Lounging around in YW and AL’s apartment where we stayed. So comfy!
Hong Kong is one of my favourite Asian cities, I have been here numerous times, as R used to work here for a few years and he still comes back here to meet with some of his clients, and that’s when Y and I will tag along.
This trip however, was without R. Y had to come here for work as she is opening a hip Isaan Thai restaurant in Hong Kong – called Chachawan, with the same partners as her group of Singapore restaurants.
We found some time amidst the pre-opening trials and food tasting to sample the best of Hong Kong food, new things and revisiting old favourites.
We ate and ate like nobody’s business, even a fat bear like me couldn’t take it after 2 days of eating 2 dinners a day. But well the food intake was all worth it!
This is YW and AL’s Bordor Collie – Bob. He’s real naughty but must say he is slightly bit more well trained this time we saw him. But I was really scared he might attack me, so I had to be so careful everytime I went in and out of the house.
EATS – CHA CANG TENG!
“CHA CANG TENG” is the phonetical sound for what Y and rest of Hong Kong people, refers to the local Hong Kong coffee shops. In a way it’s like their answer to Ya Kun Kaya toast meets Local hawker breakfast, where they serve up their local Hong Kong breakfast. I thought it’s important I share a few of the ones I went to this trip, and also revisited.
1. Cheong Kee
Shop 1 & 5, 2/F, Wong Nai Chung Complex, 2 Yuk Sau Street, Happy Valley
跑馬地毓秀街2號黃泥涌市政大廈2樓1及5號
Tel: +852 2573 5910
Retro Lipton tea mug for water, and toilet paper doubles up as tissue paper placed on every table. How nice and retro!
A typical local style Hong Kong “tea shop”, I could say this is the equivalent to Singapore’s local kopi tiam, or hawker centre where one would have their local breakfast. Located on the 3rd floor above the Happy Valley market, this is a rather large hawker shop which has constant flow of people from morning till night. Typically for mornings to lunches, they serve typical Hong Kong breakfast like toast, macaroni, and I noted it’s popular for lunch with alot of the local workers nearby. Dinner time it has fantastic local hawker fare, similar to Singapore’s “zi char” coffeeshops. Auntie YW brought us and Auntie LY here to try their thick buttery toast and the macaroni with preserved vegetables and luncheon meat. I have to say their preserved vegetables as it’s freshly made, taste so much better than any other ones I have tried!
2. Australian Dairy Company
47 Parkes St, Hong Kong
白加士街47號
Tel: +852 2730 1356
Exit from Jordan’s MTR station, at exit C2 and walk towards Parkes Street.
I know the name may sound kinda wierd, especially when you realise the place is a very local Hong Kong coffeeshop located in Jordan on Kowloon side. This place is LEGENDARY for their scrambled egg sandwich, so amazing that I have had such strong cravings for this months leading up to my Hong Kong trip, and I kept bugging Y that I must go there. Their steamed milk pudding is also really smooth and creamy. We were told that the corned beef, tomato, scrambled egg combo was really yummy but silly Y was tongue tied on how to order it, and ordered a boring corned beef one.
This time, we went with Auntie LY and journalist friend from Singapore AY to eat and was HEAVENLY. This is definitely worth trekking to, for all those friends out there who love staying in Central side. There is a constant queue here, so a tip here is to go on weekday mornings.
If I could figure out how to do scrambled eggs like them, I think I would be a really rich bear just selling scrambled eggs… dream dream!
The wonderful steamed cold milk pudding.
Scrambled egg sandwich, I can’t figure out how they do scrambled eggs like that.
Cute milk bottles in the window
3. Lan Fong Yuen 蘭芳園
2 Gage Street, Central
Tel: +852 2544 3895 / +852 2854 0731
Entrance of Lan Fong Yuen
Located in the “Flower Street” in Hong Kong Central, this is within walking distance if you are in the Landmark, Lan Kwai Fong area. This is truly one of my all time favourite Hong Kong “Cha Can Teng”, or local tea shops. They are known for their milk tea, which to be honest, I can’t tell if it’s really that good, as I am more of a coffee bear. What I really like is their Hong Kong style french toast, which is done differently from other places, they have a layer of kaya sandwiched between the bread before they fry it to become a nice thick toast. The other favourite thing of mine is their pork chop instant noodles. These 2 dishes are just my ultimate comfort food in Hong Kong. The noodle dishes only appear usually after 11 plus, and it is crazy during lunch time. Best to come here around 3 pm if you want to try both of my favourite food 🙂
4. Tsui Wah
15 Wellington St, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong
Tel:+852 2525 6338
Tsui Wah is THE INSTITUTION of all ‘Cha Can Tengs’ in Hong Kong, having a branch in every imaginable area in Hong Kong, and now also opened branches in China. Tell the taxi driver you are going to Tsui Wah in Central, and they will know where to bring you. The one in Central is a landmark, with constant flow of people coming in and out whole day, as it’s opened 24 hours, plus you can order takeaway from them as well. They are so big that they even had T-shirts made a few years ago which said “I LOVE TSUI WAH”, and it was sold out so fast, I wanted to get my paws on one but was too late.
I went here on a weekday afternoon with Y to have our yummy condensed toast and milk tea after walking around Central, and we were so burnt out from the hot summer heat from Hong Kong.
EATS – DIM SUM
Fu Sing Shark Fin Seafood Restaurant
1/F, 68 Yee Woo Street, Causeway Bay
銅鑼灣怡和街68號1樓
Tel: +852 2504 4228
This is my favourite dim sum restaurant since being introduced to it close to 8 years ago when R was still working in Hong Kong, and I used to go with Y. This is a dim sum place that all of us go to every time we are in Hong Kong. This trip, I came here with KK and her hubby D, and auntie YL who just arrived for the weekend to see Chachawan too. It was a fun girlie catch up over hearty dim sum.
Their best dishes are the tofu ‘lup’ – little fried square cubes of tofu, pork belly, salted egg yolk custard bun, carrot cake, XO cheong fun, and their famous flower crab noodle cooked in Hua Tiao wine. What’s best about this noodle dish is that all the crab meat is already taken out and put with the noodles, so it’s not a messy affair at all, and drizzled with some vinegar, is just heavenly!! Their longevity bun is also THE BEST one I have eaten, so if you like that, you should eat it next time you come. I remembered Auntie LY bought so many frozen ones few years ago when we ate here together.
Their original branch is at Sunshine Plaza in Wanchai which is where I used to go to, but back in 2011, they opened a second branch in Causeway Bay and it seems the quality here is better especially for the crab noodles, so we come to this branch now.
EATS – COFFEE AND AFTERNOON TEA
1. Sevva
6-14A Chater Rd, Hong Kong
Tel:+852 2537 1388
www.sevva.hk
This is my favourite place for cakes! They are famous for their Honeycrunch cake which YL simply loves and Y and I just love the Carrot Cake. After dim sum at Fu Sing, we decided to walk around for a bit at Causeway Bay and then make our way here for tea. It was such a bummer they were sold out on the Carrot Cake by the time we went around 5 pm, but we got to try another cake which was a Coco cake, choc full of shredded coconut, with coconut flesh layered in the lightest sponge cakes ever. I wish I could make cakes like these. Sigh!
The ‘holy grail’ of all cakes in Sevva!
Coco – anyone for a coconuty cake?
2. Fuel
Shop 3023, IFC, Central., 港景街1號國際金融中心3023號舖, Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2295 3815
www.fuelespresso.com (Refer to website for more locations)
One of my favorite coffee places in Hong Kong, I always make a point to come here for a coffee whenever I am in Central. What’s great is they have locations at 2 of my favorite locations, Landmark Men’s and IFC – all in Central! I even try to grab a coffee here before I hop on the airport express train to the airport. So convenient!
My favourite is the Piccolo Latte and Cappuccino. Be sure to order one the next time you come here!
The ‘holy grail’ of all cakes in Sevva!
SHOPS
1. Lemon King
Wing Kut Street, Stall No. FP-20, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong.
(it’s between Queen’s Road Central and Des Voeux Road Central – where Wing Lok Street meets Des Voeux Road CentraL)
香港上環永吉街FP-20號排檔
I used to buy often from a stall in Causeway Bay that sells various types of preserved fruits, my favourite being the lemon. But I read online that there was THE original stall near Central, which got me interested to check out. They serve liquorice, ginger, and candied lemon ginger (檸檬薑) which has the right degree of moistness, and I liked it the best. The owner who inherited the stall from his father who started it, was very friendly and let us try many different types of preserved fruits. I still liked the candied lemon best, and bought 6 packets to bring home and distribute to R’s family who likes it very much. It’s great when you are nauseus or feeling the flu. I have chopped many pieces of it and put it in a hot cup of water when I am not feeling well, and I always feel better.
2. Visual Culture
21 Lan Fong Rd, Hong Kong
Tel:+852 2881 8291
www.visualculture.com.hk
From shopping at Lemon King comes next shopping at a haven of amazing sunglasses and glasses which YW told me I had to check out. Amidst our busy schedule of eating through Hong Kong, I managed to find time to check this shop out, and ended up walking out with 2 pairs – a prescription glasses and a pair of groovy sunglasses. This is THE place to go to if you want to pick up a pair of cool glasses. They carry the largest range of retroSuperfuture glasses, but as I already had a pair, I wanted to try out some other interesting brands.
My comment on their service is the optician in charge of checking my eyes was really good and professional, even suggesting to not make my glasses so close to the prescribed as I complained often of headaches when I wear such glasses for too long. However the service experience was let down by the sales person who took forever to adjust my frames, which really requires patience.
How do I look? Intellectual? Glasses from Dzmitry Samal
Groovy baby! Funky glasses from ByWP.
And they come packaged in really nice boxes.
Look out for my next post on my Dinner Eats in Hong Kong!
