Thursday 24 June 2010

The Best of the Rest

Have I bored you with my tales of Hong Kong yet?

It was an epic eating adventure, and one I'm going to miss but hopefully recreate in the not-too-distant future. Here was the best of the rest.

On Lamma Island, the best area to go for restaurants is Yung Shue Wan. We, however, missed the boat which isn't all that regular and opted for Sok Kwu Wan. You can walk between the two in an hour. We settled at a seafront restaurant called Sampan and simply ordered clams in blackbean sauce, poached prawns and squid in shrimp paste. Beautifully sweet prawns, really pungent squid due to the shrimp paste. Excellent stuff.

Bizarrely, we went to a Thai cafe and had some amazing Hainanese chicken rice, in Wanchai. I'm afraid I didn't get the name of the place, but it looks like this and it has yellow chickens hanging up. The chicken was so moist and tender and it can be ordered on or off the bone, with or without skin (without skin? Sweet Jesus why?). Chicken broth with a chicken claw poking out of it was light and flavoursome.

Congee with a deep fried dough stick to dip into it was another great breakfast, served in many cafes - we just spotted the great bubbling pans of it. I opted for pork rather than the pigs blood my mum went for. The dough stick dipped in goes all soft and spongy.

Tofu fa with sugar syrup was another light breakfast I had, though I usually have it as a dessert. I prefer mine cold; far more refreshing.

I also visited Hui Lau Shan, a chain of cafes selling healthy desserts twice, once in Causeway Bay and once in Jordan. Refreshing drinks made with aloe jelly, coconut milk and mango juice was delicious, while tofu pudding in mango juice with red beans, alongside a fresh fruit bowl was quite mammoth. A great place for people who like textures; lots of glutinous rice balls and jelly options.

More traditional was Yuen Kee, on 32 Centre Street in Western. A small place that held roughly around 20 people, they do only hot soup desserts. Bowls such as almond soup with lotus nuts and hard boiled eggs, we elected to go eggless (above). I had a mung bean soup that was sweet and refreshing, even if it was hot. Mung beans are said to be cooling, after all.

One sweet I will probably miss the most - mochi ice cream. Why don't we have this in London? Different flavours of ice cream, wrapped in a rice flour mochi wrapper, available in cornershops (7-11) and supermarkets. The texture contrasts are amazing; soft gooey rice flour skin, giving way to cold sweet ice cream. Black sesame was a favourite, but I also love red bean, green tea and the purple ube flavour.

So that's it. Normal service to resume henceforth. No more holidays for ages. Pass the gin.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's not the same as a resto, but you can get pretty good mochi ice cream in the frozen sections of chinese supermarkets - I like pandan leaf flavour.

Chris Pople said...

Love that first shot of the island from the Star Ferry. Very dark and brooding.

Kavey said...

All looks delish (and no, not bored). Especially liking the sound of that black sesame mochi wrapped ice-cream!

Anonymous said...

You sound like you had such a great time in HK, eating loads (as you should!) I love tofu fa and mochi ice cream!

Anonymous said...

What a fantastic trip and experience... Everything seems so unreal, delicious, different at the same time. I really like the sound of it.

jane said...

Looks delicious! You can buy mochi ice cream in the Japan centre - i always get a red bean one to eat on my way home!

A BRIT GREEK said...

Oh, how i love to reminisce! Great piccies, your food pics always make me a tad hungry even though i've just chowed half a watermelon (they're huuuge in Greece btw).

x.o.x.o

S said...

mmmm i love all this food! even that hideous chicken claw- love it. and please put up more posts about HK- beautiful photos and we live vicariously through your experience. pretty yellow varnish, btw ;) x shayma

Mr Noodles said...

I can never be bored of your posts on HK. Loving the look of the congee although I'm an fish slice man rather than pork or pigs' blood.

My rubbish Chinese skills can identify only one chinese character of the name of the Thai cafe - and it is the word "thai", which isn't much use!

gastrogeek said...

I really, really want to go to Hong Kong, so this is all really useful.

Sharmila said...

I have to put my hand up here and admit to being one of those no chicken skin people, when it comes to chicken rice. Maybe it's the Indian in me, but you never get skin-on birds in curry and stuff. Don't get me wrong, I love love love crispy chicken skin, but soggy squidgy chicken skin makes me feel a bit pukey.

Kitsune said...

I used to get my mochi ice cream in Oriental City but haven't been able to find it in Chinese supermarkets since.....will definitely try Japan centre, thanx for the tip Jane! :)