Ming Court

Address: Langham Place Hong Kong Hotel, 555 Shanghai Street, Mongkok, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Phone: 852-3552 3388

Have u ever had to wait 30 minutes for dim sum, after seated? Well we have, and at a two Michelin star Ming Court restaurant in Langham Place Hotel Hong Kong. I think the waiter messed up our order, I didn't believe it took that long for our food to arrive because the dim sums there were made to order, as the manager claimed. But I have to admit, when the food finally came and when I finally tasted the best har gao and awesome char siu bao and har cheong, as well as the restaurant's award winning "best of best" dish with lobster, abalone and angel hair pasta, the thought of strangling the waiter for messing up my order and my grumpiness immediately disappeared. The crispy marinated lobster, simmered abalone with vinegar served with shao xing wine infused angel hair pasta dish was one of the most impressive Chinese dishes I have tried - it was truly an elegant dish worthy of the award it received.

Deep fried lobster with cheese, simmered abalone with vinegar accompanied with angel hair- Gold with distinction award 2005, best of best culinary award. Served with dessert, deep fried mashed taro with hazelnut and twin chilled pudding.

shrimp cheong fun

har gao - refined and delicious

cha siu bao - can't have dim sum in Hong Kong without trying cha siu bao. Hong Kong has the best cha siu bao

Hung's Delicacies

Address: Shop 4, G/F, Ngan Fai Building, 84-94 Wharf Road, North Point, Hong Kong (北角 和 富道84-94號銀輝大廈地下4號舖 )

Phone: 852-2570-1108

Hong Kong is a food haven, and one of the things you absolutely need to do when you visit Hong Kong is to eat. I was there a few weeks ago and I can hardly remember all the places Gan and I have tried because we were practically eating something at every hour. But some of the more memorable places I have tried during this trip were Hung's Delicacies, Ming Court at Landmark Hotel, Bo Innovation, For Kee pork chop rice and Lung King Heen at Four Seasons Hotel. There were some places such as Tim Ho Wan, a one Michelin star dim sum place in Mongkok and Tim's Kitchen, a two Michelin star restaurant in Wan Chai that I didn't manage to try because they were closed when I was there during Chinese New Year.

I like Hung's Delicacies. There are quite a number of Teochew/ChiuChow restaurants in Hong Kong but I heard Hung's is one of the best. The shop is tiny, with 4 to 5 tables only, and it was recently awarded One Michelin star, which explains the long wait. When we got there, there were already people waiting in line for more than an hour and they were still waiting. Gan suggested we join the take out line since it's quicker, and he was absolutely right; we got our food after waiting for just about an hour.

If you are not familiar with Teochew/Chiuchow cuisine, it's a regional Chinese cuisine originated from Chaoshan in Guangdong province. Teochew/Chiuchow cuisine is more delicate than other regional Chinese cuisine (such as Cantonese) and most dishes are cooked using poach, steam or braise techniques. Hung's Delicacies offers mostly braised items; they have braised goose, braised chicken, braised pork, braised pork knuckles, braised goose tongue, braised beancurd etc. We ordered half a braised goose, a jelly fish appetizer, a cucumber appetizer and a Chua Lam (蔡瀾) noodles. The braised goose was done nicely, one of the better ones I have tried. The other dishes like jelly fish appetizer and Chua Lam (蔡瀾) noodles were pretty good as well.

I have read some bad reviews about the restaurant's service on openrice.com but the lady who helped us with our takeout order was really nice and helpful. I would definitely go back there for authentic Teochew/Chiuchow food if I'm in the area.

Takeout menu at Hung's Delicacies

A photo of Chef Hung checking out the crazy lady taking photo of him and his restaurant

Jelly fish with sesame seed - one of the best jelly fish appetizers I've tried

cucumber appetizer

Gotta tried this Cai Lan (蔡瀾) noodles, it was supposedly created specially for Chua Lam (蔡瀾), the famous Hong Kong food critic (an Asian equivalent of Anthony Bourdain). Ingredients: oil, soy sauce, ginger, scallions, Chicken ham shang tan ( special soup stock made from Chinese ham)

Braised goose with eggs. Gan: We got the last braised goose of the night in the line. If we had waited for the table (probably another hour in addition to the 1 hour for take out line), we would have not tried it. Btw, there's a big population of Chiu Chow people in HK. The most famous is Li Ka Shing, who's the richest person in Asia.

Bo Innovation

Address: UG/F, Ice House, 32-38 Ice House Street, Central, Hong Kong
(New Address: Shop No. 13, 2/F, J REsidence, No. 60 Johnson Rd., Wan Chai
Hong Kong)

http://boinnovation.com

Phone: 852-2850-8371

For someone who did not have any formal training, Alvin Leung really outdone himself and put a lot of other classically trained chefs to shame. In this “food crazy” city where traditional Cantonese cooking reign supreme, Bo Innovation was able to create a name and niche for itself and is becoming well known worldwide. It is not hard to see why: delicious, innovative food and good publicity (ie appearing on Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservation TV show).

Although the molecular gastronomy idea was borrowed from top restaurants such as El Bulli and The Fat Duck, it is still amazing to see what Alvin Leung had done, in terms of reconstructing traditional Chinese dishes into forms that are unfamiliar but somehow retained its essence. Of all the dishes we had, oxtail porcini "tong gau", lobster essence was my favorite. My least favorite dish would have to be “Caesar on a cone”. I really didn’t enjoy drinking my Caesar salad. Chef Alvin should really consider removing that dish from his menu altogether.

Of all the restaurants we tried while in Hong Kong, I think we like Bo Innovation the most. The chef tasting menu was good and the whole dining experience was memorable. If you enjoy watching your food being prepared and chatting with the kitchen staffs/chefs, I definitely recommend getting a table in the chef’s kitchen.

Chef Kitchen Dining area

starter - tofu and oyster

"Bo" Sashimi Platter

smoked quail egg, taro crust, oscietra caviar

oxtail porcini "tong gau", lobster essence

foie gras potsticker

slow cooked pork lasagna in chinese vinegar, pickled ginger in rose essence top with an eggyolk

Australian m-9 Plus Wagyu striploin, black truffle "cheung fun"

"Bo" Fried Rice - this is another dish that should be removed from the chef menu. I was not impressed at all as the rice was quite dry.

"Bo dessert" - the mini eggtart was actually made from passionfruit.

Sue-Ann, myself and Gan posing after the dinner.

*Check out Wall Street Journal's article on Bo Innovation, where one of the pictures I took of the restaurant was used.

Tung Po Restaurant

Address: 2/F, Urban Services Building, Java Road, North Point, Hong Kong

Phone: 852-2880-9399

Gan and I found out about Tung Po Restaurant from watching Anthony Bourdain's No Reservation Hong Kong episode. We knew this was the "tai pai dong" we definitely have to try when we are there. Since we didn't make reservation ahead of time, we had to wait around 20 minutes to get a table but it wasn't too bad since we were busy catching up with our friend Alex outside of the restaurant. From Anthony Bourdain's show, I remembered that one of the restaurant's famous dishes is the squid ink noodles and we ordered that, on top of other dishes such as the deep fried prawns with salted egg yolk, pig's feet, stir-fry snow pea tips, fried rice and roasted chicken. Overall, I really enjoyed the dinner at Tung Po and would definitely recommend anyone who's going to Hong Kong to check it out. (ps: even the taxi driver who drove us there knew about Tung Po, and he agreed that it's one of the best tai pai dong in Hong Kong!)

Food Galore!

Squid ink noodles - this was delicious, but we all had black lips after eating it. The squid balls were so fresh and springy.

Deep fried prawns with salted egg yolk

One of the best snow pea tips dish that I have eaten.

Cafe Too Buffet

Address: Island Shangri-La Hotel, Pacific Place, Supreme Court Road, Central Hong Kong

Phone: 852-2820-8571

I'm a total sucker for buffets because I love variety, or maybe I'm just yaokui. It's not as easy to find a good quality buffet place in NYC since buffet style meals are not as popular here. So I picked Cafe Too as one of the restaurants Gan and I will try during our Hong Kong trip after I read that it’s one of the best in town.

Cafe Too is located on the second floor of the Island Shangri-La Hotel at Central. I got so excited when I first walked into the restaurant and saw displays of fresh, delicious food and pretty desserts. I couldn't decide what to eat in the beginning, and then I quickly came up with a simple strategy –taking a small portion of everything they served. I think that strategy definitely worked well as I managed to taste almost everything there. :)

From the hot food station, you can find dishes such as the Peking duck, Chinese herbal soup, fresh oysters, king crab legs, sushi, sashimi, Chinese stir-fry, Indian food, noodles soup, dim sums, western food etc. As for desserts, there were soufflés, chocolate dipped strawberries, tiramisu, assorted ice creams, cakes, pastries etc. It was definitely a food heaven for me and I think I was in ecstasy the entire time there.

Gan getting some fresh oysters and shrimp cocktails.

Chinese Hot Food Station - they have Dim Sums, stir-fry dishes, herbal soup, Peking Duck etc

Noodles station

Indian food station

Happy me with Roslind

Check out what I got - Lamb chop, Shiu Mai, Roast Chicken, Peking Duck, Fried Rice, Har Kau...or was this Gan's plate?

Fresh oysters, shrimp cocktails, and sashim

Desserts

Luk Yu Teahouse

Address: 24-26 Stanley Street Central.

Phone: 852-2523-5464

Gan and I wanted to experience breakfast at a traditional Hong Kong teahouse, so we decided to go to Luk Yu, which is one of the oldest teahouse in Hong Kong, and probably one of the few remaining restaurant in Hong Kong that still preserves its original interiors from the 1930’s.

Since it was a busy Saturday morning, we did not get a table on the main floor, where most of the locals are. Instead we were sent to the second floor where it was noticeably quieter and less crowded. We also found out later that dim sums on the second floor were served by the waiters rather than by the cart ladies. But it turned out to be a good thing; we had a peaceful breakfast where we got to enjoy our morning paper while sipping some good Chinese tea and eating wonderful dim sums. We didn’t miss the classics and we had the Har Kau (shrimp dumpling), Shiu Mai (pork dumpling), Ha Cheong (shrimp rice noodle rolls), Char Siu Pao (steamed roast pork bun) and Egg Tarts and they were some of the best dims sums we have eaten. I can definitely imagine myself going there every Saturday morning for breakfast if I live in Hong Kong, or maybe not. The breakfast at Luk Yu was actually quite expensive.

Gan: When we decided to visit HK, the first thing I recalled from my first trip to HK with my dad and brother, Colin, was the flying saucers in the HK dim sum teahouse. They were famous, I tell you, and the attitude that comes with it just made it all the more so authentic. There's a reason why most of the more regular dim sum teahouse you visit in HK has cracked saucer plates and tea cups. Luk Yu is definitely more high end and tourist friendly.. I kept feeling the true essence of HK was missing there... until the food arrive.


The waiter and waitresses were quite friendly actually. Not at all grumpy like how some people would describe.

Gan: Tourist friendly. Weird.

Har Cheong (Shrimp rice noodle rolls)

Gan: Some of the dim sum dish here was presented in a manner which was quite unfamiliar to me. The really thick rice noodle on the har cheong. The really thick soy sauce. The bite size man tou (chinese buns) that comes with the pork ribs for you to dip the sauce with.

Har Kau - Shrimp Dumpling. Very delicate and delicious!

Gan: This is the real deal. No where else in the world can you find better har kau than in HK. Not Japan, Malaysia, US chinatowns or any other place. For some reason, this is the only one dim sum dish I crave and are never disappointed with when I eat it in HK.

Shiu Mai - Gan's favorite dim sum
Gan: All in all, quite good dim sum. Definitely better than all we had in NYC but I'm sure there's better ones in HK. We'll keep searching for them!



Char Siu Pao - Roast Pork Bun



One of the best egg tarts Gan and I have ever eaten....so good!