There’s so much I want to say about our trip to Hong Kong. But given that you don’t actually really want to read any of it, and that I don’t believe in sequels and three-quels, I’m just gonna summarise a whole bunch of stuff, show you some photos and be done with it.

Granted, this is still going to be one mammoth post and here goes…

How it went down in Hong Kong!

Hui Lau Shan

Let’s start with hands down my very most favourite thing about Hong Kong: Hui Lau Shan (links to the US site because the HK site is in Chinese).

Hui Lau Shan is a drinks/dessert joint that uses a variety of fresh fruits and jelly/sago accompaniments to make the most toe-curlingly delicious refreshments ever. And you know how I don’t ever exaggerate.

Their menu is expansive to say the least, with a myriad of combinations. My favourite? Aloe jelly with fresh mango, topped with coconut milk. At HKD$18 (circa £1.50) a pop, I had one of these babies every. single. day.

OMGDELICIOUS.

Durian desserts and other fantabulous things!

In between, or rather, on either side of my daily Hui Lau Shan, I also managed to consume a ghastly amount of durian, followed by an inhuman amount of breath mints because otherwise no kisses for me.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with durian aka The King of Fruits, check out wiki, and scroll down to the section on flavour and odour. Despite it smelling like a sweaty sock, I love durian. More than you can imagine. And a lack of it in London left me panting for more every single day in HK.

Yes, poor Panu.

One of the first places we hit up for durian was Lucky Dessert, right by Time Square. I actually didn’t even know the place was there but I shit you not, we were walking along the street and like a magic piper, I was drawn in by the scent (not stench) of durian.

The “durian soup” – served in a bowl with pomelo and chunks of durian flesh was ridiculously good. My cousins tried the “durian shaved ice”, a new dessert trend taking HK by storm (but didn’t taste nearly as potent as my soup) and Panu very safely had the mango pancakes.

I thought I was satisfied with the durian soup and had initially planned to return day after day for my fix, but my friend Karen pointed out that there existed a more magical durian dessert in the land of HK, one which can be found at Tim Yee Yee (translated as Sweet Aunty) in Tin Hau.

This, my friends, requires that I use expletives. It is FUCKING AMAZING.

The “Ultimate Durian Dessert” ~ durian sorbet, durian ice cream, durian wafer, dried durian, all topped with chunks of fresh durian. I mean really, shoot me now and send me to durian heaven.

Tim Yee Yee also has an extensive list of desserts and this time we did come back for more the very next day where I tackled the “durian soup” which also contained masses of durian flesh.

Panu and my cousins opted for safer options including matcha sago with black sesame ice cream, and banana with tofu and black pearls.

Yum.

Last but not least of my favourite dessert haunts in HK is Honeymoon Dessert in the World Trade Centre. Again, durian features highly on the menu but egads! This time I opted for a grass jelly concoction.

Honeymoon Dessert is a little more polished than Tim Yee Yee but the pricing is still cheap as chips. Aside from my grass jelly with vanilla and matcha ice cream, we also had mango pancakes, mango mochi and some weird seed-things with vanilla soup and matcha ice cream.

Did I eat anything savoury?

Why yes, yes I did.

I discovered the Tsui Wah chain during my first visit to Hong Kong in 2002. My cousin Jane and I would go out partying in Lan Kwai Fong til the wee hours of the morning and at some point, we’d get hungry. Tsui Wah is open 24 hours a day and hola, I’m in love.

Tsui Wah is a remarkable food creating machine. They serve all sorts of weird and wonderful things from foot long hot dogs to wonton mien and even buns covered in condensed milk (yes, you can serve that as a dish in HK).

One of my favourite things from Tsui Wah (and sorry, I will move onto savouries soon, I promise) is the artery clogging “HK style French toast”.

A thick slice of toast, buttered and fried, covered in condensed milk with a lump of butter and further drenched in maple syrup. HOLYMOTHEROFGOD, right?  I could have sworn though, that the first time I had this it was two slices of bread with peanut butter in between, but who knows, maybe people actually had heart attacks from those and they had to tone it down…

Anyway, Tsui Wah offers an awesome selection of local food too. We had satay beef with instant noodles for breakfast, and other yummies like wonton mien, fish ball noodles, Hainan chicken rice and crispy noodles.

And look, there’s a photo of Panu eating because see, I’m not the only piggy in this relationship 😉

Any other savouries?

Yes! On Sunday night, I met up with my friend Karen who took us out to dinner in Wan Chai. She wanted to take us somewhere local, so we had dinner at Kam Dau Kee Seafood Restaurant, one of those hidden floors above the street and you really wouldn’t know it was there unless you knew it was there.

It was sorta funny, we were trying to order a bunch of odd stuff but when the waitress saw Panu she was like “um, I’m not sure if he would like it” insinuating that y’know he’s white and all that. I was like dude, he goes out with me. He eats everything.

And so we ordered everything.

We had soya chicken, century egg with pickled ginger, fried lotus roots, pomelo peel (I know, weird), salt and pepper prawns, and scallop with vegetables. I don’t really know what was so weird about the dishes – Panu had had century eggs before and well, the pomelo peel thing was weird to all of us, but anyhoos, it was all delicious.

Aside from this dinner, every other night we were hosted by my aunty and taken to crazy amazing banquets. We ate at some of the best Chinese restaurants in town, including Maxim’s Palace and ate some awesome dishes like this King Crab noodles:

Is that it?

Of course not! Did you forget I was in Hong Kong for a wedding? A wedding which included a fourteen course banquet?? It was a fantastic night. My cousin managed to convince a fabulous girl to marry him and we celebrated by eating like Kings. No complaints.

Now is that it?

Yes. So this is about as summary as a summary is going to get. Sorry it’s still mammothly long! I’ve left out heaps of stuff but before I sign off, just a few notables!

When in Hong Kong, eat an egg tart (or several):

And don’t forget to stock up on yummy Asian snacks!

Oh and when you’re at the airport, hit up Crystal Jade for a serve of xiao long bao. Lovingly created on the spot, these are some of the best I’ve ever had!

Ok! If you’re still with me, thank you for your patience. I’ve made myself all hungry now so I better go feed me.

I {heart} HK!

ps. if you want to check out more HK pics, click here.

pps. and for more wedding pics, click here.

36 Thoughts on “I came, I saw, I ate and then I ate some more: how it went down in Hong Kong

  1. That durian overload dessert does look, fucking amazing.

  2. Did you leave any room for steak???

  3. Loved the post! Thanks for sharing.

  4. Kang: see, I knew the expletives were required. It was seriously mindblowing. You’d love it! 🙂

    Douglas: You know what, one thing I did not eat in HK was any form of beef! It was all seafood and dessert which really, I’m not complaining about! But yes, I missed my meat.

    Matcha Chocolat: Thank you 🙂 happy to share!

  5. Hui Lau Shan – that’s its real name! I just knew it as the mango place. Tsui Wah is also great isn’t it? I love the fact that they serve mansize portions as your photos of the fishballs illustrate.

  6. How come all I can focus on is that photo of that durian dessert? 😛 If only they started to sell that in Chinatown… (a girl can dream).

  7. I’ve heard durian described as like eating custard whilst shitting, bahahaha. In Thailand I knew a woman who started running like, a month before durian season becuase she reckoned she got fat on it.
    Great pics, jealous – never been to HK but SO want to.

  8. Mr Noodles: Yes HUI LAU SHAN – let that name be burnt into your memory! It’s the best place in HK, I’m totally suffering from HLS withdrawals!

    Su-yin: LOL you really have to try it. I wish anywhere in London would do a durian dessert!

    Sasa: You haven’t been to HK? Do it, woman, do it! And awww don’t be mean to my durian, it smells fantastic to me! And I’m pretty sure I don’t like the smell of shitting. You crazy girl. xx

  9. Karen on April 26, 2010 at 2:44 pm said:

    Glad you enjoyed the durian babe and my, you did manage to scoff a whole lotta durian…LOL!

    • and thank YOU for introducing me to the best dessert EVER. I’ve never been so quiet in my whole life as I was when I was chowing down on all that durian 😉

  10. That is one big eat-fest you had happening over in HK – yawza! So jealous x

  11. When I eventually manage to go to HK, I’m gonna print out this post and take it with me…

  12. Woman, how in the hell do you stay so slender?! A few hotel breakfasts in Manila and I came home looking like a water buffalo. Curse your youthful metabolism . . .!

    That bit about how the waitress was dubious whether or not Panu would like the strange dishes you were ordering sounds familiar (my own pale darling always surprises when he tucks into Filipino blood stew or the chicken feet at dim sum).

    The wedding photos are beautiful!

  13. Mowie: I know I know, I would be jealous of me too 😉 LOL!

    meemalee: When you go to HK imma sit you down and give you a HUGE list of places to go! And yes, print this out too. Do you like durian??

    Tangled Noodle: Haha I don’t know about that. My jeans definitely fit more snugly after the trip than it did before! My motto about holidays though is that you just can’t think about that. Eat to your heart’s content and deal with the repercussions later! 😉

  14. Durian yummmmm!!! Do you have exact address??
    Ther last time i remember having a durian feast was in thailand, 10 days of durian straight, it was absolutely gobsmacking amazingly delicious!! sosososo sweet.
    Post is making me crave durian T_T

  15. ahhhhhh durian, i miss!!!!

  16. vivi: Yes! It’s on Tsing Fung St in Tin Hau – near the Kings Rd end 🙂

    ashiebee: I know, durian is something you can totally miss and crave for, right?

  17. sunfug on April 26, 2010 at 11:07 pm said:

    Ahhh, the mention of Tsui Wah makes me so homesick. I love that around 5am the branch in Central closes for 20 minutes for cleaning – HK efficiency at its best. I’m also amazed that you did not expire from ‘heatiness’ after chowing all that Durian. Thanks for the great post.

  18. Looking at your photos brought back memories of our pigging out trip to HK last year. Thanks for the post! On a sidenote, was the egg tart you had from Tai cheong? The queue there used to be really crazy.

  19. Oh my goodness this is so awesome! i haven’t tried durian before although i’ve heard about it and it scares me! you love it? why? what’s so special? you looked like you had an awesome time and the photos on your facebook also look really cool. thanks for sharing all this!

  20. sunfug: HK is efficiency to the max! and yes, I love Tsui Wah, nothing better to just hang out there and stuff yourself after a big night out 🙂 I’m sort of sick now and I think it might be from the durian LOL but it’s so worth it!

    jiaseemee: I have no idea what shop it was – just some local place in Central! There was no queue so it’s probably not the same.

    jenny: Oh it’s hard to explain, you either LOVE it or you detest it… and cos I grew up with it I truly TRULY love it 🙂

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  22. Yinnie on April 27, 2010 at 4:16 pm said:

    CLUNK <–thats the sound of my jaw dropping…I miss hui laushan and that artery clogging peanut butter toast. Did you try itacho japanese place in wanchai?

    I wish i lived in hongkong, I would die mid eating but it'd be worth it.

    • I totally miss Hui Lau Shan! I’m suffering from withdrawals big time 🙁 I didn’t try Itacho, but I did got to an Itacho in LA – wonder if it’s the same, it was great!

  23. Durian – the marmite of the far east? I’ve tried some before and thought it was allright – could have done without the occasionally over powering smell. My big discover was jackfruit which i really couldn’t get enough of – i think i ate it for weeks at a time, every day.

    Great summary of HK and good pics too, i particularly like the look of that king crab, although it does look like it;s giving you the finger. The post has reignited the desire to get back to HK – i missed so much last time round.

  24. Thanks for this. It couldn’t be more perfectly timed for me and is a great list to start eating my way around!

  25. The Grubworm: You thought it was all right? That’s so interesting cos people usually love it or like really hate it! Jackfruit I also love, I used to make jackfruit milkshakes hehehe 🙂 You can never get enough of HK. This was my 4th trip and I still want to go back!

    Tom: When are you going to HK??

  26. i think the place you got the egg tart from was Tai Cheong, if you go at the right time (read: early in the morning), the tart is freshly baked,still abit gooey & melt in your mouth….yuuum. i had egg tart & vitasoy for brekky 3 days straight when i was in HK. there’s actually a small branch in Causeway Bay 😉

    i’m gonna send this page to my friend in hk for places to take me to next time 🙂

  27. Omg… The pics of the food from tsui wah!!!! Haha… Its just such a great place for cheap good quality late night food. Also great place to hang out with friends. Haven’t heard of hui lau shan before, I will definitely keep my eye out for it when I go home! This post is making me homesick! Thanks for such a great post!

    • Ahhh Tsui Wah, happy place 🙂 hehehe… you never seen Hui Lau Shan? They are everywhere! Well make sure you try one next time ok? I recommend the aloe jelly + mango + coconut milk *yum* 😀

  28. hang on….you went to HK and you didn’t eat ngau lam mee? (braised beef noodles)
    tsk tsk!!!

    you have to go back to HK then!

    • I didn’t!! I know, dude I already squashed as much eating as I could into those days. Not that it was a “waste” per se but every night (except one) we had family banquets so I didn’t get to eat local hawker stuff as much!!

  29. I don’t think you ate very well in HK 🙂

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