When you come back from an eating haven like Hong Kong, the only thing anyone cares about is “what’s the best thing you ate?” Well, actually, for a normal person it might be “what did you buy?” but clearly, I am not normal. I don’t shop (seriously, hate shopping, not sure if I’m [...]]]>

When you come back from an eating haven like Hong Kong, the only thing anyone cares about is “what’s the best thing you ate?” Well, actually, for a normal person it might be “what did you buy?” but clearly, I am not normal. I don’t shop (seriously, hate shopping, not sure if I’m meant to be female).

But ask me what the best thing I ate (or drank) and I guarantee you I’ll give you the same answer every time.

Hui Lau Shan.

Say what?

Yeah, that’s right, Hui Lau Shan.

Hui Lau Shan (Chinese website / English website) is a chain of “healthy” dessert stores. There are branches dotted all around Hong Kong and honestly? Why isn’t there one in Sydney? Their simple ingredients of (mainly) mango, coconut, aloe jelly and grass jelly is just so damn good – and healthy – that it’s easy to guzzle one or four, in a three day weekend trip.

When we touched down in Hong Kong, before we’d even exited the airport, I got my first hit.

You’d better believe it! There’s a Hui Lau Shan right there in the arrivals hall so you can get one on touch down, and one just before you depart. Such awesomeness!

My all time favourite menu item is the aloe/mango/coconut drink. I’ve tried lots of other items, and they are all very delicious, but I don’t know why this one just does it for me. And if you get stuck for how to actually order this, well, there is usually a menu with photos, but alternatively you can ask for the B3. That’s what it is, the B3.

Ok, so on this trip I cheated a little and tried something else. This here is a black glutinous rice, mango and coconut concoction. Also scrumptious.

Foreigners might find it a little hard to locate a Hui Lau Shan store because their shop fronts don’t spell out “Hui Lau Shan” in alphabets. So this is what it looks like. Commit this to your memory.

Honestly, everyone go try this place out and tell me if I’m wrong about it being one of the best places in Hong Kong, period.

Hui Lau Shan
Everywhere – check out their OpenRice site for locations
Chinese website / English website

*****

Another dessert place we managed to get to in the two half days which we had to ourselves was Honeymoon Desserts (Engish website). Again, lots of locations all around Hong Kong and they have an awesomely huge selection of desserts and they serve durian!

Of course, for the ultimate durian dessert, you’ve got to go to Tim Yee Yee in Tin Hau, but if you want to maintain any semblance of physical connection with any human being after consuming durian, keep it simple and have a small dose at Honeymoon Desserts instead.

fresh durian and matcha ice cream in coconut sago soup

Matcha and durian in the same bowl. I was in heaven. And that’s a scoop of fresh durian, not durian ice cream, aiight? 

mango pancakes

grass jelly, mango, pomelo and sago, served with vanilla ice cream

So, I posted a photo from Honeymoon Desserts on my facebook and one of my friends commented that she got engaged there. I was like holy crap that’s so cool right?? Forget the stereotypical top of the Eiffel Tower romance. True love is a wedding proposal and big kiss, right after indulging in a huge bowl of durian

Taking notes, Panu? Heh.

Honeymoon Desserts
Everywhere – check out their OpenRice site for locations
website

siu yuk – roast pork

The day after my cousin’s wedding – and our final day in Hong Kong – we got together with all the rellies and had a big yum cha lunch at Dragon King in the World Trade Centre, the final in a string of many indulgent meals we’d [...]]]>

siu yuk – roast pork

The day after my cousin’s wedding – and our final day in Hong Kong – we got together with all the rellies and had a big yum cha lunch at Dragon King in the World Trade Centre, the final in a string of many indulgent meals we’d had. If they read this, I wanted to thank my Aunty Liz and Uncle Jon who fed us so ferociously well over the weekend.

Since it’s a Friday, I’m not going to say much except this, people, this is how you do yum cha porn:

har cheong – prawns in steamed rice wrap

deep fried tofu

char siu bao – BBQ pork buns

char siu – BBQ pork

honeyed lotus root

battered calamari rings

siu mai – pork & prawn dumplings

xiao long bao – soup dumplings

ingredients from a crab, chicken & coconut soup

melon & prawn stir fry

loh bak goh – turnip cake – one of the best I’ve ever had!

soft shelled crab with crispy noodles

whole roast chicken

greens!

lo mai gai – glutinous rice with Chinese sausage and mushrooms

fried sesame pastry with honey

That’ll be all! Have a fabulous weekend!

Dragon King
12F, World Trade Centre
180 Gloucester Road
Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
+852 2895 2288
OpenRice

I’m back! So. As some of you who follow me on twitter might know, I snuck off to Hong Kong for a quick weekend trip to MC at my cousin’s wedding. I didn’t talk about it here because my mum reads my blog (hi mum! miss you!) and I wanted to surprise my [...]]]>

I’m back! So. As some of you who follow me on twitter might know, I snuck off to Hong Kong for a quick weekend trip to MC at my cousin’s wedding. I didn’t talk about it here because my mum reads my blog (hi mum! miss you!) and I wanted to surprise my parents in Hong Kong. They had no idea I was going and it was brilliant, though my dad did almost have a heart attack when we showed up so maybe I should re-think surprises for senior older over-60 citizens from now on.

The weekend was HEC. TIC. Lots of family lunches and breakfasts and general catch ups, but Panu and I did manage to sneak off for a couple of meals. On Saturday, we met up with my friend Mas for lunch at Ippudo, Causeway Bay.

Ippudo is a fairly reputable ramen chain, known for causing great amounts of queueing and hunger through Asia and NYC. I first visited Ippudo in NYC in December 2010, fell in love with their delicious broth, perfectly al dente (can I say that for a non-Italian dish?) noodle and scrumptious pork bun, so I was keen to check out their Hong Kong branches.

The Tsim Sha Tsui branch opened a while ago, but the one in Causeway Bay (across the street from Time Square) is new, so we expected a queue… and queue we did.

Once we were seated, I could barely contain my excitement about the pork buns. In truth, I prefer Momofuku’s pork buns (here in my top 5 NYC eats) but I remembered Ippudo’s to also be pretty darn delicious. We ordered two portions, with two buns per portion. When the buns came out, I was a little surprised. Not in a good way. Check it out:

They give you one bun cut in half and call that two? Proper what the fruck, right? I didn’t actually complain because hey that’s what the blog is for! No really, I didn’t think about it at the time, but I came back and checked my Ippudo NYC photos and we definitely got two buns per portion (and we really should have based on the pricing here). And it really isn’t as good as Momofuku’s, anyway.

Luckily for Ippudo, they were redeemed in my eyes by the once again awesome ramens. Panu had the shoyu tonkotsu (top photo), a sweet soy base with pork, sprouts, bamboo shoots and spring onions.

Mas had the akamaru shinaji, which I had in NYC. This broth is honestly orgasmic, full of pork, garlic oil, miso, black fungus, spring onions and chilli. Seriously, to die for.

I went a little simpler and ordered the basic miso tonkotsu, with pork, sprouts, bamboo shoots and spring onions. I loved this, but ordered an extra portion of pork neck because you can’t ever get enough nice tender pork, right?

Did I love Ippudo? Why yes, yes I still did, despite the rude shock from the half-sized pork bun portions. Mas tells me though that ramen is starting to take Hong Kong by storm, so I’d hazard a guess that soon, the city will be littered with lots of ramen joints, all boasting the best broth in town. Guess someone has to go try them all and let us know.

If only I lived in Hong Kong.

Hakata Ippudo
2F, 8 Russell Street
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
+852 2892 2387
website  / OpenRice

Yesterday morning was one of the most difficult mornings I’ve ever had to deal with. I mean, I thought that last year’s post-Santorini holiday blues were bad. The endless blue skies and warm weather… but now, add to the endless blue skies and warm weather the most adorable, cuddly, chubby baby ever and [...]]]>

Yesterday morning was one of the most difficult mornings I’ve ever had to deal with. I mean, I thought that last year’s post-Santorini holiday blues were bad. The endless blue skies and warm weather… but now, add to the endless blue skies and warm weather the most adorable, cuddly, chubby baby ever and you’ll see why I found it so hard to drag myself away and back to the 9-to-5 humdrum of life.

Sure I’m a city girl and I’d never live in a sleepy town like Townsville, but for a wind-down vacation, there is seriously nothing better than taking a stroll along the wide, sandy beaches (practically a private beach!)…

… and then napping on a wide verandah, cocooned in a hammock…

… or napping on the big cushy outdoor couch (with the dog).

This is the life.

(and doesn’t Panu just take the most flattering photos of me??)

And then there’s the baby. My precious, precious 5 month old niece, Jasmine. This was the first time I met her and you’d better believe that I didn’t sleep in at all the whole time I was there because I wanted to be up when she was up so I could max out my baby-time

Food-wise, we didn’t eat out all that much in the ‘Ville. I mean, come on, my parents were there! They cooked up a storm (steam boats, lamb curries, the works) and I ate up a storm and this week I’m on a self-imposed rabbit food diet and feeling rather sad.

The couple of times we did eat out, we ate in the style of typical Townsville. Once, we had lunch at Jamaica Joe’s, a restaurant overlooking the beach…

crispy battered soft shelled crab with rice & red curry sauce

chicken caesar salad

beer battered barramundi with fries & coleslaw

prawn salad with mango salsa

Jamaican style prawn skewers with spicy honey glaze

… and another time, I had a fresh barramundi fillet sandwich from a classy joint, Keg’s Fish Bar

Tasted awesome though!

And now I’m back in Sydney, which is marginally less painful because I’m still excited to come back to our new apartment. Which reminds me, I need to take some pics of this “blogger crib”. I will get around to it one day!

Jamaica Joe’s
Gregory Street Headland, The Strand
Towsville, QLD, 4810
(07) 4724 1234
website

Keg’s Fish Bar 
Eyre Street
North Ward, QLD, 4810
(07) 4771 2554

It’s funny how life turns out. South Africa was never on my travel hit list – there are a myriad of other destinations I’d much rather spend my tourist dollars on and the princess in me can lap up hours upon hours of beach side pampering before you can even utter the word boring. I’d [...]]]>

It’s funny how life turns out. South Africa was never on my travel hit list – there are a myriad of other destinations I’d much rather spend my tourist dollars on and the princess in me can lap up hours upon hours of beach side pampering before you can even utter the word boring. I’d never wanted to go to Africa, to go on safari. I was never that interested.

But right at this moment, there is nothing else I’d rather do than spend a few quiet days on an African game reserve, amongst the real kings of this world.

Being in South Africa (and here I talk like a veteran when I’m only on my second trip) has caused something in me to shift profoundly. I want it to be a permanent shift, but I know me. I know that though I’m a caring person by nature, I am also a child of an affluent first world country. I take my creature comforts for granted, I spend money like… well not like water exactly, but like a nice thick chocolate sauce, flowing just freely enough to satisfy my whims, anywhere, any time.

South Africa is a trickster country for an Australian to visit. Arriving at the airport, on the transfer (private transfer. You see? Chocolate sauce) hurtling towards the hotel, everything seems eerily familiar. The landscape, the climate, heck even the road signs. It all looks and feels just like home. But don’t be fooled. Scratch below surface and you are made of stone if your heart does not break from what you see.

On one hand you have the crazy rich Saffers, living in their own worlds, protected from the raw J’burg by ten-foot walls, secured further by electric fences. But not far down the road, you pass “townships”; acres upon acres of waterless, powerless shacks, some made of cardboard, some of wood, the lucky ones have a wall made of concrete. The people of these townships flock in from around Africa, hoping for a break in this great city of Johannesburg. They sleep in cramped quarters, they hike or catch the cheapest public transport to work – as cleaners or worse for the affluent – and at the end of the day, they spend half of what little they earn to catch public transport home, back to their lives in the township.

The township in the heart of Johannesburg houses 900,000 people. 900,000 people! And you know what? This is considered a small township. Another one in Soweto, just outside of J’burg has 4,000,000. I can’t even comprehend this.

To see this with my own eyes breaks my heart. To see them on the road side, trying to sell anything for a few Rand. My workmate tells me they often don’t make a profit in a day, but as long as it makes enough to buy some bread or potatoes, that to them is success. If they make a profit, they use that to buy more stock of cheap toys and plastic gadgets and hope that tomorrow, they make a bigger profit. It kills me that people live this way and I want to give them money, for 10 Rand to me (less than £1, just over AU$1) is a meal to them.

I don’t know where to start. But I do know that I want to do something.

Seeing all this ugliness in life conversely stirs in me the desire to find all that is also beautiful in life. And in Africa there is nothing more fundamentally beautiful than the creatures who roam free in the game reserves. Ok, they’re not 100% free, but having the run of more than 90,000 acres is free enough. There’s a certain peace in being in the wild with them, the savannah extending beyond the horizon and it’s just you (well, you and your group) and a family of elephants oblivious to the world they live in, foraging and playfully nudging each other as they trundle along. I could sit and watch for hours and the thought of poachers profiting by hideously hurting these magnificent creatures makes me ache to my very core.

When I’m in the wild like this, when I’m freshly stung by the reality of townships and ashamed of the creature comforts in which I swaddle myself, I almost want to throw it all in and live as basically as I can, and really really learn to appreciate life. This is a huge lesson in humility for me and to think it was taught by people who probably clean the sheets I’ve been sleeping on every night. If only they knew.

I’m really hoping this lesson sticks with me. I need to be reminded that I should not be upset that my purse broke on the weekend (which it did, and I am) because dammit, at least I have something to fill the purse with! But like I said, I know me too well. Without reminder, all this can too easily be forgotten as I return to my hotel room where, by the way I’ve just had hotel laundry done for the very first time in my life and OMG it rocks, I am warm, I sprawl on my queen sized bed and mindlessly flick through the tv channels irritated that there is nothing on. And I browse the room service menu and order myself a burger to satiate my mild hunger. So quickly forgetting those who are cold and eating nothing tonight.

I pledge on this post that I’m going to do something about this. To sponsor a child, or make a regular donation. It’s easy to think one person can’t make a difference but I think we need to believe otherwise.

Sorry to be all serious on y’all. The burger was actually very good… beef patty cooked a perfect medium rare, with lettuce, tomato, pickle and relish. Delicious.

lamb tagine (slow cooked lamb braised in a tomato, coriander, cumin, turmeric and parsley sauce)

I’ve been in Johannesburg a week and this trip has been ridiculously, magnanimously wayyyyyy more enjoyable than the last trip. One, because I’m not working 14 hour days this time and two, I’m not working 14 hour days this [...]]]>

lamb tagine (slow cooked lamb braised in a tomato, coriander, cumin, turmeric and parsley sauce)

I’ve been in Johannesburg a week and this trip has been ridiculously, magnanimously wayyyyyy more enjoyable than the last trip. One, because I’m not working 14 hour days this time and two, I’m not working 14 hour days this time! I’ve had the chance to go out and enjoy a little bit of J’burg

On Thursday night, a lurvely co-worker of mine took me to Moyo, a restaurant which had been recommended to me by Saffers in London way before I came. I was excited to have something African like springbok, but sadly they were all out that night Instead I had a tagine, which by the way, I’ve come to love and then to hate and then to love again.

Luckily, right now I love and their lamb tagine was divine, with the slow cooked lamb so tender it fell off the bone and melted in my mouth.

chicken tagine (marinated chicken braised in a cumin, served with preserved lemons and green olives)

And we had dessert! Toasted almond ice cream, luscious and creamy, complemented by the crunch of whole and sliced almonds. SO GOOD. But we also had a berry crumble which tasted scarily like breakfast cereal.

Moyo
Zoo Lake Park, 1 Prince of Wales Drive,
Parkview, Johannesburg
+27 (0)11 646 0058
website 

On Friday night, we erm, we went to The Attic again.

Oops.

Well, we weren’t at The Attic, technically. This time we went to The Attic Bar, which is right next door to The Attic, and is a super groovy, cosy, premium-spirits kinda hang. Make that premium spirits and premium foodage.

We started the evening with tequila shots and then I had The Best Cocktail I Have Ever Had. Ever. White chocolate and strawberry martini, omg seriously. And I wholly blame this cocktail for my photos gradually becoming blurrier (hello, drunkenness) and then eventually like, at the final course, sharpening up again (welcome back, sobriety!).

The Attic Bar serves food tapas style but if you’re feeling hungry, you can also order from the main restaurant menu. But really, the only thing you want from the main menu is erm, the dessert menu, so that you can have a piece of heaven on earth, their hot chocolate pudding.

Everything on the tapas menu was delicious, especially the seared Irish scallops with hazelnut butter (!!!) and the black tiger prawn tempura, so sweet and juicy I sucked on all the heads. Is that a dining faux pas outside of a Chinese restaurant??

smoked salmon, lemon, crème fraiche & blini

Spanish chorizo, lemon & extra virgin olive oil

mozzarella, vine ripened tomatoes, basil & aged balsamic

seared Irish scallops with hazelnut butter

sauteed chestnut mushrooms, roast peppers and goat’s cheese

DUDE, blurry! What the heck!

peking duck spring rolls, ginger & hoisin

black tiger prawn tempura with dipping sauce

After trying almost one of everything on the tapas menu, we were still hungry and ordered chill salt squid off the main menu, and also the black prawn ravioli which I loved from last time.

chilli salt squid

black prawn ravioli, prawn mousseline & champagne-chervil cream

I didn’t have the hot chocolate pudding this time. I #fail. #megafail. but I was so full! I will have to go back just to have that again.

It’s been so nice to have been able to spend some “social” time with my co-workers. I even had a fabulous meal with my boss lady at La Campagnola (penne with fillet steak YES) and a little too much rosé but hey livin’ on the edge!

Seven sleeps til Sydney!

The Attic Bar
24 4th Avenue,
Parkhurst, Johannesburg 2196
+27 (0)11 880 6102