Asia Adventure Part 3: Back to Hong Kong

We were relieved to come back to Hong Kong, although we did love Bangkok. Less culture shock, I guess. But onto the food!

Greg had emailed us a few places recommended by Anito Lo from Anissa. I guess she had spent some time in Hong Kong and had a few key spots for us to visit. We decided to go to Arirang, a Korean barbeque spot located somewhere in a gigantic mall. Anita Lo is Korean, after all. We literally walked around this mall for what seemed like forever, stopping to ask directions at at least three different Information booths. They were mostly useless. When we finally found it around 8 or 9pm, we felt as though we had found the holy grail. And we were hungry.

So we go in and sit down somewhere in the middle of this huge restaurant in this huge mall, and guess who's sitting practically next to us? Shivaun, and about eight of her three hundred cousins. Nothing makes you feel at home quite like running into people you know :)

One of the best things about this place is the free condiments you get with your order. Kimchee, bean sprouts, green beans, and three others. We ordered the spicy pork and some beef. It was tender and spicy and, of course, hot. We were so hungry after running around this mall that we would have been grateful for any kind of food, but this was really superb. I can only think about two Korean bbq spots I've been to in the city, and this trumps both of them.

Then they brought out some free strawberry ice cream for dessert. I was in love.

Arirang

Harbour City

Tsim Sha Tsui

Shop G07, Ground Floor, Ocean Terminal

Kowloon, Hong Kong
2956 3288

Our last day in Hong Kong was arguably the most memorable. Rob and I took a ferry from Central to Lamma Island, a somewhat large (third largest in HK, of many), mainly desserted island. No cars, only dirt roads, lots of farms and sleeping dogs. We arrived in one fishing village and hiked across the mountain to the other fishing village, using the few directional signs along the way as our only means of navigation. The whole experience felt like a dream. We didn't see a lot of people on our journey. When we reached the top of the hill and saw the second fishing village down below, we rejoiced. We were starving!!

There were lots of little seafood restaurants along the waterfront. They all begged us to sit down, they gave us menus and business cards, some even said "table for two?" and pointed to a nearby table. The entire space was practically empty. I guess it was the off-season? We walked across the little boardwalk before settling on a place called Rainbow. They offered a free ride on their private boat back to Hong Kong. Sold!!

For the equivalent of about $50 USD we enjoyed a very fresh seven course seafood lunch. We deserved it after that long hike! And we had a nice view of the water, watching the old fishing boats bob in the water.

First course, calamari. I've never been a big fan and these were fried in large pieces so as to retain its rubberyness. Luckily they gave us three kinds of sauces that kind of helped in the taste department.

Next, spiny lobster! Unlike the lobsters we all know and love in Maine, these little guys are smaller and don't have any claws to speak of. Served simply, with a few chopped onions. Buttery and tender.

Course three: an unidentified white fish. The waiter de-boned it for us so quickly we didn't even get a good look at what we were eating! But it was buttery and soft and obviously fresh tasting.

The next dish was our favorite: scallop with glass noodle, tons of garlic and scallion. Honestly I've never been a big scallop eater (unless its wrapped in bacon!) but I loved it served this way. It was fun to tug the meat out of its shell and wrap it up with a forkful of garlicky noodles.

Next, the veggie! I think it was kale. It was slippery, like it was doused in oil.

Then the shrimp fried rice. It was good to get something a bit more substantial, but we were getting full so we barely dented it.

We finished with some fruit -- cantelope and pineapple. Simple and elegant. Everything was just so fresh and to eat it in this setting was nothing less than amazing.

After our meal we went up to inspect the tanks from which our lunch was just fetched. Kind of a scary sight. This is why we checked it out after lunch and not before.

Interesting sidenote: Chow Yun Fat was born in Lamma, and he has eaten at Rainbow! Oh the funny things you can find online.

Rainbow Seafood Restaurant

First St. Sok Kwu Wan

Lamma Isand, HK

29828100

We didn't have a meal that topped this one in HK, so I won't bother explaining any more. But on our last night in Hong Kong, Shivaun took us to a Chinese restaurant where we ordered a number of dishes, including this one pork dish. Any ideas what this fat noodley-looking garnish may be?

If you guessed anything other than jellyfish, you are wrong! Because it's jellyfish. This was our tender send-off. We were ready to go home the next day.

Thanks Shivaun, for making the most amazing trip of our lives possible!!

Asia Adventure Part I -- Hong Kong

So I know I haven't blogged in awhile, but Rob and I were saving up for our recent trip to Asia by eating in almost every night, leaving me pouting and with not much to talk about. But now that we're home from our trip, I have plenty of food adventures to share.

We flew into Hong Kong on a Sunday night and began our explorations on Monday. Before we did anything else, Shivaun -- whose wonderful family took us into their home for two whole weeks -- treated us to lunch at her grandfather's hotel. The Bistro was one of the best buffets we'd ever been to, with a crazy selection of meats ranging from ostrich to chicken curry, a sushi bar, and a tapas table with all kinds of great dishes. The dessert was my favorite -- they had two little refrigerators filled with little treats in tiny martini glasses. The tiramisu cream with espresso jelly was heavenly and when I was told they were fat free, well, I probably ate more than I should have.

Once we were all completely full, we hit up all the Mongkok markets. We started at the Ladies' market, which mostly sells women's clothes, then walked through the stinky and surprisingly gory fish market, the goldfish market where you could buy all sorts of exotic pets, the flower market and, finally, the bird market. Shopping has a weird way of making you hungry, so Shivaun steered us over to a food kiosk and confidently waited for someone to take her order. Imagine my horror when I smelled this terrible smell and looked into this glass case:

Yeah, those are all sorts of weird animal organs on a stick, and in the back right you can see a pair of chicken feet. I didn't know that this sort of smell permeates the air everywhere in Hong Kong, but it does. I was quite relieved when Shivaun came back with this:

This bubbly waffle thing is made with condensed milk, so its rich and thick and sweet. We all took turns nibbling at it as we shopped but it was so heavy we actually ended up throwing some of it out. Shivaun told us they sort all sorts of different types with different flavored fillings, like with chocolate and maybe peanut butter, but unfortunately this was the last time we had a chance to eat the bubble waffle.

The next day we traveled about half an hour away to go see the Tian Tan Buddha, an amazingly huge Buddha found at the top of a mountain. The only way to get to the top is to take a 20 minute air tram ride, which was really quite spectacular despite the fact that the weather wasn't cooperating 100% that day. The sight of dozens of these tiny trams disappearing behind the gloom at the top of a mountain was very dramatic and a bit scary.

After we visited the Buddha and a nearby temple we were all starving, so we chose one of the three places up there for lunch. This little ramen joint was the only place that was packed, so we figured it was a safe bet. At the same time, any real tourist attraction anywhere in the world isn't going to have great food. We each got a bowl of meat, veggies and noodles in a semi cloudy broth and just felt grateful for something warm on a coldish day. While I would absolutely recommend that anyone in the HK area visit the Tian Tan Buddha, be sure to bring some granola bars so you aren't stuck eating their overpriced soup.

On Wednesday, we took our first trip into Hong Kong island for dim sum in the Central area of the city. Dragon-i (60 Wyndham Street) is a very hip lounge and nightclub that happens to have a pretty great dim sum menu during the day. The outside area is perched on a ledge with a few huge birdcages, and the inside is big and red and modern. Since we were with about eight of Shivaun's cousins and it was all you can eat for a set price, we ordered a TON of food and all of it was really good. Not exactly the traditional dim sum we were expecting, but we're not complaining.

My favorite was probably the steamed spinach dumpling, which was almost neon green in color (you can see it at the top right). The outside was nice and chewy, a pretty good way to enjoy spinach if you ask me. Rob's favorite was the BBQ pork buns, these things were so sweet they made my teeth hurt. The bun is almost like an angelfood cake consistency, and the little bits of pork on the inside were doused in a sweet BBQ sauce. We also had minced pork dumplings, spring rolls, seasonal veggies, and a huge platter of fried seafood.

We really liked Central, so the next day Rob and I took the Star Ferry there ourselves to visit the Botanical Gardens and do some exploring. As soon as we arrived we saw a Kee Wah bakery -- those are as prevalent in HK as Starbucks is in NY -- and stopped inside for a snack. Most of their offerings were meat wrapped in some sort of bun and placed in a plastic bag. Hot dogs, pork, sausage, that kind of thing. The idea of eating room temperature meats from a plastic bag freaked me out a little (and they really were not that good) so I opted for a box of four mini coconut balls I'd seen a Chinese guy buy in a hurry at one of the subway stations. I asked what it was and the counter girls said, Moochi! Well, weren't we in luck. We got the the kind with red bean paste in the middle and they were amazing! Super chewy and kind of hard to get down because it sticks everywhere in your mouth. We came here on another occasion eager to try another type but unfortunately it was too early in the day for moochi, so we got the butter cream bun instead. The ratio of buttercream to bun was about 3-1. Make sure you bring your own napkins if you ever find yourself at a Kee Wah bakery (I just looked online and they have them in LA, too).

That evening, we found ourselves back in Mongkok and on the prowl for the Long Kee Noodle Shop, which was highlighted on Tony Bourdain's No Reservations tv show. I'd looked it up online that morning and saw that someone had written a blog post warning that the address listed was wrong (10 Hak Po Street) and that it was actually 104A Hak Po Street. Well, stupid and overly trusting me didn't even bother writing down the actual address, and instead we found ourselves walking through an apartment building asking the maintenence guy where we can find homemade noodles and pointing to my handwritten address. This story does not have a happy ending. We found ourselves wandering around the area while I kicked a metaphorical stone until we came across a place with a guy simultaneously cooking over a dozen clay pot dinners on the sidewalk. The line to get into Ming Yuen Restaurant was out the door, and every single person inside (and out) was Asian. We decided to give this place a try. After all, Tony did try a hot pot dinner on the show as well. He said it was "good". He says everything is good.

I became increasingly excited about dinner as I watched everyone around us eating. We were crammed into a table with two other couples, who were clearly giggling at our touristness until their food came. Then their heads went down and they went to town with their soup spoons and chopsticks. I tried to mimic their style, but they've clearly been doing this a long time.

Anyway, the clay pot cooking style permeated the rice and meat with a weird taste that I didn't enjoy. Even the Chinese broccoli was practically inedible to me. I forget what type of meat I ordered, but it came all fatty and weird. Rob's did too, but I think he actually liked his. I'm thinking about tracking down this 104A Hak Po blog boy and making him eat a bowlful of this stuff to see how he likes it!

Yeah, that's a bowl of soy sauce along the right... everyone else practically poured the whole thing on top of their meals. Kinda gross, right? They sure do things differently over there.

Stay tuned for part II: Bangkok.