茶果嶺 鯉魚門 筲箕灣, 2014

Front with the skyscrapers

 

On Lee noodle shop 安利魚蛋粉, 東大街 Tung Tai Street, Shaukiwan, HK

Tung Tai Street is not a stranger name to those food hunters and has earned Shaukiwan a name for signature local food. The most famous one is certainly On Lee noodle shop. The shop was originally a street stall on a steep side lane beside the temple of photo 1. In the old time there were not only On Lee fish ball noodle stall, but also a lot of congee and trolley stalls selling lots of vivid snacks. Though I am not a big fan for On Lee, I often enjoy checking out this street.

At this recent visit, the noodle I took was so so and the fish ball was soaked in the soup for a long time that the flavour was gone. I was somewhat surprised as it shouldn't be like this when the shop was in a high flow of visitors. It will be another few years that I will give another try at On Lee. After the meal, I showed to my sister where the On Lee street stall was and those old shops all of a sudden showed up in my brain - 新新茶居 Sun Sun tea room and 洞天酒樓....

Eastern Hong Kong and Kowloon

1. highway between Shaukiwan and Chai Wan. 2. Lei Yue Mun and Devil peak on the top. 3. Diamond Hill. 4. Lohas Park (日出康城) and Tseung Kwan O industrial city (right). 5. Yau Tong. 6. Shaukiwan

HK coastal defence museum (海防博物館), Ah Kun Arhm 亞公岩, HK

Photo 1: shows the HK street names changed to Japanese. Photo 2: a Japanese general squatting on the Sai Wan terrace (near Kornhill/Sai Wan Ho). Photo 3-5: some old memories. Photo 6/7: See that Rowntree's pastilles, Life Saver mint, Kit Kat. Please also check how good of our seniors had their calligraphy. Really makes me feel ashamed.

Alleys at night, Shaukiwan

Passed by Shaukiwan at night. The small dim alleys caught my eyes.

From Sai Wan Ho to Lei Yue Mun

The first time I crossed the harbour from Shaukiwan to Lei Yue Mun was on a sampan ride. My mother rowed the sampan (搖栳) with only one rear paddle. I was only 4 but was so impressed because that time my mother stopped rowing the boat in the middle of the sea and asked me not to hang my hand out of the boat. All of a sudden, the boat was floating up with some big current underneath. I guess it's something big down there. So we arrived at my aunt's place on this point-to-point trip without walking on the road. That's probably the last time I took on a sampan.

Afterwards we took a scheduled service on a small boat with engine (about 15 feet long) or I should say Wa La Wa La (a shuttle boat for bringing the sailors from big ships to shore. Later on, Yau Ma Tei ferry took this route and so we took a much bigger boat, but it's no more point-to-point trip. However, as the shore line keeps moving onward, ferry service is no longer popular. Today I took a smaller boat (about 25 feet long) and re-visited on this old-path journey.

1/2. Shaukiwan is now with many high rise buildings. The typhoon shelter got much smaller.

3. Ah Kung Ahrm.

4. Yau Tong and where my aunt's place was.

5. This rocky area has been a dangerous place for ships coming in and out of the harbour. Some boats got stuck here. Amazing we can see those buildings in Chai Wan. Used to be nothing out there.

6/7. Lei Yue Mun - where a lot of seafood restaurants are.

8. view to Quarry Bay and North Point.

Back to Mine - Kuen Fat restaurant 權發飯店, 筲箕灣東大街 Tong Tai Street, Shaukiwan, HK

This restaurant is another love and hate. Love is on their food definitely. Hate is on their packed and noisy eating environment. Most of all, you need to have at least over 4 friends for a meal of 3 dishes or even 2. Their portion is double in general, but was normal in the standard of the 60's/70's. *remarks, better come here at around 5pm before the long line is there.

*I picked up my 50mm F1.4 lens to take the below photos. Not bad though it's not wide enough. The below are without any post processing. 1st one on F2.2, 2-4 at F1.4 and the rest at F2.8, shutter varies at 1/50 or 1/60 at ISO 250 to 500.

1. This menu is only for the lunch time at a cheaper price.

2. Dried veggie, pear, pig's knuckle HK$58 霸王花雪梨豬踭. Small portion can still be served for 10 bowls. This soup is very nice and I don't prefer using "local" taste but Kuen Fat can mean that to me as it brings back what I had in my childhood. No need to be delicate. Kind of raw flavour and original too. Or I can even define it as Dai Pai Dong (street stall) style.

3. Deep fried shrimp/crab ball 百花釀蟹拑 HK$88. This is the best in town I can claim so. Juicy, bouncy inside with strong original shrimp mixed with crab meat flavour. Original seafood sweet and not salty at all. Very nice deep frying without much oil left. Crispy and you would hear your jaws "cracking" sound when you had a bite on it. Highly recommended.

4. Dried scallop on baby spinach HK$98. You may find it a bit expensive but it's double portion. So it is about HK$50 in normal portion. As you can see, no water left in the plate and the dried scallop is so nice! I was surprised their food is not heavily seasoned. So original in flavour.

5. Sweet and sour spare rib HK$72. Very nice sauce coating with some haw 山楂 in it. BTW, gotta be original. Supposed this dish is in spare ribs, not pork. Spare ribs has the "bone" aroma when it's after deep frying. The original recipe should have a very light touch of soy sauce to marinate the spare ribs so as to have the "soy salty sweet flavour 淡咸鮮香". Madam Lee Tsang Pang Chin already proved it in her recipe of all these. The portion of sugar and vinegar needs to be equal. Kuen Fat made it right! I often find most other restaurants having just "sweet" only. So the classic recipe should have more sour and the pork a bit "soy salty sweet flavour" to make a nice taste blast in your mouth.

6/7. Deep fried taro paste on duck meat 荔竽香酥鴨 HK$98. So lovely but so heavy too. One piece is good enough. Better share it with more friends. This is a very difficult dish. The taro paste can't be too hard or too soft. This one is perfect.

8. Golden prawn 黃金蝦球 HK$88. Another top signature dish from this restaurant and also my most favourite dish that I would only try it in Kuen Fat. No other shops can do this right. Very fresh prawn. The salty duck egg yolk was very aromatic on the prawn with some sweet broccoli to offset the heavy taste. A must try dish in Kuen Fat!

9. From the simple word on their entrance, you would see how down-to-earth of the restaurant style. No need to say "famous chef" or "no. 1 in the World"...etc. Simple word as "Tasty dishes. Fried rice/noodle. Specific chefs to cook".