Shopping, shopping...

Temple Street Market

In Hong Kong, when we are not eating, you can be sure we are shopping. This place is truly a shoppers' paradise. Wherever you go, there are shops after shops after shops that sell whatever you heart desire, just endless.

We stayed just a stone throw away from Temple Street night market and a few blocks from Ladies' Market but what spelled the end of my food quest spree was a wholesale complex in Lai Chi Kok.

This wholesale mart consist of two buildings, A and BC, all in, about 3 stories full of ladies fashion!

As they are wholesalers, many of the stores here don't entertain single purchases but just as many do.

Everything in this store goes for Hk$30 which translate to only RM15!

Once we entered this complex, there was no coming out.

Yin was ecstatic because here she can find the latest fashion and at a fraction of the price in KK and in Australia. Air Asia 15kgs baggage limit caution completely forgotten.

As for me, after browsing a few of these shops, I was just too dazzled and overwhelmed. As my normal apparel are casual jeans and tees, these were just too fashionable for me. So, I spent the time snapping pictures instead.

The whole complex holds only one place to eat and that was where we had our lunch...sob...sob...
So much for a food blog!

Jo

Dim Sum in Hong Kong

Dim sum literally means 'touch heart' or 'dot heart'. And Hong Kong got to be one of the best place in the world to sample this Cantonese cuisine.
Traditionally, you choose from carts that servers push around. There is actually a certain order as to how dim sum is served: first, starts with lighter, steamed dishes; followed by heavier items such as deep-fried dishes and finally, ends with sweet dessert.
Now almost every restaurant that we encountered have done away with the cart system. Instead, the table have a menu list and a pencil which you use to mark off the items you want and the number of orders. The dim sum is still, fortunately, served in steamer baskets.
I rather missed the simple act of hovering in front of the hot steaming food carts ordering the dishes as they come in the traditional cart system.

Dim sum has to go hand in hand with "yum cha"- drink tea. You can ask for bo lay (pu erh), oolong, chrysanthemum or green tea. Chinese tea is said to be important as it helps to digest the rich foods.

Here are some of the dim sum we had in Hong Kong:

Steamed pork dumplings (烧卖 shao mai), Steamed shrimp dumplings (蝦餃 har gau),rice noodle rolls (腸粉 cheong fun), tofu skin rolls (腐皮捲)

Steamed spare ribs (排骨), Steamed barbecued pork bun ( 叉燒包char siu pau), Turnip cake (蘿蔔糕, lo bak go), Sweet cream buns (奶皇包).

The picture doesn't do this dessert justice. This is called 'liu sar pau' translated as flowing sand bun. When this pau is steaming hot the filling comes out like flowing lava. The filling consist of salted duck egg yolk, butter and milk (I am guessing here but the salted egg yolk I am very sure). Due to the present of the egg yolk, the filling has a sandy creamy texture, thus the name. The texture and the taste of this steamed bun when eaten hot is sooo exquisite...easily my favourite part of the whole dim sum experience.

Super Star Seafood Restaurant -- This restaurant, filled with locals, is one of Tsim Sha Tsui's better and moderately priced place for trying authentic dim sum in a typical Chinese setting.

Sorry no English menu and unfortunately, no more mobile food carts, so you'll just have to look at the pictures on the Chinese menu and tick the list given.

The Tsim Sha Tsui's branch:
83-97 Nathan Rd., Tsim Sha Tsui.

tel. 852/2366 0878.

Mon-Fri 10:30am-4:30pm; Sat-Sun 9:30am-4:30pm, for dim sum.
They also serve lunch and dinner, very popular for their seafood too.

Jo

Wonton Noodle @Mak Mun Kee, Hong Kong

Wonton noodle.
This is a must-have when in Hong Kong. It can be found in almost every street corner in HK.
This shop, 'Mak Mun Kee' is very well known for its wonton noodles. Its wonton is a densely packed parcel with succulent prawns. How do they get the prawns to be so springy?? The soup has a hint of seafood stock (could be some dried fish or dried scallop) and the noodles chewy with a definite bite. This combination is a magical dish for me. I would gladly go back to HK just for this!
A bowl of this cost HK$22 and it is worth every penny.

Mui and Yin had the 'shui jiao' dumpling noodles and they loved it too.

It is a no frills eatery, menu on the wall and a very limited choice of dishes.

We loved this delicious braised beef brisket and tendons. The tendons were cooked to perfection and literally melts in the mouth. Our only complaint was that they don't serve rice with it. It would have been prefect with rice, lots and lots of rice to go with the incredible gravy.


Braised pork leg with nam yee, fermented bean curd. Good too but a little too salty and we all preferred the beef tendon (a good source of collagen).

A simple blanched veggie.

Mak Mun Kee is located along Parkes Street in Jordan (right next to the Australia Dairy Co which is very popular for its western style breakfast).
Open daily from 12 noon to midnight.


Jo

My Maiden Flight On Air Asia

Phew! Three cities in 6 days took a toll and I had to take a rest after the holiday. Slept for more than 14 hours straight to make up.

This trip was planned more than two months ago by Pit and her daughter, Yin. They arranged all the booking of air tickets and hotels through the internet. All Mui and myself had to do was pack our bags and be at the airport on time.

Almost like a guided tour but better, as it was tailored to our own itinerary. This was my first flight with Air Asia and was very apprehensive as the airline has a reputation as the airline that not only enables everyone to fly but also to wait and wait and wait and…

The wait never happened, in fact we were at least 15 minutes ahead of schedule on both flights between Kota Kinabalu and Macau. Both flights were operated by an Airbus A320 with a no frills interior but where it matters most, spacious leg room.

Syabas, Air Asia, keep up the good work!

A nasi lemak dinner that cost Rm 8. Quite tasty though.

Since we arrived early in Macau, we were able to catch the last Star ferry to Tsim Sha Tsui at 8.30pm (with a stretch of marathon running along the way!).

Arrived Kowloon just before 10pm and views of Hong Kong taken from where we disembarked at the Tsim sha Tsui 尖沙咀 terminal.

Been to Hong Kong numerous times but the last time I stepped on Hong Kong soil was almost two years ago on a short transit stop from Chengdu, China. The sight of this city was still so breathtaking and for Yin, first time to Hong Kong, this must surely had been exhilarating.

Jo