World Foodie Guide

This is the thirteenth and last in a series of Postcards from the recent Hong Kong, Macau and Beijing traveleating trip. Rather than writing up each food experience in separate posts, which would have taken me up to Christmas, I thought it would be more fun to outline the trip in diary form, to include travel and sightseeing tips as well as food recommendations.

Days 15 & 16 highlights:

• tram ride from Causeway Bay to Kennedy Town
• lunch at Lock Cha Tea Shop
• dinner at Pak Loh Chiu Chow Restaurant
• lunch at King’s Palace at Hong Kong airport

Day 15 was our last full day in Hong Kong. As I knew we’d need to recover from the 24 hour train journey, I deliberately made it a more relaxing day, while the only event worth mentioning on Day 16 was lunch at the airport, before a very long flight back to London.

Tram ride from Causeway Bay to Kennedy Town:

There were many things that I’d planned to do in Hong Kong that we simply couldn’t fit in. I hadn’t factored in how draining it is to walk about in the heat and humidity (and it wasn’t even summer, when it’s much worse). But my mother recommended taking a tram ride. When she was still living in Hong Kong in the 60s, her colleague would take the tram every lunchtime, sit upstairs by the open window and take a nap! So we took the tram from Causeway Bay to Kennedy Town, going westwards. It was a little tricky figuring out which tram stop to get it from, but a very helpful gentleman pointed us in the right direction (after we’d been standing at the wrong stop for about 5 minutes).

The tram is still used mostly by locals, although there were a few tourists too. For the best views, sit upstairs. At first we sat at the back, but as seats freed up, we moved to the very front of the tram to take the prized side seats. We reached the end stop at Kennedy Town, after passing through Wan Chai, Admiralty, Central and Sheung Wan districts.

I paid for us, then went back upstairs to wait for it to go back in the opposite direction, so that we could get off at Admiralty for lunch. Unless you have an Octopus card, which is extremely useful, then you’ll need to have the exact fare (HK$2) in coins. You pay when you get off, by putting the coins into a box by the driver’s seat (the driver gives out no change). The tram is a cheap and fun way to see a colourful section of Hong Kong, whereas the MTR is fast and convenient, but offers no views…

And a tip – if you want to buy dried food products of any description, then Sheung Wan district is the place to go – this is where my aunts buy all their goodies from, whether dried abalone, scallops or bird’s nest. From the tram ride, I saw shop after shop on Des Voeux Road West, between Sutherland Street and Mui Fong Street. Whether you can take them back home with you is another story (there was an inflight announcement as we were nearing London about dried seafood products having to be declared, so I was glad I didn’t stock up on either dried scallops or XO sauce).

Vegetarian dim sum at Lock Cha Tea Shop:

On our second day in Hong Kong, we headed to Lock Cha Tea Shop in Hong Kong Park for vegetarian dim sum. It was so good that we decided to return for seconds. It’s a bit more expensive than standard dim sum places, but each dish is beautifully presented and made with high quality ingredients. And I haven’t come across other purely vegetarian dim sum restaurants in Hong Kong (let me know if you have!). I won’t repeat myself again about this great little place, but click on the link above if you want to know more.

This is what we ordered (the small menu changes daily, so we got to try new dishes as well as old favourites):

• turnip cake (HK$16) – this is a classic dim sum dish that always comes with bits of dried meat, so the vegetarian husband has only ever had it here. Of course the meat gives the bland turnip some flavour, but it’s not necessary, as proven by this vegetarian version. Anyway, it’s inspired him to try and make it at home (a whole other post!)

• stir-fried udon (HK$20) – a tiny portion, but very tasty indeed. I could have eaten a whole plate of this.

• golden mushroom turnover (HK$18) – when this arrived, it didn’t resemble what I thought it should look like. The wrapper was made of wafer-thin steamed wintermelon. It was extremely delicate and difficult to eat without making a mess as it was also quite wet and prone to falling apart. Delicious nevertheless

• fried vegetable buns (HK$20) – I don’t usually order buns when I have dim sum, as I find them too filling, and sometimes greasy. However these were incredibly light and fluffy, with the tastiest vegetable filling

• curry with bean curd puff (HK$20) – I only got a bite of this before it was whisked away and eaten in front of my very eyes. The bean curd puffs were light and flaky, and really didn’t look like they were made of bean curd at all

• bean curd skin roll with vegetables (HK$28) – this was so popular with the husband that he had to order another portion. I wasn’t that keen on it myself, to be honest. It tasted like ‘mock’ meat

• fried mushroom dumpling (HK$25) – we had these on our last visit. I love fried dumplings of any description, and will be making more at home soon…

Click here for the entire set of photos from Lock Cha Tea Shop (where you can also buy some nice tea to take home with you). Lock Cha is particularly recommended if you want to have dim sum in a serene and traditional tea house environment (as opposed to Lin Heung or Luk Yu). As it’s popular with locals, you should call ahead and book a table. And don’t forget to walk around the park afterwards – it will aid digestion!

Dinner at Pak Loh Chiu Chow Restaurant:

The location for our last dinner in Hong Kong created much discussion on Chowhound’s China board. It had to be Chinese food and in Causeway Bay, close to the hotel. And as my mother was going too, it couldn’t be too ‘hole-in-the-wall’ (not that she’s fussy, but it was going to be our treat to her). After much advice from Chowhounders, I finally settled on Pak Loh, a famous Chiu Chow restaurant with several branches. I was told that I couldn’t visit Hong Kong and not have Chiu Chow food, so I booked a table just before we left for Beijing, a week ago.

The restaurant is large and spacious, but what was wrong with the lighting for my photos to be so discoloured??! I’m so embarrassed that I’m reluctant to even include them in this post. The service was friendly and helpful, especially as it was still quiet when we arrived at 7pm. The menu is bilingual and quite extensive. As I’m not familiar with Chiu Chow cuisine (unfortunately, my Chiu Chow gourmet uncle wasn’t with us to help out), I’d written down a few things that foodies have recommended trying at Pak Loh – braised goose; steamed crayfish with glutinous rice; Tianjin cabbage in broth with Chinese ham; steamed lemon ‘Wu’ fish; fried pomfret Chiu Chow style; omelette with baby oysters; scrambled egg with minced pork and preserved turnip; fried rice Chiu Chow style; fried noodle cake with vinegar and sugar; and fried sweet potato dumpling (dessert).

Taking into account our dietary requirements (the mother can’t eat egg, while the husband is vegetarian but occasionally eats fish), I finally ordered the following:

• sliced soy goose (HK$90) – my ‘cold dish’ mistake. The goose slices on top were quite dry and chewy. The pieces underneath, soaked in the soy, were somewhat tastier. Perhaps I should have gone for another goose dish instead. Both my goose dishes in HK weren’t really up to scratch (the other one being at Yung Kee)

• fried pomfret balls with soy bean sauce (HK$120) – I initially ordered the steamed pomfret Chiu Chow style, but the waitress said we would probably like this instead. And it turned out to be so delicious (a word I’ve used far too often in these Postcards!) that the husband ate most of it. Each piece is lightly fried on the outside, but remains moist and tender inside…

• pea shoots with garlic (HK$70) -our last chance to indulge in pea shoots. Even here, they were much cheaper than in London (£8 to £10 per portion and not as fresh or delicate)

• fried rice noodle with diced mustard greens (HK$70) – the husband thought this sounded nice, but it actually arrived with not just diced mustard greens but also diced ham, even though this wasn’t described in the menu. So my mother and I ate this, and another portion without the ham arrived. I loved it with the ham, but the ham-less version wasn’t quite as flavoursome (obviously!)

• deep-fried bean curd with chives (HK$50) -this looked seriously over-fried, but was apparently quite tasty. I’m not a big fan of deep-fried bean curd, but it’s always on any Chinese menu, and something that vegetarians can safely eat, unlike the next item

Dinner for three came to HK$623 (£51). I think if you want to have a proper Chiu Chow dining experience, it’s better to go with people who know what to order. I would eat here next time only if the Chiu Chow uncle came with me. And I’d have to do more research on Chiu Chow cuisine. Other diners clearly knew what to have – huge tureens of soup, whole goose, fresh crab etc!

Lunch at King’s Palace, Hong Kong airport:

The HK airport website has some great information about all its restaurants, so I went through them all and selected the following. I wasn’t sure if it was possible to get from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1 (it seems not), so four restaurants were chosen, just in case:

• King’s Palace Congee and Noodle, Terminal 1, Departures East Hall (Level 7), Restricted Area, 07:00 – 23:00. Tel: 852 2385 9969

• Pak Loh Chiu Chow Express, Terminal 1, Departures East Hall (Level 7), Restricted Area, 07:00 – 23:00. Tel: 852 2152 0909 – branch of the restaurant we went to for dinner

• Hang Heung, Terminal 1, Departures Check-in Hall Mezzanine (Level 8), Non-restricted Area, 06:30 – 23:30. Tel: 852 2261 0311 – great noodles apparently

• Wong Chi Kee, Terminal 2, Shop 051, Level 6, Non-restricted Area, 09:00 – 22:00. Tel: 852 3559 1025 – the shrimp paste wanton mie is recommended. This would definitely have been my first choice, as this famous noodle restaurant wasn’t on my Macau or Hong Kong restaurant shortlists.

We went to King’s Palace because we wanted to get through passport control and security checks before settling down for lunch. I would, however, have preferred Hang Heung in the non-restricted area. And having just eaten at Pak Loh the night before, I wanted to try something different. All these places are designed to provide diners with convenient express meals, so don’t expect anything fancy.

At King’s Palace, like at Pak Loh next door, the bilingual menu is on display on the wall behind the counter, with large photos. I don’t think they take non-HK dollar currencies, so as we only had HK$128 left, we had to be careful with our ordering. Also, the dishes aren’t cheap, as at most airports. I chose the fresh prawn wonton soup noodles (HK$40), my last chance to eat wonton noodles in Hong Kong for a while, the vegetarian husband the ginger and spring onion lo mein (HK$40) and we also ordered some yau choi (choi sum with oyster sauce) (HK$26).

Unfortunately, the clear broth that accompanied the ginger and spring onion lo mein, and which is supposed to be poured over the noodles to make it wet and saucy, contained pork (I suppose we should have known this, being in Hong Kong). It was also dry and inedible without it. By then, we had no money left to buy the husband anything else. He ate the vegetables and hunted around the airport until he found some chocolate with our last HK$20, while I managed to eat all my food (rather tasty and substantial wontons, with crunchy prawn fillings and silky skins) and most of his dish, which I wouldn’t recommend. So that was our last meal in Hong Kong!

N.B You’ll find all the China Postcards under Restaurant Reviews – China, and the entire set of food photos on Flickr.

CONTACT DETAILS:

Lock Cha Tea Shop (they accept reservations)
Ground Floor
The K.S. Lo Gallery
Hong Kong Park
Admiralty
Hong Kong
Tel: 852 2801 7177
www.lockcha.com

Pak Loh Chiu Chow Restaurant (5 branches in total)
23-25 Hysan Avenue
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2576 8886
www.paklohchiuchow.com.hk

Helen Yuet Ling Pang @ World Foodie Guide

Tags: China, dining out, food, Hong Kong, King's Palace, Lock Cha tea shop, Pak Loh Chiu Chow, restaurant review, restaurants, travel, traveleating, vegetarian