Friday, 6th June 2014
Hubby came down with mild sorethroat the day before, I guess due to lack of fluid and over fatigue. The original agenda for today was to head to Tung Chung and Tai O fishing village but looks like we may just have to rule out the latter, and take it easy today, just shopping and going on food hunt. Afterall, we haven't really eaten anything super fantastic so far!
So, first on our list was this much-written place, Kam Wah Cafe along Bute Street. There are a few recommended eating places within walking distance (read, 10-15minutes walk) from our studio.
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| This was the crowd when we entered, but we didn't have to wait for a table. Ours was at the back, just at the entrance of the drinks-kitchen, so we had clear view of the topless, tattooed-full-body drinks chef as we dig into our polo bun |
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| Fuh fah foh?? Not knowing how to read Chinese, how did we know this was the famous Kam Wah Cafe that we were wanted to find? Just ask! |
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| Breakfast is served!!! |
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| Highly recommended to try this... egg tarts! |
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| ... and this! The polo bun aka pineapple bun. The other plate consist of a butter raisin cake which I ordered just because every table has it. ;P |
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| .... and whilst we are at it, why not HK's favourite french toast too? You can't go wrong with this deep-fried bread coated in egg and served with melted butter |
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| Look at these babies... just out of the oven, waiting to be devoured! |
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| The wall behind the cashier is lined with their awards |
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| Opens only at 11am till late. Cow needs its full morning rest first ;) |
So we proceeded to the nearest MTR and headed to Tung Chung for shopping!
Shop we did... some shops/items were very fulfilling but most of the rest were not that great. I mean, we are here to find things that we can't get in KL. Having said that, we saw many Mainlanders with trolley luggages walking around... and you wonder why? Well, these are professional shoppers! They stash all their loot in those trolley hard case, so they needn't have to carry shopping bags like us!
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| Macau food. It's rice with pork chops sprinkled with fried garlic la.. |
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| Wantons, vege (we were deprived of fibre) and dumplings |
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| Black pepper rice |
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| This little girl wanted to get shoes...we checked out many shoe shops but found nothing suitable. Sob sob! |
Since we covered Citigates within only a few hours, that left us with a lot more time, and hubby was managing... so we thought, why not Tai O fishing village? Its a 45 minutes bus ride, but that also means we can rest our aching legs and hopefully catch 40 winks.
Getting to the bus station from Citigates was only 5 minutes walk, and there was no queue. The time of the bus arrival is stated clearly at the waiting area. Need I say the bus left punctually too?
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| First thing to do... EAT! Found this Jumbo Fish Ball stall, and kids immediately said "hungry" so Daddy bought 'em fishballs. |
We walked down the old walkways, marvelling at the old shops at both sides, some selling food stuff all home made, but most selling dried seafood. Since I had already bought what I needed in Sheungwan, I had to resist buying more here, although they look oh-so-fresh! You can even eat it just like that... (I know, coz a stall keeper gave us some dried prawns as a snack) and boy it tasted good! Anyway, I bought mini lalas aka clams but the locals call it by another name which I can't remember here. Actually that was the first purchase I made, within 10 minutes of arrival. Why? Simple because of the price!
Seafood - we initially planned to eat seafood here, but decided not to, after checking out the prices - all tourist price! Afterall, if one is willing to pay tourist price, might as well go home and pay higher to eat fresh seafood, right? OK OK, maybe I'm just feeling the pinch after all the shopping at Tung Chung and thinking of tomorrow splurge.
We took a boat ride out into the river and ocean... cost only HKD40 for all 4 of us (William goes free, yippee!!!) and the boat had just us and another couple, it was almost private! We went out hoping to see the pink dolphins, and it did appear albeit a shy one. Glimpse of it bopping up and down the sea waters, first here, then there... so it was really tough to capture a picture of it.
Less said, here are the pictures. Weather was good, despite forecasts of rain. Praise God for that!
According to our boat captain, the houses here are built on government land, and there is no taxes on the houses. Many home owners are poor fishermen who built their own home on wooden stilts, but the new generation now are moving out. Some villagers now can even afford to renovate their homes with concrete which is a lot safer when the high tide comes in.
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| Peanut cookies, fresh from the oven. |
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| The boy is soooo fascinated with what this lady was doing |
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| Can you see a "sleeping man" in the mountain? |
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| Going on a boat ride... very excited! |
We had dinner - simple stirfy beef kuey teow noodles, steam local chicken and stirfry vegetables. Nothing great but good enough to fill our tummies.
Back in Mongkok, we headed out for supper to satisfy our curiousity on so-called-highly-recommended-good-food in our vicinity.
First stop, back to Yee Shun Milk Company and we ordered their signature milk pudding in two flavours - original and red bean. The texture is somewhat similar to our tau fu fa, and a tad bit too sweet for me and the kids. Crowded? Long queue? Not at that hour!
Then we went to the second stop... roasted goose! Someone told us not to go to HK and come back without eating their roasted goose, so before this trip, I googled and read many blogs recommending Sham Tseng Chan Kee Roasted Goose.
The verdict? YUCKS!
OK, not that we don't give face, but I think the rice was acceptable, but the goose was too fat (1/2 cm thick) and not juicy, not served warm and rather tough. The roasted pork (siew yoke) could have been better. I can think of many good places serving roasted pork in Malaysia, but hardly mentioned on the internet. So we're thinking, these people who hype up these places here in HK... have they really eaten much? Sadly, some of them are from Malaysia themselves.
Note: I later chatted with some friends who have visited HK also shared the same sentiments as me, so I'm not being a fussy eater here. Hubby who is less critical with food and has a lot more eating experiences than me shared the same thoughts.
Good night... tomorrow it's The Peninsula to celebrate someone's aging! : )
