried carrot cake 

& so the fried carrot cake.

all these were ok dimsum, no better than any of canton paradise, imperial treasure, crystal jade etc in singapore.

beef balls牛圆 

the beef balls牛圆 not my preferred type of dimsum, a lot of starch.

very poor cheong fun 肠粉 

surprisingly, the cheong fun was really poor. skin was thick, not smooth, and the drizzling sauce not as tasty as many other places.

eg we had much better cheong fun 肠粉 at dimdimsum 点点心  at 112 tung choi street 通菜街 on our Day1 -20,2,2017. just look at the photo.

tim ho wan shamshuipo’s  liver fun cheong 

& just look at the photo of tim ho wan shamshuipo’s  liver fun cheong.

that’s the kind of skin you should have, and the drizzling sauce, an important ingredient, was also tasty & not too sweet.

tripes 牛百叶

i ordered the tripes 牛百叶. it was ok, texture was good, taste of gravy was ok too, not outstanding.

steamed fupijuan 蒸腐皮卷 

the steamed fupijuan 蒸腐皮卷  was mediocre. i have taken a lot better ones.

fried fupijuan 炸腐皮卷 

apparently that was mistaken, my friend had ordered the fried ones. so the restaurant served us the ffried fupijuan 炸腐皮卷, no hassle. that was a great gesture.

lor mai guy 糯米饭 

my friend also ordered lor mai guy 糯米饭. the rice was a bit hard. it maybe the style of preparation but certainly not the style we like.

the mini ones served in singapore where the rice is tender, moist & flavourful with sauce is a lot better than this.

i supposed dimsum here is ok…servings were huge but not fine, very 粗, and mediocre not very nice. for me, surprise they got michelin star. for me timhowan at shamshuipo was so much better.

that would be a cut above the singapore dimsum, this one here we tried today not the standard of singapore dimsum.

i wouldn’t come back here myself, so many good dimsum places in hong kong, like every other shop is good (star of canton, tao heung, fu seng 富城火鍋海鮮酒家, dimdimsum & of course tim ho wan) so for me no need to come here la..

c.h.e.f andy

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polo buns 菠萝包 @ hong lin restaurant 康年餐厅

after mui kee congee 妹記生滾粥品, we were looking for a nice cuppa, and decided to stop by hong lin restaurant 康年餐厅.

they serve polo buns 菠萝包 like any cha chan teng 茶餐厅。 so we ordered one polo bun with butter 菠萝油 to share among 3, our other friend still catching up on his beauty sleep.

hong lin restaurant 康年餐厅 

hong lin restaurant 康年餐厅 just like any of the cha chan teng 茶餐厅.

last time i tried polo buns 菠萝包 in hong kong i didn’t really like it.

this time though it tasted pretty good. i took a quarter piece, but i think i can finish a whole bun myself. ^^

coffee @ hong lin restaurant 康年餐厅 

the coffee was good too, no sugar & with evaporated milk, the “c” that i like.

set lunches @ hong lin restaurant 康年餐厅 

they have the lunch sets, chinese fast food la..

c.h.e.f andy

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pig innards congee 状元及第粥@ mui kee congee 妹記生滾粥品

so the day before, we came searching for mui kee congee 妹記生滾粥品& found it at level 3 of fa yuen street 花园街market & cooked food centre, but they are closed on tuesdays.

mui kee congee 妹記生滾粥品

today we came over again (just a short walk from our hotel metropark mongkok), and enjoyed the congee here.

mui kee congee 妹記生滾粥品

yesterday we started with not so good congee at 极之好粥面家.

thankfully, we had really good ones later at 振记粥面店 at cheung chau market.

mui kee congee 妹記生滾粥品 was just as good.

the 状元及第粥 especially was very good, chokeful of ingredients,all tender & tasty, and very sweet congee especially good with white pepper.

one strange thing about 振记粥面店 was that the white pepper there was like tasteless. strange…

soft & tough you tiao 油条

i usually would not order you tiao 油条 from bakuteh stalls, and that applies to congee stalls as well for the reason they are usually precut, exposed long time to air, not crispy & soft.

so we asked the lady & she replied it’s crispy 脆的, but it was totally not! we saw her taking out the pre-cut bowl of you tiao 油条…i supposed that was the only blemish here…

grass carp belly congee 鲩鱼腩粥@ mui kee congee 妹記生滾粥品

the 鲩鱼腩粥 – grass carp belly congee was also very good. it has a bit of bones, so need to be carfeul when eating.

& carp has a bit of mud taste, so some people don’t really like.

grass carp belly congee 鲩鱼腩粥@ mui kee congee 妹記生滾粥品

for me, it was very good, fish was tender & sweet & congee was excellent.

this a stall i will always come back. i think prices are around HK$30.

c.h.e.f andy

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Mui Kee congee 妹記生滾粥品 

greentea parfait @ honeymoon dessert 满记甜品

after a great claypot rice dinner at chuen moon kee 銓满记 , there was a light drizzle, so we walked over to langham place looking for dessert.

we found honeymoon dessert 满记甜品 at level 4 of langham place. we were able to secure a seat for 4pax right away. when we were leaving there was a short queue at the front desk.

i was tired of the chinese dessert so ordered a green tea parfait. i guess this place a bit of a modern dessert place, not to talk about fusion.

the parfait was very good, not that it was better than say the mango sago 杨枝甘露 @ lucky dessert 发记甜品 at 2 prat street, tsimshatsui, which was also very good. it was just good, and different.

it was not quite in the league of a good japanese parfait like at-

1. sun with moon, or at
2. shokudo cineleisure.

still the fruits were refreshing. the green tea ice cream was good standard & so was the green tea jelly.

honeymoon dessert 满记甜品 @ langham place

honeymoon dessert 满记甜品 @ langham place was quite well taken up.

langham place at mongkok

very nice atrium design at langham place.

langham place at mongkok

impressive!

honeymoon dessert 满记甜品

we ordered a green tea & durian ice cream dessert for our durian king friend.

greentea & durian ice creams @ honeymoon dessert 满记甜品

i tried the durian ice cream. it was delicious! & the ice shavings & coconut was great.

mango sago @ honeymoon dessert 满记甜品

another friend ordered the mango sago with cheng chow black jelly.

sago with palm fruit 海底椰西米露@ honeymoon dessert 满记甜品

the sago with palm fruit 海底椰西米露 was good too.

honeymoon dessert 满记甜品 @ langham place

for me, i would rate this place as the best dessert stall i been to in this hong kong eat 7 hike trip.

c.h.e.f andy

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

garlic steamed abalones & prawns – HK$480 set dinner at chuen moon kee 銓满记

a friend mentioned in the morning that how about trying the claypot rice in hong kong?

i googled and found this place chuen moon kee 銓满记 at mongkok which is near to our hotel.

so after returning from cheung chau to central ferry, we walked back the way through IFC Mall & mid-level travelators back to central mtr station, and took the mtr to mongkok station. it was quite easy to locate chuen moon kee 銓满记.

HK$480 set dinner at chuen moon kee 銓满记

the experienced server pushed the set dinner to us.

he was very skilled, social guy, pushy to get the orders but courteous & responsive, not abusive. very professional service.

i was not particularly keen on set menu, as the objective was to try the hong kong claypot claypot rice 锅仔饭, so i would prefer ala carte. anyhow the server conceded that the HK$480 2pax set menu was good enough for 4pax, and it already included one claypot rice & the 例汤 soup of the day.

chuen moon kee 銓满记

chuen moon kee 銓满记

chuen moon kee 銓满记 quite popular, most tables taken up at 7pm.

spicy shells @ chuen moon kee 銓满记 

the mala 麻辣preparation for the 螺spicy shells was very good.

i don’t particularly like the taste of these shells, so the mala flavour actually did wonders to the dish, which would otherwise be “siap siap” ie a bit bitter after taste.

soup 例汤 @ chuen moon kee 銓满记

dinner started with the 例汤 soup of the day.

soup 例汤 @ chuen moon kee 銓满记

some meat & pim & pumpkin & radish.

soup was tasty enough, none too great…

roast pigeon @ chuen moon kee 銓满记 the set came with roast pigen.

the roast pigeon was good!

but in hong kong where roast goose is so good, so flavourful, roast pigeon always feels like a waste of time for me. 🙂

1 in thick fish cakes @ chuen moon kee 銓满记

the server emphasized the 1 in thick fish cakes.

didn’t think it was any special, basically like the fish cake selling at street vendors.

1 in thick fish cakes @ chuen moon kee 銓满记

it was very good though very tasty.

fried mixed greens

& the fried mixed greens were very good too.

fried mixed greens

vegetables always fresh & good in hong kong. this was simple dish but well done.

腊味饭 claypot rice @ chuen moon kee 銓满记

& we could chose 1 claypot rice for the set.

腊味饭 claypot rice @ chuen moon kee 銓满记

we picked the 腊味饭.

the pork & liver sausages were really nice.

& the rice was fragrant, separate grains, fragrant & cooked just right.

腊味饭 claypot rice @ chuen moon kee 銓满记

& not to forget the garlic steamed abalones & prawns (top photo).

it was very good. fried garlic sauce really well done & flavourful. prawns were great with the garlic sauce. abalones were large. a bit like the australian green lip fresh abalones. never quite as good as dry abalones braised in brown sauce, but very well done as it is for fresh abalones.

so every dish was good really. i would count the soup as the dish that was below par by comparison to the other great dishes.

so the set dinner was actually pretty good. only thing for me is we didn’t get to try the different claypot rice, like they have the unagi rice 白鳝锅仔饭 & a host of others like chicken, roast duck etc.

i will definitely come back here to try more of these claypot rice dishes. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

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Chuen Moon Kee 銓满记

fruit sago – cheap & nice dessert at cheung chau

my friends didn’t feel like walking around cheung chau island, so we just strolled the streets & looked at the stalls & vendors.

towards the end, before leaving by ferry, we found a nice dessert stall that looks good, and was indeed very good & cheap. can’t recall the name of the shop though.

we ordered a fruit cocktail sago with coconut milk recommended by the proprietress. it was very good . i think about HK$23 or something.

barley ginkyo nuts with tao huay 

the barley ginkyo nuts with tao huay  was good too.

black sesame paste with mochi 黑芝麻汤圆

the black sesame paste 黑芝麻糊 was good, competent not superb. it came with the added extras of mochi 汤圆.

dried orange peel red bean soup 陈皮红豆汤 

the dried orange peel red bean soup 陈皮红豆汤  was also good.

certainly it looked as good as the one at lucky dessert 发记甜品 at 2 prat street, tsimshatsui last evening.

fruit sago – cheap & nice dessert at cheung chau 

all the other 3 desserts were like HK$18, so the 4 dessert were like HK$77 or thereabout, and it was a very enjoyable experience even c/w lucky dessert 发记甜品 which cost like between 2x and 2.5x.

c.h.e.f andy

pig innards congee 状元及第粥 @ 振记粥面店, cheung chau market stall

coming out cheung chau pier, we turned right & walked towards the market, taking in the street stalls & atmosphere.

it’s about 3.10pm after 55mins on the 2.15pm slow ferry from central ferry. many of the congee stalls on the side facing the water were closed.

振记粥面店, the nearest as we walked towards the market stalls, was opened. they sell braises (intestines, wings, gizzard, pig ears etc) & congee.

my friend ordered the pig innards congee 状元及第粥 @ 振记粥面店, cheung chau market stall.

it was very good, choke-full of ingredients, and the congee was smooth and sweet! ^^

small intestines pig stomach congee 粉肠滑肚粥 @ cheung chau market stall

he also ordered the small intestines pig stomach congee 粉肠滑肚粥.

this was excellent too! the small intestines 粉肠 were very good. the pig stomach滑肚 was very tender, just as it should be…& NOT the very poor ones at the not so good 极之好粥面家 we had earlier this morning.

i count the congee here as among the best.

braised items @ 振记粥面店, cheung chau market stall

the braises were delicious too! ^^

braised items @ 振记粥面店, cheung chau market stall

my friend ordered pig’s ears, big intestines, wings, pig’s skin & goose gizzard.

braised items @ 振记粥面店, cheung chau market stall

the braise was very tasty.

i must try to do this at home. this the typically teochew lighter colour braise, and yet it was very flavourful, nice sweet braise. quite perfect. (currently i used tai hua braising sauce, which is a dark colour & stronger braise).

c.h.e.f andy

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振记粥面店

Address:

Cheung Chau cooked food market

tai cheong egg tarts 泰昌蛋挞

after a nice beef brisket noodles treat at 联记面家, we had some nice kungfu tea 功夫茶 at our hotel room.

we were intending to take the fast ferry at 2.45pm to cheong chau. anyhow we decided to go earlier to central, so we took a walk along the mid-level travellators.

tai cheong bakery 泰昌饼家

one of our first visiting place was tai cheong bakery 泰昌饼家 at lyndhurst terrace.

this the original shop set up in 1954. chris patten, the former hong kong governor, is a fan – famously proclaimed as his best egg tart ever. it is part of the tao heung group.

& of course tai cheong bakery has set up shop in singapore, with its first restaurant at hollandv recently.

tai cheong bakery 泰昌饼家

my daughter bought some recently from the hollandv outlet, and it was very good really. the pastry was crumbly & tasted good, and the custard was not too sweet.

tai cheong egg tarts 泰昌蛋挞 bean curd drink

my friend bought some bean curd drinks also. that i think was not good, dilute & sweet.

tai cheong egg tarts 泰昌蛋挞

the egg tarts 泰昌蛋挞 itself? quite good, quite consistent in quality, taste.

mak’s noodles

mak’s noodles

mak’s noodles

after that we walked along & came by mak’s noodles.

we were full so did not want to try.

stanley street daipaidong 大排档

stanley street daipaidong 大排档

then we psssed by the few daipaidong 大排档  at stanley street. don’t think will have opportunity to come by & try for this trip. anyway not a must do thing for me.

we followed the mid-level travellators towards IFC, and walked along the IFC Mall till the sign shows “to all ferries” & walked to the central ferry terminal 5 to catch the ferry to cheung chau island.

c.h.e.f andy

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beef brisket cum tendons noodles 牛腩牛根面 HK$28 

so 3 of us had our first breakfast at the oxymoron not so good 极之好粥面茶餐厅.

we were back nicely on time. our friend was rejuvenated, recharged, ready for some makan (eats).

lin kee noodles 联记面家 

we decided to have a bite at the beef brisket stall Lin Kee 联记面家 across the small road from our metropark hotel.

it’s a tiny place, but there is always a good traffic.

beef brisket noodles 牛腩面 HK$28 

we ordered 2 x beef brisket cum tendons noodles 牛腩牛根面 HK$28.

and 2 x beef brisket noodles 牛腩面 HK$28.

both had beef brisket & beef tendons. but the si tau po – proprietress said 牛腩牛根面 has more tendons while 牛腩面 has lesser just to complement.

beef brisket noodles 牛腩面 HK$28 

it was a tasty bowl of noodles. we were quite happy with it.

not sure if this was 清汤牛腩 clear broth version, but we had this on Day 4 at 牛棚 & the broth & the whole noodles were more tasty & flavourful.

the brisket meat here also not the ones i most preferred which has layered fat & connective tissues 胶 that becomes more flavourful when it converts to gelatine.

poached chye sim 油菜心 – HK$15

the poached chye sim 油菜心 was good.

beef brisket cum tendons noodles 牛腩牛根面 HK$28

overall this was a nice light & tasty breakfast, for the 3 of us, a second breakfast making up for the disappointing one at not so good 极之好粥面茶餐厅.

c.h.e.f andy

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pig innards congee 状元及第粥

one friend did not have good sleep night before our flight to hong kong on 20.2.2017. he needed some make-up sleep time so we decided to start our day at 11am.

the other 3 of us decided to go out early for breakfast.

there was this mui kee 妹记粥家which one friend shared on whatsapp before our trip, it’s nearby at fa yuen street, so we decided to look for it. we found it on level 3 of fa yun street market & cooked food centre, but it’s closed on tuesday.

we walked on the next street tung choi street & decided to try 极之好粥面茶餐厅.

the name means extremely good. unfortunately the food was actually not so good. so 极之好粥面家but 不怎么好 la…

pig innards congee 状元及第粥

we ordered the usual pig innards congee 状元及第粥.

hong kong congee can’t be too bad…just that our expectations also higher, and this congee was not sweet ie tasty enough, not smooth enough, just not shiok enough…

pig stomach congee 滑肚粥

they said pig liver & kidney not ready, so we ordered pig stomach congee 滑肚粥.

this though NOT just not good enough, but downright poor. stomach was not smooth at all nor tender, basically not quite ready, actually tough….

braised large intestines 鲁大肠

the braised large intestines 鲁大肠 though was quite perfect. nice “pang” flavours, tender, tasty braises…good as a braised large intestines 鲁大肠…

but no comparison with the very tasty braised large intestines 鲁大肠 at our recent scrumptious lunch at 東北胖妈春饼店(Northeast Mom Spring Pancake) at 23 smith street on 21.1.2017.

that was just so good!

too bad, hong kong so many nice eating places, this one i am not coming back.

c.h.e.f andy

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mango ice shavings

after a most satisfying dinner including incredible value dishes like 1/2 roast goose for HK$118 & 1kg steamed live garoupa for HK$58,

we took a stroll along the streets at tsimshatsui & came upon lucky dessert 发记甜品 at 2 prat street, tsimshatsui.

lucky dessert 发记甜品

the place was crowded, but we were lucky we got a table for 4pax immediately.

lucky dessert 发记甜品

some auspicious couplets & framed well wishes??

lucky dessert 发记甜品

afterwards a queue gathered outside, i think about 9.30pm -ish…

mango sago 杨枝甘露 – HK$43

the best dessert was the mango ice shavings (top photo).

it was not as good as the we had at Mei Heong Yuen Dessert 味香园甜品 Chinatown Point on 21Jan2017.

still it was pretty good, and also included mochi & red beans etc.

mango sago 杨枝甘露 – HK$43

for me, my mango sago 杨枝甘露  (above photo) was the next best. it was competent, mango was flavourful & good combination of fine ice chips, pomelo & sago, nice & refreshing.

black sesame paste黑芝麻糊

the black sesame paste黑芝麻糊 was watery, dilute, and not smooth, even though they said 现磨 meaning freshly ground…i would say below average..

red bean soup 红豆汤

red bean soup 红豆汤 was pretty good. my friend liked it. it came with 陈皮，dried orange peel, that added the special flavour.

red bean soup 红豆汤

the shop seemed very popular but the dessert were really so so.

sago

the sago dish was very poor.

mango ice shavings

so the saving grace was the ice shavings, which is not much of a hong kong traditional dessert but maybe that is what’s good here.

i cannot remember the prices, but the 5 dessert probably added up to about HK$180.

c.h.e.f andy

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1/2 roast goose HK$118

before this trip, i had checked out some restaurants & eating places. so it was part of the plan that came together quite perfectly that we took a short stroll from the tsimshatsui pier to tao heung restaurant 稻香 at 3 minden row, tsimshatsui. ^^

tao heung at tsimshatsui 稻香

it was about 8pm on a monday.

restaurant was well patronised. we got our table for 4pax immediately, no queue.

tao heung restaurant 稻香incredible promotion

we planned tao heung restaurant 稻香 as part of our eat itinerary of coure to take advantage of the current promotion la! ^^

1/2 roast goose HK$118

& primary on our order list was the 1/2 roast goose for HK$118!

we just had 1/2 roast goose at yatlok few hours ago & that was HK$280. tao heung 稻香 is a mid-price restaurant chain (i would say the standard of canton paradise), and 1/2 roast goose for S$22 is kind of a quite incredible offer.

the roast goose looked beautiful in colour, perhaps even better than yatlok. the skin was crispy, sauce flavour was great, and meat was also tender & tasty enough.

however the huge difference we thought was that yatlok’s goose had the fat nicely rendered thus making the goose more flavourful, whereas tao heung’s goose was very fat, and the fat was satiating. perhaps we had too much goose in 1 day??? still we finished the goose.

for this price, i will definitely come back for the goose, without hesitation la! haha! ^^

steamed live 1kg garoupa 中青班HK$58

next on our list was the live garoupa!

at HK$58, i was expecting a 500g fish even though it says 中青班. but it was 1 kg, a huge fish. maybe it was not live??? but the flesh tasted bouncy & fresh, so i willing to bet it was live fish, especially this hong kong steamed preparation.

there is a downside to this. the fish was a bit mud taste. usually ones associate mud taste with seabass type fresh water fish less of garoupa, but there you have it, it’s not perfect.

steamed live 1kg garoupa HK$58

still it’s HK$58 = S$11 for a 1kg steamed live garoupa.

the romaine lettuce dish next to it was HK$68. didn’t quite make sense, but who is asking?

steamed live 1kg garoupa HK$58

our next table 2 middle age ladies also ordered 1/2 roast goose & this 1kg garoupa, just for 2 pax.

& every other table ordered the garoupa.

chicken sharksfin soup – HK$28

we ordered just 1 bowl of chicken sharksfin soup.

chicken sharksfin soup – HK$28

again at HK$28 it didn’t make much sense.

most of us don’t care much for sharksfin, and we ordered one in case we didn’t like it.

actually it was pretty ok standard. quite a huge serving of sharksfin actually. the soup was a but cold as we were sharing it 4pax. if we ordered one for each it should be ok.

not a must order for me unlike the roast goose & the garoupa, but didn’t mind it either.

烤麸&粉皮

my friend ordered the 烤麸&粉皮.

he made a very good 烤麸himself recently for the OPS gathering on 3.2.2017. it was very good, perhaps better than this – this one a bit more sweet…

粉皮

anyway both dishes were very good still. i like both. 粉皮 was light refreshing & nice goma (sesame) sauce.

烤麸

烤麸is something i beginning to like more ater trying my friend’s version recently.

romaine lettuce 蒜蓉油麦菜 HK$68

the minced garlic fried romaine lettuce 蒜蓉油麦菜 HK$68 was competent.

hong kong vegetables always very good la…so this one was good, but most places better than this.

1/2 chicken 沙姜鸡 HK¥78

my friend added a 1/2 chicken 沙姜鸡  order. just to give it a try.

it was very poor really, any chicken rice in singapore would beat that hands down.

& nothing even approaching the samsui chicken at soup restaurant.

chicken breast was overdone, dry not moist, not tender, not so tasty also.

dinner was HK$521

overall dinner was HK$531=S$100 for 4pax. a really good deal for dishes like live garoupa & roast goose etc.

as comparison, we ate hardly anything at yatlok earlier in the afternoon & that was like HK$410.

1/2 roast goose HK$118

definitely i will come back if there is such similar promotion like the roast goose & live fish next time! 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

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night scene from central ferry next to IFC Mall

so after the relaxing & for some spiritual peak circle walk, we got a cab to central ferry.

as we alighted from the cab, we were greeted by a lit ferry wheel & night lights of central.^^

cross harbour ferry from central ferry to tsimshatsui

we took the ferry to tsimshatsui.

my friends took many nice photos of the hong kong island night scene skyline from the ferry.

clock tower at tsimshatsui

after getting out of star ferry, we walked along the tsimshatsui public pier side.

& took some photos of the former kowloon-canton railway clock tower & sauntered around the vicinity…

night scene of victoria harbour

there were quite a lot of people nearer the public pier side, so we walked further.

there were some ongoing renovations of the hong kong space museum & some boarding up so we did not go to the avenue of the stars. not particular about seeing it any case.

night scene of victoria harbour

victoria harbour & the hong kong island skyline is always so enchanting.

night scene of victoria harbour

and more so at night.

night scene of victoria harbour

we did not see the red tourist junk that always sail across along the channel.

the last time we saw that & took some nice photos in jan2016. ^^

after that we walked over to tao heung at 3 minden row, tsimshatsui as they were having fantastic promo dishes.

c.h.e.f andy

1/2 yatlok roast goose 一乐烧鹅 – HK$280

as we had planned, after dimsum at dimdimsum at tung choi street in mongkok, we took the MTR to central, exit D2, and walked to yatlok roast goose 一乐烧鹅 at stanley street.

the last time i was here was with my RI friends one year ago on 11.1.2016. that time the overall dining experience was dented by the hygiene factors of long queueing time, squeezy, wet floors, and very very poor char siew & siew yoke etc.

yatlok roast goose 一乐烧鹅 at stanley street, central, hong kong

yatlok roast goose 一乐烧鹅 at stanley street, central, hong kong

this time we arrived at 4pm.

yatlok roast goose 一乐烧鹅 at stanley street, central, hong kong

yatlok roast goose 一乐烧鹅 at stanley street, central, hong kong

place was maybe 60% full so we had our table immediately.

honey lime drink – HK$18

we each ordered honey lime drink HK$18, nice drink not cheap.

dumplings 水饺 – 7 pieces for HK$50

& dumplings 水饺 – 7 pieces for HK$50 to share. this dumplings 水饺 was good as before.

1/2 yatlok roast goose 一乐烧鹅 – HK$280

1/2 roast goose price has gone up from HK$250 in jan2016 to HK$280 today.

thankfully it was very good in taste, very flavourful, skin crispy, oily yes but tasty & meat was tender, not overcooked or tough.

later that evening we had a roast goose at tao heung restaurant at tsmshatsui at a promo price of 1/2 roast goose at HK$118, which is like 40% plus the price at yatlok. & of course yung kee, which i refuse to go, charges even higher than yatlok.

still overall we all agree, the yatlok goose was better than tao heung! 🙂

1/2 yatlok roast goose 一乐烧鹅 – HK$280

overall price was like HK$410 or so, more than 2x our dimsum for quite small orders for 4pax.

we were happy though, & yat lok is a place i am still happy to come back again next time.

this trip though i did not bring my friends to fu kee congee 富记粥品 at fa yun street 花园街. maybe i should have but we sought of had what we needed of roast goose after 2 roast goose in a day, and another roast goose opposite our hotel next day for convenience.

next time i will go back to fu kee congee 富记粥品 at fa yun street 花园街.

c.h.e.f andy

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chicken feet pork rib rice 凤爪排骨饭

after checking in at metropark mongkok near prince edward MTR, we walked to the michelin star one dimsum 一点心 about 2pm. there was a long queue on the chairs outside, so we decided to walk down fa yuen street looking for another dimsum restaurant.

we found dimdimsum 点点心  at 112 tung choi street 通菜街.

i put chicken feet pork rib rice 凤爪排骨饭 as the top photo as for me one of the best consistently tasty dishes at hong kong dimsum restaurants is the ubiquitous 一口饭dish – just rice with meat dish toppings & drizzling with a light mildly sweet sauce…very simple & wonderfully tasty comfort food la! ^^

and so with the fun cheong 粉肠. for me that’s equally defining of hong kong dimsum, like the har gao also is. if you cannot do a good fun cheong 粉肠 like the quite bad ones at the one michelin star one dimsum 一点心, then you are a poor dimsum place. that’s just my own views la…

dimdimsum 点点心

dimdimsum 点点心 had a good crowd at 2.30pm.

dimdimsum 点点心 menu

the menu is quite standard stuff.

dimdimsum 点点心 dimsum items

we ordered 8 items – 5 above plus the rice, steamed pork ribs & siew mai.

the char siew pao was good, char siew tender & not too sweet, better than i expected. char siew pao not my favourite.

chicken feet pork rib rice 凤爪排骨饭

the chicken feet pork rib rice 凤爪排骨饭 was good as expected, totally competent, maybe not the best i had.

chicken feet pork rib rice 凤爪排骨饭

the chicken feet & pork rib 凤爪& 排骨were great, so maybe the rice and sauce not the best…

har gao 虾饺

har gao 虾饺 was good as expected of any good dimsum place.

siew mai 烧卖

siew mai 烧卖 good too.

fupeiquin 腐皮卷

and the fupeiquin 腐皮卷 was great here, unlike the quite poor ones, surprisingly, at one dimsum 一点心

steamed chicken feet

and the steamed chicken feet was excellent! ^^

steamed pork ribs

and so was the steamed pork ribs la..very good, tender, smooth, tasty. got some fat bits but overall ok.

walking along fa yuen street 花园街

so before we found dimdimsum 点点心  at 112 tung choi street 通菜街, we walked along walking along the buzzling fa yuen street 花园街…

fa yuen street 花园街lap cheong market stall selling chinese pork & liver sausages

fa yuen street 花园街 lap cheong market stall selling chinese pork & liver sausages

and we recky on the lap cheong stalls at fa yuen street market & cooked food centre.

fun cheong 粉肠

the last item we had for our very good lunch which cost about HK$160 for 4pax was the fun cheong 粉肠.

this was good standard, light, smooth skin, good fillings. very nice!

c.h.e.f andy

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