I have a dream (crave), Yar Why?

Everyone seems to be talking to me about dreams and rendering their own tunes to the music of the famous.

So yar why? Well got to follow the trend, so presenting my rather lazy rendition of the tune "I have a dream" Mamma Mia soundtrack and obviously by FBB (for some weird reason).

----

I have a dream,

A cake to eat,

To help me cope

With all the stress

If you see the wonders

Of FBB cakes

You can be damn happy

Even if its fat,

I believe in his cakes, something pure in everyway i see,

I believe in his cakes, when i know its hard to get.

I want his cakes, I have a crave,

I have a crave, a fantasy,

To help me through, with calories,

And he has a fan club, join it while you can,

He might have a gather, still another while,

I believe in his cakes, something good in everyway i see,

I believe in his cakes, its coming soon to me,

I have a dream..

(Repeat wherever you want and whenever you want till the song end, lazy mode)

---

I hear FBB's fan club is arranging for a gathering. Ohh, I can barely contain my glee.

Want to know more, i think something might pop up on Facebook.

Link to his Fan Club

Nathan Congee and Noodles Restaurant (佐敦粥麵家) @ Saigon Street

Where do you find a hotel and a restaurant that mentions Nathan Road but is technically not on Nathan Road?

Well i have.

Novotel Nathan Road and Nathan Congee and Noodles Restaurant. Yes, i concur to the fact that it is adjacent to Nathan Road but it is not quite Nathan Road, but Saigon Street.

Talk about misleading advertising.

For those who want to know where this is; its across Novotel Nathan Road. Surely a big enough landmark even for those who are visibly challenged.

Back to porridge then, something suitable for the "flu"ed.

How to eat porridge without Yau Char Kuey? These were surprisingly not stale and tasted freshly made.

Extra order of Pei Dan. Can't compete with the Yung Kee ones obviously.

The Century Egg and Lean Pork porridge (Pei Dan Sau Yuk Zhuk). The lean pork tasted like siew yuk (probably was) which meant more flavour to began with. The porridge or congee like that they call it came with a nice smooth blended like texture. Not watery at all and certainly filling.

Another bowl came with fish fillet and beef. It is an almost well known fact that meat tenderisers are used in chinese cooking and the beef was treated the same. Oh so tender the beef pieces was and what flavour was left from the meat was transferred to the porridge.

Trying to think of how to describe the breakfast is already causing me to drool. Also reminded me how you better know how to order the porridge you want because the menu is written in chinese ONLY. The famous ones that came with pig liver, meat balls and minced beef were obviously called something else because i couldnt recognise the familiar characters. Oh well.

Address: 11 Saigon Street, Jordon 佐敦西貢街11號
Tel: 2384 7355
Opening hours: 7:30am – 12pm
Seating: 50

Rating: 4 stars out of 5 stars. I think a bowl would set you back around HKD 20-30. Not cheap but what you get is lots of ingredients in the congee which will keep your tummy satisfied for a few good hours.

The Tree House @ Causeway Bay

11 days after i came back from Hong Kong, i had a few symptons of the dreaded flu. Sore throat, phelgm, a slight cough and blocked nose.

Saw the doctor - no fever, you are safe.

12 days after i came back from Hong Kong, coughing and feeling woozy (omg, fever?)

Saw the doctor again - no fever, but you got the halal flu.

Phew.

Slept 6 hours on Friday afternoon. Thereafter, my body clock was truly messed up. Without the flu medicine, i would sleep 6 hours and wake up, not wanting to sleep any longer (eventhough i am supposed to). With the flu meds, i was sleeping 9 hours at night.

Oh dear, i am staying away from the flu medicine.

----

Back to Hong Kong, shall we?


Just like how we have La Bodega and several others who allow people to bum with drinks and play board games, Hong Kong is blessed with a tiny cafe on the 10th floor of a building in Causeway Bay. Seating not more than 15-20 people, there is a variety of board games to play.

Including what appeared to be the canggih manggih Monopoly.

Which now comes with this device

Credit cards! Oh dear me, are they already educating kids to use credit cards? Swipe and the property is yours. Swipe again to give me rent. Swipe to build hotel!

Am i that outdated? Apparently Toys R US sells the same set. Retails at a blinding RM 170.

You have choices like this cooling herbal drinks

Or smoothies, alcoholic or non-alcoholic is up to you.

A very cozy place that offers free WiFi too, something very unique to have in Malaysia but how to make money when you get customers like us, ordering 1 drink and playing Monopoly the night away?

Address and contact details:

10/F, Radiant Centre, 7 Cannon Street, Causeway Bay,
Hong Kong, Wan Chai District
Tel: 28932205

Rating (entertainment wise): Relaxing 3.5 stars out of 5 stars. Cramped but the concept is cozier, pity it is very friendly for non-smokers too.

Pasta Zanmai @ Mid Valley

I remember the craze when it first opened. Mass produced fusion food, i think it was called, ar yes, Pasta Zanmai.


Not really being a fan of fusion food, especially when the chef starts to become too creative for his/her own good putting in asian touches to western dishes, i stayed far away since the opening of this place who was ready to proclaim themselves serving spaghetti ala japanese style.

Apparently the big crowd i.e. the rest of the Malaysian population did not think about it the same way as me. Every time i walk past it, there would be a queue. Not just 1 or 2 people but a queue long enough to say come back another time, if you must.

Like they all say, theres always a first time. So i braved the idea of stomaching japanese styled spaghetti and went in, along with sister and mom who both said it was actually quite good!

Smart idea of giving you a whole bottle, but sadly as big as the bottle looks, it can only pour 3 full glasses.

Pay RM3 for an extra salad with some quality crab meat and a sesame seed flavour dressing salad with miso soup.

The unagi something or rather with lots of egg (unadon minus the rice plus the pasta?) (RM26) was alright. The topping or the sauce if you would like does not go out of place in a japanese restaurant. However spaghetti is really just a substitute carb for rice and i think the flavour absorbs better with rice.

Serving also rice, garlic fried rice with fried chicken (RM16), no complaints at all. Good fried rice and juicy chicken pieces.

Not only being contended with making japanese pasta, they have their own take of pizza too. The crust while not the pizza crust we are used to, serves his purpose for the "wetter" ingredients and wont be soaking wet by the time you put it in your mouth. The well timed poached egg and the flavourful teriyaki chicken is actually quite tasty. (RM 26). Wouldnt mind ordering this again.

My set gave me my good old japanese food and the fusion pasta at the same time.

Stir fried beef with another poached egg served with rice. I hate to admit it but i think Yoshinoya's version has a better sauce but this was good enough for me to polish it off.

The idea was brilliant. Sashimi with roe on pasta. Sadly, there wasnt enough salmon roe for you to bite into it and let the juices run out to form a sauce for the pasta. No real connection between the topping and the pasta to be honest and however clean the dish was, it wasnt great.

Address and contact details:

Mid Valley Megamall, F-051, 1st Floor.
Call 03-2283 2160 for more details.


Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5 stars. If you are looking to substitue rice for pasta, this is the place for you to go. Although beware that pasta sometimes take abit more effort for the sauce to penetrate through and it can get abit tasteless. However the pizza was yummy and worth ordering.

Fu Shing Shark Fin Seafood Restaurant @ Lockhart Road, Hong Kong

After a couple of posts on Hong Kong food and causing either eye sore to people (what, food that i can eat or taste since i am not in Hong Kong again?) or too much drooling (why must i read your blog late at night when i can't get access to such good food) or just boredom (hong kong again?), let me continue to blog about another "in your face cuisine" in Hong Kong to end all of your horrors.

Having not blogged about dim sum yet because of the long list of photos and remembering what is what, i shall procrastinate no further.

Originating from this part of the world, although since then, many dim sum chefs have travelled to UK, Australia and USA to create beauties of the same standard, if not even better with access to fresher ingredients.

However ask the man on the street, they will tell you any Dim Sum shop will serve you good dim sum. Thats not really the truth because the consensus among the group is that equally good dim sum can be found in UK or Australia.

So not worth taking the risk of jumping into any dim sum shop, we went to Fu Shing Shark Fins Restaurant which i think is different from Forum Restaurant (chinese name is Fu Shing Fan Dim) which has a 1 Michelin star which is coincidentally around the corner but still recommended under the Michelin Food Guide.

Just look how proud they are.

Start off with some pickles. Get your tastebuds all perked up for food. Good Food.

Their char siew was indeed heavenly. Made to order, meaning the meat is not seated like a dead duck but rather the finishing touches to the succulent meat is put on once you desire. Different from the Malaysian char siew, this piece of meat is melt in your mouth not because of the fats but rather the quality of the meat used minus all the unhealthy charred bits. Truly a dish that you want to eat with rice everyday. Only if you can afford a HKD 60 char siew fan everyday.

Since we didnt have enough for Char Siew, we took the Polo Char Siew Bun. With a sweet hard top/ crust, you bite into more soft and mellow char siew. Oh, what a bun.

Then the dim sum baskets come flying out in full speed as we were told from the beginning that we only had the table for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Fish Maw wrapped with Foo Chook roll. Simple and relying on fresh ingredients to give you a different definition of "sweet".

A good wholesome bowl of century egg and lean pork porridge.

A favourite item in Hong Kong Dim Sum. Beef balls and in this case it was more Beef Tendon Balls, cant be too sure. This happens when you only know how to read 1 character out of 3 characters before ticking it on the menu.

Blame it on me, god knows what i was ticking, but apparently i ticked on glutinous rice. The aroma was evident when you unwrap it, but it was too carb heavy that it took awhile to finish.

When i was googling around (just before blogging it), i found out that their siu long bao is a signature dish and true enough, thick enough to wrap the filling and plenty of soup to suck!

Fresh Har Gau. Flawless formula, fresh prawns and thats about it really. Something that you can get elsewhere but i mean how can you tell people you ate dim sum without ordering har gau?

Fun Gou, my girlfriend's favourite. A variety of chopped vegetables and meat wrapped in a translucent skin.

Their famous XO stir fried chee cheong fun. Comes with sweet sauce and the uncommon peanut sauce. Interesting to dip into unsweetened peanut sauce, the XO sauce was aplenty to seep into the thick rolls. Just a tad oily.

Wor tip, by now my memory is starting to fade. Blame it on all the dim sum but this wasn't that bad at all either.

Something to sweeten the mouth, a pecan pie.

A prawn and mango spring roll. Sweet and savoury, another safe and flawless combination.

Totally full but another costly meal. Came up to HKD 160-180 per pax.

Address and contact details:

Fu Sing Shark Fin Seafood Restaurant
1/F, 353 Lockhart Road, Sunshine Plaza, Wanchai, H.K
Tel: 2893 0881

Rating: 4 stars out of 5 stars. With a more well versed reader in Mandarin, you can probably choose your pick properly. Their signature dishes are obviously signature for a reason, displays the expertise of the chefs and can really get me drooling by just looking at the pictures! Or maybe i am just bias =)

Yung Kee @ Wellington Street, Hong Kong

Knowing that the Michelin Star ratings are out in Hong Kong can only mean one thing.

People who title themselves food lovers (i.e. me or glutton) would not only drool themselves all the way to the restaurant but walk in as well and this is despite the "fact" about how the originators of the concept cant differentiate sweet and sour pork and chinese cuisine (just a joke i hope) and how food can be overlooked if there is excellent service and ambiance.

Who cares? If it wasn't great? Only another reason to then say the Michelin Food Guide is just a place for restaurants to overcharge their food right?

So given one choice, to choose a restaurant with a star and serve something "right in your face Hong Kong", we had to go for Yung Kee, the roast goose specialist.

Armed with what little cash we had left and a broken heart (my camera failed me the whole day with the err9 message which has since been somehow fixed by itself), we were greeted by smiling faces and seated down.

The smiling waiter then asks what Tea you would like and leaves a surprise at the table while you scan their EXPENSIVE menu. Set meals cost from HKD 330 per person until HKD 600-700 per person. Add another 10% service charge (guess thats the price for the smiles).

That aside, the surprise on the table left us flabbergasted.


Their century egg is indeed a marvel that deserves the praises of many. Smooth and velvety in the middle, the yolk is unlike the hard and solid ones you get else where. These melt in your mouth with full flavour and the tender white (or in this case, brown) just melts in together too.

At HKD 15 per pax (i assume for 1 piece, takeaway is 10HKD per piece), we ordered another piece before they bought in the masterpiece.

Call me barbaric or a carnivore, the meatier the bird the better. Meatier than our local ducks, the texture of the meat was also far tender but that was about it really. You don't really get a crispy skin because they pour some kind of sauce along with peanuts over it. With some plum sauce to make it a bit sweeter and get over the fact you are stomaching a really cholesterol time bomb, that was it really. The fats were not as evident compared the London Ducks which of course is still my favorite. I still ask myself, is half a goose really worth HKD 210?

Polish it off with some Choy Sum and the bill was HKD 378.

Pricey? Yes

Satisfied that you have entered a 1 Michelin Star restaurant situated at Central nearby Lan Kwai Fong with smiley faces? Did i mention we saw the boss walk in the room too? Yes

Come again? Er, maybe not.

Address and contact details:

32-40, Wellington Street, Central, Hong Kong (8 shoplots long and 4 floors up!)
Tel: (852) 2522 1624
Fax: (852) 2840 0888
Email: info@yungkee.com.hk

Rating: 4 stars out of 5 stars: Despite not being spectacular or orgasmic, i suppose having savoured the so called "best roast goose in Hong Kong" deserves the price. Did i mention how gorgeous the century egg is?

Kam Moon Ting @ Food Forum, Times Square, Causeway Bay Hong Kong

I think we must be spoilt without knowing it when it comes to dining outside in Malaysia.

How often do we in Malaysia or KL have to walk into a restaurant without getting a table? Even if the popularity of the place is equivalent to celebrity or superstar status, a simple call the day before does the trick.

Not in Hong Kong apparently. They only entertain bookings 3 days in advance and if you walk in like we did on a Friday evening, the result?

Wait for 1.5 hours before you are ushered in.

That is the mentality of humans, the longer the queue, the bigger the curiosity is and the impression is that this place is confirmed smacking good.

Well it was pretty darn excellent i must say.


Kam Moon Ting serving modern Chinese cusine with cues from Shanghai to Beijing.

After quickly seated and ordered, my friend apparently is quite a regular and virtually memorised what he wanted to order in the 1.5 hour wait.

Appetisers were spread out to either say thank you for waiting for tease our stomachs and say "sucker, you got to wait". Whatever the intentions were, we digged in.

Their version of giving peanuts; lightly pickled cucumbers and a plate of cold prawns which we happily said thank you and gobbled up.

Their Drunken Chicken was indeed a very drunk one. If the versions i had so far were considered drunk, this was a passed out version. Comparison can also be made between beer and whisky. Tip: Scoop a mouthful of the sauce (or alcohol) with a piece of chicken and put it all in the mouth.

Smoked tea eggs were another delightful item. Expensive at HKD 13 per piece, the money is really paid for the chef's skills in getting the consistency runny egg yolk and imparting the smokey taste on the egg.

After settling the appetisers, the mains followed diligently.

The Dong Po Yuk, was unlike what i was used to (must be our local KL version), this was on the sweet side with the compulsory fat layers. The only complaint was the lack of braising which required lazy fellows to bite more than they should.

The Stir Fried Eel with what appeared to be yellow chives (spotted by my reader) was another dish that you just couldnt stop picking on.

The Creamy Cabbage presumably from Yunnan was abit bland. With the amount we ate over the trip, any form of fiber or vegetable was welcomed anyways.

Slurp in some xiu long bao that was really good. Learnt a tip from my HK friend which was new to me; lift the dumpling "head/tip" with your chopsticks vs carrying it from the body of the dumpling wont cause any spillage.

Pancakes wrapped with what seemed to be sweet (without the sour) pork strips, a simple dish but man it tasted good (then again i am a "sweet" person).

The Sweet and Sour Fish came last. With the addition of prawns among the filleted fish slices, this was your average dish that you can get in Malaysia.

Finished with some noodles, nice texture, not exactly your yellow noodles or your udon, somewhere in between i suppose.

Ohh what a mouthful but definitely worth the wait.

Address and contact details:

Kam Moon Ting 金滿庭

Address: Rm 1002, 10/F, Food Forum,
Times Square, 1 Matheson Street, Causeway Bay
銅鑼灣銅鑼灣勿地臣街1號時代廣場食通天10樓1002室

Rating: 4 stars out of 5 stars. The meal was around 700-800 HKD dollars, well spent i reckon, for Hong Kong standards that is. Filled to the brim with Chinese goodies, just a pity you got to queue and did i mention that you got to queue at the lifts too?

Australia Dairy Co @ Parkes Street, Jordan, Hong Kong

Before i flew off to Hong Kong, i had the preconception that Hongkies (if i may call them that) were people on a time bomb. Walking at incredible paces all over the street as if their lives (or jobs for that matter) depended on it.


Never did i think that Hongkies would eat at an outrageously fast pace too and introduced me to a whole new level of fast food.

Stepping inside Australia Dairy Co and you get that feeling that everyone cant wait to get their food, eat, pay and walk back out while the waiters cant wait to serve you food and ask you to buzz off.

Faced with a menu that is littered with mandarin and not knowing a word here and there, it was pressure when you wave your hand and the waiter is already standing next to you with pen and paper, muttering "what you want?"

Breakfast set x 2 please. (HKD 26 per set)

Scramble or Sunny side up? Scramble (duh? the most famous thing in your shop)

Coffee or Tea? Iced drinks + HKD 2

The day sets (HKD 28) gives you the extra option of Macaroni or Spaghetti, if not just macaroni, served chinese style, clear soup that taste "instant noodle like" with the addition of ham.

With a table so small that wont even give you space to put everything, your drink is served last after virtually gobbling everything on the plate.

The running backward and forward, the tense atmosphere created by the long queue and the rapid workers refuses to let you seat down in peace and slowly enjoy your meal. Not to mention how in the world i manage to take out my DSLR to snap 2 shots before hiding the beg out of sight.

Not a place to savour a piece of macaroni at a time or taste how in the world they make this godly scramble eggs that is velvetly smooth (did they put tons of butter? milk? msg!?)

When you leave this place, it feels as if a train just hit your stomach because you are all full without realising what you eaten.

Oh yes, the amazingly good scramble eggs. Did they put tons of butter? milk? msg!? Well how do you find out? You go into that mad swirling journey again.

Did i mention the silky milk tea, the "xin lai" translated to fresh milk but is actually similar to that "zhong lai" i had as well as the literal fresh milk i took away? Awesome.

Address and contact details:

Australia Dairy Company 澳洲牛奶公司
47-49 Parkes Street, Jordan, Hong Kong
Tel: 2730-1356

Rating: 4 stars out of 5 stars. Want a typical breakfast eaten by a Hongkie, experience the rush that they go through every single day and enjoy some of the most simple yet delicious items in the form of eggs, bread and milk? Recommended to satisfy all of the above.