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.

Food Paradise Hong Kong Day 1 - Central

It is certainly true that the best food can be found in Hong Kong. M and I took a 4 days trip to Hong Kong two weeks back, in search for the best tim sum and desserts there. We were certainly not disappointed, atested by our ballooned waistlines.

On the first day that we arrived, it was drizzling slightly. From the airport, we took a cab to our hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui, called Stanford Hillview. The ride was about 40 minutes and we took the brief chance to enjoy the day scenery of Hong Kong. After checking into our hotel, we immediately headed out to explore the area around Central. Based on my brief "research" over the Internet, Central is where most of the yummy food places are located.

We went for an early dinner at Lau Foo Kee Noodles and Congee Shop, located along Wellington Street. It was quite nice but I wouldn't rave about it. I guess that's how high our expectations are in Hong Kong. It must be super "shiok"! I had a bowl of wan ton mee soup while M took the dried version.

The dry version

The soup version

Law Fu Kee Congee and Noodle Specialist (羅富記)
Address: G/F, 50 Lyndhurst Terrace, Central
Tel: 2850 6756
Opening Hours: 8am - 10pm
MTR: Central

One thing about noodles in Hong Kong is they always have the "QQ" or springy texture which makes you want to take another bite (P.S. Some of my friends don't like it though). Feeling quite full yet adventurous, we decided to explore around the Central region and take a look at Lan Kwai Fong as well as SOHO. The slight drizzle didn't dampen our moods, though my clothes ended up quite damp.



We ended up at the International Finance Centre (IFC). It was a building that you would look and say "WOW". No wonder Hong Kong is known as the Financial Hub of Asia. We went into the mall and found a mega-cinema complex, a nice trendy supermarket, as well as dozens of high-end brands, including Lane Crawford!



The most "delicious" event was we managed to chance upon this really really good dessert corner called "Honeymoon Desserts". It was highly recommended by my Hong Kong friend, K, so despite being really full from a bowl of wan ton noodles, I decided to make space in my tummy for dessert.


I ordered a almond-walnut-paste mix with tang yuan while M had a sesame-red bean soup mix with tang yuan. Gosh, the almond paste was really thick and fragrant. The walnut paste had a tinge of bitterness coupled with the soft texture and nutty flavour. The tang yuan was good though I would have prefered sesame filling instead of peanuts. M gave an equally raving review for his choice. We both agreed that the HKD 57 for two bowls was totally worth every cent.

Nothing yet...

Here comes the almond-walnut mix...

And the sesame-red bean mix...

Two in one... both went into our tummies...

The cozy area where we sat...

The fantastic displays that drew us in...

Honeymoon Desserts
Address: Shop 3013, Level 3, IFC Mall, 8 Finance Street, Central
Tel: 2868 9799
Opening Hours: 11am - 11pm
MTR: Central

We strolled around for a while and took more pictures of the night scene at Central before heading back to our hotel.

The ever bustling night city...

Reminds of Capitol Tower...

See the Bank of China building in the background?

The first night was satisfying for my taste buds... and I was definitely looking forward to the second day of more yummelicious food. :)

Nuts over Nuts

Peanuts are really good in Hanoi. I like these nuts bought from a little stall by the street. It's neither salty nor sweet. The taste is in fact, just right. I can easily down handfuls of the peanuts within minutes which is too much calories at a go. So I have been refraining from buying until recently.

Note the advertising label. It's a picture of the stall owner! She's a nice friendly old lady who always smiles to me when I patronise her stall.


I think it's strange to have your picture on your food product but well.. as long as it's tasty. :p If you are interested, you can find this cheap treat along Ba Trieu Street.

CBielo Italian Restaurant

I still haven't managed to figure out the name of the restaurant so apologies if it is wrong. A look at the signboard didn't really help and I forgot to clarify this with the waitress. She would probably have given me an indignant look. :) Anyway, yesterday, M and I popped by this small Italian eatery near our house for lunch. It wasn't our first choice but well, the restaurant that we wanted to try had closed down.

The restaurant used to be quite "dingy" looking as we came here two years back. It certainly looks much better now.

The exterior

The interior

We ordered a spinach pie for starter (It was a wrong order as I thought it was a spinach salad) and two main courses: pizza with ham and mushrooms as well as spaghetti with bacon, tomatoes and chilli.

The spinach pie was quite hot and nice. A little greasy though as I tend not to like puff pastries.

The pizza was a disappointment. The crust was bland and tasteless and the toppings miserable.


M liked the spaghetti while I thought it was only average.


It was definitely not a restaurant that I would recommend to others though I did find the service rather good.

CBielo Italian Restaurant
172 Xuan Dieu
Tay Ho, Hanoi
Tel: 04-2153103

What's Your Nem?

After hearing so much raving reviews about the movie "Red Cliff", M and I decided to watch it for ourselves last Wednesday evening. The movie was pretty alright but I didn't like the half-ending. Most of the Vietnamese there were not aware that this was Part 1 so when the movie ended, there was a small commotion.

We decided to head to a small eatery that sells "nem" within Vincom Towers for our dinner. "Nem" refers to rice rolls in Vietnamese. There are many different kinds of nem in Vietnam, with distinctive differences across cities. For e.g. the nems in Hanoi are more subtle while those in Hue could be more spicy. The fillings of each nem were also different. Hanoians prefer to use boiled pork and shrimps while Hue would use stir-fried vegetables and pork. So it was really interesting to have a shop selling various kinds of nem here.

The shop was pretty crowded when we arrived. After placing our orders at the counter using the computer, we took a small table by the corner and waited for our food to be served. We didn't have to wait long. I ordered a nem with escargot but it was sold out after I had placed my order. The waitress had to replace it with a Hanoi nem and in the end, she gave me an extra piece as a form of compensation. It was sweet of her but I became overwhelmed with too much nems!

Cute shop name...

Modern interior...

M's bun (pronounced as "boon")

The Hanoi nem

Chao Nem

Hoa qua sua chua (Fruit Yoghurt)

I guess the quality of the food was not bad considering this was a "fast food joint" concept but I still prefer the nem made by my helper. :p The total bill was around SGD 8 so you can't really complain. I would probably come back and try the other types of nem.

What's your Nem?
5th Floor Vincom Towers
Hanoi