Our shared Garden

On an corner at the hillside in Cheung Sha Wan, there it is my most favourite (or every HK locals') bread/cake and cracker/biscuit maker. 生命麵包，時時食，忌廉賓, 孖寶蛋糕.... Making our breakfast and snack time very filling.

Cheung Sha Wan to Sham Shui Po

In taking some photos today, found out this city has never taken a rest.

Heartbreak hot and sour noodle, 傷心酸辣粉, Fok Wing Street, Shamshuipoo, Kowloon, HK

Many years ago my Taiwanese friend brought me to a "hot spicy" hot pot. I first refused so as it definitely upset my stomach, but my friend's boss somehow explained the Sichuan hot can relieve some stomach problem if the stomach tends to be "cool". It turned out it's true. Most of all, it's the only hot that made my head's hair sweat uncontrollably. I was told about this shop in Shamshuipoo for quite some time. Though they opened another branch in Dundas Street, Mongkok, I still wanna go to the first shop.

1. "mouth watering" chicken 口水鷄. It's the least hot dish among all those we ordered. The chili is quite special and aromatic. 2. the signature noodle - hot and sour noodle. Very nice, and I like the soup too. I ordered "small" hot but it's very hot to me indeed and my head sweat! The shop's waitress told me to get "baby" hot if I find it too hot. Actually I found out most others ordered "baby" hot. I wonder who orders super hot.

3. Chilled "water" squid, pork skin and stomach. Very nice and this hot is not like the other. This one with some light garlic and parsley flaour. 4. Mixed my noodle.

5. Chilled hot black fungus. Wow this one is the hottest among all though it didn't look like. I somehow like it. 6. Chilled noodle with chicken. For those who can't eat any hot, this one is a good choice and the noodle is very chilled. Nice dressing too.

7. Sichuan north chilled noodle. Under the waitress's recommendation, I tried baby hot so as to reduce a bit hot. 8. chilled bitter gourd. Not too good as it's a bit too mashy and too much garlic.

9. Chilled crystal jello. So good to have this one as they used some cane sugar as syrup. This is a good way to calm your hot meal. 10. the shop.

鴨寮街 Ap Liu Street, ShamShuiPo, Kowloon, Hong Kong

I think the Golden Computer Center is probably a derivative place from this classic electronic street in Shamshuipoo. This street is on the other side of Shamshuipoo subway station. My elder brother used to bring me to this street and told me lots of electronic things like semi-conductor and why the vacuum tube amplifier is so good in music quality and how he had a tailor-made speakers by mix-and-match. My elder brother is very good at those electronic stuff and to some extent I got some influence from him. The room no. 206 at the Reflections Hotel on soi Ari Bangkok suddenly jumped up in my mind. That room 206 had a vacuum tube amplifier and that amplifier made me stay in the room from not going to Siam area.

1. see how old of this building. It's like my grand-aunt's place. 2. Ap Liu Street - this is the street where I got the electro-wave sphere and laser pattern lighting.

3. another view. 4. another nice old building.

5. Passed by this fruit shop and I really told myself "I am not an Earth man" because I really don't know about this fruit shop. Do you know? (the banner's word can be translated as "any Earth man knows Hing Kee fruit shop's fruits are the best and cheapest. 6. Wow the look of this reataurant makes me wonder if I am in any China Town outside of HK, say London.

7. this shop is told to be good for its dessert and it has a few shops in Mongkok and Shamshuipoo. 8. ordered this osmanthus jello. HK$20. The jello itself is a bit too hard. I need a knife to cut it. Yes, I mean it. So after one piece, my stomach told me I needed to stop. As for the taste, the shop made a serious mistake. Osmanthus is a delicate and slight fragrant flower petals. Any fruit like mango which is stronger in taste and fragrance would overwhlem the nice delicate fragrance of osmanthus. What a waste.

9. Strawberry and Vanilla flaky snowy ice on herbal jello and fruits. 10. Double Choco flaky snowy ice on fruits and herbal jello. Both are around HK$43 and 38. I think it's a bit over-priced. Again this shop is like the one 糖百俯 (as shown on Suzie Wong's show), they forgot how the Taiwanese flaky snowy ice should be. They only paid attention to the various taste of this ice. The essence is the condensed thick milk in the ice base itself. Then it should be the syrup to bring out the taste.

Sham Shui Poo 深水埗, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Sham Shui Poo meant quite much to me in my childhood as my family used to bring me and my sisters and brother to visit my grand cousin 姑婆／姑丈公. My grand mother told me our whole family owed them a big favour. They saved my father's and my aunts' as well as my grand mother's lives during the Japanese occupation in Hong Kong. My father and my aunts starved for a few days and almost died. My grand cousin came to give them food at a very critical timing and especially carrying food in the street at that time was of high risk. So going to see them is really our pleasure of seeing 2 more than well respected seniors. Besides, they were so kind to us in buying pencil case, ruler, pens...etc. When I looked back to it, they were really thoughtful. Toys of course are more welcome to kids but stuff for school is even more useful!


They lived on the top floor in a very old mansion with very dim light and there were some fierce dogs barking as I remember. They had some pigeons on the rooftop and plants too - quite a nice garden actually. What further impressed me still in my taste buds is the crispy chicken wings and we called them 姑婆雞翼. There was one time my sister and I asked about her how to make it. So she smiled and showed us the key point. She first marinate the chicken wings (cut by half) with some salt. Then she put them in hot boiling water to rinse out the blood of the chicken wings, to half done. Then dry them and prepare a flour coating. At that time she already told the oil is very important for deep frying. Besides, the chicken wings should be dry enough and she already told that meat/fish should be dry enough for getting the coating on. However, when we went back home, we never did like what she did. That's often why I told the others the recipe is not a secret. The secret is how you cook it. So I got to revisit Sham Shui Poo but the area she used to live is now rebuilt.
1. This old mansion on the left survived as a protected cultural historical building. 2. Sham Shui Poo is also famous for its fabrics shops - a paradise for fashion designers.

3. another historical building. 4. the old and new.

5/6. These 2 streets' names shouldn't be a stranger to those who often get told about Sham Shui Poo.

7. Also for this famous street. 8. I guess even some foreigners should know about this famous computer mall, but I find some of the things inside are even more expensive than those of Wanchai computer mall or even the shop outside of my apartment.

9. There is also a street selling some "suspected" fake brand toys. 10. Another old mansion.


11. The shop should be very old. I tried their soy bean drink but it's not that nice. Quite disappointing. 12. The current HK Gov't CEO Mr. Donald Tsang once visited this shop and made it so famous. The shop even posted a photo of Donald Tsang eating inside of the shop.