Friday, November 27, 2009

Fei Cai Nan Mei Sek,Macau


A popular dinner/supper joint in the city that never sleeps at a reasonable price. A small eatery located not far from The Venetian its popular with punters near and far alike. The water crab porridge is to die for !!

Salt & Pepper Kau Fish. Soft white flesh really works fine with the salty and slight spicy.

Claypot porkie spare-parts. Loads of intestines , livers and offals in a yummy sauce

The house speciality ,Water Crab Porridge. One whole crab is cooked in a dried scallop based congee. The natural sweetness of the crab in the already sweet tasting scallop porridge makes you asking for more !!

Yummy fried pork ribs marinated in Nam Yue

All this only cost us approx HKD130 for 2 pax !!! Thats RM65 only .

Hong Kong street foods

Another not to be miss in Hong Kong is its street foods. Found in abundance in street corners , it offers an inexpensive yet interesting way to explore Hong Kong.


Cart Noodles 车仔面

Cart noodle is a kind of à la carte noodle which became popular in Hong Kong in the 1950s through independent street vendors operating on roadsides and in public housing estates in low-income districts, using carts. Many street vendors have vanished but the name and style of noodle stays.

The noodles were considered "cheap and nasty". Cost was generally low to appeal to the average citizens. They were also commonly referred to as "filthy noodle" (嗱喳麵) due to its low hygiene in the past. When hygiene standards rose, many street vendors (licensed or otherwise) have vanished.


There are various of ingredients to chose from to customize your noodle. I've picked pigs blood jelly (豬紅 ) , pigs skin (豬皮) and beef brisket to go. Couples with the sweet stock made out of radish (蘿蔔) based , its out of this world !!


Braised beef offals

Another favourite street snacks is the beef spareparts ( ngau chap ). It may be a turn off for others, but it definetely turns me on !


Beef spareparts braising away in the sauce. Offals, lungs , stomach , basically almost all the cows innards are here !!!

Generally you can find this at street side stalls which normally operates out of corner shops. You can find this at almost every street corners in Mongkok area. They also offer numerous types of snacks to go. Braised, fried , BBQ , steamed, you name it, they have it.


Also some super spicy sea snails !!

For HKD15 a bowl..its a good deal.

Egg waffles ( KAI DAN CHAI ) 雞蛋仔

Another not to be missed is this cute little waffles made out of eggs. This small egg balls are egg waffles baked in a waffle pan which resembles a racket. Once cooked its golden brown on the outside and all you need to do it just tear of the chunk and savour !


Seafood, DAI PAI DONG style in Central

While strolling in Central wet market , we came across this popular eatery tucked somewhere in the back streets of Central wet market 中環街市 we came across this dai pai dong offering live seafood . Since its dinner time , we find out seats and never regretted. Located just beside the market , food cant be any fresher here.





Whats better than a hot mutton hotpot during winter ???? Mutton braised for hours in herbs and eaten hotpot style. Surprisingly the mutton doesnt have any gamey taste at all to it.

Salt and pepper mantis prawn.

Stir fried Flower snail

Sweet and soup pork, HK style

and.....deng deng Belachan fried kangkung in HK !! Yes and it taste quite well too !!

Its a great value for money , as the dinner for four of us only cost HKD410 inclusive of beers. Who say dining in HK can be expensive ???

LAN FONG YUEN milk tea

Another not to be missed experience is having the famous Si Mutt Nai Char 丝袜奶茶 . Even I'm not a tea drinker , I truly enjoyed this so much !! The black tea tea is brewed sweetedned with evaporated milk and later filtered thru ,panty hose , yes you read it correctly ladies panty hose !!

Lan Fong Yuen is established around 50 years ago as a "Dai Pai Dong"(street side food stall) in Central, and later turned into a "Tea Cafe", which is a prominent style of Hong Kong restaurants. With their delicious and popular food, the restaurant is crowned as "the most delicious tea cafe" by many people in Hong Kong.



Address: 2 Gage Street , Central, Hong Kong
Tel: (+852) 2544-3895/ 2854-0731
Cuisine: Hong Kong/ Dai Pai Dong/ Tea Cafe
Transportation: MTR*: Sheung Wan (Exit E2)
Opening Hour: 08:00-20:00 (Mon-Sat)


Ser Wong Fun , the house of snake


A winter delicacy , snake soup is one of the most sought after tummy warming delicacies in winter . It is believe to enchance the blood flow and boost vitality and immune. The more poisonous the snke , the more potent it is. Its also very popular during summer , as it is believe in promoting blood flow and cools ones down .


Made with 5 types of poisonous snake with abalone strips , the snake broth soup here is excellent. Rather strong taste at the beginning , the lemongrass sprinkled on top neutrlas down the smell and lends a refreshing taste to it. The snake floss taste rather like chicken but more tender , and the abalone strips so tiny that barelys makes its presence felt , the soup is remarkbly sweet and thick and resembles shark fin soup. Yeah in olden days in shark fins soup, snakes are added into the stock to make it sweeter and helps thickens the soup.


One bowl (HKD65) is never enough and leaves you crying out for more. No wonder Ser Wong Fun , is also dubbed as the original King of Snakes in Hong Kong.

30,Cochrane Street , Central , HOng Kong

To get there : Look out for the escalators at Mid-levels just outside 100, Queen Road Central. Its located just next to a Vietnamese Pho shop.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Tai Cheong Bakery - Hong Kong



Home of the last HK last British Governors favourite egg tarts. A favourite of Chris Patten , whose pictures adorns the walls , this place receives free publicity from none other than the Governors himself. Its not the best of all eggtarts in HK , but is one of the better ones.


Smooth sweet custard fills the centre of the pastry shell . This egg tarts are baked fresh daily and non-stop supply of egg tarts awaits hungry peeps each day. At HKD5 each , its competitively priced among others.


The difference in Tai Cheong Bakery and other egg tarts lies in the pastry , which uses almond meal instead of regular flour. Also it isnt the flaky types which is typical in HK style tarts , which resembles an English pies base , which probably explains you why its Chris Pattens favourite. But I love the filling though. But if you like sweet custard filling , you would like it , coz I dont really have a sweet tooth !

Not the best around yet , but still better than most.

Tai Cheong Bakery
35, Lyndhurst Terrace , Central, HK
Tel: 852-25443475



Mido Cafe , Hong Kong

A landmark on Temple Street, Mido Cafe is a rare find in Hong Kong. It exudes an ambience reminiscent of cafes in the last century. Stepping inside is akin to entering a time tunnel.



Their french toasts are fluffy and exquisite, perfect with a cup of milk tea. Unlike the poor imitations that you would find at places like KimGary, the ones are are heavenly good ! Dipped in egg and deep fried, its surprisingly the bread isnt soaked in oil at all !! Drizzled with honey and a slab of butter..its sinfully yummy .

One fo the highlights on the menu is the Fried Noodels with Sliced Pork. Thin noodles are fried till golden brown. Pork slices are pounded slighly before stir-frying quickly in a broth. Kai lan is added and the savoury mix is then pourde over the crispy noodles. But since we already had our lunch , we skipped this.

ADDRESS: 63, Temple Street, Yau Ma Tei
TELEPHONE: 852-2384-6402
OPENING HOURS: 8:30am-9:30pm
DIRECTIONS: Yau Ma Tei MTR Station, Exit B2






Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Capitol Satay Celup, Melaka


I've visited 2 most popular satay celup place in Melaka , the first one is Ban Lee Hin at Jalan Ong Kim Wee, which I tried in 2008 and the other one is famed Bukit Cina’s Capitol Satay Celup, .which is popular with tourist local and abroad. The most notable difference is the sauce, which IMHO BLH one taste better.

Capitol satay sells by its 3rd generation status .

In the middle of the table is the pot of satay look alike peanut sauce. This is where you dip your selection in the pot ala luk-luk style. However the same pot of peanut sauce is used again and again .… Until theend of the day..or maybe next day ???


The taukeh-soh would come over to add extra peanut sauce and their secret blend chilli paste and ground peanut to give you the kick. The same pot for all customers throughout the night. So if hygenic is your top priority, give this a skip. Well, most of the best food isnt found in the most hygienic of places right ??


Purely self service ,the food are neatly displayed and you take whatever you want to eat. You will be charged for what you have ate by the sticks. In terms of selection , Captiol wins hands down for the really huge varieties and hygenically chilled . Rows of assorted fish / meat balls, vegetables, deep fried foochoks , seafoods and meats for you to choose from. BLH style is they serve you on a tray and pay what you eat.


After you eat more than a certain amount,they give you the bonuses, usually big prawns, pacific clams and some abalone lookalike . All this bonus are still charged at RM0.70 a stick. The usual large prawns cost RM60/kg. Good marketing strategy !!!.

Capitol Satay Celup,
41, Lorong Bukit Cina,
Melaka.


Saturday, October 24, 2009

Margaux, Dubai Mall



Take in the taste and the smells of the French Mediterranean while looking at the world largest fountain in Dubai Mall, Dubai UAE.

Margaux is perched on a balcony with a prime view of the magnificent Burj Dubai , the tallest building in the world., and there is an 800-bottle wine list. The chef, Julian Mercier, is trained under the Michelin studded Alain Ducasse.

The selection was pleasantly brief, yet every description was so beguiling that choosing what to order remained difficult. And for a brasserie run by a French chef, the options were startlingly Italian. It was a concept I wasn’t really familiar with. It was neither a tasting menu, nor a set menu; in both cases you know what you’re getting. Instead, it was like ordering in the dark.

Crispy bread with olive oil and cream cheese

Beautiful scenery of the fountain.


My main for the day was a perfectly grilled aged Tenderloin from their prime cut selection . Unlike here in Malaysia, the steak is served just like that, what it suppose to be. Without any accompanying sauce ,which in my opinion , is the best way to savour this . Accompanying home style fried fat chips are served as a side dish. Lightly seasoned with salt and freshly ground pepper, the remarklby tender meat is well flavoured from the ageing process.

Margaux is a must try for anyone who happens to drop by in Dubai , soaking in the wonderful fountain show which starts every night at 8pm , with wonderful food to accompany.


Details

    Location: Souk Al Bahar, Downtown Burj Dubai, Dubai