Hong Kong Food Blog

Hong Kong Chinese New Year Foods

2012-01-25T19:32:00.000-08:00

Chinese New Year is a time for me to binge. You may notice that I have a fasting blog and if you read this post, you're sure that I can recover speedily after binge eating.

During the new year holidays, we visit relatives and the gatherings are all about eating. Here I'm going to share with you some of my favourite new year foods.

New Year Puddings

Turnip Pudding is one of my must eats. If you've ever read about my health rules in my fasting blog, you'll realise that I enjoy eating fresh and natural. If you don't have the experience of eating turnip pudding freshly from the steamer, I'll suggest your learning to cook it. Here's Anna's turnip pudding recipe. Every year, me and my sister work together to make our own turnip pudding and eat fresh. Woo, yummy! Once you've tried eating fresh, you would never want to eat the re-heated ones, neither pan fried, steam or micro-wave.

My Home-made Turnip Pudding 2012 蘿蔔糕

Water Chestnut Pudding 馬蹄糕
This is a very popular Cantonese dessert year round. But we eat a lot of it during the new year. Little bit sticky but very delicious. We seldom make this at home, but eat at restaurants.

Sticky Nan Gao (New Year Pudding)
My sister-in-law made it at home and served us during our home visit. It is very sticky and chewy, but nice. We had two flavours: vanilla and coconut. It is so sticky that during pan frying, we had to add some egg solution so that the pieces won't stick together.

Home-made Nan Gao 年糕,年糕, 年年高!

In Cantonese, Gao (pudding) sounds like Grow, therefore Gaos are very popular foods during Chinese New Year.

Fa Cai (lucky money) Hao Shi (good business) Da Li (lots of profit) Dumplings 發財好市大利燒賣 - Fa Cai - is the black hairy vegetable; Hao Shi - is the dry oyster; Da Li - is the pig's tongue. This dumpling trio is a must eat when we have our family dim sum lunch gathering on the first day of Chinese New Year. All these foods are given good names and with valuable meaning in Chinese.

發財好市大利燒賣

After our home visit to my brother's house, he took us to a restaurant in Shatin for dinner. There was some unexpected pleasure as he ordered a few old Hong Kong dishes that reminded me of my childhood.

Stir Fried Kale with Preserved Meats 芥蘭炒臘味

This dish looks simple but few restaurants serve it nowadays. And we can only taste in cold winter days. It was really well done with 'heat of wok'. Do you see the smoke (top left corner of the photo)?

Stir Fried Kale with Preserved Meats芥蘭炒臘味

Pork's Knuckle in Hot Pot 梅子豬手煲

There are plums and pineapples in this dish. So it is a little bit sweet and sour however won't conflict the overall knuckle's flavour. Few chefs use this recipe nowadays. Again, very well done, though the waiting time is a bit long (roughly 40 minutes), but we all love it!

Pork's Kunckle in Hot Pot 梅子豬手煲

Stir Fried Goose Intestine with Pepper and Pickles 味菜炒鵝腸

Does this look like flat noodle? Nope. It may be difficult for you to imagine, it is goose intestine. Again, few restaurants serve this dish nowadays. Only some Chiu Chau restaurants do. It is quite time consuming in preparing the goose intestines. But the chef did a great job. It was not fatty at all and very crunchy. If you were to mention some rare foods that Chinese eat, would you include goose intestine?

Stir Fried Goose Intestine 味菜炒鵝腸

Hong Kong Food Blog - Chinese New Year Foods

Snake Soup

2012-01-05T05:09:00.001-08:00

In cold winter days, there are some foods exceptional popular among Hong Kong Cantonese. Sticky rice is one, snake soup is another. And these two seems to be perfect partners, as people usually eat them together. The other day my sister treated me with home made sticky rice with preserved meats (lap cheung). I've therefore decided to treat everyone with snake soup.

Snake soup shops in Hong Kong are usually small and full of people, so I have decided to go take away. For environmental reason, I brought my own container and the shop owner gave me bonus - all the four bowls were almost overflowing.
After our majhong games, we had to reheat the snake soup. The shop owner gave us some lemon grass and chips to add to the soup. The chips is a usual snake soup companion. As for the lemon grass, some shops serve chrysanthemum petals instead. You'll notice some other ingredients in the soup such as sliced pork, black fungi - wow yummy and keep us warm!

If you were to name some horrible foods that Chinese eat, would you include snake?

Snake Soup take away - HK$34 per bowl

Hong Kong Food Blog

Lamma Island Seafood Outing

2011-12-11T06:56:00.001-08:00

I'd always love to have seafood at Lamma Island. I would say Lamma Island has the best eating environment among all the famous live seafood spots in Hong Kong. See I was eating at a seaside restaurant below.

November and December has the best weather in Hong Kong - clear sky, sunny but cool - ideal for outing. I've therefore taken a day off and went on an outing along with a seafood lunch with my sister.

The tour started at Pier 4 in Central and took about 30 minutes to arrive at Yung Shu Wan. The scenic leisure walk to Suk Ku Wan is about 90 minutes which is easy for people of all age. I even bought fish snacks and shrimp paste kind of souveniors on the way.

Seaside restaurant at Lamma Island

Mantis Shrimp (HK$160)

You may not believe, only 2 minutes after we picked our seafood, the king-size mantis shrimp was delivered to our table, stir fried with salt and pepper. we could still sense the 'heat of wok'.

Scallop with garlic and jelly noodle (HK$25@)

The steamed scallops looked plain, but delicious though.

Steam Live Fish (HK$160)

There was an argument between the two of us. We both like live seafood. But my sister is far more demanding. She wants 'free range' seafood, i.e. fishes that survive naturally in the sea; and I don't mind fishes being manually raised in tanks. There are difference in price, and of course quality of meat and taste. Well, the one we had was from a tank!

Fried Rice (HK$45)

The seafood we picked didn't fill our stomach, so we decided to have a dish of fried rice. I thought we used to be served free soup, but not this time. Inflation! Free items gone!

Live Seafoods

There were plenty of live seafood for our choice. The shop owner told us whether we do A La Carte or set menu, the seafood supply are the same. While we enjoyed picking our favourite choices, set menu also looked good, especially for those who wanted a better budget control. Take the 2/3 persons set menu below for example, they had steamed prawns and stir fried vegetables on top of what we had, and the price of HK$468 was only $53 more than we paid. I must say it's quite a good deal. No wonder a lot of foreigners like to go for set menus.

Lunch Date: December 2, 2011 (Friday)
Cost: HK$415 (US$53.2), no service charge
Lamma Hilton
Suk Ku Wan, Lamma Island
Tel: 29828290

More information about Lamma Island.

Hong Kong Food Blog - Lamma Island Seafood Outing

Macau Luxury Dinner

2011-12-04T23:42:00.000-08:00

I had a day off yesterday and visited Macau. Well I would want to include some Macau food info in this blog. Because people visit Hong Kong always visit Macau together. I’m a frequent Macau visitor, and would want to share with you my dining experience there.

Jardin De Jade had my favourite dish – smoke duck – on their menu at very attractive price - MOP40/half and MOP68/whole – according to some information at the Macau Pier.

First, we were completely happy with the lovely and clean environment along with the friendly waiters.

We had some default appetizers (vegetable, ham and pumpkin) so we can start eating even before ordering.

Jardin De Jade - we had little booth, a semi private dining area.

The Appetizer - Vege, ham, pumpkin - MOP20. Lovely, colorful and well presented. We liked it.

Drunk Chicken - One of our favourites. I had never heard my sister kept saying 'yummy' while eating. In fact, this drunk chicken was extremely pleasing and delicious. We even tried to drink the soup. Very yummy and delicious. (MOP66)

Smoke Duck 樟茶鴨 - it's great that I find a place nearby to eat my favourite smoke duck. I don't need to fly to Beijing for it, at least. But the info from the pier was absolutely out dated. On the menu, it was MOP78/half and MOP108/whole. But the strange thing was that we paid only MOP55 at last for a half duck. We didn't know why we were offered the discount.

Buns to go with the duck. Same as eating Peking duck. Freshly steamed, hot and soft. Extremely comfortable to eat with the duck. And also we were served some sweet and sour sauce.

Abalone Mushroom with Vegetables. As a matter of balance diet, we always order vegetables. They were cooked with chicken broth, tasted very well. (MOP52)
Briased noodle. We always want some rice or noodle to wrap up a meal. This Yangzhou style noodle in soup is light, healthy and yummy. (MOP42)
I liked also the utencils from this restaurant. They are all tailored made. Tea pot, chop sticks, napkins, everything had their trademark on it.
The hotel where the restaurant situated is celecrating its 5th anniversary. I thought this could be the reason we had discount on the signature dish (smoke duck). I took this photo becasue I wanted to turn that $5,000,000 into real cash. Unfortunately I had no luck in this trip and end up losing money.

Dinner date: November 29, 2011
Number of People: 2
Cost: MOP285 (US$35.5), inclusive of 10% service charge
Restaurant name: Jardin De Jade 蘇浙匯
Restaurant address: 6/F, Star World Hotel, Macau
Restaurant telephone: 853-8290-8638

Note: This restaurant has a branch in Hong Kong (at Sun Hung Kai Centre in Wanchai).

Hong Kong Food Blog - Smoke Duck from Macau

Luxury Dinner at Special Price

2011-11-16T06:04:00.000-08:00

In Hong Kong, there are many ways of eating good food at reduced price. One way I do it is by taking the special offers from restaurants. I receive a leaflet in my mail box from U Banquet for their special promotions. All my favourite foods are there. So I decided to take my family members there and enjoy an economic luxury dinner.

Chicken Broth with S…k Fin (intended typo)*
HK$368 (US$47)

Wow, a lot of s…k fin! Depends on the type of s…k fin, it could be very expensive. But I paid HK$368 only which is good for four persons.Chicken broth usually required a lot of cooking time in order to become milky white, thick and rich in taste. Essence of the broth is the ingredients. Cantonese restaurants usually serve the ingredients and here is our chicken.

*Notes about my intended typo. It is meant to escape from keyword searches. Everytime I write about s...k fin, I receive complaints from environmental fans. I was forced to remove my last post on the topic. Though I feel deeply sorry for the s...ks, I'm unable to control myself in front of yummy food and low price. My apologies anyway to the s...ks and environmental fans. Here is a good news that s...k fans may want to know: S...k Fin off menu beginning January 2012 - Peninsula Hong Kong.

Cantonese Mutton Hot Pot 羊煲腩HK$98 (US$12.56)

Cantonese mutton hot pot is served on real fire. We really love this in winter days which keeps us warm. Apart from mutton, we have tofu sheets, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, mushrooms and plenty of gingers. And there is a special kind of preserved bean curd sauce. The whole combination is meant to make the mutton less smelly and more delicious.

Spinach with Garlic Cloves in BrothHK$55 (US$7)

As a matter of balance of diet, we must have a dish of vegetable. The beauty of Cantonese cuisine is simple yet delicious. And spinach is extremely healthy, not oily and rich in fiber.

Steam Live Fish - $0 Apart from the special price items, here comes the free items. This fish is not too big, but just good for the four of us. The best thing about it is 'FREE'. The chef mastered timing extremely well, and the fish was JUST cooked. Very fresh and delicious!

Snow Ear Fungus and Red Dates Dessert - $0

The snow ear fungus dessert is a Chinese delicacy cooked with white snow ear fungus (雪耳), lotus seeds (蓮子), dried red dates (紅棗) and rock sugar (冰糖). I love this dessert as it is beneficial for facial beauty because the ingredients used are highly nutritious. It is another free item of the night and of course very yummy.

Chinese Birthday Bun - HK$14@ (US$1.8)

Although we were pretty full, we still wanted to share half a birthday bun. None of us were born in November, but we simply love it. This buns were exceptionally good, not only because it is cheap. It is BIG and steam to order. The most important thing is that it has a very thin cover and lots of stuffing. Many chefs were unable to produce a bun with thin cover and thick stuffing. The stuffing consists of lotus seed paste and egg yolk (similar to that of mooncakes). Very yummy!

Dinner date: November 15, 2011
Cost: HK$668 (US$85.6), included 10% service charge
Restaurant name: U Banquet
Restaurant address: 3/F, 288 Hennessy Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong
Restaurant telephone: 852-2811-9628

Hong Kong Food Blog - Luxury Dinner

How to Make Green Bean Syrup

2011-11-10T05:06:00.001-08:00

Weather is turning cool and dry in Hong Kong. Per Chinese calendar, winter began Tuesday November 8 in 2011. 立冬, one of the 24 weather festives - time to enjoy some hot and sweet desserts. One of the most traditional and easy-to-make Hong Kong Cantonese desserts is Green Bean Syrup. Every dessert shop would have this on their menu, but home made is cheap and you can tailor to your own taste.

Home Made Green Bean Syrup 綠豆沙

Home-Made Old Hong Kong Cantonese Dessert –
Green Been Syrup with Seaweed and Herbs

Ingredients:
• green beans
• seaweeds
• herbs (optional) (臭草*)
• sugar

* The herb itself is very fragrant, but I don’t know why it is called the opposite – bad smell grass.

Directions
1. Soak the green beans for a few hours. Overnight if possible.
2. Soak the seaweeds until soft and cut into slices of your own preferred width.
3. Boil 8 bowls of water.
4. Add green beans, turn heat down after boiling.
5. Let it simmer for 20 minutes. Then turn heat off.
6. Cover for 20 minutes.
7. Add seaweeds and herb.
8. Turn heat on and simmer for 20 minutes.
9. Add sugar and then turn heat off.
10. Cover for 20 minutes before serving.

NOTE: The alternation between simmering and covering is important to let the syrup become very silky and smooth.

Bar sugar is usually used in making green bean syrup. But I have some red sugar which has a flavour of ginger. I tried to use it and find that my green bean syrup taste extremely well. Did you notice that my green bean syrup has a tint of red?
Hong Kong Food Blog - Green Bean Syrup Dessert

Cafe Too Tea Buffet

2011-10-25T05:14:00.001-07:00

It seems tea buffet at Cafe Too had a price increase. But I have re-gained my confidence of eating at Island Shangri-La. Unlike the terrible experience at Waterside Terrace the other time, Cafe Too is much closer to 5-star.

Tea buffet is relatively inexpensive, though my boss said we may be eating the left overs from lunch buffet. Anyway, what I enjoy is keep eating. I still have one cash coupon, so I paid very little for a very nice tea buffet.

My table was nearby the Indian corner, and I had fun watching the chef making naan breads. See video below. Kind of playing magic!

OK, here is my naan bread. Does it look nice?
To go with the naan bread, there are spicy fish sauce, sweet mango sauce and couple other sauces. And of course we enjoyed the chicken and vegetable curry. Though we were busy eating with fingers, it was fun playing around with the naan bread.
Spicy fish sauce and sweet mango sauce
The noodle booth is also next to my table. I also enjoy watching the chef taking orders and producing a bowl of hot and delicous noodle in just minutes or even seconds.

Here is my cooked-to-order Minced Meat Noodle with Black Fungi. A little bit sour but yummy.
The other ingredients available are vegetables and meats.
Guests just placed an a la carte order, and the bowl of noodle will be ready very soon. Of course there are various kind of sauces for guests to add on.
Dessert lovers should find their favourites here. Ice creams of various flavour, tarts and cakes, fresh fruits, instantly made pancakes...Thai sytle pomelo salad, mango and sticky rice in coconut sauce, Japanese shushi and sashimi...The Chinese corner is relatively less attractive with some finger foods, fish and chip, and some dim sum.
Finally, I really enjoy making the Malaysian Kacang madly with the plenty of ingredients provided. The one I have here contains laichee, mango, pineapple, coconut meat, grass jelly, red beans, milk and coconut juice. Unfortunately the service lady was busy and didn't provide me with ice. Well I'm still very happy with it.
To wrap my my tea buffet with a cup of cappuccino, I was extremely full and had to go to the nearby Hong Kong Park to walk off some food.

Cafe Too
7/F Island Shangri-La
Tea Buffet only available on Saturday, Sunday and Public Holidays, 3.30-5.30pm
HK$268 (US$34.4) + 10% service fee for each person

Hong Kong Food Blog - Tea Buffet at Cafe Too

5-star Hotel Dining Experience

2011-09-23T21:36:00.000-07:00

If you think that dining experience at 5-star hotels are always 5-star, wrong!

I’m a health club member of Island Shangri-la and I swim there almost everyday. I receive some dining coupons recently and thought I should take my friends there because the poolside restaurant environment is really nice. Unfortunately that was the only strength they had. Food and services had no way to impress.

The table I booked was completely empty when we arrived. They offered us another table which had only two settings while I booked for four. We had to wait for 30 minutes to have the table fully set.

The food was unreasonably expensive, comparing to their quality. The $240 sea bass was next to rotten. I assume any professional chef should be able to tell that fish was not fresh enough to be served on any dining table. Pomelo salad, Phad Thai, chicken, spring rolls were just so so. The wanton in Tom Yam soup was not bad but $155 for only 6 wantons was just too expensive.

They didn’t re-fill water though the four of us were completely dry. They also didn’t remove/replace used/empty dishes. Our table was such a mess. Any high street fast food shop in Hong Kong could provide better services. In fact we were the only group of guests that evening, apart from the single gentlemen who enjoyed his cigar more than food. What are the excuses for poor services and poor food?

Pomelo Salad ($180)

Wan Ton in Tom Yam Soup ($155)

Spring Rolls ($85) Thought this is the cheapest on the menu
Chicken in Leaves ($85)Stir Fried Noodle ($165)
Any Thai restaurant in Hong Kong can produce something more delicious than this.The next-to-rotten Sea Bass ($240)
The strong sauce couldn't hide the unfreshness of the fish!Mango with Sticky Rice and Ice Cream
I gave it a 'marginal pass'. One of my guests who was Thai Chinese didn't agree with me. She graded it 'failed'. Perhaps this was the only strength of the restaurant. We oversaw the pool and the Bank of China while eating. As the restaurant was almost empty, I was free to borrow another table to take this photo. As the table we ate was in such a mess.
After all, my Thai Chinese friend said she never eat fishes in Thai restaurants as she's from Bangkok and she knows that Thai chefs are generally no good in cooking fishes. I thought she didn't tell me this out of courtesy while I picked the dishes.

Waterside Terrace

8/F Island Shangri-La, Hong Kong

HK$1,083 (incl. 10% service fee)(US$138.8)

Hong Kong Food Blog - Poor Hotel Food

Snowy Moon Cake

2011-09-12T05:25:00.000-07:00

Today is Mid Autumn Festival – August 15 in Chinese calendar. Well the most popular festival food is of course Moon Cake. This year I really want to try snowy moon cake. Though this new breed of moon cake was invented some years ago, I didn’t try it until this year.

The other day I passed by Wing Wah, a famous Hong Kong Chinese bakery, and bought a pack of their icy moon cake. Icy and snowy, same thing. As its creator Taipan calls it snowy moon cake, I’ll call it snowy moon cake.

Traditional moon cake is made of lotus seed paste and salty egg yolks, but snowy moon cake has only the shape of a moon cake but the ingredients are completely different. There are many choices of flavours but my favourite is mango. Unfortunately the saleswoman gave me a pack of coffee. It’s quite expensive, I must say. Two 1-inch cakes cost HK$40 (US$5.13) which means HK$20 for one cake which is only good for couple of bites. If it is not a festival food, I would never buy such an expensive cake.

The Moon and Seven Stars – is another traditional moon cake being interpreted by snowy moon cake. One big (the moon) being accompanied by seven small (stars) cakes - is usually very expensive. My brother received a gift pack of Maxim’s snowy moon cake this year and I was glad to have a chance to share a tiny piece of all the eight flavours.

Moon
燕窩綠豆蓉 Bird’s Nest Green Bean Paste
Stars
1. 藍莓芝士 blueberry and cheese
2. 芒果脆脆 mango dip
3. 楊枝甘露 pomelo and grape fruit
4. 抺茶甘栗 green tea and chestnut
5. 滑滑奶黃 milky egg
6. 天使白朱古力脆脆 angel dip (white chocolate)
7. 魔鬼脆脆 devil dip (black chocolate)

Another highlight of the Mid Autumn Festival is lanterns. The star fruit and rabbit lanterns are the most traditional that almost every Chinese kid (including adults when they were kids) must have played round with. See my star fruit lantern below.

Hong Kong Food Blog - Snowy Moon Cake

Spicy Belly Soup 胡椒豬肚湯

2011-09-02T06:51:00.000-07:00

Who else is suffering from bloating?

I’m here to give you a dietary solution. Chinese is very good at dealing with health issue through daily diet. Spicy soup to deal with bloating is a perfect example. This is really clever, because even if it won’t work, we still got something delicious to eat. However spicy soup in clearing bloating always works. I see great results every time I drink it.

If you’ve read my post about ‘why I set up this blog’, you’ll know that I used to suffer from bloating quite badly. Though it’s been improving since I practice intermittent fasting, it is still bothering me occasionally. Recently I feel really bad and I remember this traditional Chinese dietary wisdom. It is cheap and delicious though with a little preparation work.

Spicy Pork Belly Soup Ingredients
 - 1 pork belly (HK$20)
 - 1 pack of pickled vegetable (HK$7)
 - Some white pepper

Preparation
The Spicy Soup ingredients are really simple, but it involves quite a bit of work in cleaning up the pork’s belly, which is actually the stomach of a pig. Therefore the best is to place an advance order and ask the pork seller to do the cleaning work for you. Today I just think of it and want to do it immediately, so I have to clean it myself. Here are the steps.

How to clean a pork belly
1. Remove all fats.
2. Drain the belly and flush out as much dirt as possible.
3. Cut open the belly and scratch away the dirt with a knife.
4. Rub with some organic dish drops; you can use salt and flour as an alternative.
5. Drain well until it is not smelly at all.
Cooking procedures
1. Par boil the pork belly in boiling water for a few minutes.
2. Cut the belly into small pieces.
3. Rinse the pickled vegetables in water to avoid the soup being too salty or too sour.
4. Grind some white pepper. The hotter the better in clearing the gas in our digestive system. Depending on the heat you can put on, use as much as you want. As for myself, I like to have my throat feeling on fire while drinking.
5. Boil 6 bowls of water.
6. Add the belly, pickled vegetable and pepper. Turn heat down after boiling.
7. Cook for one hour with low heat. **I use Amway, so low heat is fine. You may use slightly higher heat if you use other utensils. Keep simmering.
8. Turn to high heat for the last 5 minute before serving.

Spicy Belly Soup 胡椒豬肚湯

If you think that there is too much work, you can simply enjoy this soup from any Chiu Chow restaurant. But since they are serving the general public, their taste is relatively mild. If you want to have the ‘throat on fire’ feeling, it’s better to cook it yourself. I usually cook a big pot and consume for 2-3 days and see my bloating problem gradually improve.

For more healthy Chinese cooking ideas, visit my chef friend Nicholas Zhou’s website.

Hong Kong Food Blog - Spicy Belly Soup 胡椒豬肚湯

Classic Dim Sums

2011-08-25T05:42:00.000-07:00

If you ask me what are the must-eat dim sums in Hong Kong, here are my top choices - Shrimp dumpling 蝦餃, pork dumpling 燒賣, BBQ bun义燒飽, rice roll 腸粉, sponge chicken 綿花雞, sponge pudding 馬拉糕. If you happen to visit Hong Kong and want to enjoy a classic dim sum meal, please make sure to have these on your table. Any dim sum restaurant should have them on their menu. If no, simply black list it.

The other day, I so happened to have picked these classic dim sums for lunch. Don’t assume that good things are expensive. I’ve mentioned several times in my blog – if you manage your time good enough – you can eat good food at very cheap prices. For my classic dim sum meal, I spend only HK$130 (US$16.6) for the two of us on a Saturday, inclusive of tea and 10% service charge. If I go early and settle my bill before 12:30, it could be even cheaper.

Nowadays in Hong Kong, you can easily spend $40-50 in any fast food or even takeaway shops. But I paid only $65 per person and enjoy a good meal in a good restaurant. Here are my photo collections.

Al Dente Shrimp Dumpling 蝦餃 - My Favourite!!

Sponge 綿花雞 Chicken (left); Pork Dumpling 燒賣 (right)

Rice Rolls 腸粉, can be steamed, stir fried or my pan fried dish below.

Served with sesame sauce and soy sauce, very yummy!

Steamed BBQ Pork Bun, cha xiao bao, 义燒飽

The yellow Sponge Cake 馬拉糕, is one of my most favourite desserts

Inclusive of tea and 10% service charge and six dishes of delicious dim sum, this lunch is only HK$130 (US$16.6).

Mega Red
6/F Hopewell Centre
183 Queen’s Road East, Hong Kong
Tel: 852 - 2528 1680

Hong Kong Food Blog - Classic Dim Sums

Vegetarian Chinese Food with Great Chinese Tea

2011-08-05T06:46:00.000-07:00

If you want to enjoy delicate, healthy and delicious Chinese vegetarian food in Hong Kong, the Lock Cha Tea House is the number one place I would recommend.

I’m treating my vegetarian friend at this wonderful restaurant at the Hong Kong Park today. This place is highly recommended for many reasons. Here are some.

 - Very delicious Chinese vegetarian dim sum over lunch hour
 - Super quality Chinese tea
 - Very classic Chinese tea culture setting
 - Very friendly services
 - Can visit the Tea Museum next door
 - Can visit the beautiful Hong Kong Park for a leisure walk after meal

The only disadvantage may be price. As the tea is of superb quality, you need to pay HK$25 per person (and HK$38 after 2pm) but each of you can pick your own favourite tea. The dim sum prices are not too high, however comparing to the quantity, it may still be a bit pricy. For example, the $25 Winter Melon Dumpling has only 2 in it. As there is no MSG and not oily at all, you simply fill your stomach very comfortably and healthily, of course. After all, our meal cost HK$198, including six dim sum, two tea and 10% service fee. As for the evening, they offer set dinner ranging from $98 to $220 per person.

My friend told me that she once visited their kitchen and was completely impressed by its cleanliness.

So, here we are, enjoying our super vegetarian lunch

We both chose Tie Guanyin for the tea 鐵觀音 I managed to do the Chinese Tea Art
Vegetarin Rolls
Another kind of vegetarian rolls Vegetarin Dumplings (sauces are nice) Winter Melon Dumplings
Turnip Cake
Green Vegetables with Oyster Sauce
Wait! Oyster sauce at a vegetarian restaurant? Yes.My friend told me that there are vegetarian oyster sauce available at supermarkets. But I had no idea what the ingredients are. A Highly 'Tea Interior' And a very Chinese entrance Lock Cha Tea House
G/F, K S Lo Gallery of Hong Kong Park
Telephone: 852-2801-7177
Opening Hours: 10:15am – 10:00pm

Hong Kong Food Blog - Vegetarian Lunch at the Park

Buddha Jumps Over The Wall

2011-06-30T05:39:00.000-07:00

An interesting name, isn’t it? It is a Chinese soup, a famous Cantonese cuisine. Unlike the western nutrition standard, Chinese believe that soups cooked under small fire for long hours are the best for our bodies. So my brother bought this for our birthday dinner.In fact, my two brothers and I were all born in the 4th week of June. Therefore we usually have joint birthday dinner. This year, it was my brother’s treat. The restaurant had a very special dinner trio - lobster with noodle, steam fish and one whole deep fried chicken - Only HK$318 ($298 on weekdays). We were all happy to enjoy our favourite foods at a good price. The lobster balls were really al dente. My brother ordered the Buddha soup which was very delicious. A very important Cantonese culinary culture is not only to drink the soup, but eat the ingredients as well. As we believe those are the essences of nutrition.
The soup had many ingredients and had an original meaning of fortune, longevity and wealth. People usually serve this for their important guests. Since it is so delicious, it tastes good and smells so great that the Buddha next door would want to jump over the wall and join the dinner. Hence the name.

Of course there are classes in almost anything in life. If you buy a car, there are Rolls Royce, Mercedes and Toyoto. Likewise, when you order the Buddha soup, the money you pay will determine the ingredients in it, or vice versa. The one we had cost HK$188. I believe it is a Toyoto. I didn’t find expensive items such as abalone, shark fin or scallops. Instead, I found sea cucumber, fish maw, ham, pork tendon, mushroom, chicken feet, chicken thigh and pork. Some recipes suggest adding wine, but I didn’t realize it. Even so, we are all happy with the very yummy and delicious Buddha soup. Unfortunately there wasn’t a Buddha eating next door, or we may witnessed “Buddha Jumps Over The Wall”!

One Whole Deep Fried Chicken - very crispy. We all love it!

Lobster with Noodle and Truffle Sauce - The Lobster Balls are really al dente! Yummy yummy!

Restaurant: Cuisine Royale
Address: 7/F Hopewell Centre, 183 Queen’s Road East, Wanchai, Hong Kong
Telephone: 852 2804 1300

Hong Kong Food Blog - Buddha Jumps Over The Wall

Sticky Rice Dumplings at Tuen Ng Festival

2011-06-07T07:26:00.000-07:00

Dragon Boat Festival – the 5th day of May in the Chinese calendar, falls on the 6th day of June in 2011. It is an important festival in Chinese tradition. In Hong Kong, the two most important traditions are the eating of Rice Dumplings and Dragon Boat Races.

Unlike other festival foods, rice dumplings are available in restaurants throughout the year. Of course, most people would love to eat them around Tuen Ng Festival. Some people made them at home, some choose to eat at restaurants. I am someone in between. I bought them as take-away and eat at home. Here were the default dumplings that I ate at home yesterday, which was the day of the Dragon Boat Festival. I like to eat with soy sauce, my sister in law likes to go with sugar. It all depend on your personal taste. But both sugar and soy sauce are both served if you eat at a restaurant.

Default Dumplings (咸肉糉)

If you were a food lover, you may want to know that there are three major categories of sticky rice dumplings to be eaten at Tuen Ng Festival, which is also known as the Dragon Boat Festival. The default dumplings (咸肉糉) were generally made of sticky rice, boiled green bean with stuffing of stewed pork and typically a salty egg yolk. The grand dumplings (裏蒸糉) are usually larger in size and have more stuffing like mushrooms, chicken and many others. The sweet dumplings are named alkaline water dumplings (碱水糉) in Chinese, usually with some lotus seed paste as stuffing. They are generally longer and slimmer in shape.

Grand Dumplings (裏蒸糉)

Sweet Dumplings (碱水糉) (right hand side, yellow in color) Click here to find out how rice dumplings are madeClick here to find out about Dragon Boat Race in Hong Kong

Origin of the Dragon Boat Festival

It is a festival in memory of the patriot poet Qu Yuan who committed death exhortation to the emperor by drowning himself in 277 BC. The origin of rice dumplings were meant to be thrown into the water so fishes eat the dumplings and won’t eat the body of Qu Yuan. Likewise, the dragon boats were there to create noises to scare away the fishes.

Hong Kong Food Blog - Sticky Rice Dumplings at Dragon Boat Festival

Shanghainese Drunk Chicken

2011-06-03T20:07:00.000-07:00

Drunk Chicken is a signature Shangainese dish. In fact it is one of my must-haves when I visit any Shaghainese restaurant.

Haven’t eaten at Xiao Nan Guo for some time. My office moved to Causeway Bay, so I started to go to their restaurant at the Times Square again. Wow, looking at the menu, I noticed great inflation. If you notice something new or being upgraded, there are high chances that you have to pay more. No wonder I had new table clothes, new cutleries, new menu and of course new prices. My bill ended up to be HK$150 per person, which was 50% higher than a year ago.

Enough complaints. Let’s take a look at my favourite drunk chicken. The gojiberries were believed to be good for the eyes and work exceptionally well with wine. So we always find it served together with drunk chicken. The soup was really delicious though it made me drunk for a few moments.

Drunk Chicken HK$68 (US$8.7) 醉雞
Dan Dan Noodle is my other favourite dish. Shanghainese dan dan noodle differs from those from Chengdu in SiChuan, but equally delicious.

Shanghai Dan Dan Noodle 担担面

The pan fried juicy bun did have a lot of juice inside. We had to take extra care in order not to waste any juice. The way they do it was to cook some meat and had them frozen. The meat then became jelly like and was inserted into the bun. When the buns were pan fried, the meat jelly melt and became a juicy stuffing. (Notice the new embriodered table cloth?)

Pan Fried Juicy Buns 生煎包

Lunch date: May 28, 2011
Occasion: Casual lunch
Number of People: Two
Cost: HK$284 (US$36.4), inclusive of 10% service charge
Restaurant name: Shanghai Xiao Nan Guo
Restaurant address: 12/F Time Square, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
Restaurant telephone: 852-2874-8899

Hong Kong Food Blog - Shanghainese Drunk Chicken

Seafood Dinner at Lamma Island

2011-05-18T05:55:00.000-07:00

If you have an afternoon to spend in Hong Kong, I would suggest combining a scenic outing with a fresh seafood dinner.

An outing to the Lamma Island is extremely easy and relaxing, even if you have kids with you. Last week, I joint my company offsite and here is a report of my seafood dinner and outing.

Go to Pier 4 in Central and take the 3.15pm boat to Yung Shue Wan in Lamma Island. In about 30 minutes time you will arrive at Lamma Island. Landing at Yung Shue Wan, you’ll see pubs, restaurants and souvenior shops lining up on the main street. You will walk from Yung Shue Wan to Sok Ku Wan and explore this beautiful and peaceful outlying island of Hong Kong.

On the way, you'll see beautiful landscape and beaches and there are observation decks for you to take a little rest and enjoy a breeze. You can also taste some local authentic Cantonese “tofu fa” dessert.

You will arrive at Sok Ku Wan around 6pm, depending on the speed you walk, the time you spend on resting, shopping and eating.

Below is a pictorial summary of my journey and the seafood dinner.

My favourite Deep Fried Squid - wow...extremely yummy!

Baby Lobsters - also my favourite Steam Clams with Jelly Noodle and Garlic Stir Fried Spicy Crabs Garoupa Duo
Meat stir fried with vegetables
the head and bones were steamed (see below)
Seaside restaurants, quite a unique eating environment Picked live seafoods from the tanks Just next to the restaurants, there were seafood souvenir shops
When you see the Tin Hau Temple (Godess of the Sea), you'll arrive in minutes
Beautiful landscape at Lamma Island. Fishing sampans providing fresh live seafood to the restaurants.

Recommended restaurants:
Lamma Hilton or Rainbow. They are next to each other, both very good. Lamma Hilton is relatively cheaper. But rainbow has free boats to take you back to Central. In any case, you should budget for a minimum of HK$200 per person. Of course that would depend on the kind of seafood you pick. Restaurants are generally available. But you can make booking if you wish.

Lamma Hilton: 852-2982-8241
Rainbow: 852-2982-8100

In terms of $$$ - Above dinner was served by Rainbow and the cost was approximately HK$400 (US$51.3) per person.

The best time to do this journey is spring and autumn, such as October to April. If you go on hot summer days in July and August, be sure to wear sun blocks, and have an umbrella to protect you from sun or rain.

Hong Kong Food Blog - Seafood Dinner at Lamma Island

Chinese Food Carving

2011-05-12T07:35:00.000-07:00

The Art of Chinese Food Carving

You may have seen ice carving on buffet tables. Have seen the art of Chinese food carving? Well, I had a chance to see some relatively large scale food carving lately.

On the Labour Day, I visited the Barracks of the PLA Hong Kong Garrison. It's open to the public once a year on the first day of May.

As you know, life within a military camp has to be DIY, including cooking. There were some cooking demo including some food carving exhibits. Some of them were really interesting.

A peacock opens up his tail to attract girl friends. Would you love this if you were a peahen? Look, this peacock tail is made of turnip, carrot and cucumber.

Chinese like fishes, because it sounds like 'surplus'. Does these carrot fishes look nice?

Peoney and phoenix are also favourite Chinese figures. Again, they are made of carrot and turnip.

Water melon can also be carved. See the dragon and peacock. How lovely?

Finally, here is me and a young PLA. Look, he's very cooperative in my photo taking, though without smile.
Hong Kong Food Blog - Chinese Food Carving

Discounted Buffet in Hong Kong

2011-04-28T21:49:00.001-07:00

Hong Kong restaurants are making excuses to offer discounts, such as early departure discount. I like the idea as I don't mind to go early if I pay less.

Over the Easter Monday, I went on a buffet which usually offers 25% discount before 12:50pm but I ended up had to pay regular price, becasue discounts won't apply on holidays.

Back to the buffet itself, many are attracted by big dishes of shushi, sashimi and the rows of salads and hot dishes. But I always pay attention to minatures. Not only because of the lovely cute utensils, but the little small size portion of food won't fill up my stomach quickly and I can enjoy plenty of these small dishes. Let me introduce a few of them.

What are there in these two 1" pans? On the left is Japanese Egg Tofu. Thought it has been deep fried and seasoned with some Japanese dry fishes and sauces. The other one is half an egg white plus some raisins and a small slice of salmon. Very healthy and delicious.

Here are my collection of dessert minatures
All 1 - 1.5" in diameter

Steam Egg (hot)
Caramel Egg Custard
Pomegranate Moussee with Cream Topping
Serradura (Macau/Portuguese dessert)
Pomelo in Mango Juice

Another 1.5" Serradura

Here is my 1.5" Hamburger. I'm the only guest who can enjoy this, because I made it myself. I'm a person who like to tailor something with ingredients from the buffet table. If they serve sausage, I'll make a hot dog. If they serve sliced bread with an oven, I'll make a club sandwitch. Today I collect a very thin slice of roast beef and made this mini hamburger. Isn't it cute?

Metropark Hotel Wanchai Hongkong
Address: 41-49 Hennessy Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong
Tel: (852) 2861 1166
Lunch buffet everyday from 11.45am to 2.30pm
HK$128 (US$16.4)/Adult + 10% service fee
25% early departure discount (before 12:50pm)
10% for one day advance booking
** No discount on Saturday, Sunday and holidays**

Hong Kong Food Blog - Discounted Buffet

Himalaya Restaurant in Hong Kong

2011-04-23T06:27:00.001-07:00

Today is the Easter weekend, I've decided to do something special - Himalayan lunch. The Himalaya Restaurant has been around for some time. As it is nearby my home so I notice it. I've tried its buffet before. Today is Saturday, so I go there for a relaxed lunch.

The set lunch is only HK$70 (US$9) and looks attractive. I have no doubt in this restaurant's authenticity. I see all Indian, Nepaleese, Himalayan faces from the chef, waiter, cashier and boss.

If you love spicy food, this is a good place. Before lunch, I try the crunchy bread (I don't know the exact term) with some of the spicy sauce and had my tears running.

My Himalaya Lunch

Menu:
Tandoori Chicken 炭燒雞
Lamb Curry or
Chicken Makhani 咖哩羊肉或咖哩牛油雞
Stir Fried Mixed Vegetables 炒雜菜
Pullao Rice 印度黃飯
Garlic Kulcha 烤蒜蓉餅
One Soft Drink 汽水一杯

Wasn't the Tandoori Chicken a little over cooked? The burnt bits looked quite scary. I ended up had to remove them with my fingers. I liked the Chicken Makhani very much.

The Himalaya Restaurant is quite decently decorated

As usual in any Indian restaurant, my lunch was wrapped up with some sugar or candy. The other looked like some herbs but I didn't try it.

Lunch date: April 23, 2011
Set lunch only on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays
Buffet lunch on weekdays
Opening hours: 11.30am - 3pm / 5.30pm - 11pm
Set Lunch: HK$70 (US$9), plus 10% service charge, includes one free drink
Restaurant name: Himalaya Restaurant
Restaurant address: 1/F 22-30 Tai Wong Street East, Wanchai, Hong Kong.
Telephone: 852- 2527-5899

Hong Kong Food Blog - Himalaya Lunch

Sweet Vinegar with Ginger, Knuckles and Eggs

2011-03-27T02:45:00.000-07:00

In Cantonese culture, there are specific foods that we distribute to relatives, friends and almost anybody to celebrate the birth of a new family member. They are namely:

Chicken Wine Soup (when the baby is 12-day old)

Sweet Vinegar with Ginger, Knuckles and Eggs (any time after the baby’s birth)

Red Eggs (when the baby is one-month old)

Recently my niece gave birth to a baby boy and I was promoted to a grand-mom level. All of our family members were invited to her house to taste the sweet vinegar and the chicken wine soup to celebrate her baby’s 12-day.

While the baby’s parents are usually busy taking care of the baby, it is usually the grand parents taking care of the cooking of sweet vinegar. They started cooking the vinegar a month ahead of the baby’s birth. They kept cooking and cooking day after day to achieve the dark color. The longer the vinegar is cooked, the better it will be.

Sweet Vinegar with Ginger, Knuckles and EggsDon’t be scared by its dark color. It is very delicious. It is so delicious that some people like to eat it even though they don’t have a new born baby at home. And they don’t have friends or relatively with new born babies at home to give them this delicious food. Some restaurants therefore serve this as a dim sum. So next time when you are in Hong Kong, if you are lucky enough to go to a dim sum restaurant serving sweet vinegar with knuckle, ginger and eggs, make sure to order it.

I love these eggs so much. They are so yummy!

Me and My 12-Day-Old Grand-Nephew (No Name Yet!)

We were even given some to take home. Note: vinegar cannot go with plastic utensils. So the host gave us glass jars.

Why is this combination: sweet vinegar, knuckle (pig’s rear leg), ginger and eggs? It is a matter of Chinese wisdom. This combination is mainly for the benefit of the new mother. Sweet vinegar and ginger has medical functions of warding off body cold and rheumatism, it also improves digestive system. It generally strengthens the new mother’s metabolism. Knuckles will compensate her lost of collagen during pregnancy. Eggs are of course to give her extra protein.

Hong Kong Food Blog - Foods To Celebrate The Birth of A New Family Member

How to Say Cha Shao Bao in Cantonese?

2011-03-19T00:57:00.000-07:00

Cha Shao Bao, an extremely popular Cantonese dim sum in Hong Kong. How to say it in Cantonese? Want to shock the waiters at the restaurant? Let's learn to say it. To continue my restaurant Cantonese lessons, you are going to learn two terms today – cha shao bao and la jiu cheung!! To make it more sensible – Steam Roast Pork Bun and Chili Sauce.

Cha Shao Bao 义燒飽

Dim sums are made to order. Look at the steam from the bao I am eating!. Let’s learn how to say Chao Shao Bao义燒飽 in Cantonese and see my greedy eating show. Click on the video.

Anna Eating Cha Shao Bao

The other time one of my blog readers said he could not say chili sauce in Cantonese. Today I’m at a Chiu Chau restaurant and their chili sauce is quite unique – not extremely hot however very aromatic. It's excellent to go with my turnip pudding, and many other dim sums. So next time when you want to order a dish of chili sauce, say this:

Chili Sauce 辣椒醬 with Turnip Pudding

Hong Kong Food Blog - Cha Shao Bao - Learn Restaurant Cantonese

Warning: Do NOT Use These Cooking Oils

Green Risotto - Hong Kong Style

2011-02-27T01:29:00.001-08:00

Meals of more vegetables and less meat are highly recommended nowadays. If you’ve been following my blog, you may know that I’m a health conscious individual who eats generally one meal a day. Green Risotto is how I blend in lots of vegetable and little meat into a very delicious dish. Let me share with you my Hong Kong Chinese style Green Risotto.

If you have the experience cooking risotto, I won’t repeat here. Unlike traditional Italian risotto, I used water instead of stock. I then chopped some green vegetables and Chinese Kam Wah Ham. Kam Wah Ham is a famous produce from Yunnan, China and is widely available in Hong Kong. You may use any other ham or bacon as you wish. As Kam Wah Ham is very rich in taste, I don’t have to use any other seasoning at all.

When you add the last round of water to the risotto, add the chopped ham and keep stirring. When the risotto is cooked, cover for 3 minutes before serving. Now, make use of these 3 minutes, get ready a hot saucepan and heat a little bit of EVO. Stir fry the sliced green vegetables. No need to add salt as the risotto is going to be very tasteful with the Kam Wah Ham. Add the green vegetables to the risotto, mix well and dish up.

Green Risotto

Chopped Vegetables

Chopped Kam Wah Ham

Message from Anna

Warning: Do NOT Use These Cooking Oils

Hong Kong Food Blog - Green Risotto

How To Cook Shoyu Chicken

2011-02-14T19:36:00.000-08:00

I receive some enquiries recently asking me how to cook Shoyu Chicken. As I love shoyo chicken and I haven’t cooked it for some time, I’ve decided to raise this post to answer my readers enquiries as well as pleasing myself and my beloved on Valentine's Day.

My shoyu chicken is of course Hong Kong Cantonese style. We usually call it Soy Sauce Chicken. It is extremely easy to cook and very delicious. Here we go.

Since cooking a whole chicken is quite demanding, I’ll leave it to professional chefs. For home cooking, I’m going to work on chicken thighs only, which are good for kids as well as parties.

How To Cook Shoyu Chicken

Ingredients
4 boneless chicken thighs. These are all we need. To reduce the intake of fat and cholesterol, I usually remove the chicken skins. However it is your choice to keep it or not.

Shoyu Chicken Seasoning Sauce

1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon of Huadiao wine (Shaoxing cooking wine)
1 tablespoon of water
Some grinded black pepper
Pinch of sugar

Get all these into a bowl and mix well for a minute or so to make sure the sugar is melted. Marinate the chicken thighs with the seasoning solution. Turn the meat up side down at least once through out the seasoning period to ensure both sides of the meat absorb the equal amount of seasoning sauce.

Seasoning Tips

The secret to making delicious Shoyu Chicken is the seasoning sauce and the seasoning period. Allow several hours for seasoning to ensure the best taste. I usually season it in the morning if I want to cook for dinner. If I want to cook for lunch, I’ll start seasoning the night before. If you are running short of time, you should allow at least 30 minutes of seasoning before cooking.

Cooking Directions

Heat a pan, add 1 tablespoon of EVO.
Lay all chicken thighs flat into the pan to ensure they all receive even heat. (**DO NOT throw away the remaining seasoning sauce, we'll use it later on**)
Turn to medium heat, cover with a lid.
Cook for 4 minutes.
Turn meat up side down. You’ll see the beautifully brown colored chicken. Remember you have some leftover seasoning sauce in the plate? It’s time to add this residue solution to the pan. Cover again and cook for 2 minutes. Check if the sauce is getting too thick. If so, add a little bit of water and continue cooking for another 2 minutes with the lid on.
Dishing up and serve hot. Best to go with plain rice.

NOTE: The total cooking time should be between 8 and 10 minutes. This will avoid under- or over-cooking and ensure the maximum tenderness of the chicken.

Warning: Do NOT Use These Cooking Oils

Do you find cooking Shoyu Chicken simple and easy? I really love it because it is so delicious. Next time when you have friends asking you how to cook Shoyu Chicken, you may direct them to this blog post.

Shoyu Chicken (Soy Sauce Chicken)

YOUR VALENTINE BONUS: Actually Chinese has a lot of chicken cooking methods and Shoyu Chicken is just one of them. Others like Drunken Chicken, Hainanese Chicken Rice and many others are also very delicious. If you want to learn more about the Chinese way of chicken cooking, you may want to take a look at my friend Nicholas Zhou’s cookbook: Healthy Chinese Cooking.

If you buy through this link and send me your ClickBank receipt, I’ll email you my Hong Kong Chinese Food Close Up eBook for FREE. Send your receipt to hkchinesefood(at)yahoo(dot)com(dot)hk

Enjoy Cooking and Happy Valentine !

Anna
February 14, 2011

Hong Kong Food Blog - How To Cook Shoyu Chicken

Warning: Do NOT Use These Cooking Oils

Hong Kong Chinese New Year Foods

2011-02-09T05:46:00.000-08:00

Today is the 7th day of Chinese New Year. Chinese traditional call it 'Man's day', meaning the birthday of everybody. One of the Hong Kong Cantonese traditions is to eat congee. We've therefore decided to cook congee at home. In fact, we eat congee every year on this same day.

Congee in Cantonese is called 粥 which sounds like 足 which means 'satisfaction', meaning we are happy with what we have. Make good sense? That's why we eat congee on this everybody's birthday.

Anna eating congee at home on the 7th day of Chinese New Year

We've put lecttuce and fish balls in the congee. These are associated with good meaning as well. Fish - surplus 魚(餘), Lecttuce - create wealth 生菜(生財). See my big fish ball!!

Congee with Lecttuce and Fish Balls 生財鯪魚球粥

Here are the other foods we eat during Chinese New Year.

Assorted veggies cooked with preserved beancurd. This of course has a good meaning as well - 開齋 means 'a good start'.

Assorted Vegetables 羅漢齋

Candies Platter is what we prepare at home to welcome visiting friends and relatives. Yes, home visit is another Chinese New Year Tradition here in Hong Kong. The candies platter can be very creative. But roasted mellon seeds are among the musts.

Candies Platter 全盒

There are many kinds of roasted mellon seeds - black, red and white.

Dim Sum is a must. Here is what we had:

Puddings - growth 糕(高) - turnip pudding (see my previsou post); on the table, there were two kinds of puddings - the sticky one and the spongy one.

Pig's tongue - profit 利

Fish ball - surplus 魚(餘)

Oyster - good business 豪士(好市)

Hairy vegetable - lucky money 髮菜(發財)

Let's have a closer look.

Dumplings with pig's tongue, oyster and hairy vegetable

發財好市大利

Fish balls with hairy vegetable 髮菜鯪魚球
恭喜發財!
Happy New Year!

Hong Kong Food Blog - Hong Kong Chinese New Year Foods

How To Cook Turnip Pudding

2011-02-02T07:49:00.001-08:00

Turnip pudding is highly popular among Cantonese families as a Chinese New Year festival food. Many of us DIY at home and it's lots of fun. Today is the CNY eve and I have been busy making turnip pudding at home.

I don't have any professional recipe, all steps were inherited from my mother which in turn was from many generations before. There are many steps but we enjoy doing it.

How To Cook Turnip Pudding - Step by Step

1. Smash 3.6kg of turnips. This is good for 3 plates of 8 inches each.
2. Get some preserved meats such as lap cheung, dry shrimps or mushrooms and cut them into small pieces.
3. Boiled the smashed turnips. Add pinches of salt, sugar, chicken powder and any other seasoning such as pepper or seasame oil to your own taste.
4. Stir fry the preserved meats briefly.
5. Mix the boiled turnips, preserved meats and add 500 grams of rice flour (粘米粉) to the mixture. Use only 粘米粉 for the making of turnip pudding. Add rice flour bit by bit and stir well while adding.
6. Divide the pudding mixture into pudding plates.
7. Steam for 1.5 hours and start eating.

Warning: Do NOT Use These Cooking Oils

Cooking Turnip Pudding To Celebrate
Chinese New Year
蒸蘿蔔糕賀新年!

Step 1 - Smash the turnips 刨蘿蔔

Step 2 - get ready the meats

Step 5 - See I'm working hard in mixing

Here is my turnip pudding mixture

My sister is dividing them into various pudding plates

Going to steam

Ready to eat

Time to eat - enjoying my hardwork.

I enjoy eating turnip pudding immediately after cooking. This is the best time and most delicious way to eat turnip pudding. When it cools down, you need to reheat by steaming, pan fried or micro-wave. Honestly I don't like any of these methods as the turnip pudding will be less delicious. If you want to eat the most yummy turnip pudding, make it yourself and eat it immediately after steaming. Try it out. I'm sure you'll agree with me.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

KUNG HEI FAT CHOI !

Hong Kong Food Blog - Turnip Pudding

Mutton Hot Pot - Hong Kong Cantonese Style

2011-01-11T05:36:00.000-08:00

It's freezing! Temperature in Hong Kong is dropping these days. We have only 9 degrees today. Time to enjoy hot pot.

Mutton hot pot is one of Hong Kong Cantonese' favourites in cold winter days. Unlike the mutton hot pot in Beijing where you dip the thin slices of mutton into hot water to do the actual cooking, the Hong Kong Cantonese style mutton hot pot is already cooked. However it is served on real fire to keep the heat.

A typical hot pot set comes with the main hot pot and a dish of green vegetable, usually lettuce. My set costs HK$98 + 10% service fee. Some restaurant may sell it at a lower price however charge the vegetables separately. So you have an option of paying less if you don't want to have the vegetables. Believe me, 9 out 10 guests would love to have some vegetable after the hot pot. As they were cooked in the mutton soup, the lettuce becomes extremely delicious.

A special dish of sauce is served with mutton, just to make it less smelly and more delicious. The hot pot usually has some mushroom, water chestnuts and tofu sheets as accessories. They are perfect combinations making the whole set very yummy and most important of all - keeping us warm.

Hong Kong Food Blog - Mutton Hot Pot

Hong Kong Milk Tea and Tea Set

2010-12-17T23:44:00.000-08:00

Let's talk more about Hong Kong Tea Culture. Apart from traditonal Chinese tea, Hong Kong is famous for its very unique style Milk Tea. It's actually world famous. When you visit China Towns all over the world, you'll see restaurants putting up big signboards specifying "Hong Kong Style Milk Tea" . And here is it - very silky smooth. Secret recipe available only in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong locals love this milk tea, including myself. Some even addicted to it. They are usually part of a breakfast set, lunch set or tea set. Or they are sold stand alone. Hot is usually around HK$10 and cold is around HK$13, and ice-free cold is around HK$15+.

Now let's see what is usually accompanying the Hong Kong milk tea to make up a tea set.

Pineapple Bun - listen, the shape, the taste or the ingredients - there is nothing to deal with pineapple, except the name. Hong Kong people love to insert a flat piece of butter and name it Butter Pineapple Bun.

Egg Tart - both egg tart and pineapple bun are usually cheap, round about HK$4-5 each. Butter pineapple bun is slight more expensive.

Best Place to Enjoy A Hong Kong Tea Set - Tea Restaurants

Now, don't mix up with dim sum restaurants. We usually call dim sum restaurant Cha Lou 茶樓 and tea restaurants Cha Chantang 茶餐廳. Tea Restaurants (cha chantang) are some typical small casual restaurants. These are the place where you can enjoy superb quality Hong Kong milk tea. They outperform 5-star restaurants in terms of milk tea.

How Much is A Hong Kong Milk Tea Set?

From the Golden Phoenix menu above:

tea + egg tart - HK$17

tea + pineapple bun - HK$ 17

tea + butter pineapple bun - HK$19

tea + chicken pie - HK$20

How Does A Typical Hong Kong Milk Tea Restaurant Look Like?

Here is one.

This is one of the most classic and beloved tea restaurants in Hong Kong. It is situated at a side street in Wanchai. You won't notice it even you go pass it. The way to locate it easer is by the line of people waiting for a seat or buying out-of-oven egg tarts. I live in Wanchai for over 30 years and this restaurant has been here for over 30 years too. Guess what, I never had a chance to visit it because I just can't put up with the long waiting line.

OK, here are some sample tea sets - with all the tea partners, egg tart, pineapple bun and chicken pie altogether.

Next time when you are in Hong Kong, don't forget to see if you are lucky enough to find a seat at Golden Phoenix 金鳳茶餐廳 (see above) - 41 Stone Nullah Lane, Wanchai, Hong Kong.

Hong Kong Food Blog - Hong Kong Milk Tea

Tea Culture in Hong Kong

2010-11-20T21:29:00.000-08:00

In Hong Kong, if someone invite you to 'yum cha' 飲茶 (tea drinking), it does not mean drinking of tea only, but to have dim sum together with tea. However when we name this activity as 'yum cha', it indicates how important tea is in the food culture of Chinese.

Tea in a Cantonese dim sum restaurant is charged per head. Depending on the restaurant and the time you go, it may vary from HK$6 to 20 per person. There are many choices of tea. As for myself, I always ask for Pu Er. This is dark in color, very fragrant and strong in taste. It is very good to go along with food, as it will help digestion and melt off some of the fat in the food.

My Favourite Pu Er Tea 普洱

Some people like Xiang Pian as it is very fragrant,

however less strong than Pu Er.
Xiang Pian Tea 香片

When we go 'yum cha' in a big crowd, we may order many pots of tea. The restaurant usually lable the tea pots so that we can easily identify our own favourite tea. Need to re-fill? Easy. Lift the lid as a signal and the waiter will come.

Lift the lid - Waiter will come add water for you

Chiu Chau Tea Culture

If you happen to go to a Chiu Chau restaurant, they may serve 'Kung Fu Tea' 功夫茶 without extra charge. However if you go during the economic hours like early morning or afternoon, they may not give you this little bonus. 'Kung Fu Tea' is just a nick name and it is actually Shui Xian 水仙 or Tie Guan Yin 鐵觀音 by tea type.

Chiu Chau restaurants usually serve it before and after meal in addition to the tea you order. They are finely prepared and Chiu Chau people usually treat their important guests with it.

'Kung Fu Tea' - Shui Xian 水仙

Strange Tea Culture in Hong Kong

Almost all dim sum restaurants, including some medium to high end restaurants will serve you a big bowl and an extra pot of hot water for you to clean the utensils.

Isn't it funny or strange? But it happens as a custom. Restaurants won't treat this as a shame. I don't think I need to clean the cups and chopsticks myself, but as I'm being served that way, I just follow the rule of game. When did this custom start? I can't recall. Guests demanding for extra hygiene or restaurants offering extra service? Probably it's a matter of whether a hen or an egg exist first. Anyway, don't be shocked in a Hong Kong Chinese restaurant seeing guests doing their own cleaning work.

Doing our own cleaning work

PS: I notice this 'cleaning' custom also happen in other areas of China, especially in restaurants serving visitors from Hong Kong.

Hong Kong Food Blog - Tea Culture in Hong Kong

Cream Sauce Spaghetti

2010-11-12T05:35:00.000-08:00

Bacon Chopped Onion Spaghetti in Cream Sauce
Price: HK$68 (US$8.72)
Surchage for soup and coffee: HK$18 (US$2.3)
Service charge: 10%
Restaurant: New Burgh Cafe at 113 Hennessy Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong

Does this dish look nice? It does. And does it taste delicious? It does. However I have a story to tell. This is my dinner for tonight: cream sauce spaghetti. Cream sauce?! Yes, that's what I order from the menu.

Size of the dish: 6 inches. Portion: even smaller than what I collect from a breakfast buffet chef. I finished eating in three bites and within a minute. That was the end of my $68. If you been following my blog, you know that I don't eat much. Even so, this was not enough to fill up half of my stomach.

I used to buy take-away from this restaurant which is usually of good value. Tonight I have some time and decided to sit down and enjoy a relax dinner. I ended up with this story to tell. What are you after, when you want to enjoy a good dinner, quality or quantity?

Hong Kong Food Blog - Cream Sauce Spaghetti

Peking Duck in Hong Kong

2010-11-01T07:25:00.000-07:00

I don't usually eat lunch. And I don't usually eat heavy lunch. But today I've broke all my rules. My boss took me out for a farewell lunch with an overseas colleague.

I need to fast for 40 hours after this lunch. Anyway, let me talk about the Peking Duck we had. Peking Garden, the one we went at Alexandra House has been highly rated by visitors. And they are one of top producers of Peking Ducks in Hong Kong.

The duck was included in our set menu, but I noticed the price is HK$380 (US$48.7) if you place a standalone order.

Look, the presentation was not bad at all. Cucumber, sauce and bread were all laid out nicely. They even brought the duck to the table for our photo taking before cutting it.

You may wonder what that is. Well, espresso. A Chinese restaurant serving espresso? That's correct. I have visited this restaurant many times but never know about it. I was a bit shocked when the waiter offered the service. Probably they only offer this to expacts and not locals.

Their menu is very comprehensive if you want to go a la carte. However if you want to save time and effort (of course not saving money), there are set menus available.

Here's the set menu we had for today.

Braised spare ribs with black vinegar sauce

Sea blubber

Sauteed prawns and scallops with cashewnut in hot garlic sauce

Braised shark's fin soup with crab meat

BBQ Peking Duck

Pan fried sliced fish

Sauteed seasonal vegetable

Fresh fruit platter

Peking Garden

Shop B1, First Basement Floor, Alexandra House, Central, Hong Kong
Restaurant telephone: 852-2526-6456

Hong Kong Food Blog - Peking Duck

Home Made Tofu Dessert

2010-10-25T07:19:00.000-07:00

It’s now autumn in Hong Kong, weather is getting cool and dry - time to enjoy desserts. Yesterday we decided to make fun by playing mahjong and at the same time joined hands to cook desserts for tea time.

Tofu Sheet Syrup is one of our most favourite old Hong Kong desserts which we all loved since we were kids. Of course our mums made it for us, and now we make it for ourselves. In fact, it was the first time the four of us join together to make this dessert and it was fun.

Home-Made Old Hong Kong Dessert –

Tofu Sheet Syrup with Eggs
4 Servings (total cost: HK$25 / US$3.2)

Ingredients:

4 dry tofu sheets

4 boiled eggs

1 whisked egg

Ginkgo (pitted) – quantity as you wish

Crystal sugar

8 bowls of water

Tofu Sheet Syrup with Eggs

腐竹白果雞蛋糖水

Directions

Boil four eggs for 7 minutes. Remove shells.
Soak ginkgo, remove the center bit.
Boil 8 bowls of water.
Add tofu sheet until it is soften.
Turn to low heat, let it simmer for 20 minutes until the tofu sheets start to melt. You may want to simmer for 30 minutes if you want to have the tofu sheets dissolved completely.
Add the boiled eggs.
Add crystal sugar. Test until you find your loved level of sweetness.
Before dishing up, add whisked egg and stir gently.
Turn heat off. Cover for 5 minutes before eating.

NOTE: Crystal sugar is the perfect match for this particular dessert. DO NOT use any other kind of sugar.

As we all love the mini silky soft tofu sheets, so we simmered for 20 minutes only. It was so lovely and delicious. Rest of the day while playing majhong, we were still talking about how delicious our tofu dessert was.

Dry tofu sheets are available at the market

Hong Kong Food Blog - Home-made Tofu Dessert

Classic Chiu Chau Snacks

2010-10-09T07:04:00.000-07:00

I found a newly opened Chiu Chau restaurant, Megared, nearby my house. So we decided to give it a try.

Like many other restaurants in Hong Kong, eating early or late is far more economic than peak hours. We went at tea time, ie. 2-4pm. For breakfast, if you pay your bill before 12.30pm, you will enjoy special price too.

Here are some of the special price dishes that we've ordered. They are really economic. The foods are delicious and served speedily. We've ordered a few of the Chiu Chau signature dishes. Even if you want to order a big dish of fried noodle or rice, the price is only around HK$38 which is really a good deal.

Goose Meat Noodle 鵝片湯面

(HK$13.5/US$1.73)

Spicy Soup with Pig's Belly and Pickled Vegetable

Wow...very yummy! My priority Chiu Chau dish.

When I make this at home, I must add a lot of pepper

and it's really good in relieving my bloating problem.

胡椒咸菜豬肚湯 (HK$14.5/US$1.85) Chicken Feet with Chinese Medical Herbs,

such as Gogi and Angelica
藥膳鳯爪 (HK$14.5/US$1.85)
Megared Chiu Chow
6/F Hopewell Centre, 183 Queen's Road East
Hong Kong Tel: 852-2528 1680

Hong Kong Food Blog - Chiu Chow Signature Dishes

Mid Autumn Festival Dinner

2010-09-23T08:03:00.000-07:00

Lunch date: September 22, 2010
Occasion: Mid Autumn Festival Dinner
Number of people: Four
Cost: HK$680(US$87.1), inclusive of 10% service charge
Restaurant name: Shanghai Xiao Nan Guo
Restaurant address: 12/F Time Square, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
Restaurant telephone: 852-2874-8899

It was Mid Autumn Festival yesterday, we tried to book a table for a family dinner. In Hong Kong, the day of Mid Autumn Festival is a working day, but the day after is a public holiday. Reason being the moon is being admired at night, so people can still work during the day. But a holiday is granted on the next day due to late night sleep.

Because it was a festival day, the restaurant only allowed us to book either 6pm or 8pm just to maximise their business. However the restaurant owner might have over estimated his business. We were there at 6.30pm and was requested to leave before 8pm. However we saw some tables were vacant until we left. The food was served speedily. Well, that's the way they made us to leave on time. Here are our favourites.

Cold Cut - Sliced Chicken with Jelly Noodle

we had to stir up the dish with the sesame sauce

雞絲粉皮 (HK$58)

Sliced Chicken with Jelly Noodle (before stirring)

Noodle with Green Onion 蔥油辦面
(HK$78)
My Number One Favourite
Deep Fried Mini Yellow Fish
小黃魚 (HK$28@)
Very crispy and very yummy!!!
This is in fact a signature dish of Xiao Nan Guo

Stewed Pork's Knuckle
Another signature dish and our favourite
元蹄 (HK$188)

Soup: Salty Pork with Bean Curd Sheets 奄篤鮮 (HK$118)
They didn't present the soup -
only served a mini bowl for each of us - hence no photo

Hong Kong Food Blog - Mid Autumn Festival Dinner

Moon Cake and Partner Fruits

2010-09-21T05:44:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is Mid Autumn Festival (September 22, 2010) - August 15 in Chinese calendar.

Moon cakes are my favourites. Though cake makers in Hong Kong are very innovative, making all kinds of fruit, ice cream ... moon cakes, but what I really love are the traditional ones - lotus seed paste with egg yolks.

We usually eat fruits along with moon cakes as fruits are delicious and healthy. There are fruits which are exceptional tasteful around Mid Autumn Festival and they are pomelo, star fruit and grapes. Seedless green grapes are wonderful. In fact, not only me, most Hong Kong people eat these mid autumn fruits together with moon cakes.

I'm going to enjoy eating my juicy pomelo and moon cakes after writing this post. Happy Mid Autumn Festival!

My Favourite Moon Cakes and Pomelo

My favourite moon cake fruit partners:

green grapes and star fruit

My green trio and moon cakes are perfect match!

When I was a kid, we made lanterns from the left-over pomelo peels. Well, many kids had this game for fun. Star fruit is also the shape of many lanterns even nowadays.

Hong Kong Food Blog - Moon Cakes and Fruits

More Cantonese Dim Sum and Dessert

2010-09-16T22:03:00.000-07:00

Just realise that I haven't posted dim sum photos for some time. Here are some of my recent collections.

Traditional Cantonese Breakfast

Congee and Rice Roll 皮蛋瘦肉粥

Among which, congee with salty sliced pork and millenium egg + steamed rice roll is the classic duo. But today we chose the stir fried rice rolls.

Stir Fried Rice Rolls 炒腸粉
Chinese Pancake 煎薄餅

Deep Fried Dumplings 咸水角

Assorted Dim Sums 各式點心

Why we feel happy eating dim sum is that we enjoy

seeing the whole table full of delicious dishes of our own choice.

And everybody busy picking their own favourites.
一齊來多多點心, 大家都好開心

Fluid Egg Yolk Bun

Inside the Egg Yolk Bun 奶黃飽

Better eat it hot, or the fluid staffing will liquidate

Chinese Donut 蛋散

A very traditional Cantonese Dessert

I was eating this when I was a kid.

This should be one of the oldest

Hong Kong traditional dessert.

Hong Kong Food Blog - Assorted Dim Sum

Black Listed Restaurant

2010-09-05T06:02:00.000-07:00

I don't always have luck, such as this horrible dinner. In fact, this restaurant is not the first time upset me. I have therefore decided to black list it. The other day we ordered four dishes, only one got a marginal pass.

Steam Scallop with Jelly Noodle - Most Horrible
Could not sense any temperature - Perhaps done an hour before we placed the order. The jelly noodles were just like iron wires.

凍冰冰鐵綫似的粉絲蒸元貝

The Pan Fried Buns was also another cold cut?! Again, might have been pan fried an hour before we placed the order. The presentation was to untidy!

微温的生煎飽

'Beat Cucumber' - the cucumber was completely unprofessionally 'beaten' and the presentation was really messy. I tried hard to make it to be a little better in order to take a photo. And it was absolutely tasteless.

略似拍過的手拍青瓜

Roast Chicken - HK$48 or a half chicken. Quite a good deal, I gave it a marginal pass.

脆皮雞勉強合格

Foo Lum Restaurant 富臨酒家 - 1/F, 72-86 Lockhart Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong. This is a chain restaurant which has many branches in Hong Kong.

This restaurant is a mid-range restaurant, reasonably decorated and priced. Services are so so, but food quality is totally unacceptable.

The other night when we went there, the lift was out of order and we had to walk. The staircases were flooding. Luckily there weren't any accident. But I must say this is the last time I visit this restaurant.

Hong Kong Food Blog - Black Listed Restaurant

Home Made Cold Noodle

2010-09-01T06:44:00.000-07:00

Hong Kong is very hot in summer. I always want to eat cold cut but for safety reason, try not to eat outside. So I have decided to make it myself. But Cantonese don't have much cold dishes and they are quite difficult to do. I have therefore decided to go for Japanese. In fact, I always do this in summer.

My cold cut dinner is extremely easy and quick to do. Believe it or not, mine is even quicker than Nigella Lawson's. I only take five minutes to get this cold noodle done. There is only one little preparation work to do - get ready some cool and cold water. I'm sure most of you have these always available at home. NOTE: These cool and cold water must have been boiled. Do not use water direct from tap.

OK? Let's start.

My recipe is for one person. If you have more, just expand it.

1. Get some cool water and cold water ready.
2. Boil water and add soba. Let it simmer for three minutes.
3. Transfer soba to cool water, drain.
4. Transfer soba to cold water, drain.
5. Dish up and add cold soba soup.
6. Add a can of sardine (any flavour).

Home Made Japanese Soba with Sardines

This Japanese sardine has three flavours. I love the spicy one. Put it in the fridge for a few hours before serving.

As a balance of diet, I also had a few slices of pineapple as my dessert. Wow, very yummy and healthy.

The whole dinner took me five minutes to cook. My kitchen was completely free from smoke and oil, and it was extremely easy to do the cleaning work. What a lovely cold dinner.

Hong Kong Food Blog - Home Made Soba with Sardines

Mango Mille Feuille

2010-08-15T19:27:00.000-07:00

Do you love Mille Feuille? I love Mille Feuille and mango. The chef therefore decided to tailor-make one for us with lots of mango. I have a cake coupon from Island Shangri-La so I ordered this birthday cake for my sister-in-law free of charge. Very crunchy but not too sweet.

Mango Mille Feuille

Apart from the traditional layers of puff pastries, the chef offered us more mango inside! Wow, yummy! Thanks for the creativity.

Hong Kong Food Blog - Mille Feuille

Super Delicious Handmade Ice Cream

2010-07-23T20:07:00.000-07:00

Found a wonderful dessert shop in Hunghom. My friend took me there. Out of my expectation, this shop is new, beautiful, clean and tidy with friendly waiters. Most important of all, VERY DELICIOUS and VERY CHEAP.

My friend lives in Hunghom and got a promotion leaflet and took us there to try. Of course, we were offered opening special price with that leaflet. But even without it, the prices are surprisely low and the desserts are so delicious.

Coconut, Mango, Pomelo Dessert

How much does it cost?

It comes in a duo, together with

the Green Tea handmade ice cream,

red bean syrup and sticky dumplings.
Only HK$35 (US$4.48)

How about my Grass Jelly Dessert Set?
Only HK$15 (US$1.9)

Some more promotions for the new shop.

I must say, even if you go here by taxi, it will still be a good deal.

They have 10 other shops, but all in Kowloon and New Territories. The one here in Hunghom is the first one with seats, the others serve only take-away.

手作りアイスクリーム

Dessert House

Japanese Tezukuri Ice Cream

13 Ming On Street, Hunghom, Kowloon

Hong Kong Food Blog - Super Dessert

Traditional Cantonese Breakfast

2010-07-08T23:05:00.000-07:00

Traditional Hong Kong Cantonese breakfast usually consist of congee plus stir fried noodle or steamed rice rolls. As for congee, usually sliced salty lean pork and millennium eggs are added.

Another breakfast duo is plain congee plus deep fried dough sticks.

I have recently had a short trip to Macau and found this at the breakfast buffet table of Hotel Sintra. We were given quite a number of accessories to add to the lean pork congee. So I have tailored my own congee with deep fried dough sticks, green onion, millennium egg and salty egg and some others. Unfortunately no stir fried noodle or steam rice rolls available. However they did provide some Cantonese dim sum instead. Not to mention salads, cereals and many other foods of international taste.

Though Hotel Sintra is ranked as 3-star, I do appreciate their buffet breakfast as it is far better than some other 4-star hotels in Macau.

My congee from breakfast buffet

Hong Kong Food Blog - Cantonese Congee Breakfast

Super Value Tea Set

2010-06-11T02:09:00.000-07:00

Hey, I can't wait to post this. It is such a good deal - only HK$28 (US$3.58), inclusive of a cup of tea or coffee. This tea set is only available between 3pm and 5.30pm at Boston Restaurant in Hong Kong, and it is for take away only. Look, its size is just like a regular dish and it is cooked to order. Extremely delicious. So I've decided to do lunch and dinner together. Mmmm, breakfast + lunch is called brunch, what about lunch + dinner? Can someone invent a term for it?

Baked Spinach Noodle with Ox Tongue and Tomato

焗鮮茄牛脷波菜面 HK$28 (US$3.58), including a drink

Boston Restaurant

3 Luard Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong 852-34211822

This is one of the oldest restaurants in Hong Kong serving western food. I particarly like their take away dishes as they are extremely delicious and of super value.

Hong Kong Food Blog - Fast Food

Home Made Drunk Chicken

2010-05-25T20:06:00.001-07:00

Hong Kong weather is turning hot, so I tried to make a cool dinner last night.
Drunk chicken is a famous Shanghainese cold cut starter and is quite easy to make at home. Season the chicken (thighs or wings) with grinded black pepper, salt and a bit of soy sauce. Add Shao Xing cooking wine (usually known as Hua Diao wine) depends on the amount of alcohol you can take.

You can season for overnight if you want stronger fragrance, otherwise just a couple of hours will do. Wrap the whole thing up with aluminum foil, pin a few holes with a toothpick and steam for 15 minutes. Let it cool down and put into the fridge for a couple of hours before serving. Wow...I really love the fragrance, very delicious. Of course, my cool dinner also included soba and fruits.

Drunk Chicken 醉雞

Actually I did try the hot version and it was also very good.

Hong Kong Food Blog - Home Made Drunk Chicken

Poon Choi - Hong Kong Traditional Food

2010-04-26T03:21:00.000-07:00

Poon Choi (Big Bowl Cuisine) is a traditional cuisine of villages in Hong Kong New Territories. Usually during Chinese New Year or festivals, Poon Choi will be served. Nowadays it has become one of the popular Hong Kong Chinese foods year round.

Last week, I had a chance to join a local cultural event which included a Poon Choi dinner in Yuen Long and a Chinese music concert in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre and a little outing in the afternoon. The whole thing was really a good deal which costed only HK$80 per person, all inclusive.

Poon Choi in Chinese means cuisine in a big bowl. Instead of an 8-course dinner, all the food were assembled in a big bowl which was served on real fire to keep the heat. Our menu included prawns, chicken, duck, pork, fish balls, tofu sheets, mushrooms, cabbages and so on. I would say this was quite an economic menu. As I know some of the more expensive Poon Choi will include ingredients like abalone, scallop, oyster, sea cucumber and many other more expensive ingredients.

元朗圍村盆菜 The fun of eating Poon Choi is to have a few hundred of people eating together. Each one of us had two pairs of chop sticks - one to pick the food from the big bowl, and one for our personal eating.

Hong Kong Chinese Food - Poon Choi

German Buffet in Hong Kong

2010-04-04T05:38:00.001-07:00

Lunch buffet date: April 4, 2010
12.00 to 4.30pm – only on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays
Cost: HK$145 (US$18.6), plus 10% service charge, includes one free drink
Restaurant name: King Ludwig Beerhall, G/F Hopewell Centre, 183 Queen’s Road East, Hong Kong
Restaurant telephone: 852- 2861 0737

When I eat Chinese food overseas, I always sense a taste of west. Likewise when I eat western food in Hong Kong, I always sense a taste of Chinese. However at today’s Easter German buffet, I feel a 100% German taste.

Only my favourite Crisp Roast Pork Knuckle and the Sausages justified the whole fee. I must say this is the best pork knuckle I have ever tasted in Hong Kong – very crispy skin, very tender and delicious meat. There are not many types of sausages, but already good enough to please me.

Items that chefs make in front of guests include: toast with ham and cheese, stir fried spaghetti with your own choice of ingredients and waffles.

I am extremely happy with the wide range of desserts and ice creams – wow…extremely yummy. They kept refilling with variations, so if you have a big stomach, you can stay there and keep eating for four and a half hours. Finally our buffet finished with a cup of very nice coffee. Actually there were choices of beer, coffee, tea or soft drinks.

They will serve one dish of Crisp Roast Pork Knuckle to each table.

But you can collect additional portion from the buffet table.

Here is my additional knuckle.

Egg-shape Sausages and Ham

Onion Soup and my Easter Eggs Ham and Cheese Toast with Mushrooms

Very crispy and delicious

Plenty of Easter Eggs

Hot Desserts

More Desserts

Cold Desserts

King Ludwig Beerhall

Very German Feel

I like sitting at the bench facing the street.

King Ludwig has a branch at Murray House, Stanley, Hong Kong.

They serve buffet also on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.

Lunch buffet: HK$168 (US$21.5) - 11am to 3pm

Tea buffet: HK$118 (US$15.1) - 3pm to 5pm

Hong Kong Food Blog - German Buffet

Old Fashion Hong Kong Dish - Pomelo Peel

2010-03-28T23:34:00.000-07:00

This dish reminds me of my childhood. My mother used to do it at home when we were kids. It is not a dish with expensive ingredients, however needs skills and time to prepare it. Indeed, for many years, Hong Kong restaurants do not produce pomelo peel dishes. I found it on the menu last night when I had dinner. The chef combined it with mushroom and broccoli together with a shrimp roe gravy. Quite a healthy dish. For vegetarians, you can just ask to omit the shrimp roe.

Pomelo Peel with Shrimp Roe Gravy

HK$58 (US$7.4) 蝦子柚皮

香港懷舊菜 - 蝦子柚皮
You may not believe that pomelo peels are eatable.

Indeed, they are.

It is fun to make use of the left overs to make a dish.

Hong Kong Food Blog - Old Fashion Hong Kong Dish

VERY Attractive Price Dim Sum Restaurant - Hak Ka Hut

2010-03-15T01:15:00.000-07:00

Everything so so, except price which is extremely attractive. Last weekend I tried a new restaurant in Causeway Bay which is famous for its good deals - no service charge and tea is also free. The two of us spent only HK$66.5 (US$8.5) for an early lunch. Except weekday peak hours, this restaurant has special offers all the time, such as 40% off dim sum if you settle your bill before 12.45pm.

The food, environment and services are reasonable. However it just costs like a fast food take-away shop which is really tempting. Although its name indicates Haka food, but I can find all the Cantonese dim sum here.

Deep Fried Dace Fish Balls, with clams sauce

(not spongy enough!) 蜆蚧鯪魚球

Stir Fried Rice Roll 煎腸粉
Pan Fried Stuffed Trio 煎釀三寶
(should be three different pieces,
but we got two eggplant and one tofu;
oooops also no soy sauce!) 雖然有三件, 但只有兩寶!
Wanton Soup with Chicken 雲吞雞湯

Steamed Rice with Minced Pork 蒸梅菜肉餅飯

Hak Ka Hut 客家好棧

21/F Lee Theatre Plaza, 99 Percival Street,

Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. Tel: 2881 8578

Allow some waiting time, as there are plenty of people at early lunch and late afternoon tea. (Six branches altogether)

Hong Kong Food Blog - Special Price Dim Sum

Anna’s Health eBook Store - Buy One Get One Free

2010-02-24T23:16:00.001-08:00

If you’ve read my post of ‘why I set up this blog’, you will know that I’m an intermittent faster. In fact, apart from providing Hong Kong food information, my food blog objective is also to promote my healthy eating habit. View my fasting blog and see if I could recruit you into the row of intermittent fasting.

To this respect, I’ve set up this eBook Store and have short-listed three of my most favourite health-related ebooks. To encourage you to go on a healthy eating habit, I’ll give you extra bonus, on top of the free bonuses offered by individual authors of the three ebooks. If you buy any one of them, I will give you my personally written Hong Kong Chinese Food Close Up ebook FREE.

Below I have outlined the benefits of these health ebooks. Once you’ve paid, Clickbank will inform me and I’ll email you my free ebook. In case you don’t receive it, please send me a reminder at hkchinesefood(at)yahoo(dot)com(dot)hk

EZjuice - The Juice Suggester
You may know that my fasting program started with a one-week juice fasting.

Over the course of the past four years of intermittent fasting, juice (fresh juice of course) has become part of my life. And due to my busy work schedule, this EZjuice ebook had given me great help in eliminating the hassle of finding new juice recipes and helped me to create juices "on demand" and made juicing fun.

The Juice Suggester offers "5 Free Must Have Juice Recipes" even if you buy nothing. View the juices on demand video.

Eat Stop Eat – All about intermittent fasting (IF)
IF helped me achieved natural and progressive weight loss. I lost a total of 20 pounds in six months and my body weight has been stable.

Browsing through this food blog, you will notice that I don’t have any restriction on the food I eat. All food photos in this blog are taken from my dining table. Forget about dieting, stay fit and healthy by re-arranging your eating schedule and keep eating whatever you like to eat.

I am someone who can tell you that IF helps, but Eat Stop Eat tells you why and how IF can help. Get this ebook, follow its guidelines and you’ll see the benefits.

500+ Healthy Chinese Recipes Cookbook
Needless to say, when I cook for myself, I’ll cook it the healthy way. Nicholas Zhou’s cookbook gives me exactly what I want – healthy Chinese recipes. If my blog has inspired you to learn Chinese cooking, this is the number one e-cookbook I would recommend. Nicholas also provides a lifetime update.

FREE BONUS from Anna – Hong Kong Chinese Food Close Up (value of $19.95)
Here is the FREE ebook I’m going to give you upon your purchasing of any of the above three health ebooks. Here is a detailed description, but please DON’T BUY it. Come back to this page, BUY ANY OF THE THREE HEALTH EBOOKS AND GET IT FREE.

Hong Kong Food Blog - Anna's Health eBook Store

2010 Chinese New Year Kick Off Lunch

2010-02-17T00:41:00.001-08:00

2010 Chinese New Year falls on the Valentine's Day. In Hong Kong, Cantonese tradition is to have our new-year kick off lunch on the second day of Chinese New Year, hence February 15, 2010. Let me show off my family cooked CNY kick off lunch. All dishes are carrying wonderfully good names.

A Great Start (Assorted Vegetables)

羅漢齋 (開齋)

Great Profit (Pig Tongue)

金錢大利

Pig Tongue with Gold Coins (Mushrooms)

冬菇豬利

Great Surplus & Wealth Generation

(Fish Cake & Lettuce Soup)

生財有道, 年年有餘 - 生菜魚餅肉片湯

Hong Kong Chinese Food - Chinese New Year Kick Off Lunch

Museum Cafe - Ideal High Tea Venue

2010-02-04T00:37:00.000-08:00

Museum Cafe - Podium Level, Hong Kong Art Museum, Tsimshatsui, Kowloon

Hong Kong musuems are free on Wednesdays. So I take a day's off, go to Tsimshatsui to have lunch at Peking Garden and spent some time exploring the nearby Space Museum, Art Museum and the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.

Though I eat one meal a day, but sometimes I'm naughty. It is a personal rule, not a law, so it doesn't matter. After my museum tour, I had a cup of tea at its cafe on the podium. I really like to recommend this place becasue it is never crowded and it has superb views of the Victoria Harbour. Make sure to sit outdoor and the whole podium is yours.

Most important of all, the 5-star views here won't cost 5-star price. My latte is only HK$28 and the garlic bread is only HK$25. The food here is really nice and not expensive at all.

Garlic Bread HK$25 (US$3.2)

Anna at the Museum Cafe
The Museum Cafe podium offers great views
of the Victoria Harbour

Hong Kong Food Blog - Museum Cafe

Learn Restaurant Cantonese

2010-01-26T02:00:00.000-08:00

Let's learn a couple of Cantonese phrases to speak in any Hong Kong restaurant. See if you can shock the waiters.

Mai Dan 埋單 - please give me the bill
mmm goi 吾該 - thank you / please

Now click on the video, and listen to how I say it. The card I am holding is a dim sum record card.

Chinese New Year is approaching. This year it falls on the Valentine's Day. When you are at a restaurant, waiters will say this to you:

Kung Hei Fat Choi 恭喜發財

You can also say this to anybody during CNY period in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong Food Blog - Learn Restaurant Cantonese

Hot Pot Specialty Restaurants in Hong Kong

2010-01-12T22:45:00.000-08:00

Restaurant name: Little Fat Cow小肥牛火鍋活魚專門店
Restaurant address: 141 Queen’s Road East, Wanchai, Hong Kong
Restaurant telephone: 852- 25290660
Cost: HK$280 (US$35.8), all inclusive for two people

In Hong Kong, some hot pot restaurants have specialties. Little Fat Sheep is famous for lamp hot pot; Little Fat Cow is famous for beef hot pot; Tanyoto (Tam's Fish Head) is famous for giant fish head. If you want to enjoy a delightful hot pot meal, better go to specialty shops where their table settings and ventilation systems are all set.

There are other hot pot restaurants charging a fix price and you can eat all you can. Of course, you would have to comprise on food quality, service and everything.

The other day I went to Little Fat Cow. Their special offer was only HK$10. We ordered the best deals on the menu - local beef (HK$28) and beef in Huadiao wine (HK$18). You can also order beef from overseas like Canada, USA, Australia or Japan which costs up to HK$88 per dish.

Neck Beef - Special Offer HK$10 (US$1.3) 牛頸脊

Beef in Huadiao Wine - HK$18 (US$2.3) 花雕肥牛

Local Beef - HK$28 (US$3.6) 本地肥牛
We can turn this big lump of prawn's meat into
small balls to cook in the hot pot
Prawn's Meat - HK$55 (US$7) 蝦膠

For the soup base, I always go for vanilla,

although there were other choices.

Even so, I have tofu and some vegetable

as accessories in the soup base.

Cooking in the Hot Pot

Little Fat Cow has seven branches in Hong Kong.

Opens daily between 6pm and 3am (Wanchai shop).

Advance booking is advised.

Hong Kong Food Blog - Hot Pot Restaurants

500+ Healthy Chinese Recipes Cookbook

2010-01-04T23:20:00.000-08:00

Enjoy cooking yummy Chinese food at the same time improves your health and weight loss.

Sounds good? Yes, this is all about the next cookbook I recommend - 500+ Healthy Chinese Recipes Cookbook by professional chef Nicholas Zhou. This cookbook has been sold about 560,000 copies since 1998.

His cookbook does not only talk about cooking yummy Chinese food, but how to improve your health and eat healthy and balanced food on a daily basis.

· 338 low carb recipes
· 289 low fat recipes
· 356 low calorie recipes
· 118 fruit, vegetable and vegetarian recipes
· 22 tofu (bean curd) recipes

His cookbook contains low carb, low fat recipes that have been personally cooked and tested by him. He only included recipes that he considered authentic and healthy according to his research. What interests me most is a free lifetime upgrade. Nicholas promised that he will keep adding new recipes and cooking tips to his book on a daily basis and he will offer free download for the updated version whenever it's available.

The cookbook contains the most famous Chinese recipes as well as all the secret recipes that couldn't be found anywhere else. Most recipes are quick-and-easy style and perfect for people who have a fast-pace lifestyle like me - which have saved me TONS of time and money.

For immediate download, the 543-page cookbook costs only $19.97.

About Nicholas Zhou’s
Nicholas began to learn cooking Chinese food from his mom when he was 9. When he was 12, he began to help his aunt in the kitchen (this was how he paid for my school clothes and supplies). His aunt was a very famous chef in town. Actually she was like the local chief chef and was invited to cook for all the major events, feasts and wedding parties held in town. She taught Nicholas everything about cooking - selecting ingredients, balancing nutrition, 6 key techniques in Chinese cooking, 8 Chinese cooking styles and even table etiquette. In memory of his aunt, he started his research and completed his eCookbook in 1998 and has since then became one of the best-selling cookbooks for Chinese food.

Hong Kong Chinese Food - Cookbook Review

Yan Can Cook - Anna's Cookbook Recommendation

2009-12-28T00:30:00.000-08:00

Have my blog inspired you to learn cooking Chinese food? Actually there are quick, easy and healthy Chinese cooking methods that you can learn from professional Chinese chefs. Here are my most respected Chinese chefs and their cookbooks - Martin Yan and Nicholas Zhou.

Martin Yan started his culinary career in Hong Kong, so I am proud to present him first.

Before my introduction, you might have already known him from his TV Show “Yan Can Cook” – a show which has been seen in 70 countries and has won many awards. First time I saw him on TV, I was completely impressed by his professional cooking skills and great sense of humour.

Yan moved to North America and has worked in restaurants in Canada and the United States. He received a Master Chinese Chef Certification from the Ontario Restaurant Association and holds a Master’s in Food Science from the University of California Davis. Chef Yan has written numerous cookbooks and has consulted with restaurants and culinary schools throughout the country.

Among his cookbooks, the following being most popular: Martin Yan's Chinatown Cooking: 200 Traditional Recipes from 11 Chinatowns Around the World (intro by Julia Child), Martin Yan Quick and Easy, and his latest, Martin Yan's China (a cookbook that documents his travels throughout the far reaches of China, and his culinary discoveries).

Martin Yan's Bio

Hong Kong Chinese Food - Cookbook Review

Dim Sum Tea Time Special

2009-12-20T00:55:00.000-08:00

My brother took me to a late lunch in Shatin last week. We arrived at the restaurant just after 2pm, so were entitled to special dim sum prices. You cannot imagine how low the prices were. Below are two examples. My favourite dessert Steamed Egg Custard costed even less than that from convenience stores.

Steamed Egg Custard

HK$3.8 (US$0.49)

Stir Fried Flat Noodle with Eggs and Prawns

HK$28.8 (US$3.7)

less than half price comparing to peak hour

Some readers asked me about the tea time in Hong Kong. Broadly speaking from 2pm to 6pm. However there are variations among restaurants. Dim sum restaurants usually start at 2pm. Food at this period is generally the cheapest in a day. Master your time and you can enjoy great food at greatly reduced price.

Hong Kong Chinese Food - Tea Time Dim Sum Special

Chinese Wedding Banquet

2009-12-06T05:29:00.000-08:00

5FX9549PQJ6U

December 5, 2009
Wedding Banquet at Harbour Plaza Metropolis Hotel, Hong Kong. The host told me that hotel wedding package included one suite for one night plus a Mercedes with driver.

Following the wedding cakes, I was invited to the wedding banquet. A typical Chinese wedding banquet has 8 courses plus noodle/rice, dessert and fruits. All guests should go home with an over-feed stomach. Usually we are not able to finish the desserts/fruits and have to take them home.

Below is a report of a classic Chinese (Cantonese) wedding banquet. Most of the dishes are available in everyday dining, however in a smaller portion while crab meat usually required advance ordering. A standard banquet table has 12 guests.

The names of the dishes are usually designed for good luck.

BBQ Piglet 鴻運乳豬全體 Stir Fried Brocolli with Scallops 翡翠花枝玉帶

Deep Fried Crab Meat 百花炸釀蟹箝
Vegetable with Dual Mushrooms
瑤柱金菰鴛鴦蔬

Abalone with Lecttuce

蠔皇福祿鮮鮑片

Shark Fin Soup with Sliced Chicken

紅燒竹笙雞絲大生翅

Steamed Garoupe 清蒸大海班

(I have chosen to enjoy the giant fish head)

Deep Fried Chicken 當紅脆皮炸子雞

Noodle 幸福伊面

Dual Dessert 美點雙輝

Wolfberries Jelly Cake / Coconut Juice Cake

Hong Kong Chinese Food - Cantonese Wedding Banquet

Chinese Wedding Cakes 中式嫁女餅

2009-11-15T06:11:00.000-08:00

Y93BKTEMZHED

In Chinese tradition, male has to give cakes to female has part of their engagement gifts. Female in turn distribute the cakes to her friends and relatives together with an invitation card to the wedding banquet. Hence treating friends and relatives with cakes is an official announcement of a female's wedding. So if someone ask a female 'when are you treating me cakes' implies 'when are you getting married?'

Chinese Wedding Cakes

Recently I received a dozen of Chinese Wedding Cakes. Actually the product range is quite limited. Below are some of them: top to bottom:

Millenium Egg Puff

Red Puff with Egg Yoke

Pineapple Puff

Hong Kong Chinese Food - Chinese Wedding Cakes

Sushi Dinner

2009-11-07T05:09:00.000-08:00

We went to Tsimshatsui for Sushi dinner last night. There were several other sushi restaurants nearby at Granville Road with immediate seating. But the one we went Itamae-Sushi had a big crowd waiting. I was a little puzzled why my friend picked this particular restaurant. Until I started to eat, I knew why.

Scallops - our number One choice of the night. We can really taste the freshness and sweetness of fresh seafood - Ichiban !
Salmon - on special offer, I thought we ordered at least 10 for each of us.
Tuna - also our favourite
Peony Prawns - also Ichiban ! But slightly pricy.

Please focus on sushi only. Forget others. Sushi are the best. Everybody come here for sushi only.

Salmon and Scallop 三文魚, 帆立貝

Tuna Fish 端拿魚
Peony Prawns 牡丹蝦

Itamae-Suchi 板前夀司

14 Granville Road, Tsimshatsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Tel: 852-31062846

Tsimshatsui MTR Exit B1

NOTE:

They don't take reservations. Average waiting time 30 minutes. They have a very professionally managed system. Just go there and pick a ticket, come back in 20-30 minutes and be seated. There are many shops around in that area, do some window shopping and you won't be bored while waiting.

We are all happy with the friendly waiters and efficient services and of course the excellent food.

Average expense per person HK$180 (US$23)

Hong Kong Food Blog - Japanese Sushi

Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival

2009-11-01T03:01:00.000-08:00

Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival
West Kowloon Waterfront Promenade
Oct 30 - Nov 1, 2009

I am a voluntary worker today (Nov 1) at the Wine & Dine Festival and had a chance to take these photos and present to you a slideshow as well.

There are 150 local and international wine dealers showcasing their products here. Together with the international foods, I get so excited. Guests can buy a through ticket to taste various wines and pay individually to taste all the yummy local and international food. Wine school and cooking classes available.

Hairy Crabs

Autumn is the best season for eating hairy crabs

Saucisson Aldules (French Sausages)

Look at its appearance, I don't know what this is!!
Food Slideshow

There are plenty of such wine booths at the show.

Wine Video

Hong Kong Food Blog - Wine & Dine Festival 2009

Hong Kong Chinese Food Close Up

2009-10-13T18:45:00.001-07:00

Dear Readers,

I have recently written a e-book about Hong Kong Chinese Food. I can’t wait to introduce this to you.

8 Major Hong Kong Chinese Food Categories
· Dim sum
· Rice & Noodle
· Seafood
· Main Courses
· Hot Pot
· Spicy
· Vegetarian
· Desserts

150 Full Colour Photos of the Most Classic Chinese Dishes
· Price indication
· Restaurant suggestions
· Chinese food culture

Only US$19.95

for immediate download

For further preview and testimonials, visit my other website China Travel Golden Route.

For immediate download, click the BUY NOW button on the left hand column of this blog.

NOTE: Once you've made payment,Paypal will take you to my website China Travel Golden Route to achieve the immediate download links.

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Unconventional Hong Kong Dessert - Crystal Jelly

2009-10-08T20:24:00.000-07:00

I come across this new dessert recently and found it worth recommending. First I had it at Ashima Yunan Restaurant, and next at Tanyoto SiChuan Restaurant. But I never had such dessert when I was in Yunan or Sichuan. Thought it must be an invention of Hong Kong chefs. Anyway it is silky smooth and crystal clear. Its appearance and taste are really lovely. Secret is the soup base. Both restaurants used Cassia flower syrup which made it extremely fragrant. Try it out next time you find it on a menu.

Crystal Jelly - Cassia Flower Flavour 桂花水晶粉

Special price at Tanyoto: HK$9 (US$1.15)

Hong Kong Chinese Food - Crystal Jelly Dessert

Ice Cream Mooncake

2009-09-25T20:47:00.000-07:00

Mid Autumn Festival is approaching. The cake shops in Hong Kong, either traditional Chinese or Western, are working hard to gain a market share of the giant mooncake business. Haagen Dazs is one among the competitors - see their ice cream mooncakes. My colleague gave me a coupon for a free box. I notice it worths HK$199 (US$25.5) for the four cakes.

Ice Cream Mooncake

HK$199 (US$25.5)/box of four

As for flavours, strawberry and vanilla only.

Hong Kong Chinese Food - Mooncake

Perfect for Fungi Lovers

2009-09-07T01:58:00.000-07:00

My friend took us out for dinner to celebrate her securing a new job. At the heart of Mongkok on Kowloon side, The Ashima Yunnan Restaurant offered me quite a new dining experience in Hong Kong. Though I live here, I had never tried Yunnan food. Yunnan produces a huge range of fungi. So if you love fungi (mushrooms), this is a perfect place to come for a delicious and healthy meal. Let's browse our dinner menu.

Stir Fried Assorted Fungi, Lijiang Style 麗江炒雜菌

My top choice tonight!

Mapo Tofu & Fish 麻婆豆付魚

(it seems there is more fish than tofu!) - Yummy!
Sour Beef Soup 酸牛肉湯(下面有菜)
With vegetables underneath - very healthy!

Tofu Noodle 豆付米線
Very authentic Yunnan style, my friend's top choice!

Ashima Yunnan Restaurant

6/F Grand Tower Plaza, 639 Nathan Road, Kowloon

Tel: 852-3188 2555

Average expenses: HK$120 (US$15.5) per person

Hong Kong Chinese Food - Yunnan Food

The Magic of Ginger Tea and Glutinous Dumplings

2009-09-01T07:05:00.000-07:00

Chinese do not use ginger only for cooking. Ginger tea, ginger soup, ginger milk, ginger milk tea…are very popular Chinese drinks. Apart from its medical function of warding off body cold and rheumatism, it also improves digestive system and relieving pains especially for soar throats.

I like the fragrance of ginger. Even at home, I add ginger juice to my milk tea and I really love it. Tonight the ginger dessert I have is really very delicious – Glutinous Dumplings in Ginger Tea – highly recommended.

薑茶湯丸, 甘香可口

Glutinous Dumplings in Ginger Tea

The dumplings has sesame paste stuffing

HK$24 (US$3)

My Shanghainese dinner also include this yummy

Stir Fried La Mian with Shedded Eel

蟮糊炒拉面 HK$56 (US$7.2)

Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao 翡翠拉面小笼包
3/F Tai Yau Arcade, 181 Johnston Road, Hong Kong.
Telephone: 852-2573-8844
This restaurant charges HK$3/px for tea and 10% service charge

Hong Kong Food Blog - Ginger Tea with Glutinous Dumplings

Rare Vegetarian Dim Sum Lunch

2009-08-20T05:44:00.000-07:00

At the Hong Kong Park, Lock Cha Tea Shop is a place where you can enjoy a peaceful lunch at the heart of a city. Our office is nearby, and we found it a good place to enjoy good tea and good food, along with good services.

This is a place dedicated for tea appreciation, so we can do the art of tea ourselves but the tea here is more expensive than other dim sum restaurants. Each of us can order our own choice of tea and play around with our tea set. Only the tea costs HK$20 (US$2.6) per person.

My choice of tea - Pu Er 我的至愛普洱茶 I am doing art of tea for myself 茶藝自助

All the vegetarian dim dum are very nicely done
滿枱點心最開心

Standard dish contains two pieces,

we paid extra to make three in each dish
每碟兩件, 但可按比例加費至所需件數

Vegetarian Buns 我們三人一齊, 所以每碟都有三件

Vegetarian Dessert - Glutinuous Dumplings with Custard Stuffing
這個類似湯丸的甜品很好吃

Hong Kong Food Blog - Vegetarian Dim Sum Lunch

Lock Cha Tea Shop

Ground Floor, The KS Lo Gallery, Admiralty, Hong Kong Park

Tel: 852-2801 7177

10am - 10pm, light Chinese music at dinner time

Cotton Candy at Tea Buffet

2009-08-15T21:04:00.000-07:00

Tea Buffet date: August 15, 2009
3.30pm to 5.30pm – only on Saturdays and Sundays
Cost: HK$218 (US$28) per person, plus 10% service charge
Restaurant name: Café Too, 7/F Island Shangri-La
Restaurant telephone: 852- 2877 3838

The old Hong Kong street side snack here reminds me of my childhood. In the past at least three decades, I haven’t seen this made-to-order cotton candy and yesterday I found it at the tea buffet at Island Shangri-La. Take a look at the follow video. Only a few seconds, a spoonful of white sugar was turned into a large lump of cotton candy.

The tea buffet here has a very wide selection of Cantonese dim sum as well as many delicious Chinese snacks, made-to-order noodles with ingredients of your choice. Japanese corner has sashimi, sushi and soba.

You must love the desserts here. The chef will do pancakes and cotton candies for you. Kids can create their own toppings on cakes. The wide selection of fruits and ice cream will certainly make dessert lovers excited.

懷舊綿花糖製作過程, 只需幾秒
Video - Cotton Candy Making

Chocolate Fountains Cookies Colourful Jellies My assorted desserts My sister's assorted desserts Woo, my Number One choice of today!
I give it a super distinction - Deep Fried Chicken WingsFlat Spring Rolls 付皮卷

Spring Rolls 春卷
Fish Fillets 炸魚柳
Potato Cakes with Mushrooms 薯餅 Hong Kong Food Blog - Tea Buffet

Bowl Puddling - 砵仔糕

2009-08-02T03:10:00.000-07:00

Mini Bowl Pudding help me recall my childhood. Nowadays its really difficult to find this authentic Hong Kong Chinese (Cantonese) street-side dessert. I went to Tai O Fishing Village yesterday and enjoyed a very delicious one with red beans in it - only HK$3.5 (US$0.45)

懷舊砵仔糕 - 大澳街頭

Mini Bowl Pudding - Only HK$3.5 Hong Kong Chinese Food - Dessert Mini Bowl Pudding

Toddy Palm Grass Jelly

2009-07-28T07:37:00.000-07:00

Tonight I decide to have dessert as dinner, just to make it light and healthy. As weather is hot, cold dessert is really wonderful. My toddy palm grass jelly is extremely delicious.

Toddy Palm Grass Jelly 海底椰涼粉

HK$22 (US$2.8)

Honeymoon Dessert at Hopewell Centre

Hong Kong Food Blog - Dessert

Hong Kong Buffet Lunch - Metropark Hotel

2009-07-18T04:16:00.000-07:00

Though I don't eat much, but I love buffet. I pick Metropark Hotel to do my lunch buffet today because it has my favourite desserts. I always think that their chef is from Macau. So far this is the only hotel buffet which I find professional Macau desserts and I do love them. Let's have a quick preview of my buffet lunch today. All these are my favourite dishes, in addition to roast beef, spaghetti, sashimi and soba.

Wide Range of Desserts

Serradura and Steamed Egg Custard 木糠布甸

Steamed Milk Custard - very yummy 雙皮奶

Onion Soup and French Toasts are best partners

洋蔥湯/法式多士 The onion soup tastes good, except too oily

I love deep fried fish fillets 炸魚柳

Roast Ribs with Soft Bones 焗豬軟骨

Stewed Boneless Chicken 雞件

Pan Fried Chinese Pancake 蛋餅

Assorted Vegetables 雜菜

Adult: HK$99 + 10% service charge

Metropark Hotel

41 Hennessy Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong

Tel: +852 2861 1166

Discounts will be offered for online booking

Hong Kong Food Blog - Lunch Buffet

Hong Kong Fast Food - 芙蓉蛋飯

2009-07-17T07:47:00.000-07:00

Today I work late. I have therefore decided to go for fast food. The beauty of Hong Kong tea houses / fast food shops is that they can produce a delicious meal in just a few minutes. Another attractive thing is their low prices. My Chinese Omelette Rice costs only HK$32 (US$4.1), waiting time three minutes.

Chinese Omelette with Rice 芙蓉蛋飯

Wah Hong Restaurant

25 Thompson Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong

Quite a nice fast food restaurant chain with a very rich menu.

Hong Kong Chinese Food - Cantonese Omelette Rice

Luxurious Dim Sum Lunch

2009-07-14T07:29:00.000-07:00

I treat my colleagues today as they bought me birthday lunch last week. The restaurant nearby our offices are all expensive. But they have some value-added elements in each of the dim sum dishes. My weekend special price prawn dumpling could be HK$12.5, but today's is HK$45, however we have a thin layer of gold on top of each one. Let me highlight the expensive element of each of the dishes, just for fun.

Prawn Dumplings with Gold Topping

金箔水晶蝦餃 HK$45 (US$5.78)

Pork Dumplings with Scallops Topping

帶子燒賣HK$45 (US$5.78)
Spring Rolls 春卷
HK$38 (US$4.87)

Vegetable in Hot Pot 馬拉盞通菜

HK$88 (US$8.7)

Deep Fried Spare Ribs in Sweet & Sour Sauce

陳皮話梅香酥骨董 HK$88 (US$11.3)

Dessert

Steamed Buns with Fluid Egg Yoke &

Swallow's Nest Stuffing &

Truffles Topping 黑松露燕窩流沙包

HK$45 (US$5.78)

Jiang Shan Xiao 江山笑

Shop 2B, 1/F, Retail Podium Lippo Centre,

88 Queensway, Admiralty, Hong Kong. Tel: 852-2810 6921

Hong Kong Chinese Food - Cantonese Dim Sum

Deep Fried Chicken - HK$1 Only

2009-07-09T07:22:00.000-07:00

Today is my birthday (Chinese calendar May 17). My two brothers and me were born in the same month, so we had a joint celebration last night.

Among all the Chinese ways of chicken cooking, I like deep frying the most. To attract more customers, the restaurant down my house had a special promotion of HK$1 for one deep fried chicken. We all like seafood, you can also see our seafood selections below.

HK$1 Deep Fried Chicken 炸子鷄

US$0.13

Fish is a must in any Cantonese feast.

I picked this one from the tank.

Swimming Tiger Garoupa HK$198 (US$25.4)

清蒸游水老虎斑

Lobster Noodle 龍蝦面 - is one of our family favourites
HK$198 (US$25.4)
Steam Scallops with Smashed Garlic 蒸扇貝
HK$118 (US$15.1)

Soup with Whelks and Chinese Herb 響螺湯

HK$108 (US$13.8) - No photo

As a balance of diet, we usually order a dish of vegetables
Mushrooms and Vegetable 鮮菇菜苗

Desserts

Red/Green Bean Syrup - FOC from Hoi Tin Restaurant

Opera Cake - Treat from Island Shangri-La

Whole bill: HK$843 including tips (7 people)

Hoi Tin Restaurant, 72 Lockhard Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong

Hong Kong Chinese Food - Cantonese Feast

Opera Cake - My Birthday Treat from Island Shangri-La

2009-07-08T07:16:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is my birthday (Chinese calendar May 17). Coincidently, two of my brothers were born in the same month. So we had a joint celebration.

Along the slope, me (left most) and my two brothers

were the birthday girl and boys

Hong Kong Food Blog - Opera Cake

Dim Sum Sunday Special

2009-07-05T02:37:00.000-07:00

Typical Hong Kong Cantonese life style is to enjoy dim sum lunch on weekends. We love to have the whole table full of dim dum. See below.

On regular days, dim sums are graded into small, medium, large and superior etc., and of course the prices go up accordingly.

But on Sunday, some of the items are on special price. Today, the restaurant I go usually charge HK$16 for small, HK$20 for medium and so on... However, below are the special price items I ordered. You must find these prices very attractive. And I must tell you, these are very delicious food that you must try if you visit Hong Kong.

We love to have dim sums all over the table

Quadruplet Roll 四寶札

Chicken, mushroom, fish maw and crab fillet

all roll up together - HK$12.8 (US$1.64)

Dace Fish Ball 鯪魚球
HK$10 (US$1.28)
Pork Dumpling 燒買
HK$12.8 (US$1.64)

Salt Fish & Pork Rice 咸魚肉片飯
HK$12.8 (US$1.64)

Dessert

Green Bean Syrup 綠豆沙

HK$8 (US$1)

Banyan Garden - 1/F Wesley Hotel, Wanchai, Hong Kong

Hong Kong Chinese Food - Dim Sum

Boneless Roast Chicken + Peking Dumplings

2009-06-27T03:28:00.000-07:00

Lunch date: June 27, 2009
Occasion: My birthday lunch
Number of People: Four
Cost: HK$385(US$49.4), including 10% service charge
Restaurant name: Peking Garden Restaurant
Restaurant address: 3/F Star House, Tsimshatsui, Kowloon
Restaurant telephone: 852-27358211
Anna's comment: I pick Peking Garden to do my birthday lunch because I really love the boneless chicken here. The same chicken here (HK$75/whole) is far cheaper than their shop in Central (HK$80/half). So we decided to travel a longer way to come here.

Boneless Chicken Shandong Style 山東燒鷄

served with special receipe sauce - very yummy !!!

Fried Ramen Peking Style 北京炒拉面 Peking Dumplings (served with vinegar) 北京餃子 Juicy Bun (Served with vinegar) 小籠包 Vegetarian Bun 素菜包Desserts

Chinese Pancake 豆沙窩餅

with Lotus Seed Paste Stuffing

Yellow Bean Cake 清宮碗豆黃

Receipe from the Imperial Kitchen of Qing Dynasty

Hong Kong Chinese Food - Beijing Food

Japanese Ox Tongue Curry

2009-06-24T06:04:00.000-07:00

Cost: HK$78 (US$10) + 10% service charge
Restaurant name: Shabu Shabu
Restaurant address: 20 Luard Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong
Restaurant telephone: 852 - 2893-8806
Anna's comment: In Hong Kong, good Japanese food is not necessarily expensive. Let me introduce my favourite Japanese restaurant Shabu Shabu. Attractive price, nice food, very friendly services and more importantly very comfortable eating environment. My set dinner costs only HK$78 and I have about 8 pieces of thick, medium to large size ox tongue in authentic Japanese curry sauce. I must say it is a very good deal.

咖哩牛脷煲定食

Japanese Ox Tongue Curry in Hot Pot

Dinner Set includes

soup, tofu, sashimi, plain rice and dessert

Hong Kong Food Blog - Japanese Food in Hong Kong

Sweet Doughnuts - Traditional Cantonese Dessert

2009-06-13T00:26:00.000-07:00

Dim sum restaurants in Hong Kong usually serve desserts. Though Chinese doughnuts are very delicious, not every restaurant has this on their menu. The one I had yesterday was very nice and cheap, only HK$8.8 (US$1.1). It was served with syprup.

Deep Fried Crispy Doughnuts with Syrup 蛋散 Hong Kong Chinese Food - Dessert