After the glorious food day (1/8/07), the next day we planned to go to Ngong Ping 360.
Image courtesy of Hong Kong Family Fun Guide
(I'll come out with a post of all the necessary guides you need when you are in Hong Kong. :-) ... when? wait ya ...)
But, because yours truly slept like a pig ... we didn't manage to go there (until the end of the trip.... la la la la). Yeah, I'm a piggy monkey. I know that. :p
So, we ended up hunting for this Vietnamese food that I used to eat long long time ago. (Argh ... I forgot to take their name card :( ... so no address, folks :( .... but I can show you where if you bring me there. Ke ke ke ke ...). We walked for almost 20 minutes, asked lots of people and none of them know ... at the verge of giving up, we found it!!! They have renovated, made the place bigger and oh mi gosh, so many great reviews on the food. We had come to the right place and I've only a piece of the food to share with you.
That's the rice crackers with pork slices on top (was it pork or beef ah ... oh man ... have I told you I can never be a food reviewer?):p .... So, anyway, let's skip this foodie thingie altogether.
After stuffing myself with glorious food, we decided to check out the factory outlets at Tung Chung (the same station we need to go if we go to Ngong Ping 360). The picture above was taken when we needed to walk a lot to reach the interchange. I was so drown in the super bulky winter clothing that I brought. But I have no choice ... me and cold are like "very best friend". So, better to look ugly than be frozen.
So, what's there at Tung Chung? There were the factory outlets for Samsonite, Nike, Adidas, Quiksilver, Timberland, etc ... but it was quite ... boring (for me) ... and we almost went back already until ... my sharp eyes friend saw so many people carrying "Esprit" shopping bag. So we asked the security guard where Esprit was (It was just behind us and it's so bloody big!!!) and we attacked it next.
Oh my .... it's so huge .... and we were there for more than 2 hours!! And still refused to get out!!!! Arghhhhhhhhhh ..... There were so many things ... nice things ... (I don't normally shop for Esprit in Singapore because of the price) but I spent like mad when I reached there ..!!! Why? Quite obvious! It's CHEAP! (oh no ... I start to sound like a chicken ....) but it's realy "cheap cheap cheap cheap cheap cheap cheap". I got a pair of high leather boots for only HKD 495 (SGD 99) ... and I'm not going to bore you with what else I bought but the point is, when you are there please attack any Esprit outlet cause your shopping will be worth it.
Let me tell you a secret ... during my 1 week stay in Hong Kong, I went to 2 Esprit outlets and both times, I shopped a lot! !@#!@#!#!@# :p ...... La la la ...
Enough with the shopping. We were so late for the dinner. My friend's dad was cooking that night and we were late! (Because of Esprit! haha) ...
When we reached home, we were greeted by 3 fresh (LIVE) fish which minutes later, they were steamed ... and as much as I HATE steamed fish since young, I LOVE this one! It's amazing (too bad I don't have the photos for it as it was totally in a mess after I decided to take photo of it).
But luckily, I still have the photo of the other great dish that my friend's dad cook. It's long bean with egg. Do you know for appetizer, my friend ate 4 bowl of this????? Thank you uncle for your great time and great great yummy dishes which are 10x better than those I ate outside :-) .... My tummy was so delighted and tomorrow I needed to have more energy ... as I was going to attack Ocean Park!!! ;p .... See ya ....
Finally, I've reached Hong Kong!! Oh mi goat ... there are so much to share here. -.- And I've not even dipped my foot into it yet. Haiya ... Anyway, let's start, shall we?
So, our beloved HK friend, Maria was introducing this wonderful Dim Sum place at Tsim Sha Tsui. I even have the name card for you :p. What's this place called?
Lung Chinese Fusion
Address:
Shop C 3/F Silvercord
30 Canton Road
Tsim Sha Tsui
Kowloon
You must come on weekday morning as they have very special price for their Dim Sum. Don't believe me? Let me recall what I ordered.
- Char Siew Bao
- Siew Mai
- Prawn dunno wat x 2 (it's very nice but too bad I can't remember what's its called!)
- Chee Cheong Fun
- Green bean dessert
- And 1 or 2 more side dish
- Free refill of tea
No service charge and with 3 of us eating till our jaw dropped, the price was around SGD 15!!!! And the place was really posh! It's great to bring guests and any big eaters there. The view was superb as it's facing the sea. Seriously, why is it so cheap? :o No service charge some more!!! Win lor! No wonder I smile while eating my Char Siew Bao. :p
After Dim Sum, I was left alone as two of my friends wanna catch up after few years haven't met each other. So, I went to Pacific Coffee, had my green drink and surf the net. Pacific Coffee is a must visit place if you'd like to have a quick check on your email.
Actually one of the MTR Station in Hong Kong, if I'm not wrong it's "Central", there are a few terminals for you to access internet for FREE!! Can you believe it? Hong Kong is cool! So, you don't need to worry about checking your emails. When people who go to Hong Kong and said they are uncontactable by email hmm .... either they lie or they lie! Haha ... opps ... just kidding. How would I know what they'll be doing?
Anyway, where was I? Oh ya, I was left alone. So I watched Casino Royale, alone. There were only 3 people in the cinema enjoying the hunky Daniel Craig. Oohh ... La ... La ... Those abs. Those chest. Those biceps. Those triceps. Those legs!!!! Arghh ... Alright I'd better stop. -.- It's supposed to be a food entry!!!
After we were rekindled at Pacific Coffee :p ... we went to the next food stop:
Chao Inn
10/F No 1 Peking Road
Tsim Sha Tsui
What are we having there? My friend was craving for 2 things:
- Xiao Long Bao -> superb! must try
- Drunken Chicken -> I'm not a fan bu my friend finished the wine
(Sorry, no pics of the Xiao Long Bao ... as usual, I only remembered to take pic after the food was awfully molested ... argh)
Do you think my quest finished here? Noooooooooooo ..... Next and most important stop!
The Sweet Dynasty
(Yep ... they have website. Menu is there ... you can start planning what to eat now)
If you are not as sweet tooth as me ... then you can skip this but ... I can't!!! I have to have one dessert a day! :p ... I already had 2 on that day .... :p ....
Though my tummy was protesting like mad. So full lar ... but heyyyy ... I've shifted my butt here and I am not going to not eat! So, we only ordered the traditional bean curd.
Super big siahhhhhhhh. Lucky can takeaway, my friend brought some back for her mom. So sweet of her. :) Though the bean curd was nothing special (their specialty was one of the mango based dessert, which I didn't try) but I swear if I ever step to Hong Kong again, I'll try alllllllll in the menu!! -.- Next thing I know I'll be crowded by ants. ARGH!
Alright ... enough of food! I ended my day by walking almost 1 MTR (while we call it MRT in Singapore, they call it MTR in Hong Kong) station away. From Tsim Sha Tsui to Jordan. So, my itchy hands just snapped a few images along the way. :) The end of the 8th of January 2007. La la la la la .....
Actually ler ... at night I was still eating the street food. Just no photos to share though ... I finally ate the Smelly Tofu (err ... it's smelly ... but I didn't really enjoy it, so I let my Food Finisher, helped me with the rest of it), then I had some egg fish ball??? It's called "Yu Dan" in cantonese and also couldn't finish it. Haha ...
Let me end my food journey here. :p ... Tomorrow will be another short day. But the day after ... long long long long long ....
See ya again.
Alright, enough of grieving. (Still miss my red lian ... but miss my Kiky more for sure). Eh ... I though I've just said enough of grieving and look at where I'm heading too. -.-
This time I'm going to talk about food!! Yeah! :)
I've been introduced to this place by my friend "Miau..." -.- Don't ask me how come she's called Miau ... (yeah, as in Meow... like a cat). Her real name is Emi (not sure I spelled correctly though) and as any Indonesians, everyone will get some funny nick names. Mine? PLENTY! But, let's talk about the food, shall we. :p ... (Phew ...)
This place is at .... errr .... -.- .... WHERE???? -.- Wait ... I go see the map.
Alright, alright. I got it! It's the correct one! Here's the address:
S11 Cuppage Terrace
21, 23 & 27 Cuppage Road (where's the 25???)
For the map, you can click here.
Stall Name: Kantin "Aneka"
Location: Ground floor, first stall at the corner (it's outdoor)
Apologize for the dark dark photo. I was really trying to be discreet in taking it thennnnnnnnnnn .... my friend (whose face I put a smiley there as I'm not sure whether she minds I'm putting her face online), found out that I was acting weird. .... Kept standing far away from the stall, don't know doing what.
So, I was caught taking photos and even the stall keeper found out and they asked, so which TV station are we going to be featured in? Well ... well ... well ... HECK!! Thick-skinned-ly, for my beloved blog & faithful readers, I'll take this shameless risk. WAKAKA not to mention being called "kampungan" (villagers) by my friends too as I was busy snapping the pictures of the food.
HEY!!! -.- ... Yummy things must be shared, okay!
So, what's good there?
The following are my own personal favourite. I know my friends have more but ... these are the one suited to my own taste buds. They make me feel like I'm home. ;p
Contestant #1: Pempek
(Fish cake in spicy sweet sauce. You can choose to have bee hoon or noodle with it)
Contestant #2: Soto Betawi
I've nothing much to say about this dish. It's literally everyone's favourite. My friend can literally lick the bowl clean and the dish washer must be happy to have her as the customer. (Yeah, you've heard of this friend before. She's the same person that cleaned up that Ox Tongue's thingie in Macau :p)
Hope you enjoy them as much as my friends and I did.
Finally, the moment that Elly has been waiting for :p ... I'm going to end my blah about Macau. I can't wait to write more about Hong Kong too since I was almost 1 week there. so, here's the last entry on Macau goes.
As I walked through the small alleys of Macau (like the one below), I realized they are so clean! Can you spot any rubbish there? No? Yes? NO!! And this is just the ordinary alleys they have there. The cleanliness is amazing.
You must walk around these places, and when you have no money and hungry in Macau. Do you know what you need to do?
Simply find any alleys that sell pork slices (supposed to be very nyamz, but I didn't try :p ....) or any other tidbits like their famous almond cookies, egg crisps with pork floss, etc. All the shops are busy giving you free samples. Even though you reject, they'll just put it on your hand. And soon or later, you'll be overstuffed like me.
Yupe ... I've 2 almond cookies in my mouth and 1 more on my hands. They are all from different shops. I was so full. Shouldn't have had my lunch! :p
After shopping for some tidbits (I didn't buy though :o ... so who shopped?? -.-), my friend wanted to look this tea place. She's a tea freak!!! And she only saw the place from TV (it was recommended) and it was not that easy to locate it in the map. I remember I was standing on one of the street after we've found it, so I took the picture below for landmark next time. :p ... (As if it'll help, eh?)
So, what kinda place is it? It's actually a Cultural Club. (Wow, they even have a website :p). The building, Tak Seng On, was an old pawnshop, recognized by Macao government as historic building with great artistic value. When we were there, there are a lot of people who went there just to appreciate the decors and buy some souvenirs. But for us, we are stuck at this following corner for more than 30 mins.
What on earth were we doing? And what's that above?
If you look closely, it's actually a big tree trunk that they have modified become a table especially for tea appreciation. Those small little stools were the ones that suffered our weight during the testing session. We tried almost all the tea leafs offered in their brochures. How do their products look like? Don't worry, I'll share with all of you in just a short while. Our common favorite was "Lemon grass" but unfortunately, it's SOLD OUT!!!! ARGH!!! -.-
So I bought "Vervain / Verbena" and "Osmanthus" instead.
What's so special about the tea leafs offered from this shop? Firstly, they are all organic and natural. No caffeine. No preservatives. Secondly, the sales person was so nice and patient. Imagine these 3 customers who keep trying all the leaves and yet, she was still happily serving all of us without any complaints. :p (I wonder what's inside her heart). Thirdly and most importantly, for the freshness and good quality leaves that they offer, their price is a fraction of what you can find anywhere. (Including those I can find in Singapore). No wonder so many people from Hong Kong will go there and buy few hundred dollars worth of tea leaves. And no wonder my favorite lemon grass was gone. Hua..... Glad I managed to try it though. It's heavenly. Best lemon grass tea I've ever tried in my life!
On the 2nd floor of this antique house, they even have a place where you can appreciate Chinese Tea. They call it "Bamboo Hut".
And there's the Jin Yong Library, one of the famous Chinese contemporary writer who have brought us a few TV series such as "Return of the Condor Heroes" which was popularized with actor such as Andy Lau. And not to mention the popular song that was being translated in Bahasa Indonesia. -.- .... can faint.
So, if you are interested in taking a glimpse of this place, here's the full address.
With this, I shall end my "tok tok" session about Macau and next I shall talk more about Hong Kong. :)
D.D. signed off from Macau.
Let's continue on from where I've left when it comes to Macau. This is a very important post, especially for Elly, since you'll be there this year, you'd better take down this place's address. It's a MUST GO. No question asked.
After roaming around for so long, our tummy has shown us no mercy. So, our beloved "tour guide", Maria, brought us to this place where she claimed everyone that comes to Macau must taste the food here. And we have no regrets whatsoever! Here they are:
The number one must-have dish is the Ox's Tongue don't know what. :p ... Now you know why I'm not a travel writer! HAHA! Just look at the menu and that should be the only Ox's Tongue dish there. (Sorry, guys & gals, no photos to shared. Whenever I'd like to take the photos of any food, I've already eaten it and it looks awful! -.- I'll try to keep in mind not to eat it before taking photo next time.)
Then I also love the African Chicken. These two dishes combine with breads are just so heavenly.
For dessert, try their sawdust cake (as pictured below - one of the few pic of food that I have. :p). If you notice from their business card, you'll also see the picture of this cake. 90% of the guests there were having this on their tables. So ... if you are a sweet tooth (LIKE ME), please do try it. :)
Seriously, this place is just awesome.
BTW, can you the super clean plate behind the cake? That's how good the red wine sauce that's used to cook the Ox's Tongue. It's tender and simply yummy. :)
Go have it now!! shoo shoo ...
So, this is my first time to Macau. Let me write down the date clearly as it's an historical event for me. It's 7th of January 2007. Why is it so important? Because out of so many times I've been to Hong Kong, this is the first time I've actually boarded to the boat and stepped on Macau's land. Thanks to my new friend from Hong Kong, Maria and my not so new friend also from Hong Kong, Christine to make this happen. (Though .... there was a "tragedy" caused by Christine as to why I didn't manage to step to Macau last time though I already have the ticket on hand!! Well, let me say, I'll keep it as a "mystery" for now) :p
As Maria keeps emphasizing that "Macau is very small. You can discover everything about it in a short time." I'm not sure whether I'm agreeable with her :o ... but honestly it's quite small. We could walk to the same place for 2-3x without us realizing. But regarding discovering it in short time hhmmm ... I believe in ABUNDANCE and I think there are always more to see every time anywhere on this earth. There's always something to new to be discovered.
After we have clarified certain things from Macau Tourism Centre at the terminal (hmmm ... I hope I have named it correctly), our first stop is to discover the legendary "PORTUGUESE EGG TART".
We took a cab from the terminal. It was pretty near ... (remember what Maria said before? :p) ... Once we were there, no one miss the egg tart. How does it look like? Here it is ...
Well, sorry for the incomplete photo. Whenever I'd like to take a photo of any food items, I always realize it after I've eaten it. Hence the ugly view .... and I sincerely apologize for that.
Most importantly, how's the egg tart? My verdict is HEAVENLY. Accompanied with either hot tea (without milk is my preferred one) or hot coffee (not for me though), it's just PERFECT!!!!!!!!!
Hey ... I've talked so much about the egg tart but where's this place actually? Errrrrrrr ..... I don't really have the address (I'll try to Google it later :o) but I did take a photo of the small cosy cafe called Margaret's Cafe e Nata and it's behind some alleys and some shop houses. (Hmm .. better ask the taxi driver for direction than rely on my memory)
I just found out there are different type of egg tarts. Hong Kong style vs Portuguese style. My personal favourite is still Portuguese style (with a bit of burnt smell ... delicious). If you are really interested to know more about the difference, Wikipedia has provided us with all that we need to know. I love internet. :p
As for the exact location of where this great egg tart lies ... I found a website that has it. Phew.
Here you go:
Margaret's Café and Nata [Macau Peninsular] One of the best egg tart bakeries in the city Address: Edif. Kam Loi, Nam Van area
But honestly and secretly ... I still prefer Singapore's egg tart. Which one? I'll tell you more at "DD Discovers Singapore" next time. :-).
26/01/07
Just realised I do have the address for THE egg tart place. Here you go. :-) How come different from the one I posted above? Oppps ... May be when you are there, you should try both. :p
