Tokyo: Pumpkin Yogurt!

Do you like pumpkin?

I do, I do!!! No way am I going to pass up a chance to try pumpkin + yogurt, two of my all-time favourites! This is a Halloween special from Yogen Früz, an international chain of frozen yogurt and smoothie stores.

 B1, Mitsukoshi ALCOTT, Shinjuku 3-29-1

All I’m going to say is that this is definitely an acquired taste.. Just imagine a savoury-cum-tangy yogurt with bits of greenish pumpkin skin! A little ewww, haha.

Happy Halloween, folks!

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Hong Kong: Xu Liu Shan 許留山

This is my last post on Hong Kong for the time being and it’s apt to end with a note on Xu Liu Shan (許留山) since no trip to Hong Kong is complete without one (or more) sweet stop there!

You won’t miss it, cuz they seem to be everywhere (it’s really not an exaggeration). Get the signature mango desserts, they are superb. And since I was feeling more orange than yellow that day, I love the payaya filled with coconut and bird’s nest! Niceeee.

49 Carnarvon Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

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Hong Kong: Pie & Tart Specialists

I saw people queueing up at Pie & Tart Specialists so being kaypoh as usual, I went to take a look… And as expected, looking is never enough haha.

77 Granville Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

They’ve got the usual savoury chicken/beef pies blah blah blah, but I decided to try the milk tart since I’ve never had one before!

Mission accomplished!

 I was actually going to keep it for supper that night but when I was at Yee Shun, I couldn’t resist digging in while waiting for my hot ginger pudding to cool, heh.

The crust was so-so, but the filling was good! Love the semi liquid form in the middle, kinda feels like a “milk lava tart” (think molten chocolate cake). But it’s very very milky so go for it only if you love milky stuff. Or just want a calcium boost!

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Hong Kong: Wu Dai Tong Tang 五代同糖

Anyone who’s been to Hong Kong knows Xu Liu Shan (許留山) but what about Wu Dai Tong Tang (五代同糖)?

 We came here for desserts after supper at Tsui Wah and even though it was close to midnight, the cafe was full and we had to wait for a table! I can fully understand why it’s so popular by the time we left though.

To say it in a very typical Singaporean way, the desserts here ”got standard”.

Shop 8, BCC Building, 31 Carnarvon Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

The chocolate lava cake came highly recommended by the BFF and my batchgirl-cum-colleague!

When the bestie Facebook-ed me about this place, she mentioned that the molten chocolate “is really like eruption!!”, and it was indeed!!

Another must try is the super smooth egg custard puddings dotted with specks of real vanilla beans, served in egg shells only if you get a box of 6! So cute and creative, right?

Durian pudding was a nice surprise. Really soft and the taste of durian was so strong! Bet all durian lovers will love this!

I gotta bring my mom here and let her try the fried durian fritters as well. Unlike me, she’s a hard-core durian lover!

I’ve never tried shaved ice before cuz I always think that it’s just flavoured ice and that doesn’t count as dessert. But this green tea shaved ice with red beans had me reevaluating my assumption, haha. The texture was fluffy and soft, not rough or grainy as I imagined it to be, and it’s such a refreshing change from the normal cakes and ice creams I’d usually eat!

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Hong Kong: Tsui Wah 翠華餐廳

It was our last night in Hong Kong and I guess we were feeling kind of emo about it. Thinking that we needed some sugar to cheer us up, I suggested going for desserts (at 10pm!) but we got sidetracked en route and decided to go for one last supper first!

Lan Fang Yuen popped into mind since it’s right opposite the hotel but alas, it was already closed. Wandering around aimlessly somehow brought us to Tsui Wah (翠華餐廳), a popular cha chaan teng chain with many branches in Hong Kong! Best of all, it’s opened 24 hours~

 2 Carnarvon Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui

My last glass of iced milk tea! I’ll miss you.

The friend raved about the crispy buns so all of us ordered one portion each! Never say we girls can’t eat, lol.

This is one of Tsui Wah’s signature dishes and apparently very Hong Kong-style. The concept is simple enough: toasted buns slathered with butter and then drizzled with condensed milk. Talk about a calorific nightmare, haha. All worth it though!

Hmm, I wonder why this is not sold in Singapore yet?

The fish ball soup is also another classic here!

 Served with more carbs to balance out the proteins

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Hong Kong: Lan Fang Yuen 蘭芳園

 Introducing Lan Fang Yuen (蘭芳園), the cha chaan teng famous for inventing ”pantyhose” milk tea (絲襪奶茶)!

The original outlet is at Gage Street in Central (below; taken when I was on the way to Tai Cheong) but I went to the branch (above) near to my hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui.

36-44 Nathan Rd Shop 26, basement, Woodhouse Tsim Sha Tsui

Here’s my hot “pantyhose” milk tea, so-called because stocking is used as a filter to strain the tea leaves, supposedly resulting in a smoother texture.

I thought it was so-so and can’t figure what’s the hype all about. Much prefer the cold sweetened versions I’ve been drinking at other cha chaan tengs!

Since it’s always eating time in Hong Kong, I ordered the Hong Kong-style French toast too cuz the description by CNNGo (“two pieces of toast slathered with peanut butter or kaya jam, soaked in egg batter, fried in butter and served with still more butter and lots of syrup“) had me fantasizing about it all day long!

It’s my first ever Hongkie French toast (ya, I don’t go to our local Ya Kun) and the real thing was not as tall and fluffy as expected, but it sure was full of buttery goodness! If only there’s more kaya jam in between the toasts, hmmm…

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Hong Kong: Good Hope Noodle

The day I left for Hong Kong, I received a Facebook text from the best friend. She recommended two places for me to try and one of them is Good Hope Noodle (好旺角粥麵專家). According to her, “the porridge (is) really super smooth leh!” so after some googling, I managed to track down this tired looking shop with more than a few alphabets missing from its signboard, haha.

146 Sai Yeung Choi Street South, Mong Kok

Busy and crowded at dinnertime!

Lonely Planet said that Good Hope is famous for its wonton soups and shredded pork noodles, but I’d rather trust my best friend than LP, of course!

My sliced fish congee was comfort in a bowl. The congee was velvety smooth and the rice so broken down that it’s like slurping a creamy and rich bowl of soup! Awesome stuff.

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Hong Kong: Lin Heung Tea House 莲香楼

Whenever friends ask me for dim sum recommendations in Hong Kong, I always direct them to Lin Heung Tea House (莲香楼), my favourite yum cha joint to date!

160-164 Wellington St, Central

It’s a traditional type of dim sum restaurant with metal push-carts, grumpy looking servers, noisy war zone-like atmosphere etc.

I’ve been here thrice so far (twice with my parents, once on my own), and still very much loving it!

The place is always packed with locals and tourists alike. No one will show you to your seat so you need to hover around like an annoying pest and grab the first seat vacated. The ‘kiasu Singaporean’ spirit works brilliantly here!

Then signal one of the waiters and have him bring you a pot of tea. There’s a ritual involved here: you need to rinse the cutlery with the first few pours of hot tea first before consumption. If in doubt, observe those around you. The uncle sitting across me knew I’m a novice at this and kindly offered to help me “sterilize” all my eating equipment. And he did it like a pro! Bravo.

I’m here for a sole purpose: #21 on CNNGo’s list of can’t-live-without Hong Kong food, lotus seed paste buns! Can’t believe I somehow always managed to miss this on my previous visits, boo.

Once I got settled down, these fluffy buns were wheeled out of the kitchen! I almost can’t believe my luck, haha.

I don’t fancy the thick skin, but the lotus seed paste filling was gorgeously smooth and greaseless, the sweetness perfectly balanced by the sinful yellow blob of salted egg yolk in the centre.

Such a cholesterol-rich treat, how not to like?!

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Hong Kong: Tim Ho Wan 添好運點心專門店

We were three starving girls ready to take on the famous Tim Ho Wan (添好運點心專門店). I won’t go into details (a million and one bloggers have blogged about this place so just google ok?) but know this: it’s the cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant in the world!

The long queue and even longer waiting time at the original Kwong Wah Street outlet in Mong Kok is notorious; we reached at about 10am and there were more than 30 people in front of us! The lady at the door (you need to get a number from her so be sure not to piss her off) urged us to head over to the Sham Shui Po branch to avoid the meaningless wait. After some serious discussion, we decided to take her advice and hailed a cab to the bigger branch a few minutes away.

CNNGo didn’t like this new branch but I was kind of glad we came over. For one, we were ushered to our seats immediately once we showed the lady at the counter our original queue number we took at the Kwong Wah outlet. The restaurant is rather big, and very noisy like a typical dim sum joint. Table sharing seems to be unavoidable, unless you are there with a party of 4 and more.

Another thing I noticed is that there’s definitely more locals here compared to the original branch, which seems to attract all the tourists who like to queue (I think I’m guilty of that too, haha). Locals dining at the same place as me is always a good sign! Then there’s none of that “we gotta leave once the last dim sum is popped into our mouths” kind of pressure I read that customers encountered at the Kwong Wah outlet (it’s small and there’s a long line outside so I can understand). In fact, we took our time, lingered over brunch and stayed for 2 hours.

Ok, on to the food. The menu is small (30 items or so) but adequate. We were super hungry and ticked off about half the menu straightaway, and had multiple orders of some dishes thereafter. I don’t take meat but I sort of cheated that day, oops  You’ve had dim sum before so I won’t elaborate on the items we had; just enjoy the hurriedly taken photos below ok? Generally, the dim sum is good, with hits and misses (of course). But I couldn’t really understand the one star hype; honestly, I’ll be equally happy dining at the other dim sum restaurants cuz I think it’s quite hard to find crappy dim sum in Hong Kong, right?

 9-11 Fuk Wing Street, Sham Shui Po

家鄉咸水角

Direct translation: fried hometown salt water dumplings.

韭黃鮮蝦腸

Smooth chee cheong fun stuffed with prawns.

鮮蝦韭菜果

Fried prawn dumplings. Oily~

潮州蒸粉果

Plump Teochew style dumplings.

晶瑩鮮蝦餃

Har gow with very fresh prawns!

煎臘味蘿白糕

Pan fried carrot cake with preserved meat. Nice!

酥皮焗叉燒包

The signature baked BBQ char siew bao! I don’t eat meat but I wanted to try this since this is the bun that supposedly earned Tim Ho Wan a Michelin star. Initially, I told the girls I’d just have a bite but in the end, I couldn’t resist (weak me, I know) and finished the whole bun sans the huge chunks of pork, haha. It’s very good, crispy on the outside with a pineapple bun-like topping and the BBQ pork sauce filling inside is a killer. We agreed this is our favourite item from Tim Ho Wan!

香滑馬拉糕

Soft and sweet steamed egg cake; this is one of the dim sum items in Hong Kong I miss the most!

豉汁蒸鳳爪

They say chicken feet are full of collagen so the girls had a serving each, lol.

鮮蝦燒賣皇

There’s actually 4 of these siew mai but my friend’s chopsticks were too fast for my camera, haha. Told you we were hungry!

酸辣雜菜餃

Sour spicy mixed vegetable dumplings. We like this!

鮮肉豆腐鮮竹卷

Beancurd rolls that I can’t remember much about, lol.

雜菌素飽

Some vegetarian buns that we ordered last minute cuz we needed more carb fillers.

杞子桂花糕

Refreshingly special osmanthus jelly, I like!

鮮奶合桃露

Hot walnut paste~

燕窩蛋白燉鮮奶

Girls, you’ve got to order the steamed bird’s nest milk pudding. It’s great for the skin!

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Hong Kong: Kung Wo Tong 恭和堂

My favourite herbal turtle jelly in Hong Kong: Kung Wo Tong (恭和堂)~

61A Tung Choi Street, Mong Kok

How do you take your turtle jelly?

I love the pure form with no sugar, no honey, and it’s bitterly shiok! Heh.

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