3 November 2010 - Wednesday
Day 5 in Hong Kong should be a restful day with just shopping and eating in our itinery. This was also a day for me to make sure I got well before heading off to Macau on Day 6.
Decided to go try the famous Swiss Sauce dishes as our brunch since the restaurant is only open at 11am.
While waiting for it to be opened, we walked around nearby shops in Tsim Sha Tsui. Was interested in the ladies' cosmetics and perfumed shops. More about this later.
The 'Swiss Sauce' of Tai Ping Koon Restaurant enjoys great popularity among locals and Westerners. This place was being recommended by the Hong Kong Tourism
Website, and also by my mum who just went to Hong Kong 2 weeks ago and had tried it.
The story of the Swiss Sauce goes like this:
Once upon a time, a foreigner went to Tai Ping Koon in Guangzhou and ordered 'Sweet Marinade Chicken Wings'. After eating, he exclaimed, "Sweet! Sweet! Good!" The waiter mistook the word 'sweet' as 'Swiss' and told his boss about it. Since then, 'Sweet Marinade Chicken Wings' was renamed 'Swiss Chicken Wings' by Tai Ping Koon. After a hundred years of operation, it still spends five hours a day cooking the 'Swiss' sauce with premium light soy sauce, chicken bones, carrots, onions, spices and a sauce with essences accumulated over the last few decades. It is undeniably fragrant and irresistible.
This was one of the few posh restaurants giving the many eateries we have been in Hong Kong. Prices were on the steeper side too. Luckily there were set lunches available, with smaller portion and also cheaper.
So we ordered 2 set lunches. They come served with bread and soup, and also coffee/tea.
The buns were huge. Since it was our brunch, we were famished. We gobbled down the two pieces of buns. Tasted so good when slabbed with butter.
The Soup Of The Day, which we think was Tomato Soup tasted nice too. Creamy and smooth.
Then came the main dish. The Swiss Brisket in Flat Noodles.
It was not bad actually. The 'wok hei' was there. You can really taste the 'swiss sauce' - which I found it normal tasting nya. Just some sweet sauce lor. Nice dish but not as nice as they proclaimed. Haha
The Swiss Chicken Wings Set was a disappointment. Chicken lacked the 'wok hei' - sauce was not intensed. This dish was served with a plate of white rice. The sauce was kinda light and when eaten with the rice, no o00ommphhh.
Mum's home-cooked black sauce chicken wings tasted better than this!
Coffee and Tea were normal.
Total bill was HK$154. Thank goodness for the set lunch. If not the bill would be double that!
Tai Ping Koon Restaurant
40, Granville Road,
Tsim Sha Tsui
Kowloon
Tel: 2721 3559
Operating Hours: 11am - 12mn
After our brunch, we walked over to Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui to get to the famous Park Lane Shoppers Boulevard.
The boulevard is basically a long stretch of wide pavement that is lined with trees, creating a more European shopping style for Hong Kong. Just behind the shopping boulevard is Kowloon Park , the largest urban park in Kowloon, and the Kowloon Mosque & Islamic Centre marks the southern end of Park Lane Shopper's Boulevard.
There is ample walking space with rows of beautiful trees, which is rare in Tsim Sha Tsui, so it makes the shopping experience kinda different.
For us, it was just window shopping. Did not buy anything there.
But we ended walking all along the whole area of Nathan Road shops and bought more from there. Bought some belts, earrings, tops and even a light sweater.
And if you are looking for branded cosmetics or perfume, Tsim Sha Tsui has loads. It is said that Hong Kong has the cheapest SK II. We are not SK II fans so we did not buy any.
But I was attracted to the Clinique products. And Min was eyeing the Skin Food masks and the fake eye lashes.
We ended up buying a few because it was so cheap!
While Min & I were shopping, guess where what was Hubby doing? Well, he walked back to the Guest House since it was so near. Haha.
We went back to find him at about 3pm because we wanted to go to Central today.
But before that, we stopped at another Hui Lau Shan for some desert. By the way, there seems to be a Hui Lau Shan at every street in Tsim Sha Tsui!
Ordered the famous Mango Pudding in Mango Juice with Extra Mango (HK$32).
It was so refreshing and delicious! Well, all deserts are delicious to us that is why you see we kept on stopping at desert places to fill our stomachs. Haha.
The Mango Combo (HK$36) was good too.
To go to Central, we chose not to go via MTR. We wanted to try the Star Ferry for experience.
So we walked towards the Star Ferry Pier.
From Cameron Road, turn left into Nathan Road. At the end, turn left into Salisbury Road, then walk to the end to Star Ferry Pier.
On the way there, we saw this majestic architecture building. Turned out to be the 1881 Heritage, which boasts an area of 130,000square feet. It features a shopping mall, a heritage hotel, and an exhibition hall.
Impressive indeed!
Also saw the Clock Tower on the way to the Pier. One of the tourist attraction which we did not plan to go initially.
By the time we got to the pier, it was almost 4.30pm. And Hubby's face was already grim. Why? Because actually he wanted to visit one of the Investment Firm and business hours was almost over.
We actually lost track of time and totally forgotten that business hours are until 5pm. Because we were on holiday and we totally forotten the 9am-5pm working hours. It was like...shit!
And even though the ferry ride was only about 10 minutes, we knew we were already late since we still need to walk and search for the place.
Upon reaching, we rushed like mad. Never walked so fast before. And with hubby's blackened face, it did not help either. We were tensed!
At last we found the Nexxus Building at Connaught Road Central.
Hubby wanted to visit
Mr. Cheah Cheng Hye, founder of Valued Partners.
As expected, Mr. Cheah left by the time we got there. He left at 4.30pm. So hubby was disappointed.
When Hubby asked the Secretary what time he left, I was hoping she would say something like 2pm or earlier, so that hubby won't be mad that we lost track of time! Haha.
Anyway, after taking some reports, we left the place.
Luckily hubby's face was not so dark after a while. I guess he had no choice but to be back with a pleasant face for I am the tour guide in Hong Kong! ;P Haha.
Saw this small lane where there were cobblers shining customers' shoes on the street. Cool!
Next destination in our itinery was to have early dinner at the famous Yung Kee Restaurant. Found it quite easily as this restaurant is huge. Occupies 4 shoplots at the ground floor.
Yung Kee is famous for their 'Siew Ngor Pei' - Roast Goose. I've read so many good reviews about this restaurant's Roast Goose so we decided to have dinner there.
While looking at their menu, the first few pages were full of 'awards' given by various organizations. There were like hundreds and hundreds of
awards, such as 'Best Ever Dining Award', 'Top 20 Asia's Finest Restaurant', etc, from year 1968 to 2010.
Damn impressive man!
But when we looked at the price beside the dishes, we nearly fainted! It was super the damn expensive!
In the end, we just ordered 1 plate of Roasted Goose Rice (HK$52) to share among us three. We wanted to see how big is the dish. And when it arrived, the size was normal Hong Kong size (slightly bigger portion than Penang's Chicken Rice).
Three of us gobbled it up so fast we forgot to take a snap of the dish. Haha.
It was delicious. Really fragrant and nice.
And when the bill came, guess how much? After including the tea, service charge, tax, blah blah, total bill was HK$93.50!!! Madness!!!
It was like HK$93.50 just for a plate of roast goose rice!
But then, we should have guessed that this is a restaurant that serves good food (based on the awards and recommendations) and also the size of the restaurant.
We took a photo of the restaurant from the opposite road and just realized that Yung Kee kind of own the whole building!!! No wonder it needs to charge u so expensive. As I mentioned before, you need to pay for space in Hong Kong, remember? :P
So was the dish worth it?
Well, I think I would only eat for experience. I mean...at least I get to taste Yung Kee's Roast Goose (although not much)!
But I think I really can't sit in the restaurant to fill up my stomach. It is too expensive for me!
Yung Kee Restaurant
32-40 Wellington Street,
Central, Hong Kong
Anyway, we then went just opposite the Yung Kei Restaurant to this Wong Chi Kei Restaurant. This place was also recommended by a friend.
Restaurant occupied only 1 shop lot so prices on the menu was normal. ;)
We ordered the recommended 'Teng Zhai' Congee - Congee a la Sampan (HK$32). And boy, it was one of the best congee I have ever tasted. It is so smooth and velvety, with just the right hint of sweet and saltiness. Hmmm...delicious. Highly recommended dish!
Then we shared another dish of Shrimp Dumpling In Soup (HK$33) which was so-so only. Did not really like the leek inside the dumplings.
Total bill was only HK$65. That kept me smiling :)
Wong Chi Kei Restaurant
G/F 15B Wellington Street
Central Hong Kong
Next in our itinery was to go to Lan Kwai Fong. I know we have been there in Day 2, but it was a Halloween Party and the place was jammed pack. We wanted to see what Lan Kwai Fong looks like on a normal day.
Found out that Lan Kwai Fong was just a small, short street. I expected a longer street I guess. And not only Lan Kwai Fong street itself are full of bars/bistros, all the streets nearby are also full of them.
The size of the bars and bistros are really small and narrow. That was an eye opener for me.
We did not go in to any of them. We are not night life people and would have felt awkward in there. Anyhow three of us don't drink and it will seem funny to order juices or soda instead of beers, wouldn't you think so?
After that, we took the MTR back to Kowloon area. Our next stop was back to Mongkok to sample more food!
Up until now we still have not tried the 'Po Lo Bao' - Pineapple Bun. We searched for this famous Hong Lin Restaurant that sells nice Pineapple Bun. Followed the address and walked all the way to try it.
It is called Pineapple Bun (HK$4) not because there are pineapple flavour/fillings inside. It is because the crumbly toppings looks like the pineapple skin texture.
It was delicious, especially when you eat it warm. Although sweet, this reminds me of our famous Roti Boy back home.
We also bought some Egg Tarts (HK$4) from there as well. As usual, all egg tarts we tried in Hong Kong tasted good.
Hong Lin Restaurant
143, Tungchoi Street
Mongkok
Hong Kong
We passed by this Dai Pai Dong and bought a stick of curry fish balls for only HK$2.
Then we walked through Temple Street Market again, but mainly because we wanted to get to the other end of the road to our next destination.
Spot these! Do you know what they are?
Nope, they are not toy animals/birds.
They are actually underwear for men. The place where there is a 'trunk' / 'beak' is the place where the men are supposed to tuck in their penis.
Haha....gross? I find it kinda funny! I wonder who will buy them and would they actually wear it!
This stall here says 'No Free Photo' but who cares huh? :P
Then we walked over to Soy Street, where we read that there are a lot of dai pai dong and food stalls here.
Yes, we saw many of them selling pancakes and other snacks.
Curry Fish Balls stalls are everywhere!
Then we purposely walked to the corner of Sai Yeong Choi Street South and Dundad Street to get to this stall for a taste of the Stinky Tofu!
When we reached there, the Stinky Tofu was not stinky at all. Well, you can smell this nice fermented smell (kinda like fried salted fish smell), but it was not stinky at all.
I remembered I smelled the Stinky Tofu in Shanghai and it was very stinky. I wonder why the Stinky Tofu in Hong Kong is not stinky at all? Hmmm...
The seller tried to backoff from being in my photo. Failed!
This is the Stinky Tofu (HK$7). Quite a big piece with a crunchy crust and soft tofu once you bite into it. I find the crust very salty. Tasted better with chilli sauce!
Photo of both hubby and Min tasting the famous Stinky Tofu!
And with stinky mouths, we went back to our Guest House! :P
Hong Kong - Day 1
Hong Kong - Day 2
Hong Kong - Day 3
Hong Kong - Day 4
Hong Kong - Day 5
Hong Kong - Day 6
Hong Kong - Day 7 (Part 1)
Hong Kong - Day 7 (Part 2)
