The New Yorker from Seah Street Deli

Essentially, this was their rendition of the classic pastrami on toasted rye from Seah Street Deli (1 Beach Road, Raffles Hotel, tel : +65 6412 1110). There were fennel seeds in the bread which added a dimension to the flavours. I kinda liked this. Even the fries on the side tasted a lot better than it looked. Probably one of the better tasting sandwiches around town that I've had. Though I have a couple of gripes. A little more generosity with the pastrami would definitely have upped how I ranked the sandwich. Same with the paper thin slices of Swiss cheese. While I understood that this was Seah Street Deli, $23 was kinda pricey for a sandwich.

Omakase at Kaiho Sushi

This omakase dinner at Kaiho Sushi was quite a let down. Even when we were already expecting no prawns, salmon and beef, it just didn't feel up to scratch. Was unexpected considering that their lunch sets were decent and good value for their location and offerings. On retrospect, this felt much like a fish dinner since it was mostly that. And pretty regular fish offerings at that. If I remember correctly the bill turned up just a little less than the dinners I've had at Akashi but was noticeably less impressive. I guess the only new thing here was the sardine tempuras and an interesting house made strawberry sake that was the highlight of the meal. Even the toro and uni didn't seem as satisfying.

some simmered fish....probably tuna

sashimi moriawase?

asari butter itame

ikura, uni, maguro and hamachi

tempura sardines

fish head soup

the strawberry sake

An end-try for Hong Kong....

Yes, I did have dim sum. In old school tea houses. Several times. Just didn't take photos of them mostly. One of the things that I've never tried before now was a steamed bao/roll of sorts that had lup cheong in the middle. Man that was some good greasy fatty roll I wish I could find back home. And those amazing roast geese that I couldn't get enough of.....

 

Stinky tofu (臭豆腐) from a street stall in Mongkok

It was the smell wafting though the streets that made me realised that there was one of these stalls around. I recall only having had them once back home somewhere in Geylang and was told that I should try them in Hong Kong or Taiwan where they were suppose to be better. These things are likely to be an acquired smell more than taste since they tasted essentially much like deep fried tofu with a crispy skin and hot soft insides. It wasn't really much of a stench at all for me and these stuff were pretty enjoyable for the cold weather, especially when it gets slathered with the salty and spicy chilli sauce.

Under Bridge Spicy Crab (橋底辣蟹), Wan Chai, Hong Kong

I was looking forward to try these crabs here and our friends over in Hong Kong had by coincidence planned a seafood dinner at the very same restaurant (Shop 1-2, G/F, Chinaweal Centre, 414-424 Jaffe Road, Wan Chai, HK, tel : +852 2834 6268) famed for their typhoon shelter crab that was once featured in Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations. Apparently the origins of this dish started in the typhoon shelters in Causeway Bay and have now been elevated, like many other popular dishes, into restaurants inland.

Expectations held high (which is often not a good thing), we tucked into the crab shortly after it was served. In truth, the crabs were just passable decent. I thought they had been a little overcooked. Flesh stuck to shell and it didn't taste all that juicy or sweet. Perhaps, that's the way it is for deep fried crabs. What was outstanding was the generous mound of garlic bits that had chilli, shallots and scallions. The spiciness took a little while to peak from the first mouthfuls of the fried garlic. Damn excellent stuff when mixed with the fried noodles that the restaurant serves. I wasn't paying much attention to much of the other dishes after that. Apart from the bamboo clams which were served also with more garlic -- and an interesting porridge that featured minced pork and loads of little oysters. The spicy crab was memorable to some extents but I doubt I'll be craving for them anytime soon.

是誰 在敲打我窗, 是誰 在撩動琴弦......

The grimy facade in the midst of aged apartment blocks was an indication of interesting things to come. Amidst one of the dark alleys of Kowloon latticed with water pipes, half shaded by haphazard zinc shelters under dim fluorescent luminance, lies Hung Fook Restaurant (G/F, No. 86 Lok Shan Road, To Kwa Wan, Kowloon, tel : +852 2365 0112). Hell, I'm not even sure that's the real English name for the location since there wasn't any I could find.

 

If anyone had the interested or could recall, this was the place where the triad bosses were seen having hotpot in various scenes from Infernal Affairs II. I was told that the business and prices of this old restaurant has risen from the media attractions that was garnered from the movie. Basically, this joint was today a fairly popular location for the locals for hot pots and charcoal grilled live seafood.

 

The offerings were the usual that one could expect from steamboat or hot pot shops. Apart from the sliced beef, some tau pok balls which were really good for soaking up the spicy hot pot broth, obligatory greens and deep fried fish skin, it was mostly the seafood on grill for us. Since it was what this restaurant was known for. We would have wanted to order more from the tank but the laws of physics refused to compromise for our bellies. Due to the tight quarters and that my hands were stained perpetually with seafood juices, I was only able to get some shots of some of the shellfish and their crustacean buddies squirming in their death throes.......

 

.......and a blurry view of the mess on the table from all that beer.

 

A post clubbing snack from Beyrouth Cafe

This was a lamb kebab from a Lebanese place (G/F., Lyndhurst Building, 37A Lyndhurst Terrace, Central, Hong Kong, tel: +852 2854 1872) which seemed to operate 24 hours down at the Central. I decided to take away in the wee hours of the morning as we were heading back home to catch up with some sleep. There was the regular stack of lettuce and sliced tomatoes along with what sealed the deal for me - onions and a spicy garlic yoghurt with the grilled slices of lamb. My mouth waters thinking of them now.

Yuen Kee Restaurant (源記燒味粉麵茶餐廳), Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

We were led into this place (18 Granville Road, Shop B, G/F Kiu Yip Building, Tsim Sha Tsui, tel : +852 2721 7881) by our new friend Sheng, who is a urologist in Dublin and had spent his childhood between Hong Kong and Singapore. Him having spent years in Ireland as a doctor and myself being the food tourist, we've come into an agreement that we wouldn't be eating anywhere else that doesn't serve what is generally accepted as local food. While that's was something that was not entirely unfamiliar, it was yet different enough in quite a few ways which we really enjoyed. 

This was one of the numerous tradition char chan teng locations that's scattered around. The point to this particular one were the roast meats, soup beef briskets and wantons. Roast meats in Hong Kong are similar yet different from home. Portions are usually more generous, char siew have a nice soft layer of fat as compared with leaner varieties at home and the roast pork belly in general have a good crispy layer of crackling. I'm guessing it's like that almost everywhere her. This lunch pig out also included delectable bowls of tender mixed beef tendons with briskets huddled in a rich broth and fat tasty wantons that had a flavour of dried shrimps in the stuffings.

Gourmet Burger Union, Cochrane Street, Hong Kong

GBU (45-47 Cochrane St., 1st Floor, Cheung Fai Bldg, Central, tel : [852] 2523-9011) was an impromptu decision while wandering around looking for lunch. A quick decision made from too much drinking the night before and an empty stomach looking for the first meal of the day. This was also the point where the decision was made that we would not be eating any more of ang moh food for the stay in Hong Kong. 

It wasn't that the burgers were bad. In fact, this place was pretty decent if one could just overlook the fact that eating in there leaves the residual scent of the burger grease on you. Not to mention the fact that the air conditioning was switched off in winter and circulation was quite bad. Especially for a place doing char grill.

The word Stilton was caught by my peripheral vision and registered. Hence I got their GBU Big Boy even though I had been staring at the menu for a while. What I thought strange was that it came with bbq sauce (which I had opted out) which would create more contention amongst the flavours that was already there.

So what was in? A juicy New Zealand Angus patty that was dome somewhere between medium well to well done topped with a generous wad of melted Stilton blue. A flame grilled portobello mushroom cap and a couple of strips of bacon resting on some wild rockets. The fries were forgettable, but I liked the burger. Reminded me a little of The Handburger.

Kau Kee Restaurant (九記牛腩), Gough Street, Hong Kong

The premium of real estate must have really driven old time stall owners with limited physical business space to resort to a semi regimental seat allocation system where the owners dictate where one seats and if they may be seated if not all of the group has arrived. 

This was kinda what happened down at Kau Kee (21 Gough Street, Central, Hong Kong) which was one of the numerous noodle restaurants that dot the neighbourhood I was staying at in Central. One should not expect genteel service and should order quickly and shortly depart the premise after eating to avoid scowls. As I've been educated, Kau Kee is known for their ngau lam mee. The soup wasn't a beef broth as I had expected. Just the same soup base for wonton noodles. It took a helping of their home made shrimp paste chilli sauce to get to the point where it was really drinkable. The accompanying beef briskets were decent. I was expecting exceptional by any me. In the end, it was a passable bowl of piping hot beef noodles which was made enjoyable by the cool weather.