Hong Kong: A Trip to Cloud Nine!

I swear I put on weight after indulging in three vacations (Bintan, Langkawi and Hong Kong) between April and June!

For 5 days in June, E and I spent our annual vacation sans kids to the Pearl of the Orient!

I LOVE this nickname of Hong Kong, that never fails to remind me of the allure of the Mikimoto pearls which I shall add to my collection one day. *wink*

Before I digress, let's return to my much delayed documentation of this fabulous vacation of retail therapy and pure gluttony.

YES, I have said it! These were our only two objectives for this trip, besides of course, adding romance and 'oomph' to our marriage. Or as E likes to say 'add a little sexiness!'. :p

But prior to any sexy adventures, we had to satisfy our greediness and growling tummies first, with all the food that we had been pining for. So it was all about Priorities, Priorities!

Straight after we arrived at the very new L'hotel, we dumped our bags in our cosy room and headed out in search for the best siew mai.

This certainly counts as one of the life-long pursuits of my dear hubby and it never fails to amuse me, especially when I consider his utter seriousness on the subject. That said, I am not as big a fan of the fatty siew mai as he is. But I would happily chomp down dozens of har gow anyday while accompanying him. So I get my share of enjoyment on such adventures!

Our first stop. We found these gems at a Chinese hotpot restaurant 不倒翁 at Times Square. Over the next few days, we tried the Siew Mai from different places, but nothing was nearly as good. So on our last day, despite the rush, we made it back here, just so that E could gobble up another few before our flight back!

Striking our 'cliche' pose - something which we have been doing since our earliest 'eating trips' a decade ago in Europe.

Dinner for the first night was at an easygoing roast meat specialty restaurant 二王蛇 at Causeway Bay. We had no recommendations but chose it simply because it looked good enough and near to where we were by dinner time. We ordered roast duck, goose, honey pork and vegetables and they were just D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S!

I was real tired by then and it showed on my face! Or maybe it was just unflattering photography!! haha.

The first half of the next day was spent on the Lamma island. We were lured by the promise of mouthwatering seafood, as documented in every guidebook that we have.

Oh lobster, lobster, how I miss you! YUM!!

Now, E and I love lobsters and we eat a lot of these gorgeous creatures whenever we travel, especially if the destinations are renowned for seafood.

The calamari and lobster dishes were sensational! I would order them again if we return in future, even though the lobsters here aren't cheap. For just these three dishes, we were set back S$200. 

After lunch, we headed for a few hours of fashion shopping and late afternoon cafe culture. I love being able to just sit by a cafe, sip my latte and people-watch. It reminds me of the old days we spent in London.

For dinner, we settled for Yung Kee at Wellington Street. I had to try it after reading raving reviews by various people, including Chubby Hubby.

The roast goose leg and egg with X.O. sauce, as recommended by the Chubby Hubby.

We were totally stuffed after just these two dishes. Or at least I thought I was when we walked out of Yung Kee to head back to the hotel.

On a whim, we decided on a little detour just outside our hotel to explore the neighbourhood and as luck would have it, we found a real gem along a small street named the Electric Road! The tiny shop, which has a seating capacity of about 20 pax, sells only Chinese desserts. I remember chuckling at our discovery! :>

My sweet hubby graciously nudged me on to order a bowl, despite my coy protests of being too full to eat anymore. But like a good wife should be (*ahem*), I obediently did what he suggested! :p

It was such a delight to find pages after pages of nothing, but just desserts in the menu. Haha! I was in SWEET HEAVEN!

Here I was at 11.30pm with really sleepy eyes, eagerly trying out a bowl of unknown warm 'goo'! It had some odd assortment of beans which I absolutely love and when I was done with the small bowl, I wished there was more! So much for being TOO FULL!

Now, I shall not hide the fact that we returned EVERY night after that, just so that I could have a bowl to end each vacation day on a sweet note. :>

I woke the next day, craving hot soup and noodles, so that was the first item on the day's agenda.

We found this really decent (sparkling clean) eating house near to our hotel which served Yunnan cuisine and their specialties were noodles. That suited us just fine! I ordered the house specialty, which arrived in a bowl, much to my delight, the size of a small basin! I polished it off, with a little help from E. Yup! :>

A few hours later, we chanced upon this eatery on a busy street (whose name I can't remember anymore). What caught our eyes was its irresistable display of aromatic meat and business was real brisk at 4.30pm. It was hard not to notice the big quantities that customers were queueing up to buy, and that really piqued our interest.

We gave in to temptations and shared a roast pigeon. And that was right after I had a huge latte and a slice of cake at Starbucks. Tsk tsk tsk! But it was all worth it!

Dinner was supposed to be Sichuan and Shanghainese food at the Yellow Door Kitchen. But we had to give up the table we reserved as we were simply not hungry enough to stomach the eight-courses set meal by dinnertime. Yeah, we blamed the pigeon we ate! 

By the time the bird was digested, we were off seeking dinner options again. We still wanted some Sichuan or Northern Chinese cuisine for dinner but couldn't find anything fascinating. In the end, we settled for a place that served Beijing cuisine on a busy street.

It was jam-packed with locals and the food was great and reasonably priced, but I don't think we hit the jackpot. 

The last day was spent making last-minute visits to places to pick up stuff and a final search for the best dim sum before returning to the first Chinese hotpot place in Times Square. We did make an effort to a yum cha restaurant early in the morning but it was a disappointment, despite its popularity with locals and long-standing history of 80 years.

 

Phew! That was the longest post on food I've ever written. We sure ate an incredible amount in those few days and I had more roast meat on this trip than I ever had in a typical 6 months! 

Luckily, I have lost all the extra 'baggage' since our return. *smile*

As for the shopping, there were some fabulous finds at great sale prices, but I also splurged on a set of jewellery from Jan Logan. When I first set my eyes on them, they totally took my breath away. After admiring them for more than brief moments, I decided to toss all logic out of the window (for the prices were a little too unexpected) and treat myself. After all, I work hard! So why not?! 

It is probably one of those heirloom pieces which I shall pass down to my future daughter-in-law, if they were still in good shape then. :>

So there we are.... a truly fruitful trip!