HONG KONG - KING KONG 2013 - PART I

Greeting Earthlings,

How's the weather out there ?

Last year was tiring, due to all those business traveling and not having enough time for the family and friends.

But guess what, I have already been out of the country for 3 times already this January which must be somewhat a record, and now that we are already in the month of May, I am relieved to say that I have only been out slightly more than 10 times this year with the last 2 months being more relaxed than I have anticipated.

Which brings me to a life changing questions, maybe just maybe, I should do a career change and BE the shortest, fattest but definitely the cutest and probably the most HAM-some air steward cum pilot cum airport manager in the industry.

You may ask, do I like flying that much?

The answer is probably not as much as I initially thought I would, but one man got to eat and feed the family, at least that's my excuse that I am using for now.

Which brings me to this phase that keeps springing in my head after watching the movie Cloub Atlas:

The chinese translation of the weak are meat, the strong do eat.

Quote: "The Weak are MEAT, the STRONG do EAT !!!" David Mitchell

Now, coming back to the main reason for this blog, HONG KONG.

As early as I can recalled, I HATED HONG KONG for all the similarities with Singapore when I first went there in the early 2000.

Back then, HONG KONG was just too busy, people were just rushing to fit into the society, everything and anything reminded me of Singapore, so why would I go to HONG KONG at all for a vacation if I can get everything here in Singapore.

Everything changed some what, and all credits goes to Missy, for she shown me a different side of HONG KONG that I must have missed earlier, and HONG KONG has been a fixed destination for us during the last 3 Years.

Since this is already the third year running, I reckon that I need to do it justice and share with you the attractiveness of HONG KONG, for me personally the FOOD is the main reason and Missy also like to do some shopping since they are tax free for electronic and luxury goods.

DAY ONE - Arrival in Evening.

First stop, Claypot rice Hong Kong Style.

One of our favourite claypot restaurant

See below, they have their kitchen right outside of the stall, so don't you worry about the hygiene of the food, but if street food is not your thing, you are better off staying in a box with yourself, by yourself and eat yourself.

Master at Work

 Once you have enough courage to step inside, behold the size of the restaurant.

You can't be shy at all, if you want good food.

 I must warn you.

Firstly, you are expected to sit in a very small table, and if you are any bigger than I am... GOOD LUCK, PAL.

Secondly, you must be expected to share a table unless you have a party of four, and this is regardless of the number of dishes you order, it doesn't matter at all.

Thirdly, pray hard that you will get to share a table with either smoking hot babes or handsome men, and I can't guarantee that everyone in this planet earth is as good looking as ME.

So, if you are game enough, you will reward yourself with this... (SEE BELOW)

Chicken with Rice in a claypot

 Or my personal favorite

Minced meat rice, oh... how I miss you

So after finishing dinner, do what the locals do, and go for a walk, but behold the number of people you will see, and don't be alarmed.

Street performers painting the town red

Artist earning a honest living

After walking for some time, you must be tired and hungry, so why not try their infamous curry balls in a stick.

Yum Yum, Curry Balls, Come to DADDY

After this, if you still feel hungry, don't worry, street food are available all around and late into the night, but I am FAT and SHORT, so my tank can only take so much.

DAY TWO

First Stop for breakfast... Wanton Noodles.

Where else but MAK's Noodle.

They are one of the better noodles in HONG KONG, if not the best.

Why, you may ask ?

Just look at the picture below and tell me you don't agree.







This noodle are simple, straight forward and definitely no BULLSHIT.

You can't not fall in love with this

After finished breakfast, take a long walk and wait for LUNCH.

One of our must stop cafe for high tea or lunch or dinner or all of the mentioned

So this is a cafe that we will drop by every time without fail.

What do we love?

For starter, the MILK TEA.

I TELL YOU, this is different from the ones you get in Singapore, it is BETTER

A couple made in Heaven

Milk Tea with pork steak hamburger, is a match made in HEAVEN and definitely a MUST HAVE.

Noodles with Mushroom & Chicken

Even their instant noodles tastes better than most places in Singapore, or is it because I am on holiday and my mood is more relaxing than usual ?

Either way, happy man with happy food = Happy World.

Don't blink cos here comes DINNER

ITACHO, they have started in Singapore

Surprising, the food in ITACHO HONG KONG tasted exactly like that made in Singapore, which I must kowtow to the owner for being able to maintain the consistency and food quality, even McDonald or KFC can't seems to be able to fulfill.

What more, they have exactly the same menu. : O

Stop STARING @ Joey Yung

And looking at the number of restaurants they have worldwide, they could be the next big thing.

Look out, here comes the FOOD !!!

Comfort food, to be comfortable

Rice Roll

Grilled Salmon Sushi

Grilled Pork Sushi

Another fruitful day with lots of HAPPY food.

DAY XXX

I gave up naming the day, for I figured as long as we have good gracious food, then days becomes secondary.

Beside, how can you go to Hong Kong and not have DIM SUM, it is like going to Singapore and not have chicken rice.

I tell YOU, it is a CRIME.

Our 1st choice for Dim Sum

Ready for a culture SHOCK if you are one of those who never been to a traditional dim sum place in Hong Kong.

At least, I don't see people chopping seats with tissue paper

Beside, on the topic of chopping seats with tissue paper, umbrella or your anything else, I think you seriously is sicked in your head, for can't just one of you sit on the table and wait for the others to come back before ordering your food in food centers or hawkers or whatever.

STOP !!!

I know some of you may argued that you are there all by yourself and having lunch alone.

Oh... such poor thing to have to eat by yourself...

IN YOUR DREAMS, I will take pity on you.

Even if you are there alone, you should just buy your food and ask to share a table with others and I doubt anyone will say no to you, except for some ASSHOLES which I too encountered from time to time.

They may want to talk sweet nothing while eating, I suppose.

GOD only gave you a mouth for a reason.

Anyway, back to Dim Sum, once the push cart is out, you will have swam of people coming towards you.

FYI, I never seemed a uncle with a walking stick move so swift, EVER.

Don't believe me, see below.

I want my FOOD

Else, if you are not as fast as uncle there, you may have to just sit in your seat and wait for the rest of the push cart that aren't as popular.

For this, you have time to choose

 Anyone who knows me, will tell you that I am a highly competitive person by nature.

Hence, OF COURSE, UNCLE IT will also compete and try to get my hands on anything that people are dashing for, even if I don't like it.

Like all Singaporean mindset, if there is a queue, it must be a GOOD THING awaiting, and 80% of the time, that myth is WRONG.

Infamous Chinese Bun

From Malay Cake to anything and everything

This looks better than it tasted, my bad.

We finished everything

For this, I must said that I prefer Singapore or Malaysia style better, too much flour and too little filling

One more thing, unless you speak Cantonese or some Mandarin, it will be a challenge to get your drinks order, other than that just grab and eat all you want.

Beside, see the red white card on the last photo above left corner, they have a stamping system, you take one dish and the server will stamp on it, of after which you will pay at the counter.

Good luck to those who doesn't speak the language, I have my MISSY to thank for this, else I will be as lost as a chicken in a swimming pool.

You may need a GPS to locate this restaurant

BEHOLD, the KING of Roasted Goose in Hong Kong.

Apparantly, Yung Kee Restaurant is No. 1 for Roasted Goose and unfortuantely, for me, I was there too late or too early for they only start serving goose meat from 5pm, and I was there like 4:30pm.

Didn't have the stomach to wait anymore, so we decided to give the rest of its roasted meats a try anyway.

So look what we found.

Best century egg I had

Hello Meat, you have been missed

Missy order, Veggie for the soul and body, I disagree but need to comply

Looks expensive, and yes it is expensive.

Mind you, this was a pretty posh restaurant, and me, in my shorts and tee.

The shock written on their face was simply priceless, and I won't have cared the least, which bring me to wonder if that was why they placed us in a corner, away from everyone.

Probably, I should go in with my best swimming trunk when I have the opportunity.





 
 


So after having roasted goose meat and not too long after, we headed across town to a local franchise noodle shop where missy brought a Groupon coupon, and which was supposedly very good.

How can we go to Hong Kong and missed anything that is highly recommended by the local foodie.

See all the newspaper cutting ?

These noodles are manually made out from constant sitting on a bamboo stick, as compared to those of hand made.

The powder you see is not of curry but of prawn shell

At the initial bite, I thought I have fallen in love all over again, but as our relationship continues, I started to feel a little sick of it mainly due to the overpowering taste bud but I push on and did managed to eventually finished this plate of "noodle", just to be polite and not get thrown out of the eatery since I was snapping away.

If you ask me if it was worth traveling across town for this, I would say that you are better of doing something else, and that too also probably explains why they don't have a central stall since this is of an acquired taste which may be of everyone's liking, especially mine.

So we headed back to central, and guess what, we felt hungry again, and its late into the night, so what do we do ?

We EAT, of course.

Late into the night, so what else to do

We been to this stall several times over the course of the last few years, and I won't say that they have the best food, but definitely the most localized street food ambiance you will find.

11++pm and see the number of ducks still lingering at the stall

I reckon that they operate into the night till the wee hours, so if you want to act local, see local and eat local.

This is the place to be.

A gentle caution, this will not be the cleanest of clean, beside I don't think they even know the word "clean" and it probably doesn't exist in their dictionary.

Local Beer from Russian, apparently Hong Kong is one of those country that doesn't have their own brewed beer.

A business opportunity, DEFINITELY.

So if you have the $$$, I have the BRAIN, let's get rich.

Lighting is definitely very poor out on the street, but I reckon that they did it on purpose, so that the food will be more tasty and they don't get too much questions if you see something unusual.

Yum Yum...

Not for the weak heart

Yes, Yes & Yes, what you see above is indeed chicken feet, I am not the biggest fan, but if missy want to eat, we eat what she wants.

Beside, they are not the best tasting, but its 11pm and I still expected it to be tender and hot.

IN MY DREAMS...

See how well lit this area is.

So will I go back again.

You can bet your last dollar that I will, because this is Hong Kong at its simplest and I'm loving it.

End of Part I

Stay tuned for Part II

The most popular blogger on the BLOCK, my block at least.

IT