A braised egg in sweet herbal tea from Yuen Kee Dessert (源記甜品專家)

We were brought to this Cantonese dessert shop, Yuen Kee Dessert (源記甜品專家) by a friend who had learnt of its existence through a food writer in Hong Kong. Apparently, they have been around for a very long time. There was one particular dessert from the shop (G/F, 32 Centre Street, tel : +852 2548 8687) which I was told was a traditional item that wasn't so common these days. It was a sweetened herbal tea served with an egg that looked like it had been braising for a long time in the said herbal tea. I never asked if this was beneficial for anything in particular, but I ordered one just for the experience. The flavours of the braising liquid was steeped all the way right into the yolk of the egg. Interesting. 

Ma Sa Restaurant (孖沙茶餐廳), Hillier Street, Sheung Wan

This old school cha chaan teng (G/F, 23 Hillier Street, Sheung Wan, tel : +852 2545 9026) serves a plethora of local comfort food. It's actually quite simple to understand what can be ordered once one figures out what they have for ingredients of the day since they're flexible with requests. Any of the starches on menu can likely be paired with any of their meats even if it's not stated.

On more than one occasion, we had walked by without realising this shop existed. The food here is relatively inexpensive, generously portioned and gut sticking.

An auntie from the shop recommended (in a strangely, almost conspiratorial manner) their fried rice with chicken and salted fish. This wasn't too bad, we could taste the salted fish on some parts of the rice rather than salted fish on just the salted fish like what many places do. While it wasn't major on flavours and didn't have very much ingredients, it was unexplainably addictive.

The rice plate that they are known for comes with a meat of choice along with trio of eggs where one could specify the doneness which are then finished with splashes of dark soy sauce. This was the char siew with sunny side up. I believe you get this with pork chops, luncheon meat or even sausages. This was awesome.

The other item that was unexpectedly good was a stir fried hor fun with char siew. What worked for me was the sparing use of the starchy sauce and the smoky aroma from the stir fried rice noodles. A Chinese stir fry that would probably be done very poorly back home. Notice the grains of meat peeking their cracks on the char siew. These tender slices are just waiting to fall apart in the mouth.

Starring Yat Lok

So, these guys have been awarded their Michelin Star last year. I wonder how many more people will flock the shop now that they're under "starlight" and it would be interesting if the quality would sustain to maintain their luminance; a Michelin Star is after all a retrospective award.

Estab De Comidas Ngao Keo Ka Lei Chon (牛記咖喱美食), Rua de Cinco de Outubro, Macau

We came over to Macau this trip to visit the ruins of Saint Paul. It was a lot more to look at than what many pictures on the web had suggested. We had time for one meal and ended up here (G/F, 1 Rua de Cinco de Outubro, tel : +853 2895 6129).  There were posters up on the shop front mentioning that they had been listed in the Hong Kong/Macau Michelin Guide for a few consecutive years; so I'm guessing they're well known, at least to the locals.

One of the items this shop was known for were their crab fat noodles (蟹黃撈麵). Man this was good, but we definitely would not have minded if there were more of that rich creamy gooey stuff to go with the noodles. Doesn't any other shop do this in Hong Kong?

We ordered some lamb brisket with rice. Apparently, the lamb briskets are only on the menu during winter and not the rest of the year.

It wasn't bad, but this was a traditional Chinese recipe where the spices used also help remove that gamey flavour from lamb. The broth was flavourful but I'm probably never ordering this again since I couldn't taste much lamb. 

Po Lin Monastery Vegetarian Restaurant

We made a day trip to the monastery and the giant Buddha statue at Lantau so it made sense that we stopped over at their vegetarian restaurant for lunch. This came from the deluxe meal ticket and the food was unsurprisingly very tasty. I liked most if not all of the things they had served, even those Chinese mushrooms that I normally don't enjoy. And I blame them for making me ask for seconds of their delicious steamed rice.

Sister Wah (華姐清湯腩), Electric Road, Tin Hau

Sister Wah (G/F, 13A Electric Road, Tin Hau, tel : +852 2807 0181) has apparently been compared with Kau Kee; both in their standings of well regard that places them as the top dogs of beef brisket noodle vendors in Hong Kong. I didn't think very much of the latter location some years back when I tried their noodles. Here's a trip to the former.

What I found odd about the particular bowl of noodles that we had was that it was really oily. It wasn't the case for everyone else and we were a little disturbed by it. After skimming off all the grease, it was a rather enjoyable bowl. The briskets were tender and the rice noodles were light and smooth.  

Their curry beef briskets were equally tender, but I couldn't get past feeling that the salty curry was saturated with MSG. But - their vegetable rice was really good. Good like it was the best thing I remembered of Sister Wah and would be the one thing I would be looking forward to if I ever came back.