Chinese New Year Foods 2019

2019 Chinese New Year is just over. Today is the 10th of January in Chinese calendar. It's time to summarize my eating history over the festival.

On day 5 of CNY, nine of us went to cinema at Time Square and had dinner after. As I said in my last post, I love siu mei, so do many of us. So we had three in a row - roasted pork (char siu), goose and chicken. I must say siu mei is widely available in Hong Kong, but good quality ones are rare, especially char siu. The one here served on hot plate is one of the best among what I have ever had. 

Noodle and Rice are always our favorites.

This fried rice has used dry oyster (which means good business). It is a very popular ingredient during Chinese New Year.

Vegetables are musts as a matter of balance diet. At Chinese New Year, the chef has made use of the salty egg yolk to create a sense of gold and the color was very beautiful. In fact there were also millennium eggs in this dish.

Dinner Venue: Chung's Kitchen, 12/F Time Square, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

Note: To my surprise, this restaurant does not charge any service fee!

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On the New Year day, my brother took us out for dinner. This was the fish that I want to highlight. I live in Hong Kong, fish dishes are nothing new to me. But I must say this one was very unusual.  It's the tail of a giant grouper. 

Estimated from the size of the tail, I think the whole fish may be over 1 meter long and weighted 15 kg. It was slow cooked with some tofu sheets and roasted pork and served on hot pot. The waiting time was a bit long but we all thought it deserved. There were big lumps of meat which made us fully satisfied. Although there were bones, but they were big and easy to be identified. Even I don't really like fish bones, I love this giant grouper very much.

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We eat a lot of puddings 糕 over Chinese New Year. 糕 sounds like 'growth' and it carries very good and positive meaning and that's why they are so popular during CNY.

Most puddings are sweet but turnip pudding is savory. We make them at home and very often make some extra for our relatives and friends. Below is the home-made turnip pudding gift from my friend. The basic ingredients are generally preserved sausages (lap cheung), preserved meat and dry shrimps. We can add others per our personal tastes. My friend knows that I love abalone, so you can see there was one in the middle, and there were slices of dry scallops as well.

There are different ways to re-heat turnip pudding, steam, pan fry, stir fry or micro wave. But I like none of them. I usually make them at home and eat fresh from the steamer. I must say this is the best way to eat turnip pudding. But this one was from a friend, so I had to re-heat by steaming which is rather environmental and healthy.

Cassian Flower Pudding 桂花糕

This is the sweet pudding which is somehow jelly like and generally served as cold cut. It was the dessert at my year-end family gathering dinner. 

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We also eat a lot of sweet dumplings 湯丸 around Chinese New Year, either home-made or at restaurants. 湯丸 and 團圓 (gathering, everybody meets each other) sound very similar, and this is the reason why they are popular around new year time. 

Here are the two types of sweet dumplings that I had this year. 

擂沙湯丸 is always my favorite. They are served warm with very fine sugary coating. This was from my new-year-eve dinner at New Shanghai Restaurant at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

This is another type of sweet dumpling which I forgot the name. Sweet dumplings are sticky, with or without fillings. This one has some roasted ground peanuts as the coating, also served warm. They were made to order, so there was a little waiting time. This was from the new year evening dinner that my brother bought us.

After Binge Eating...

So what would you do after binge eating? My answer is 'fasting'. 

If you have ever read my post of "Why I Set Up This Food Blog", you will know that I generally eat one meal a day (OMAD). If you do an internet search of OMAD, you will know that it is a very popular eating pattern nowadays.

After the heavy eating days, I went on a 40-hour fast and have successfully completed. I finished dinner at Thursday (Feb 7) night, and resume eating on Saturday (Feb 9) lunch. That way I have had a full day of Friday to let my body and the digestive system a good rest.

Now I feel comfortable. I went on the scale and gained nothing. 

Hong Kong Food Blog - Chinese New Year 2019

My Top 10 Chinese Foods

Here are my top 10 Chinese foods. It is a difficult list. Because there are so many yummy Chinese foods that I love.  Let me introduce them one by one.

1. Fried Rice - Yeung Chow Style 揚州炒飯

This is not only my favorite. I am sure it is one of the top sellers among Hong Kong restaurants.  Interesting thing is, if you go to Yeung Chow and ask for a Yeung Chow Fried Rice, nobody knows about it. If you say fried rice with prawns and cha siu, then the waiters will know, but they call it Hong Kong Fried Rice. 

2. Fried Beef Noodle 乾炒牛河

Another top seller in Hong Kong. If you ask a restaurant owner how many dishes he sells in a day, I think the number is going to be in 100s. The ingredients are simple, only beef and flat noodle, with dark soy sauce. Some chefs add onion or bean sprout as accessories. The beauty of this dish is ‘wok heat’. Sometimes we can smell it from the next table. If you eat it in a small casual restaurant, the ‘wok heat’ is stronger. Because the time between it is done and get on to your table is a matter of seconds. It is so beautifully attractive and delicious. 

3. Noodle with Green Onion and Oil 葱油伴面

This is a Shanghai dish. There are many variations in Hong Kong. I found the most authentic one in Xiao Nan Guo. As its name, it is simply plain noodle mixed with some dark soy sauce, green onion and oil. I had this recently in Shanghai. They serve with toppings while Hong Kong generally serves the plain version.

4. Stir Fried Eggs with Prawns 滑蛋蝦仁

I love this dish. I must order it if it is on the menu. Again, very simple ingredients, simply stir fried the prawns with eggs. The trick is ‘quick’ to ensure the eggs are silky smooth and the prawns are al dente. I have learned to cook this dish. The prawns are par-boiled before mixing with the eggs.

5. Roast Meats collection – Siu Mei 燒味

These are typical Cantonese way of cooking a number of meats, pork, chicken, duck, piglet etc., mainly applying high heat or real fire, hence the name ‘siu’ (meaning ‘burn’). I love all of them, but Cha Siu in particular (see photo above). But does the name ‘siu mei’ look a bit odd? In fact, it is a direct translation of the pronunciation. It is widely used in Hong Kong. See the photo below showing a shop selling siu mei rice, they called themselves ‘siu mei fan’. ‘Fan’ is the translation of ‘rice’. Expacts who live in Hong Kong long enough may understand. For visitors, I doubt.

6. Smoked Duck 樟茶鴨

I came across this dish at Sichuan Restaurant in Beijing some 10 years ago and loved it since then. So I’m not quite sure if it is a Sichuan cuisine or Beijing Cuisine. In Hong Kong I think it is available in Shanghai or Beijing restaurants. Try it once, and I’m sure you’ll love the special fragrance and the juicy and tenderness of the duck. 

7. Mutton Hot Pot 羊腩煲

Hot pots are very popular in cold winter days. For me, mutton hot pot is the top choice. They are served on real fire in order to keep the heat. As mutton is somehow smelly in nature, therefore there are also water chestnuts, mushrooms, tofu sheets and bamboo shoots in the hot pot in order keep the smell away. Lettuce is usually served in a set. But some restaurants cut the price down by not serving the lettuce. So you would have to pay extra, if you want it. 

8. Seafood Abalone 鮑魚

Hong Kong is an island, so seafood is almost the favorite of everyone. I used to love seafood feast, i.e. the entire meal consists of seafood only. But I am really afraid of struggling with bones and shells which frequently hurt my mouth. So abalone has gradually become my top pick. Simply steamed and served with green onion, hot oil and soy sauce is very yummy. If you buy the dry ones, they are extremely expensive. Fresh ones are good and economic.

9. Mapo Tofu 麻婆豆付

This is my top choice Sichuan dish. If you love spicy food, then you must try it. Make sure to go to some authentic Sichuan restaurants or you won’t be able to get the real taste which will paralyze your tongue and make you cry!

10. Stir Fried Broccoli with Garlic 蒜蓉清炒西蘭花

As a Cantonese myself, stir fried any vegetable is the quickest and easiest way of cooking. Add some garlic will be perfect and healthy as well. Almost all restaurants serve stir fried vegetables of your choice. At home, stir fried broccoli always come to my mind when I want to cook a quick and simple meal.

Hong Kong Food Blog - My Top 10 Chinese Foods

I Love Chinese Food - Introduction

After 10 years of writing this Hong Kong Food Blog, I have decided to shift the blog focus a little. If you love this blog, I am sure you love Chinese food as well. 

Beginning 2019, I am going to talk more about Chinese food – anything that I know about them, including any interesting facts if possible. So you will get to know Chinese foods better and love them more. And of course I will continue to report my dining experience as usual. 

Hong Kong is Asia’s World City and almost any kind of Chinese foods are available here. I am glad that I live here and have chances to taste the Chinese foods that I love. 

The new section of this blog is called I LOVE CHINESE FOOD. If you want to browse this section, go over to the side bar labels and click on I LOVE CHINESE FOOD and these posts will pop up. There will also be sub-sections like ILCF – breakfast; ILCF – dinner; ILCF – eggs; ILCF – poultry…and so on. I hope you get it. 

I clip food photos as a hobby. As I collect these photos for my personal appreciation, copy-right has not been an issue. But now, I doubt. I try not to use others’ photos, but if I did, I apologies in advance. Should you find your photo in my blog and want it to be removed, please drop me a comment or send me an email. Alternatively please send me a link so I can list the source of the photo, which I will consider a win-win option. 

To kick start this new section of I LOVE CHINESE FOOD, I am going to list my top 10 favorite Chinese Foods in my next post. Below is simple preview.

1. Fried Rice Yeung Chow Style 揚州炒飯
2. Stir Fried Beef Noodle 乾炒牛河
3. Noodle with Onion and Oil 葱油伴面 (see photo above)
4. Stir Fried Eggs with Prawns 滑蛋蝦仁
5. Roast Meats collection – Siu Mei 燒味
6. Smoke Duck 樟茶鴨
7. Mutton Hot Pot 羊腩煲
8. Seafood Abalone 鮮鮑魚
9. Mapo Tofu 麻婆豆付
10. Stir Fried Broccoli with Garlic 蒜蓉清炒西蘭花

Peking Duck and Lunch Set

Haven't update this blog for some time, but I'm back now.  After the crazy year-end eating in 2018, life seemed to have gone back to normal. Well! It becomes crazy again when I took my sister for her birthday lunch last week. My aim was to have Peking Duck, but the lunch set menu looked very attractive. So we decided to give our stomach a challenge - set lunch + half Peking Duck.

There are many Peking Garden around in Hong Kong. But only the one at Star House has half a Peking Duck available. Others has to order for a full duck. Even so, a full duck here is cheaper than the Peking Garden at Alexandra House. Although the one at AH has the highest rating from tourists, the one at SH here is newly renovated and has harbour view. So it is still one of my most favourite restaurants. 

Half Peking Duck

If you want to view the duck cutting show, there is a show window where you can view the restaurant. Since Peking Duck is a high demand item, so duck cutting is on-going most of the time.

The pancakes were separated by a thin slice of paper so they won't stick together. What a nice improvement! 

This lunch set menu is only available here. I don't see this at other Peking Garden. In fact I notice the menus and prices varies among different Peking Garden although they all operated under Maxims Group. I always love the menu and price here.

Shrimps and Spare Ribs

Don't assume that the dish size is smaller when it is in a lunch set. They are of the same size of a regular order.

Al dante shrimps - lovely!

Crab Soup

Deep Fried Small Yellow Fish

The regular dish has three, but this is a two-person set, so it becomes two (understandable)! Very crispy, delicious!

Millet Congee served with Pan Fried Rice Cake

This is kind of high fiber dessert. But the pan fried rice cakes were too hard, I had to soak them in the congee in order to make them soften and easier for the mouth.

The vegetable dumplings were too plain to be photographed. 

Peking Garden

3/F, Star House, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon

Lunch Set for Two - HK$328

Half Peking Duck - HK$240

tea, pickles, 10% service charge

final bill - HK$691 (US$89)

Tuen Mun Seafood Dinner

I have decided to go on a 3D2N local tour to Tin Shui Wai / Tuen Mun which is at the northern part of New Territory.  As I live in Wanchai, it takes 1-2 hours to the destination, so I consider this as a local trip.  I stayed at the Harbour Plaza Resort at Tin Shui Wai.  The room is very spacious - 409 sq ft. with very good open view. The cost is only HK$720+10% per night including breakfast, which is actually a very good deal.

After checking in to the hotel, we went on a visit to the T Park at Nim Wan Road, Tuen Mun. It is a sustainable sludge incineration plant featuring spa pools, extensive gardens & a wildlife habitat. A HK$53 billion environmental construction which went into work in 2016.

After the visit, a friend of mine who lives in Yuen Long took us to Tuen Mun for a seafood dinner. There are many spots in Hong Kong famous for seafood, Tuen Mun is one of them. The place we went was called Sam Shing where there are many seafood sellers and restaurants.  We bought the seafoods and then took them to the restaurant which charged cooking fee only. 

Clams with Udon in White Wine Sauce

Very fresh clams!

Baked Lobsters

Signature cooking method of the restaurant. Seafood restaurants in town usually do steaming, baking is relatively rare. It was coated with a layer of smashed potato and baked to golden colour. Very delicious. Forks and Knives were provided.

Mantis Shrimps

Mantis Shrimps stir fried with garlic.  A very traditional cooking method and yet very well done and yummy.  Very fresh with lots of meat.  Scissors were provided.

Steamed Prawns

This was my pick and my favourite way of eating shrimps and prawns. A typical way of Cantonese shrimp eating. Simple cooking but very delicious. However we must have to use our fingers. The restaurant provided us with wet tissues and we can easily clean our hands after eating.

Abalone Hot Pot with Ginger and Green Onion

Abalone in hot pot is quite a special way of cooking. Also a signature cooking method of the restaurant. These were fresh abalones which are less expensive than the dry ones. We like this dish very much! This is something I don't understand. Fresh things are usually more expensive than their dry versions, but abalone is the other way round.

Steamed Scallops with Jelly Noodle

Another traditional way of Cantonese seafood cooking. Very simple cooking, just steamed the scallops with garlic and jelly noodle. The tastes all matched very well.

Stir Fried Vegetable with Garlic

As a matter of balance diet, a dish of vegetable is a must. Again we've picked the simplest cooking method - stir fried with garlic.

The Seafood Party

We also had seafood soup and pork chop.

Thai Seafood

Take West Rail to Tuen Mun, then change to Light Rail #505 (or taxi) to Sam Shing. Buy the seafoods you like and tell the restaurant to cook them the way you want. The fee varies according to the cooking method.  Restaurants also provide set menu and some other non seafood choices.

Total cost: slightly under HK$2,000 (~US$260) (including food and cooking). My friend's treat, so I don't know the actual cost.

Hong Kong Food Blog - Tuen Mun Seafood Dinner

Duck Restaurant

Found a duck restaurant in Wanchai. Quite an interesting and unique restaurant featuring duck and wine. If you are interested in Peking duck and any other duck dishes, and enjoy a glass of wine with food, this is an ideal restaurant for you.  Pinot Duck is located in Wanchai, not far away from MTR.  As its name denotes, the menu is full of duck. Although it serves Chinese food, the restaurant interior is very western style.  The menu is different from any traditional Beijing restaurant and its selling point is Peking Duck X Wine.  So it has quite a wide and good range of wine for your choice.

For lunch, there are sets ranging from HK$138 with a starter, main course and a drink. You can opt to add a little fee for a soup or salad. Bottle of water is free of charge.  

Starter - Duck Wrap in rice paper (Vietnamese style). Well presented, with cucumber inside and cabbage outside.  

Starter - Duck Wrap in steamed bread (Chinese style). Also very well presented, with cucumber and slices of green onion.

For the main course, my friend had a cold cut while I preferred something hot. However we decided to share everything.  

Duck Slices with Cold Noodle

Thick slices of duck meat. Nicely marinated, very delicious. Amount is just right. Not too heavy, and not too oily. Yummy and healthy!

Duck Meat Fried Rice

Very colourful with big lumps of duck meat. Lovely - I like it! I must say, this is a great place for duck lovers.

The restaurant is nicely designed and it is quite spacious between tables so everyone would have a relaxing eating environment. The waiters are friendly. We asked for a dinner menu for reference and found 90% of the dishes are duck - roast Peking duck, 八寶鴨 baked duck, duck soup, duck noodle, duck rice, duck...everything. The waiter suggested us to order half duck for 2-3 people and a full duck for 4 people or more. The cost of one Peking duck is HK$500.

Set Lunch: HK$138 (US17.8) + 10% service charge.

The set lunch includes free bottled water and a drink (coffee or tea)

Can opt to add HK$30 for a soup/salad

Pinot Duck

18 Luen Fat Street

Wanchai, Hong Kong

There is one in Stanley Plaza as well.

Hong Kong Food Blog - Duck Restaurant

Beijing House in Wanchai

The Beijing House recently opened a new restaurant in Hopewell Centre which is nearby my home, so I decided to go and try. Unexpected, the food came abnormally fast. All 6 dishes arrived within 5 minutes after we placed the order. 

The Beijing House claimed to be very authentic and all ingredients and chefs are from Beijing. Indeed, the food taste were all good, although the food temperature were relatively warm, rather than hot.  

Black Fungus 涼伴黑木耳

Black fungus is a healthy starter. It is not only unique to Beijing food, it is available in Shanghai, Sichuan and most of the northern cuisine restaurants.  You may notice there is a fish tang under the table, and we could see fishes swimming.

Stir Fried Daoxiao Noodles 刀削面

Daoxiao Noodles is a local characteristic traditional pasta of Datong City in Shanxi Province. It is one of the “Top Ten Chinese Noodles” popular in northern China. The operation process: the flour and lumps, the left hand to lift the dough, the right hand to take the arc knife, the surface one by one to cut into the boiling water pot. If you eat this in Shanxi, you may even see the chef's live demonstration. A very interesting process.

Stir Fried Shrimps 清炒蝦仁

Beijing has no coastline, so we believe these are river water shrimps. In fact, the simplest cooking method requires the highest cooking skill and the freshest ingredients. This is a live example of such. Very well done!

Stir Fried Lettuce 清炒萵筍

If I would have to translate the Chinese name directly, I would say it is some kind of bamboo shoot. But the menu says lettuce.  I believe this is some kind of vegetable available in north China only. As in Hong Kong we seldom could find this in the market.  Again, simple cooking method, fresh ingredient and high cooking skill.  Simply stir fried and dished up with transparent gravy.  Some restaurants like to cut it into thin and long slices, but the Beijing Home cut it into small lumps - another feeling in the mouth, which is good!

Beijing Duck 北京填鴨

Beijing Duck is the signature dish. We can order one at HK$400 or half at HK$210. We wanted to try more dishes, so we ordered for half. Although it came in 5 minutes only, the breads were hot and fresh from the steamer. Since we ordered for half, we lack the fun of having the chef do the duck cutting demonstration in front of us.

Beijing Dumplings白菜餃子

(Did not take photo)

It was just lumps of white, hence did not take photo. There were 8 of them, so each of us can share 2.

The Beijing Home decoration has quite an old Beijing feel.

The general dining experience here is fair to good. Generally fast is better than slow. But when all 6 dishes arrive within 5 minutes, our table seemed too small to accomodate them and that encouraged us to eat fast in order to get rid of some of the empty dishes. I would say if the dishes arrived within longer intervals, we would have more time to enjoy the taste of the foods.

The food menu has many items but some of the names you won't know what they are, even with the English description.  Desserts are not quite traditional. They have caramelized bananas/apples....a long list of caramelized items but lack of some of the most traditional Beijing dessert such as rolling donkey or 碗豆黄.

Beijing Home

7/F Hopewell Centre

Wanchai, Hong Kong

Total cost: HK$820 (US$105) for 4 people (including tea and 10% service charge)

In fact, there was a set menu for 4 costing HK$1,028 but we preferred to go a la carte so we can eat the right amount and choice of food that we want. And it ended up cheaper as well!

Hong Kong Food Blog - Beijing Home