Hong Kong

My favorite way to describe the uniqueness of Hong Kong is that this place is so rich in British influence, and yet so authentically Chinese. With Britain governing Hong Kong until 1997, which can be considered as relatively very recent in historical terms, Hong Kong has been transformed into a metropolis with a stature that matches other major cities in the world. Along with modern skyscrapers and as a busy Asian financial hub with a thriving expatriate community, at the same time Hong Kong holds a very authentic sense of local Chinese culture.





I can't find a better way to photograph Hong Kong than to capture the juxtaposition of the East and West which we found throughout the different districts.



Tsim Sha Tsui

 

 

 

 



Victoria Harbour

Central

Victoria Peak

Causeway Bay








Sheung Wan

 

Street Snacks in Hong Kong

Street snacks are one of the fundamental aspects of Hong Kong culture as evidenced by the frequency of vendors at almost every street corner. One will never go hungry in Hong Kong. In fact, the biggest challenge is to contain all the delicious and inexpensive food in our stomachs. Street snacks are so popular that the vendors are especially busy come evening when people are on their way home from work, and stopping for some of these snacks before dinner.

While these street snacks can be found anywhere in Hong Kong, here are some must-try street snacks at certain popular locations that we liked.



1. Gai dan zai (egg waffles)

These egg waffles are lightly sweetened from the batter and were my favorite street snack. I only wished I had more of them. They are made fresh from the hot cast iron waffle maker.


Location: Outside Times Square, Causeway Bay













2. Fish balls on a stick

These piping hot balls are savory delights and there's an option of getting them with curry sauce slathered over it. We did not find the curry sauce to be spicy but instead, it was towards the sweet side.


Location: Outside Times Square, Causeway Bay







3. Stinky tofu

These deep fried tofu are named so because, well, they are stinky. But the smell is about all this tofu has in terms of being unpleasant. If you can be forgiving about the smell, the warm deep fried tofu is delicious eaten with hot sauce.

Location: Kai Kee on Dundas Street, Yau Ma Tei

4. Cheong fun (rice noodle roll)

Our decision to try this place was purely driven by our observation of a line of people waiting to purchase from this vendor everyday. This location served the best cheong fun we ever had. It was smooth and soft to bite. The sweet sauce, peanut butter sauce, and sesame seeds perfectly complemented the cheong fun.

Location: Nathan and Austin Roads (across from the Tsim Sha Tsui police station), Jordan

 

Lung King Heen

Not that many Chinese restaurants in the world have as big shoes to fill as Lung King Heen being the first and only Chinese restaurant in the world to receive 3 Michelin stars since 2009. Does that make it the best Chinese restaurant in the world?


 

We ordered the weekday Executive Lunch that came with 8 courses at a very good price point. Why would we have passed up on a US$55 weekday set lunch at a 3 Michelin Star restaurant? Surely our stomachs would regret it if we didn't do this. Some standouts are pictured below.

The soup of the day was made with watercress and sliced pork. The soup was milky in color from all the hours of slow boiling and the taste of the soup reflected perfectly just that. Every spoonful of soup was comforting and warming, I did not want it to end. Alas, I tried not to miss the last drop of it in the bowl.

The dimsum was very delicate prepared and cooked. Picking up a piece of the har gow with our chopsticks proved just how delicate these dimsum pieces were. Even before putting them into our mouths, we knew from the way we had to handle them with our chopsticks that the wrapper skins for the har gow and shiu mai were thin and delicate, just like how they are supposed to be. Good dimsum and dumplings are generally judged by how thin the wrapper skins are so that the filling is the main focus here instead of having to chew through the thick skin to get into the filling.

I usually never give spring rolls much thought but these were impressively crispy yet light with the delicate and thin skin used as the wrapper. Fried spring rolls have a tendency to fill you up especially when the less superior ones are made with thick skin and take up almost a quarter of the roll itself. But here, the filling made up of vegetable and turnip take centerstage. These spring rolls at Lung King Heen were excellent in every way.

My favorite was the poached chicken which totally delivered. I have had a lot of good chicken in my life but this was really something. I do not remember when was the last time I had chicken that reached this level of impression from the smooth meat texture. The delicious taste was also flavored in part by the rendered chicken skin and fat. The accompanying minced ginger added extra fragrance to the chicken.

Gradually moving into more intense flavors, the eggplant and fish fillet in mandarin sauce was very well prepared and served. The eggplant was not overly mushy (which would have been a big turn off for me) and not over cooked so that it still maintained a perfect texture.

Lunch was capped off with sweet corn pudding and sesame cookies. Not pictured was the double boiled almond sweet soup.

While we are not sure if we would go so far as to say that Lung King Heen is the best Chinese restaurant in the world, there is one thing for sure: we were impressed and the food was clearly very, very good. Service was close to impeccable and our teacups were never left empty for long. The food at Lung King Heen reflects Chef Chan Yan Tak and his team's philosophy in sourcing out only the freshest ingredients to produce delicate and authentic Cantonese cuisine.

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Lung King Heen

Four Seasons Hotel

8 Finance Street

Central, Hong Kong

Accolades

2012 3-Michelin Stars

2011 3-Michelin Stars

2010 3-Michelin Stars

2009 3-Michelin Stars