November 15, 2009
Hong Kong Miscellany
泰昌蛋塔
We were wandering around Central when wife mentioned that there's a famous egg-tart shop nearby. Checked the guide-book and found that it's a quick detour up the Mid-Level Elevator, which I wanted to ride for fun anyway. The interior is nothing special, but the big traditional-style sign outside and the steady stream of customers demonstrated its history and popularity. We got a few egg tarts and a couple of chicken pies to go. Should've got a sugar donut, too, since that's their other signature item. Oh well next time.
TaiCheong's egg tart is classic HK style. The egg custard is smooth, with a crumbly pie-like short crust. The custard filling is a beautiful yellow that comes from lots of real egg yolks and butter. It's different from the Portuguese egg tarts in Macau which have dark patches of caramelized custard tops and a flaky choux crust. Either way is good with me! We had reservations for lunch at a Michelin three-star restaurant in 30 minutes, but who can resist a fresh, warm egg tart staring at you in the face? So we had to have one right then and there. Yum. Haute-cuisine restaurants aren't exactly known for their generous portion sizes anyway, so a pre-meal snack won't hurt anything. The only regret was that we couldn't find a nearby milk-tea stand to go with the egg tart.
池記雲吞麵家
Made our way around Hong Kong all day before taking the ferry across the harbor then back to Causeway Bay to drop off the day's shopping in our hotel room. Wasn't too hungry, but didn't want to totally skip dinner, either. So a hot bowl of won-ton noodles seemed like just the thing. This shop near Time Square Plaza seemed nicely decorated, with a good crowd, and featured press clippings from the Michelin Guide. Which to be honest is not really a plus since the Frenchie judges don't know jack about HK street-food culture, at least according to the local critics. On the other hand, one can be assured of some basic level of quality and service by the recommendation, even if one might have to pay a bit extra for the privilege. At nicer HK establishments I do best by speaking English instead of Mandarin, but what about a small place like this? Turned out most of the waitresses spoke fine Mandarin, most likely imported labor from mainland China.
In the Chiuchow style, the wontons are made with pure whole-shrimp filling, and the shells go into the broth. The broth tasted strongly of the shellfish, without obviously tasting of MSG (they say they don't use any but I'm always a bit skeptical). I found the noodle had a bit of a basic (as in lye) taste that seemed harsh residue on the tongue. Not to mention the portion is tiny. But that was enough for us, plus it comes with dessert or veggies for HK$50, not that either was particularly memorable.
翠苑甜品
Kept saying that we didn't want a big dinner, but a small bowl of noodles isn't exactly satisfying, and there's always room for dessert. Wife's mom said good things about this place when she was in HK last, staying near Times Square. So when we passed by and found a free table in the tiny store-front we decided to give it a shot. The shop was run by a bunch of Little Old Ladies, selling traditional Cantonese 糖水 desserts. Wife chose the soft-tofu sweet soup with lotus-seed. While I had milk pudding with sesame paste. Warm on a cool evening, and not too sweet, per Chinese tastes. They stuck the wife with an unwanted hard-boiled egg in her soup and charged us an extra HK$2 for it. Wasn't worth the trouble arguing about it but it was kind of a bummer. Still, even with the surcharge it was less than HK$20, so it's not wonder why the mother in law liked it so much, and the experience was a slice of old-Hong-Kong in the midst of the fashionable district.
正斗IFC
The wife was flying back to Taiwan in the afternoon while I head into Shenzhen to our factory. So we spent our morning in the IFC mall, right above the Airport Express train station. She could take her time in Zara in the morning without having to fight off the hordes of tourists later in the day. But it didn't leave us much time for lunch. Didn't want to go too far since she had a train to catch soon, so we looked around inside the mall for options. But the options seemed either uninspired or expensive. This Hong Kong style restaurant seemed like the best mid-range option, and we were there early enough to get a table quickly before the main lunchtime rush. Lots of fancy kitsch-Asian decorations, designed to appeal to the tourists that pass through. Kitchen is open and clean, although the window was heavily fogged by all the steamers and woks going inside. Picked some dim-sum favorites, as well as a bowl of frog-chicken congee, if only to make sure we didn't miss out on these Hong Kong staples during our trip. Liked their version of shrimp wonton noodles better than Chi Kee last night, too. The congee rice gruel was slow cooked until the rice grains have almost totally melted into the stock. Very tasty. The dim-sum items were freshly made and simply a step up from anything you can find in Taiwan. Not cheap, but we didn't have time to go out into Central, and for the IFC it's fair enough. A representative, albeit touristy, final meal in Hong Kong.
泰昌餅家 Tai Cheong Bakery
中環擺花街35號地下
+852 2544 3475
池記 Chee Kee
銅鑼灣波斯富街84號地下
+852 2890 8616
翠苑甜品專家 Tsui Yuen Dessert
北角北角道13號地下
正斗粥麵專家 Tasty Congee & Noodle Wantun Shop
中環港景街1號國際金融中心商場一期3樓3016-3018號舖
+852 2295 0101