Hong Kong: Snacking around Causeway Bay

One thing that sucks about these work trips is that I always get really tired after the work day. First night in HK, I passed out around 9pm, and since I'm only in HK for two nights, I decided I must go out 2nd night, and figured Causeway Bay would be a good place to explore this time around, since there's an UNIQLO store there. Even though I didn't get to go in to the Taipei branch because of the ridiculous line, there's more than a handful of UNIQLO in HK and it's actually cheaper in HK for the same products.

Of course, a shot of what I had for breakfast, McDonald's hotcake combo :P I swear, I probably eat McDonald every other day in China or HK, since I don't know where else to go.

369 Shanghainese Restaurant in Wan Chai. What I had for dinner before I went to Causeway Bay. Couldn't take pictures since it was an official business dinner. Wasn't that good anyways.

銅鑼灣時代廣場 Times Square Causeway Bay

MTR: Causeway Bay

The world famous UNIQLO! Located on the 5th floor of Times Square. Prices in HK were at least 10-15% cheaper than Taipei's.

After I finished checking out UNIQLO, decided to explore the area around Times Square a bit, and came upon this milk tea shop, 貢茶 Gong Cha, specializing in Taiwanese-style milk tea & drinks.

And apparently, 貢茶 Gong Cha is an item on the menu as well, so decided to try it out. It's actually the same as the tea latte at Half & Half in San Gabriel. Tea of your choice (oolong, green, black) with a thick thick layer of frothy cream. It's actually one of my favorite drinks at Half & Half, except here, they also add sea salt onto that layer of cream. With that, it's a combination of both Half & Half and the famous sea salt drinks from 85 Degrees in Irvine!

I have no idea what that green powder is... maybe tea powder... or mayb that is actually the salt, but it sure is a fancy cup of milk tea ahahah.

Walked around a bit more and found this! I saw these kind of shops a lot last year in HK, where they just serve all sorts of food and people just eat on the street.

One side... egg puffs!!! Of course had to get it. Around $1 US for 12pcs or so?

Fresh egg puffs :] I know you can get it in cafes in LA, but getting it here is better!

On the other side, dim sum, soups, noodles, and skewers.

Decided to get a spicy satay fish ball skewer. Around $7HKD ($1 USD). It's goood. Not that spicy and I'm sure the sauce is all contaminated with pollutants from the air since it is just sitting out there, but the satay is bomb.com.

After finishing the fishballs, saw that there's a 許留山 Hui Lau Shan in Causeway Bay too! Famous for their mango desserts!

I didn't want to sit inside when it's all groups and a bunch of couples so decided to get a drink to go :P

Display cases with what the drinks look like.

Decided on a mango slush + tapioca with coconut milk.

Real mango chunks. It's very delicious but a little too sweet overall.

And with that drink, I was too full to get anything else so decided to head back to the hotel, and ended my food exploration in HK this time around! Had to take a picture of another milk tea shop and the dumpling chain that started in Taiwan (八方雲集).

In the end, I got to try the most food in Causeway Bay, but I'm sure around Kowloon there's more for me. Maybe next time I'll book a room on that side of HK haha. Updates from when I was in mainland China next!

Hong Kong: Random Places in Central

After the visit the NTU, the next morning I boarded a plane to Hong Kong, which is the main purpose of this trip to the Far East since there's a huge expo that work sends me to every year. I don't know Hong Kong that well, and last year I had a few friends showing me around (thanks Rene & Judy). This year, rather than booking a hotel in Causeway Bay, I decided to stay in Central, just to get a different feel of HK. Below is a collection of a few places I checked out in Central over the course of 2 nights there.

(Sadly I didn't get to eat any of the famous restaurant on SoHo. Co-workers weren't down to explore haha)

Of course before I boarded, I had to take advantage of the free food being offered at the China Airline Lounge once again. I love free upgrades haha.

Got the famous 牛肉麵 beef noodle soup, some xiao long bao, and dumplings. I also decided to try the 擔擔麵 dan dan noodles (bottorm right) since a few around me also got it. They add the soup stock, few slices of pork and a piece of shrimp for taste, then a dollop of minced meat for flavoring. Really simple but really good.

香港中環 Hong Kong Central

MTR: Central

After I got to HK, we headed straight to the convention center and pretty much stayed there until it closed. Had to find some place to eat before retiring to the hotel, and ended up finding 沾仔記 Tsim Chai Kee on Wellington.

Turns out, it's a traditional HK noodle place! Really simple menu, with wonton, beef, fishball, or a combo.

I decided on the wonton & beef egg noodle combo. Simple stock with skinny egg noodles you usually see in Chinese restaurants. Big pieces of beef that's been flattened and probably coated with baking soda prior to being cooked so it's super soft. Wonton are freaking amazing. Generally not a big fan of wonton soup, but damn this is best wonton soup I've had anywhere.

Also ordered a "郊外油菜 countryside veggie." Usually 油菜 is made by boiling vegetables in some sort of stock to give it flavor then they add oyster sauce over it. Here, they use on-choy then they add this... sauce... over it. Not gonna lie... it was sorta weird with the sauce. Without the sauce, it would've been fine.

Few days later, after a business dinner, saw Yoppi Yogurt, which is a self-serve yogurt spot. Wanted something sweet so I went in.

They have Almond Roca here as a topping!!!

And about 4 different flavors of mochi to add.

Ended up getting a few tart flavors and... just straight up Almond Roca hahah. So good with Almond Roca. It was expensive though... I think this was about 30HKD (a little over $4), when it's probably less than $2 at Yogurtland for the same amount.

Next morning, wanted to grab breakfast somewhere close to the hotel so went to 華豊 HuaFeng, a BBQ place.

Almost all restaurants in HK serve some sort of breakfast, usually a combination of Western & HK-style, similar to cafe food here in the States. Ended up ordering a charsiu pork egg sandwich and milk tea. I heart the milk tea in HK. Taiwanese call it 皇家奶茶 royal milk tea but in HK, it is just regular milk tea. Floral black tea + sweetened milk = liquid cocaine for me.

The charsiu pork egg sandwich. Scrambled egg + slices of charsiu between 2 slices of bread. Simple, nothing fancy, but it works!

So that was it in terms of the food around Central. Yes it's kinda sad since SoHo in Central is known for popular restaurants. Every night on my way back I see lines at many restaurants but by the end of the day, my co-workers and I just want to grab a meal where we don't have to wait so we can go back to sleep. Work sucks.

Far East Trip

I will be back in a week or so since I'm heading off on a trip to Taipei, HK, and southern parts of China. Finally got a nice point & shoot camera for this trip so hopefully no more iPhone pics, even though... iPhone 4's quality is surprisingly nice.

Definitely will be looking for some new and interesting things... or just the same old classics haha. Beef noodle soup time!!!