Food Paradise Hong Kong Day 2 - Maxim's Tim Sum and Stanley Market

Our second day begun early in the morning, not by choice, but by the sounds of our leaking bathroom! I was aghast when I woke up and found our bedroom slightly flooded. We drowsily informed the hotel reception about this. A nice fatherly bell boy (or bell man?) came in a few minutes and tried to fix the toilet for us, unsuccessfully. In the end, we had to request to be upgraded as there were no other rooms available. Luckily, the hotel staff was understanding and agreed to our request.

Due to this early morning episode, we overslept, waking up at 9am instead. We made a slight change in plans and headed off to the Star Ferry Terminal to take a boat ride to Central. It was my first time taking this ferry in Hong Kong so I was quite excited.

The ferry is used very frequently by locals who shuttle between Tsim Sha Tsui and Central. The boat ride costs only HKD 2.50 per person and for that, you can to enjoy the beautiful city view in Central. It's definitely value for $ and worth a try.

We went to a famous tim sum restaurant called Maxim's at City Hall (again, thanks to K's recommendation) and got a nice table. It was not too crowded yet but trust me, once the clock strikes 12pm, you can see snaking queues forming outside the restaurant! It was that good and popular.


We ordered the usual fare, including har kow, siew mai and char siew bao. The siew mai was really good but the har kow was a little disappointing (in comparison with the fantastic siew mai).


The carrot cake was the steamed version not commonly found in Singapore and the lor mai kai was mouth-watering! It was moist, fragrant with just the right amount of ingredients. Yummz...


The bill came up to HKD 350 which was a tad expensive but totally satisfying. Even M felt that he would come here again despite the slightly high price.

City Hall Maxim's Palace (美心皇宫）
Address: 3/F, Lower Block, City Hall, 5-7 Edinburgh Place, Central
Tel: 852/2526 9931
Opening Hours: Mon-Sat 11am-3pm
MTR: Central

Stanley Market, known for the cheap bargains of clothes and accessories, was our next stop so we took a bus from City Hall and headed off. The ride was rather long, close to 50 mins. I was impressed with how the driver could manoevre his way through the hilly roads speedily and safely. It was really not easy with the numerous turns and curves.

I was a little disappointed with the variety of things available at Stanley Market, as frankly, I didn't see much things that caught my attention (which was rare in Hong Kong since this was my third trip). Perhaps we didn't come at the right time but well...


We took a bus back to Causeway Bay where we did some shopping. There was Sogo where we bought some snacks and G2000! I wanted to get some working apparel in Hong Kong and loved the designs of G2000. Needless to say, I spent quite a small fortune there, with a victory purchase of 2 tops and a pair of pants.

It's really a miracle but food seemed to beckon every minute when we were in Hong Kong. Though we were not very hungry, we decided to avoid the dinner time crowd by having an early dinner (again!). This time, our choice was Yung Kee Restaurant, best known for its roast products. Apparently, it was recommended by a foodie gourmet, Cai Lan, in one of his newspaper reviews. Definitely worth taking a look, or rather, bite.


The rows of roast duck lined up at the restaurant entrance certainly speeded up the churning of my intestinal juices.


I decided on a wan ton char siew noodle soup while M had a suckling pig cum char siew rice. Woah.. the char siew nearly melted in my mouth. It was soft yet chewy, crisp yet non-greasy. I could chomp down an entire plate without hesitation., if not for the cost. :p


How do they make such good char siew in Hong Kong?

Yung Kee Restaurant
Address: 32-40 Wellington Street, Central
Tel: 2522 1624
Opening Hours: 11am to 11pm
MTR: Central

A meal was never complete without dessert in Hong Kong, so despite feeling full, we both agreed that we couldn't miss the fabulous "tong shui" here. Our first choice of dessert was closed so we wandered to "Hang Fa Lau", another rather famous chain dessert store.


M had a cold tau huay while I stuck to my choice of almond paste with tang yuan.



You can never go wrong with almond paste in Hong Kong. The desserts were good but a little lacklustre compared to Honeymoon. But I liked the chewy texture of the tang yuan, which came with sesame filling this time. :)

Hang Fa Lau (杏花楼)
Address: Shop C, G/F, Merlin Building, 32-34 Cochrane Street, Central
Tel: 2544 4180
Opening Hours: Daily 11am - 12midnight
MTR: Central

We decided to complete our night with a walk to Ladies' Market. I didn't get much there except a few DVDs but it was not so much about buying. The looking around was fun though somehow, I felt that this street was busier when I came 7 years ago. Now it's not so crowded and I didn't really see many locals there, unlike the Chinatown in Kuala Lumpur. We were feeling quite thirsty after a few hours of walking around and stopped by the famous 许留山 to try the famous mango ice. I ordered a mango-coconut strips- fruits set. It was definitely thirst quenching but a little sweet though. I guess I still prefer the usual tong shui to the trendier ice desserts.


There was definitely no more room for any more food in our stomachs and since we were both a little tired, we headed back to our hotel to rest. Lantau Island beckoned the next day so it was good that we were resting early for the night.