wanna be an hongkie ?

Hong Kong famous for long queues as long as 2 hrs to buy hit products like Portuguese tarts and cheesecakes, and this also happens to restaurants... To see a restaurant’s popularity, is simply how long you have to queue up for it. Wing Wah restaurant is 4 storey building is famous for its traditional local Hongkie stir fries.

My favourite has to be the 5 flavor chicken, simply soya sauce chicken but the meat is very soft and smooth, not too salty or sweet too. My next fave is clay pot rice which this enhances the "rice" smell more, you know the saying "smelling the rice next door?". This mixed with a little tablespoon of lard (pig oil.. dova taught me this term) and soya sauce is what this place is mainly known for!!

must book trust me on this...

(pics taken by caroline mak, i found these on the net... forgot to take my cam... very nice pics indeed!)

Ko.

xi yan vs club qing

xi yan and club qing both are famous "private" restaurants in hk (restaurants which are situated in commercial or household buildings) xi yan is the creator of private restaurants in hk offering original fushion set dinners, cosy atmosphere and main chef serving its own customers. As xi yan got more popular, they started to sell their book at the restaurant and bookstores giving away secret menus and which club qing had exactly followed. Altho club qing is a follower i still loved their dishes very much! each and every one had their own special flavour followed by matching teas... Only thing i had to complain is the price! 400 per person excluding drinks! somehow we ended up paying 700 each (miscalculation, see above blog)

Private restauarnts which are recommended by me:
1) Xi Yan - not so original dishes cos they never changed their menu but xi yan is the reason why all restaurants started to have cold tofu and "yeung chi gum lo" but I must admit theirs is the best
2) Club Qing (above pics)- very similar (almost exact) style to Xi yan but different menu, altho I dont like the idea that they copied but I do applaud for creating their own unique dishes. The chef is actually an IT guy!
3) Gung Guan - Shanghainese fushion, Shanghai cuisine is my fav... has diff menu for diff seasons!! I went twice, once in winter and once in summer:
Winter specialty was "dong bor meat" the skin of the meat is not a fatty piece of skin that melts into oil, its actually got elastic feeling!! Another fav was big gate crab with stir fried rice cakes, their sauce for that was heavenly. Summer special was their big prawns in salty egg sauce on sticky rice. However the queue to book the place just makes you give up and must have at least 8 ppl per booking (quite annoying)
The owner is the waiter and is the chef (who is western raised shanghainese guy, my family tested his shanghainese and it was good)... there is a secret to how he manages to do this ALL at once but its quite a long story... please tell me if you want to hear... i dont want to bore people with this long lonnnnnnnnnng blog

To be honest I have to say that Im very pessimistic about private restaurants, normally they are so overrated and very expensive. My rule of thumb is only go to ones that are recommended by friends!

ok i guess everyone knows how much i love food by now!

ko.

aspasia - must try

complimentary dishes:
a whole loaf of bread - heated in oven surved warm and crispy
bread sticks with dipping sauce (3 types)
cheese (dont remember what type) on tomatoes with vinigarette and olive oil

my menu:
parma ham and rocket leaves with pizza
wagyu beef with red wine sauce
warm chocolate flan

complimentary dessert:
grapes dipped in wine

Yes! its this much food and i finished it all without stuffing myself

my english has gone down the drain so i will give up trying to use my english to try to critique on such a fine restaurant! one word: delicious!!! and well worth the value!

my favourite part was after the desserts, there was complimentary grapes which was dipped in quite an alcoholic wine. With a whole mouthful of sugar, having these grapes clears out the taste buds and is really refreshing!

i can tell the chef has really put an effort into the menu and this effort has really shined upon his food

ko.

Im back !!!! With food

Internet is back! I fixed it !! yes I DID! i must say thanks to the new wireless router that I bought, it had easy-as-computer-idiots-easy automatic set up instructions which anyone can do! Feel like some IT expert now hehehe

OK so back to blogging now! Altho, have been really uninspired cos the lack of money to spend I guess I have to work with some old stuff!

I brought D. out on Valentines day this year to a "private household restaurant" - chinese cuisine which I really liked. OK so this is how it was:

Me: "hello, I want to book a table for 3 but then we can only eat THAT much, would it possible to make the proportions really small cos we would like to order more and have more variety"

X: "SURE no problems!!! I will write up a menu for you guys so you can taste everything but wont be too much" (everyone please remember this)

Menu: (dont remember exactly but approx below)
Entree: Cold tofu, deep fried eggplant
Main: sth similar to sweet and sour pork, garlic prawns steamed sticky rice and soup rice(my favourite)

Me: "Great menu! MAKE SURE ITS SMALL PROPORTIONS! ITS ONLY 3 LADIES"

Food came up to be for the size of 10 people and none of us could finish anything! we were so full that I couldnt even breathe... u know like the feeling when you breathe its like throwing up food type???

FOOD WAS MAGNIFICENT!!! The garlic prawns steamed sticky rice, the rice was no rock-hard-uncooked-rice kinda feeling, it was soft and juiced up by the essense from the garlic prawns!

Another favourite was soup rice! Its like Shanghainese fried rice cakes dipped in soup. This one was different! THey deep fried each and every rice grain like rice bubbles and there was a bowl of boiling hot soup. When the rice bubbles are poored in the soup, it gives a sizzling noise like mongolian beef poured on hot plate! Delicious!

Not to forget to mention about their original location. As it is called private household restaurant, normally these restaurant are situated in commerical buildings or hard to find places. This one was situated in a household buidling, meaning the whole building is not impressed, the secuirty will give a you-are-not-invited look and the lifts are full of signs saying "restaurant should be banned!!!!" Although I like their food but I agree that it is not very polite, imagine u r the neighbour? So thankfully they have a new location which is a proper place!

Sorry Im blabbling on like a lunatic, you know the feeling when you cant talk for a while and when you are free... u will just go on and on and on! For those who are bored, I promise no more long articles! please keep visiting!

dragon beard candy

This candy dates back to along time ago where emperors in China had this as their candy and as time goes the expertise to make such delicacies are lost. This candy is bought in the Hong Kong airport where I consider is good enough but comparing to the master in Kowloon City 10 yrs ago, its not comparable. I still remember that time when this candy master still exists, he told me that making this specialty will injure your hands internally because you are using hidden force (meaning things that look easy actualy takes a lot of strength e.g needlework). The society has changed and the young generations don't appreciate crafty things, everything is machine made but for some things handmade is the best (e.g shoes). Its quite a shame that skills are slowly disappearing

To see how this candy is made, there is a nice video here www.bamboogarden.com.hk/resources/mov/master8mb.wmv

In the HK airport, there is the bamboo garden shop which includes the demonstration of making the dragon beard too ! I quite enjoy seeing that altho I've seen it like thousands of time... trust me everytime I see it I will say WOWWW (with mouths wide open)

Im guessing why this candy is called dragon beard its because when you bite half of it off, the strands of the candie falls on your mouth and chin thus looking like beard? Dragon prob is something the emperors wanted to call, everything in China has the word dragon and pheonix... so lame!

Ko.

Overacted not Overrated

I was very hesitant about this entry because its about food again. But this one is unlike others its not another entry on restaurants. Overall, I really like this place, it has modern and hip interior, amiable atmosphere, outstanding food and great price! What more do I want? But… it can be better! (Not that anyone cares)

Located at the back of Granville Street at TST, the target market obviously lies within the locals around that area, therefore I assume that’s why they paid less attention on the delicate details. The menu has overacted the food, ordering a wasabi beef carpaccio with greens ended up serving thick slices of beef. I thought beef carpaccio was thin sliced beef? Maybe call it a beef salad will do? Waiters are young, hip and friendly but all were walking like rappers, they all seemed to have springs built in their sneakers bouncing around the restaurant. With a little bit more training, it can look more professional.

Yes I am thinking too much, that’s why I call myself a woman. Perfection is something women don’t believe in, when something seems perfect, we tend to scratch the dirt and dig out any imperfections there may be and that’s when we feel relieved. Agree?

K.

Would you like it to be served with fries? YES PLEASE!

Yesterday I went to McDonalds ordered a filet’o’fish meal. The burger?.. Its OK… The coke?… its OK… The fries? Its fantastic!!! French fries never let me down. So where did French fries actually come from? Actually from few hundred years ago, potatoes was actually ONLY prisoner’s food (how lucky are the prisoners). Later the French came up with slicing the potatoes in long slender pieces and fried them. This was then imported to the States and called it French fried Potatoes and eventually turned into French fries.

Where is the world’s best French fries? McDonalds? I don’t know… I find all French fries to be very much similar. But how about sweet potato fries? I reckon it’s so much better!! And for those who have tried sweet potato wedges, it’s not even comparable!
To try these sweet potato fries - Go to Main Street Deli at Langham Hotel in Hong Kong which are also Famous for their juicy burgers. Recommended – blue ribbon burger served with sweet potato fries and must order their Dr Brown’s cream soda (described as the smoothest cream soda made on the face of the earth! And I agree!)

Tip for Daniel's fans: For those who know Daniel Wu and love him like I do, hes a big fan of Main St Deli! I guess I will be going there all the time now!!! When I do see him, I will try to remain calm and eat my burger with sweet potato chips like a lady.

by Ko.