Shatin Pigeon in Hong Kong (沙田乳鸽)

"Shatin Lung Wah Pigeon (沙田龙华乳鸽)"

We went all the way to Sha Tin (沙田) to have the roast pigeon. An area which supposedly famous for eating roast pigeon. However, nowadays, the fame of best roast pigeons and many better roast pigeon stores/ restaurants moved to another area named Dai Wai (大围), an area just next or very close to Sha Tin, that was what our Hong Kong friend told us. Shall it be our next target area for roast pigeon (winking smile)?!

Anyway, I still insisted to have the roast pigeon in the originally famous area, Sha Tin, where I longed for. We chose this decades-old restaurant named Lung Wah Hotel (沙田龙华酒店). The signature pigeon dish of this restaurant is not really the roasted type, but braised one, surprisingly.

I heard that this restaurant is famous, not only for the pigeons which they picked only the 25-day old premium type of young pigeons, but also on the background history of this restaurant. Our Hong Kong friend told us that people came here for pigeon meal because this restaurant was the first restaurant that serves pigeon dishes. It also has a small compound situated just right in front the passsage way of the entrance, for a visit to the pigeon loft.

We took MTR to Sha Tin, and transferred to mini bus for a shuttle ride. It wasn't too long a journey from Mong Kok (旺角), but will be a little hectic if you go there by MTR from Hong kong island, or extreme east or west side.

Just cross an overhead bridge, after alighting at the nearest bus stop opposite the hotel. This hotel is located near Hong Kong Ikea furniture mall. Address: 22 Ha Wo Che Shatin, NT, Hong Kong (香港新界沙田下禾輋22號). Check out exact direction here: My Note Book on the Web.

Since this meal was our late dinner (about 9pm to about 11pm when they were about to close for the day), we did not order much food for 3 of us (treats to the same Hong Kong friend, this time). We selected, first, of course the braised pigeon (豉油王乳鴿). Well, pigeon meat was tender and juicy as clamed to be no more than 26-day old young pigeon. Pigeon meat tastes pretty much like chicken meat, but this is much more tender and sweeter, of course (picture above).

Frankly, I preferred the roasted one. Roast pigeon was much tastier than the braised one, to my preference. It was crisped, but texture of the meat wasn't too dry. I liked the roast pigeon! (Hmm... did you see the 'hole' on the pigeon's neck, I could roughly guess how it was killed to cook. With one look of it yielded kinda... reflux feeling from my stomach, after eating the meat. Mind me.)

For conservative diners, please order this sweet and sour pork (咕老肉), if pigeons aren't your cup of tea. It was so appealing to us when first saw the dish ordered by other diners. We already had decided to order this dish, even before settling down with a suitable table seat. We chose to dine at the open air area filled with round plastic tables covered with checker table cloth each, and chairs. Unlike traditional Chinese set-up indoor, outdoor area is more a 'cafe' kind of ambience.

This sweet and sour pork was nicely cooked with juicy pineapple and capsicum cubes. Indeed, it did not fail our expectation. These caramelized pieces of meat were extensively delicious!

This stir-fried Chye Sim with prawns wasn't impressive. No doubt, the prawns were fresh, and weren't over-cooked, and hence, yielded chewy consistency of the prawn meat. However, the greens were tasted a little bitterness. So, instead of ordering the vegetable dish, go ahead and try another of their famous dishes, San Shui Tofu (山水豆腐) which made using stream water.

Please remember, this is a decades-old restaraunt which does not serve diet Coke, Coke zero, Coke light or Pepsi light. They served us with this, this extinct glass bottled Coke, instead.

For this meal for 3, we paid about HK$410 (S$85).

Milky Seafood Noodle Soup (Mee Tai Mak)

"Express Homemade Milky Seafood Soup using a LOW-FAT Evaporated Milk ."

We were having packed Mee Tai Mak Soup from hawker stores as dinner for the past two days, as we wished to have just something hot, soupy, light and fast. And, I was still fanatical over the same noodle soup, for tonight's dinner. Not the same again, we had the home-cooked one, I cooked as I was inspired by the blogger of My Memories, posting her Milky Fish Soup. It built the urge of having it cooked with a different kind of soup base, the milky type instead of my usual clear soup. With much variances, I've came out with the noodle soup recipe of my own.

Besides fish slices, I have added with other seafood as well as some minced pork meat, to make my soup dish more plentiful. Assorted soup (什锦汤) has always been my favourite as I'll get to eat in varieties, despite having to cook only 1-dish meal (chuckling).

And, Mee Tai Mak, to spell it exact, it should be Bee Thye Mak, according to the packaging, I love this chewy rice noodle. It is made short, to have it easier to scope using just a spoon when eat it. Unlike yellow noodle, bee hoon or rice vercimilli, its texture is much more chewy. It looks crystal white when cooked. Taste of Mee Tai Muk is rather bland. So, it is best to go with rich flavoured soup, or thick gravy. I'm going to show you my flavoursome soup base now:

Serves 4 - 5
Ingredients
700g Mee Tai Mak aka rice noodles (in Chinese: 米太目)
200 gram of medium prawns, trimmed
4 crabsticks, halves lengthwise
8 fish cakes, cut into bite size
8 pork meatballs (added it for my girl. Her favourite!)
1 cup of minced pork meat, about 200 gram (season with 1 tablespoon each of light soy sauce, pepper and corn starch, marinate for 15 minutes)
1 piece of boneless fish fillet, 1 cm thick sliced (season with 1 tablespoon each of sesame oil, pepper and Shao Hsing Hua Diao rice wine, marinate for 15 minutes)
1 cup of Chinese cabbage, cut into bite-size

For soup base:
Handful of dried ikan bilis (aka dried anchovies)
2 tomatoes, halves
1 tablespoon of white pepper corns, lightly crushed
2 cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped
1 slice of ginger, about thumb size
1 small onion, coarsely chopped
1 small cup of low-fat evaporated milk (about 200ml)
Slabs of salt and pepper
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1 pot of water, 50% filled (about 1500ml)

Method:
1) Heat large stock pot with oil over high fire. Add the onions, garlics and ginger. Stir-fry till fragrant, and add dried ikan bilis. Stir-fry for another 1 minute.

2) Pour in water. Bring the pot to a boil again. Add pepper corns and tomatoes. Allow the soup stock to simmer for at least 40 minutes, with lid on. Keep the soup slight bubbling with medium-low heat, when simmering.

3) Remove lid, add in cabbages, minced pork, fish cakes, meatballs and crabstick. Sprinkle salt and pepper. Increase heat to high fire. Bring all ingredients to a boil.

4) Then, add in prawns and fish slices. Stir in evaporated milk, and let it boil for another minute before heat off.

5) Divide noodles into 4 - 5 bowls. Laddle soup with ingredients into each bowl. Serve hot.

My girl loves pork meatballs. Whenever I cook noodle soup dish, I will try adding it, just for her. You may vary the ingredients such as mussels, squids and etc, as wished, as long as they don't affect the taste of the soup.

As for the choice of fish, I used Sea Bream fish fillet. It's boneless and less fishy scent.

I simply love the soup with milk even just a little, as it made the soup extra tasty!

Just because it is assorted (seafood + pork meat) soup with (low fat) milk, this noodle soup dish yields about 400kcal. I used low fat milk, it helps a little here by reducing 50kcal. If desired, change it to pure fish slices noodle soup (with milk), it'll reduce calorie by 60kcal. Without milk at all, the noodle soup counts only 340kcal. I'll leave the choice to you!

I am not too fussy over the ikan bilis in the soup. If you mind, put the ikan bilis in a soup bag when boiling, for easy removal after boiled.

Tips: Increase or reduce the amount of evaporated milk, to your desire.

Delicious Local Meals at Local Store in Hong Kong (美味香港大牌档)

"Local meals at Local store patronized by the Locals of Hong Kong."

This local store (大牌档) of Hong Kong is best described as the safest indoor store where you won't get wet or dust as it is not an open-air concept by the road. This store is situated above the wet market inside a multi-storey building. It wasn't stuffy, too, as the place is spacious and has high ceilings and larger windows surounded one side of the walls.

I should say it is pretty much like our "Zhi-Cha" store (煮炒摊) in the hawker centre (of Singapore). It may be a place for casual dinner or for a catch up with friends over meals.

The name of this store is Gi Kee Seafood Restaurant (銖記海鮮飯店) @ Happy Valley (跑马地). Our Hong Kong friend brought us there. So, most of the dishes were recommended by her (and through her friends who are the patrons of this restaurant). This restaurant visit wasn't in our original plan, but since it was recommended by our local friend as she knew we liked local flavours, we were so keen to give it a try! We left the priviledge of ordering to her (smile).

First and foremost, let's dig into this mouth-watering Cold 'Spicy' Chicken (冻辣鸡), one of their must-eat dishes. A taste of the best entrées which I couldn't probably forget. Look at the picture (see above), it still makes me drool!

This dish was served cold as per named. Looks spicy? Not at all, to me. It wasn't exactly spicy, I would say it's more like an almost sweet gravied chicken dish, with just mild chili flavour. It resembles Thai sauce, sweet with a little spicy taste. Even though the meat was cold, it did not affect its delightful taste.

Try this Shark fin and chicken broth (鸡炖翅). The essence of chicken was totally emerged into the super-sized soup. With plentiful of shark fins in it, each and every mouthful of soup wasn't just the liquid, you'll get to eat the soft chicken meat and chewy shark fins in complete pieces. The superb taste surely did live up to my expectation.

This was also another dish recommended by my local friend. I had absolutely no idea what was it, except guessing it as sort of shell creature. Nonetheless, we trust it was safe to be consumed. It is their signature dish, afterall! Chuckling..

If you would like to order this, tell the staff, Stir-fried 'Sheng Zi' with black bean sauce (豉汁炒圣子 "Shi Jup Chao Sheng Zi" in Cantonese). The meat was fleshy, and taste was enlivened by the flavoursome thick gravy. I loved its chewy texture in the palate.

We won't give a miss to fish dish in Hong Kong as it was often made with unbeatable taste! Already tried the steamed fish, we chose another well-known cooking method to this superior fish, Soon Hock (顺壳), we ordered a oil-based Soon Hock fish (油浸顺壳). The whole fish was cut and turned from inside out completely to deep-fry till extensively crisped that you can even chew the bones. The sauce of oil and light soy sauce wasn't really too oily, it was so fragrant and well complimented the deep fried fish.

This is the vegetables dish which I mentioned in my previous post! This simple-yet-superb vegetables dish is heartily recommended to you, the Stir-fried Sheng Cai with preserved bean curd (生菜 [aka 玻璃菜] 清炒腐乳)! It is just an ordinary dish which every household should be able to cook it. However, the same dish here was not ordinarily well executed! Crunchiness of the vegetables remained, and its taste was simply perfect, I repeat, perfect! It was the last dish served in this dinner, but I just couldn't stop myself from finishing it up completely, despite my overly filled stomach.

We arrived at late evening and saw the place steadily fill up with casual diners, guided tourists and friends' gatherings. I guess it will be good to make advance booking. Spontaneous visit might end up with long wait, especially over weekend.

Just to elaborate this place further, there are two similar stores, i.e. 銖記 and 嫦记, on the same floor. This place is basically segregated into tables of two colours. White and orange plastic cover sheets which white belongs to 銖記, and the later belongs to 嫦记. Don't worry if you can't remember, there will be a number of restaurant staff each standing-by at the door of the elevator, and shouting to 'welcome' you. Do not be shocked by their aggressiveness, just say you are going for 銖記, the relevant personnel will guide you to their seats. I guess this is the ritual here, and they have been living with it peacefully, so far.

Since we went there after shopping at Causeway Bay, by public transportations, conveniently. I think it's pretty easy to find this place, i.e. No.2 Yuk Sau Street (毓秀街), UC Wong Nai Chung Complex, 2nd Floor, Happy Valley, Hong Kong. For further information on how to get there, please check out My Note Book on The Web.

The portion of each course looked decent, but this 5-course meal was deceptively filling! We had no room for dessert anymore!

How much it costs? I was not too sure as it ended up as a treat from my friend! Just briefly saw a HK$500 note and a few tens were paid.

Seafood Dinner Tour in Lamma Island, Hong Kong (南丫岛海鲜之行)

"A feast on FRESH Seafood in Lamma Island, Hong Kong. TENDER, FRESH & DELICIOUS!"

Mini abalone in the shell. Tender, fresh and delicious. Where to eat? Lamma Island should you go!

In Hong Kong, there are two areas recommended for seafood i.e. Sai Gong (西贡), and outlying Island of Lamma (南丫岛). We chose Lamma Island, just to experience an excursion out to one of the three largest Islands of Hong Kong. Lamma Island is segregated into two parts i.e. Sok Kwu Wan (索罟灣) and Yong Shu Wan (榕樹灣).

If you prefer to visit to a more tourisy sight, go to Yong Shu Wan. There are many Westernised places/ cafes for drinks and snacks. Since there are many caucasians and tourists, even motels are catered for overnight stays.

We chose Sok Kwu Wan just for a seafood dinner, as we did not have much time and energy to arrive Yong Shu Wan for visits then walk an hour (or more) journey to Sok Kwu Wan for dinner, which you may do so. We went direct to Sok Kwu Wan by ferry from Hong Kong Island, the Central Ferry Pier 4. The 40-minute ferry ride costs only HK$18 per passenger. Octopus card (八达通) is acceptable here.

There is Tin Hou Temple (天后庙) each at Yong Shu Wan and Sok Kwu Wan. We wanted to visit this temple for a photo shot as well as praying purposes. However, it was closed when we arrived at Sok Kwu Wan's at about 6pm.

Frankly, nothing much for the eye, except some sea views, at Sok Kwu Wan, we had a short stroll for about 20 minutes, before heading to one of the restaurants there for dinner.

There's a handful of restaurants for you to pick and dine.

Most of the restaurants are facing the sea. The choice of restaurant for most tourists and even locals is always Rainbow Seafood. However, we did not choose to go with the flow as I think they are over-publisized using the commercial channels, just my point of view. A credit to them though, they provide free ferry ride thru-and-flow, if dining at their restaurant.

We chose Tai Yuen (泰苑), a restaurant which located in the middle of whole stretch of restaurants. Why this? Firstly, they claimed that service charge and 'tea charge' of about 10% are waived. Secondly, the restaurant staff were agressive in attracting customers to dine-in at their place. Lastly, all of these restaurants appeared similar to me, in term of price and ambience, just pick anyone pleasing you, sit down and relax. Why bother?! Laughing.. This restaurant has many water tanks containing fresh live sea creatures for your choices. We added a fish dish to our set dinner menu, and hence, I had to go and pick my choice of live fish! It's one of a kind, you get to experience a different way of having seafood meal!

The first course from the set menu was mini abalone. You may choose either scallops or abalones. The restaurant staff recommended abalone. Well, it was a brilliant recommendation!

Other than the fish, all dishes featuring here were from the set menu for 2 costs around HK$380 which comes with 2 drinks, too. Each dish comes with 2 to 3 choices of seafood with similar values and various cooking methods. In fact, there are few set menus starting from HK$198 to HK$380. They usually serve you with 2 pots each of hot Chinese tea and water, despite the complimentary soft drinks or beers from each set menu. Not to worry about the real purpose of serving you with hot water, it is safe for drinking, or washing cutlery. However, this restaurant will prepare another bowl of hot water for cutlery-washing purpose, still. A bowl of hand-washing 'lime-tea' will be provided, too.

This was the fish I chose, 包公鱼. It looks very black in colour when alive, which does not look very appealing to me. However, the restaurant staff recommended it to me, and she promised that the fish will become lighter colour when cooked. Yes, it was so. This fish costs about HK$120 ($S24). They offered a little discount on an additional order on top of our set menu. We paid about HK$110 for it.

No regret! This 'swimming' fish was super fresh. No worries about the earthy scent where some fishes might yield, if it's not fresh enough, this fish was absolutely free from any unpleasant taste! The sauce of this steamed fish was excellent. We could smell the fragrance of this fish even before it was served on the table! Again, it's tender, fresh and delicious!

I loved this steamed lobster with Ee-Fu noodles. The texture of this lobster was tender and chewy. We got to enjoy the whole flesh easily twisted out from its shell using just a fork.

These steamed prawns were fresh, but size of each prawn was petite. Thankfully, the serving was generous, enough to satify our craving for these fresh prawns.

Taste of stir-fried clams with black beans sauce (豉汁炒蚬) wasn't too impressive, but clam meat was fresh and fat (fleshy). This dish wasn't spicy, but mild saltish flavour with lots of gravy. In general, we liked it!

Well, just because we were at Lamma Island, a small Island which produces fresh homemade shrimp paste, I decided to try it with a vegetable dish. So, we ordered Stir-fried Kang Kong with shrimp paste. Order this in Cantonese, you say, Tong Choy Chao Har Jiong (通菜炒虾酱). It wasn't spicy, the vegetables were plainly fried with shrimp paste. The shrimp paste was fresh, but its taste wasn't exactly what I was looking for. Was it too bland? Or too mild flavour? I think it needed a spicy lift, to make it better executed. If given another choice, I guess I would have ordered the Stir-fried lettuce with preserved bean curd (生菜炒腐乳) which will be my next recommendation (chuckling)!

Besides the set menu and additional fish dish, they also served a plate of two fried squid balls free, which supposed to be complemented only if you pay your bill by Hang Seng (恒生) credit card.
　
Anyway, our stomachs were ballooned with the seafood feast! We paid a total of HK$500 (S$100) for 2 person. I think it was pretty reasonable for such plentiful seafood meal, and their service rendered to us through out the meal was up to standard. Worth it!

Need a place to stay? Hotel in Hong Kong

Prawns in Spicy Assam Sauce

"Mouth-watering Spicy Assam Prawns, don't you forget to cook more rice tonight?!"

I have the dried Spicy Tamarind Prawn, I am now featuring the "with Sauce" recipe!

This is a little different as I used tomatoes. First to neutralise a little of its strong spiciness, and also, to have some pleasant sourish taste in the dish.

The very appetizing sauce in this recipe yields flavour of sweet and sour, it's reminscent of Assam, with additional spicy taste. I called it Spicy Assam sauce. This recipe is well-liked by my hubby who does not really take much spicy food. Of course, I love it! Did not eat much prawns, I mixed its gravy with a large bowl of rice. It gave the same satisfaction to my taste bud. Let's see:

Serves 3 - 4
Ingredients
12 - 16 medium prawns with shell intact (about 300 gram), trimmed
1 large tomato, cut into wedges
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon of tomato sauce (ketchup)
2 tablespoons of tamarind paste with pulps, dissolve in 50ml of water
2 tablespoons of belachan chili paste (adjust amount to your desired spiciness)
1 tablespoon of sugar
½ cup of water
2 tablespoon of cooking oil

Method:
1) Trim prawns, and cut a slit at the back to devein. Remain shell intact. Wash and pat dry. Reserve for later.

2) Heat wok with oil over high fire. Add garlic and stir fry till fragrant.

3) Add chili paste, stir-fry for 30 seconds, and add in water. Add prawns and tomato. Keep stiring for 1 minute, add tamarind sauce (with pulps), tomato sauce and sugar.

4) Reduce fire to low heat. Stir-fry for another 2 minutes, and cover wok with lid to simmer for 5 minutes, or until sauce is slightly thicken. Serve hot with rice.

Tips: Get not-too-ripe type of tomato.
* Instant Belachan chili paste is widely available in various supermarkets and provision stores.

Fresh Chinese Yam Root (Huai Shan) Soup with Corn

"Soup that benefits you and your family, for health and vitality"

In the midst of sharing my food experiences in Hong Kong, I did not forget my house recipes.

Today, I would like to share this clear soup recipe which involves fresh Chinese Yam. In Chinese, we called it fresh Huai Shan (鲜淮山) or Shan Yao (山药). Whatever you called it, this is a very good natural food you should be taking regularly, in normal circumstances.

Chinese Yam Root/ Huai Shan(淮山）

Why do I emphasize the word, fresh, here? As we know, Huai Shan is widely used as Chinese tonic soup ingredients, it is usually made into dried form for easy storage purpose. Hence, dried Huai Shan has became so common that we have forgotten the fresh type.

Fresh Huai Shan is mostly sold in supermarkets or wet markets. You probably can't recognise the fresh Huai Shan Its appearance looks different from the dried one which has already been thinly slices and harden before placing up the store rack for sale. The fresh one will be found in long stick-like root form with skin intact.

Do peel away the root skin using normal peeler. You will find it wet and excessively slimy. But no worries about it, the mucous-like substance will disappear once it is boiled in water.

Huai Shan is widely utilized by Chinese physicians in healing liver problems, blood detoxication, hair loss, joint-related issues, and to support kidneys function, despite the lack of clinical proof that supports the claimed effects. Some even say that it is the most natural food to aid in man's vitality! I guess it is very much to do with research on the effect of supporting kidney and liver functions (smile).

Burdock Root or Chinese Yam Root (Huai Shan)?
I think I've made a mistake previously to assume Burdock root (牛蒡) = Chinese Yam (Huai Shan 淮山). The findings told me: Not exactly are.

Burdock root is usually used to harness it's health benefits with Chinese Yam root, despite the fact that they have similar appearance.

Burdock root has been used for purifying blood stream, and to neutralize and eliminate poisons in the system. Some claimed that consumption of burdock root aids the treatment of gastrointestinal conditions, stimulates the digestive organs and also treats skin problems.

Seriously, if I don't re-confirm which root I want by referring to its labelling or checking with the seller, I can't really tell the difference between these twos. Are they the same in the first place? I am not the expert of it. What I am sure, is they are having rich health properties which are so well-utilised by both Western and Chinese herbalists.

Well, saw many, heard many, give it a try as it won't go wrong with having it moderately. It's simple and easy to prepare!

The taste of this soup is good. Mild natural sweetness yields from red dates and fresh sweet corn, the fresh Huai Shan does not create much taste here. However, Huai Shan slices are very nice to chew on its crunchiness. Its texture is a little reminiscent of cooked lotus seed when chewing it, despite the total difference in term of appearance of these two substances. Believe it or not, Huai Shan slices are something you will eat it freely without much worries on weight loading effect (chuckling)?

Serves 3 - 4
Ingredients
200g of lean pork ribs, blanched
200g fresh Huai Shan (鲜淮山), peeled, thinly sliced, and blanched
1 ear of fresh corn, cob broken into half
6 - 8 pieces of seedless red dates
1 pot of water, 50% filled (about 1000ml)

Method
1) Bring a pot of water to a boil over high heat. Add in pork ribs, red dates, sweet corn, and fresh Huai Shan.

2) Bring all ingredients to a boil again. Reduce heat to low fire, and simmer for 30 - 40 minutes. Cover pot with lid. Add salt to taste.

3) When all ingredients are cooked till tender, heat off. Serve hot.

Calorie count of this soup no more than 150kcal per regular bowl. Remember to eat the ingredients, too.

Tips:Blanch the Huai Shan slices beforehand to get rid of the stickiness, if necessary. Nonetheless, it will still be gone when boil it in the soup. Taste will not be affected.

Hong Kong Dim Sum (香港点心)

"Please remember to order this "包(Bao)", if you ever had your Hong Kong Dim Sum at City Hall Maxim's Palace, Hong Kong. Find out more!"

It was our first (and only chance of the week in Hong Kong) Dim Sum (点心) meal over the week of our holiday there, at City Hall Maxim's Palace.

Maxim's Palace has two branches (or many?), I wanted to go to the one at Kowloon where we stayed, but my hubby said the reviews on the internet supported only the City Hall branch where they claimed a real good one. Hence, we made plan for the City Hall's.

Yes, this is the "bao" that I mentioned. 流沙奶皇白包, if I heard it correctly from the restaurant staff who recommended this "bao" to us.

Basically, the filling of the bun is custard, with a hint of salted egg yolk. Why is it called as 流沙 (flowing sand)? It is because the texture of its filling is so smooth which resembling the flowing lava... Hence, it has been named like the "Lava-like custard steamed bun". Indeed, the texture was slight runny, not too watery, and yet neither too thick nor dry, when I first tasted it. I love the mouthfeel and taste of the filling, with its soft steamy hot bun. The fragrant mild egg yolk taste is definately the grasp of it. It increases the fragrance to the overall taste of this little bun. Soft, tender, fragrant and not-too-sweet taste, I regret had it only one (sobbing)!

Have Hong Kong Dim Sum, how can you ever missed one of these signature Hong Kong Dim Sum dishes, the Roast pork bun aka Char Siew Bao (叉烧包)?! Without a shadow of a doubt, the Char Siew Bao at Maxim's Place, of course, was delicious! Taste wasn't too sweet or too greasy, the lean pork meat with minimal lard of its lavishing filling is chunky and fresh.

Inside the restaurant, placed with all round tables and the old-style high-backed cushioned chairs. Being a typical Chinese restaurant, it retains the traditional Dim Sum cart-pushing practice here. Limited nice view from inside out, I simply loved the brightness created by the full glass of another side, and its spaciousness. And, yes, floor area of the restaurant is large, to cater its usual crowd.

It was not swamped with customers on that day we went, when it was just opened for business for the day, at 11am. However, it was already packed with tour-grouped diners at other other side of my picture view. It was also on the rise of crowd, when we were about to check the bill at around 1pm, on a weekday. Who says it's recession?!

In fact, for no reason, we waited for an hour plus before it opened as we thought it opens at 9am, daily, but weekdays' timing is from 11am instead! To remind you, only weekends, they open from 9am. Remember also, it is located at the second level of the City Hall Building. Maxim's Palace City Hall (大会堂美心皇宮) @ City Hall Low Block, Hong Kong. For more details on direction, you may click on My Note Book on The Web.

Continue with our Dim Sum food journey here, we ordered this shark fin dumpling soup (鱼翅灌汤饺). We pronounced it in Cantonese as, Yu Qi Goon Tong Gao, if you wish to order it in Hong Kong.

It is a chunk dumpling filled with chicken stock, pork meat and shark fin stripes (some use dried scallop stripes instead).

The clear chicken stock soup base was flavoursome. This Dim Sum dish is considered as superior dish due to the use of shark fin. I could not recall the price of it, not too pricy, but for sure not a few dollars kind.

Do give it a try, as you'll find it worthwhile, for the taste of the thick chicken stock and shark fin as a luxury breakfast/ lunch meal. Smile...

If you are wondering what is this, I guarantee you with its splendid taste! This is something I have to recommend it to you! The steamed yam cake! This is one of their specialty dishes which you can't probably find it else where. Usually, steamed yam cake is a form of squarish stuff served on a plate. Some restaurant chefs even pan-fried it a little. However, the one found here, is with a little light soy sauce mixes (not sure about the actual ingredients of it) on top of a clay bowl of 'really steamy' yam cake!

The texture of this yam cake, was no ordinary soft. It was super soft and tender that almost melt in your palate instantly. Yet, it had its extent of firmness to hold the shape of it. Taste was, of course, excellent!

Many many to remember, please jot it down to remind yourself to order this steamed yam cake, when you go there!

Other dishes we tried, must be those signature dishes, such as, stuffed Cheong Fun (鲜虾肠粉). The sauce was not too salty which goes so well with these soft thin sheet of rice flour rolls.

Fresh Har Gao (鲜虾饺). Right texture of the almost translucent dumpling skin with fresh prawn meat in it. How could you resist this must-order Dim Sum dish here?? Other dishes such as Siew Mai (蒸烧卖), Fried Spring Rolls (春卷), and etc, in our list of order were genuinely good, too! In fact, there wasn't a dish we ordered that made us regret for the trouble of locating this place, in addition to the hour wait!

For sure, we won't miss the main lead of the whole "Yum Cha" (tea-drinking) ritual, the fairly thick Chinese tea! We selected these tea leaves named Shou Mei (寿眉). See its light brownish tea colour, you already knew that such tea we ordered wasn't the very thick kind. We prefer something light and more refreshing for the throat, instead of those real awakening types! Laughing...

The total bill for 3 with reasonably filled stomaches (we had our Hong Kong friend joined us for the brunch), came up to about HK$375 (~S$75), just FYI.

Tips: Do not be confused by the Maxim's Cafe (under the same organisation) which located at the ground floor at outer area of City Hall Building. You have to go into the building, 2nd floor to reach the restaurant, Maxim's Palace. Yes.

The Best Hong Kong Roast Goose at Yue Kee (裕记)

"Irresistible Sham Tseng (深井) Roast Goose by Yue Kee (裕记)"

The publicity of Yung Kee (庸记酒家) continues to boost by its endless award-winning ability, and it is probably the most famous Chinese restaurant in Hong Kong delivering famous roasted goose and some flavourful side dishes such as century egg with preserved ginger slices. Its fame is further increased by the prime location at Wellington Street, Central, Hong Kong Island. Convenient and easily located by tourists and business traveler from all regions.

Feasting at Yung Kee, however, most likely make you leave with your wallet noticeably lighter (smile). Furthermore, I don’t really find the food to be particularly good. So, we prefer the local favourite roast goose specialty old-time restaurant, Yue Kee (裕记), which located at Sham Tseng (深井), with an eye-catching gigantic signboard at the main entrance of their huge car park space facing the main road, while the actual restaurant is situated further inside of the car park where you have to cross a small bridge that leads you to the restaurant with the pretty run-down exterior. Yue Kee is a decades old restaurant, but many locals prefer to have the goose dishes here. In fact, we were, too, convinced that we had a good choice with Yue Kee's (chuckling)!

It's not difficult to get there, we took MTR, and then, the bus from the bus terminal next to MTR station of Sham Tseng (深井). From the main road, we had to walk through their car park with big signboard visibly seen from the main road, crossed a bridge and made a small turn, we reached the restaurant, Yue Kee Roasted Goose Restaurant (裕記燒鵝飯店) @ Sham Tseng, 9 Sham Hong Road, New Territories (新界深井深康路九号). Precise directions for you here, check out My Note Book on The Web.

Just elaborate a little, if you are interested to know more. When I first looked at the menu, the price of roast goose wasn't impressive, rather pricy. I know if you said as compared to Yung Kee Restaurant which I heard it's often known as an over-priced restaurant, the price of HK$300+ here at Yue Kee for a whole goose is considered reasonable. Well, they have few options, whole goose (for many pax), half goose (for 3 - 4 pax), quarter goose (good for 2 pax) of upper portion and quarter of lower portion (HK$20 more for lower portion as it comes with a drumstick). We ordered the lower portion, of course.

Yes, the taste of the goose meat together with its crisped skin was so unbelievably good! For someone, like me, who does not eat fat and skins, it was quite unbelievable until I tried my first bite of the goose skin. Gosh, I can't believe it! It was indeed extensively tasty! Mouth-watering crisped skin, not too greasy, the fragrance of the skin mingled in my mouth for a long while. The after taste was so pleasant that I couldn't bear to get rid of it by the taste of other food. I could not resist and had 5 pieces of skin altogether, and claimed no enough of it!

There is this dish, not sure why, but seems like most roast goose stores have to have this side dish to complement it as a good roast goose meal. The same goes to Yue Kee, they have this century eggs dish as one of their recommendation, beside the goose meat.

Indeed, the century eggs from Yu Kee, were very nice! The yolks were neither runny nor too dry. It won't stick on your teeth, after eating. The century eggs were fragrant in the palate, without the taste of 'soil' where the unpleasant 'soil-like' taste does exist in some century eggs selling at some places.

I like the 'bouncy' consistency of the egg 'white' part. Eat the 'white' and yolk together, its contrasting texture complements each other, and thus, yields smooth mouthfeel. Try some preserved (slightly sweetened) ginger slices that placed in the middle of the dish, after eating the eggs. It's kind of refreshing for the palate.

In fact, there serve many other dishes of goose parts, such as, stir-fried goose intestine, braised goose tougue, goose feet, goose liver, anything, you name it. However, other than the actual meat, we had enough to do with goose. Other dishes we have tried there were: 红烧山水豆腐 (Braised silken 'Shansui' toufu). 'Shansui' refers to stream water, the toufu was made with stream water instead of tap water, which supposed to be better for both the taste and health of consumers. The bean curd (toufu) dish was served with Shitake mushrooms, and fried Spinach underneath the toufu. Silken toufu, juicy spinach and chewy mushrooms, this is another dish to be ordered, if you, same here, are not really a fan of goose internal organs (chuckling).

Well, I thought it will be good to have a soup dish, we ordered the 鲮鱼球豆腐汤 (Handmade Dace fish balls with toufu clear soup). I've missed out the word, toufu, in the soup dish, when first ordered it. Toufu again?? Yes, even it is using different type of cooking method (non-fried toufu), we had enough of toufu in the same meal. Perhaps, we were just over-ordering our food! Happy to tell you that every dish that we ordered, came with large portion of each that good enough to feed 4, we were indeed over-eating that night!

Nonetheless, eating at Yue Kee will never cost you a bomb. For our meals of 4 super-sized dishes, we paid only about HK$300! I personally think it was over-delivered for the price. Worth it!

For 2 pax, I suggest ordering 2 dishes. Of course, one must be the main star of the shop, the roast goose meat! In fact, order a dish of half goose and century eggs or braised toufu dish will be a perfect dinner meal for 2. Trust me.

After having the best roast goose dinner, and you wish to have a nice dessert to end your feast session for the night. There is this dessert store named Fa Kee (发记), just located by the main road. We have at least two local friends there, recommended this dessert store to us. 'Unfortunately', with our bursting stomachs that night, we decided to give a miss to the dessert at Fa Kee.

Well, go try it and let me know!