On a ferry ride from Hung Hom to North Point, HK

See you my vertical city

2nd July 2011

Grand Harbour Plaza Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong

As the Grand Harbour Plaza Oil Street (North Point) was opened, this first Harbour Plaza Hung Hom renamed itself as Grand Harbour Plaza. The cafe and Chinese restaurants of this hotel have been keeping up their standard pretty consistently. Came here for a business lunch, and couldn't take too many photos. Anyway, this cafe serves some nice buffet, from oyster to dessert - most of them are above average.

1. the Cafe. 2. This is the only food photo I took while my business friend was away. They serve Hagen Daz ice cream but it's from Japan. Texture wise, it's smooth but a bit too milky and sweet to me. I still prefer the one made in France.

煌府海景宴會廳 Palace Restaurant, The Metropolis Hung Hom, Kowloon

I often told my friends not to be misled by the look of the restaurants/shops. Just like this restaurant using a lot of shiny and golden stuff making it so grand. Naturally it would scare people away from not trying it by considering it's a very expensive restaurant. It turned out it's not so.

1. See the prices of the dessert and the cheapest one is the Dessert of the Day at just HK$3.8. 2. See the shiny and golden/silver decoration and that's the illusion making people think it's expensive.

3. the white for your own use and the black pair for your picking up the food. Very thoughtful. 4. Choy Sum HK$20. Quite selected.

5. Crushed cucumber with jelly fish HK$20. The chef had a very nice skill in crushing the cucumber. This kind of cucumber is very easy to be split if you crush it too hard. If you crush it too lightly, the cucumber can't get the cracks so as to absorb the dressing. A very professional skill! Taste-wise, it's pretty good too. 6. 安蝦咸水角 semi-sun-dried shrimp in deep fried sticky rice dumpling HK$8.8. Yes, it'd be the classic term and I almost forgot this original term. I really like they named it this way instead of abusing the word "nostalgic" without defining what "nostalgic" is referred to. The Chef made a very nice job in this deep fried dumpling - dry and crispy but moist and soft inside.

7. 欖仁馬拉糕 pumpkin seed cane sugar sponge cake HK$8.8. Furthermore, the word 欖仁 simply stands for the classic way of making this renowned sponge cake loved by most of the HK people. Besides, the Chef made it very soft and aromatic with cane sugar! I really like this restaurant as they don't abuse "nostalgic" but put that in practice. 8. BBQ pork bun - pretty good too. The essence of BBQ pork bun is to have the bun with cracked up surface 爆口 that you can see the BBQ pork inside. This means the bun has been well raised.

9. 蔥花蝦米腸粉 - another classical term of this steamed rice roll and nowadays many restaurants either stir-fried the rice roll in soy sauce or with some innovative filling. This is what we had in our childhood! 10. 准山雞扎 HK$25 (don't know the exact English term but it's a root part of some kind of Chinese yam) - more classic terms and this is the original one. Almost now many restaurants forgot to put this kind of 准山 but just wrap it up with fried beancurd sheet (腐皮). Note this one is at HK$25 but it should be at this price because this kind of 准山 is not easy to find. So it's the most expensive dim sum in this restaurant but I think it deserves such a price.

11. Steamed beef balls 山竹牛肉 HK$8 - very nice and they put water cress beneath the beef balls to absorb the juice. Very nice! 12. ok this is the $3.8 dessert - yam in ginger sweet 番薯糖水. When this dessert was placed on the table, our best friend was so happy in telling her husband "see this is the yam of white peel and yellow inside 白皮黃肉", which is the best yam for nice aroma. So $3.8 is a very beautiful price and yet it delivers more than its price to cheer up someone who almost lost the taste on food. I was so impressed. The bill for the above including tea/service charge is $190. Definitely there will be more visits to this restaurant.

13. the osmanthus jello HK$8 - at average but good that they didn't put other ingredients to take away the delicate fragrance of osmanthus. The only thing I would get picky is it's a bit too sweet. 14. the hall.
15. the Entrance.

*the below is the previously posted notes... but of course anyone is welcome to take more dim sum lunch with our best friends if the above interests them.

Another nice magic of food to stimulate someone's appetite. When our best friend who are still in a loss of feeling for food, there came some food catching her eyes and stimulating her appetite. I was very surprised in seeing the nostalgic and classic dim sum titles of all the 3 below. So how would you name them - I mean the classic terms..... Prize will be a free meal on all of these with our best friend. BTW, only the first 2 are good and beyond my expectation. The restaurant is somewhat quite unknown to me. A full review will be there after your guess.

正斗粥麵店 Cheing Dou congee noodle shop, Whampoa Food Mall, Kowloon, Hong Kong

This shop has been given a star rating by Michelin and also quite a talk of the town. So why not give it a try and see if there is one which can replace my most favourite wonton shop Mak Um Kee 麥奀記 and Chee Kee 池記.

1. the table setting. Checked the paper plate and it mentioned the background of Won Ton that Won Ton is a meaning of shape and style blended together. The shop even claimed itself as the very well established wonton shop. If so, they should have known even better of how Won Ton is claimed from. Won Ton in Chinese means the chaotic atmosphere in the Winter to Spring transition. Won Ton wraps such chaotic things and when one bites it, it would break away from such a chaotic atmosphere. The meaning of Won Ton represents the beginning of the World and how we took on a new era. It is very literal indeed. 盤古初開，咬破錕鈍, 帶出新景之意. 2. Hot hot pickled - I kind of like it as it's not very sweet and the 2 types of chilli brings out the nice aroma of radish.

3. OK. Wonton noodle - HK$24. The soup base is very nice, and it was boiled for a long time with spare ribs, Da Day Fish, dried shrimp roe. The dried shrimp roe was first pan roasted and gives the shop a very nice aroma. This is the essence of wonton soup. Besides, it's not very salty. I took all the soup. The noodle is also nice and the processing of "pressing" the noodle is handled well. In fact, next time I should just order the wonton noodle. 4. Stir fried clams HK$48. I think there are about 15 clams in it and a bit over-priced.

5. Deep fried shrimp/crab balls HK$48 for 4. This one is at average. If the chef put some half fat/half lean ground pork in it, it would be better. 6. Crab meat on bean sprout HK$78. Another over-priced dish. The egg white took almost 3/4 against the crab meat less than 1/4. The bean sprouts was not stir fried in a good way. Quite watery and the Chef didn't quick stir fry it well to seal the juice of the veggie. Quite disappointing.

7. Stir fried beef noodle HK$68. Nowadays quite many kitchens use those non-sticky pan for stir frying as it's much easier. In Cantonese cooking, a raw iron wok 生鐵鑊 is still the best as it can deliver the heat very quickly and it's like the fire directly heating the food. Furthermore, the raw iron wok can create the high heated wok but oil being cool 猛鑊陰油 which is the most important part of stir frying. 8. Chicken frog congee. First the congee was made of the rice powder to make it pasty texture but it doesn't have the rice aroma, but it is the right one for those who prefer the pasty texture. The frog should have been marinated with more wine to take away the smelly part. So personally I would say it can be only named as a noodle shop to me, not noodle/congee shop.

9. 黃沙豬潤腸 Pig's liver rice roll. Supposed if it's claimed as 黃沙豬潤, it should be kind of a melting in your mouth. However, it was marinated with some soda powder and that took away the original flavour of liver. 10. Deep fried pork/dried shrimp/chestnut chewy dumpling 咸水角. This one is pretty good. It's quite chewy and not that oily.

11. Deep fried bun - quite at average. 12. Spring roll - don't know why they use another type of wrapping. It tends to be more egg flavour. Though the original spring roll should be used with some rice made wrapping, this one would get you an alternate taste of spring roll.

13. Quail egg Siu Mai. Quite at average. If the dried mushroom is better, it would deliver a better flavour to the quail egg. 14. the shop entrance

Hung Hom, Kowloon

Since the West subway system has been thru' to Hung Hom all the way from the North East Territories (Tuen Mun, Tin Shui Wai and Yuen Long), going to downtown TST and Hung Hom for connecting the other transportation is much easier than before and it just takes 30 minutes. In taking this convenience, I come to this area for seeing a best friend who needs wheel chair facilities. Thanks to the West subway line!

1. Entrance to the Hung Hom Harbour Tunnel (opened since 1973). Took the bus 102 from Shaukiwan to Sham Shui Po to see our grand uncle/aunt. Bus 102 also meant so much to me as it was the first bus I rode across the harbour with my mother sitting next to me a few months before she left and it might be the last bus ride she sat next to me. We were sitting at the 2nd row on the upper deck. As the bus approached the tunnel's entrance, I still remember she said "now we are going under water" and so these few word often rang up in my ears whenever I passed this tunnel. 2. See this tunnel is 24 hour busy and still the most frequently used no matter how many other tunnels have been built.

3/4. Another memorable place - Hung Hom train station. It took over the Tsim Sha Tsui terminal train station almost at the same time when the tunnel was opened. Took a no. of trips to Guang Zhou, Shen Zhen and New Territories. Thank you so much for your heavy burden with all of us.

5/6. Went to the Choi Foo Chinese restaurant 彩福皇宴 (the Chinese name is very splendid). The food in general is at average and reasonable to its prices.

9. A bit surprised with the way they made the "Kum Lo (mixed sweet sour) sauce". They put BBQ pork in it and it's quite a classic one. However, the won ton is just deep fried won ton wrap.

11/12. So HK$19 for a bird's nest with egg white in young coconut - we wouldn't think it's the genuine bird's nest. It turned out to be our expectation but considering taking a egg white, it's quite ok.

13/14. the Metropolis (a big mall opposite to Hung Hom train station) good for the shoppers to get the last minute shopping before they head on the train.

til dusk and evening, Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong

After a long day of meetings, I took a ferry ride from Hung Hom to Wanchai and got to see our hazy Victoria Harbour. Some visitors flying a long way to here and spent hours watching this city of glasses and neon lights.
1. Central at the left and Causeway Bay on the right.

2. Eastern part of Hong Kong island - Tin Hau/Fortress Hill on the right and Quarry Bay on the left.

3. the newly developed Hung Hom coastal area with more hotels and serviced apartments, on the right. Left far away is Central of Hong Kong island.

4. View from Wanchai to Tsim Sha Tsui and TST East. After Kai Tak was sealed with a kiss, more and more sky scrappers have been growing.

5. View to Kowloon East (the middle). Note how the neon lights of Wanchai and Causeway Bay reflected on the water.


6. part of HKCEC on the left and TST on the right.