Didn't take a gander at the kitchen, but I'd wager that my hot dessert soup flavored with almonds and cashews (HK19) came from a mix; it was too smooth, with a mass-produced feel.
Dessert Shop
148 Soi Yeung Choi St., Mong Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong
(one of several locations)
This Hong Kong garment district had already closed up shop for the evening, but not so a nearby (albeit nearly foodless) night market, sidewalk restaurants, and takeaway venues. Here I picked up three stuffed patties (HK5 total): red bean on the left, pineapple in the bright yellow, plus an orange-brown number to the right that I couldn't peg.
Bakery
Pei Ho St., Sham Shui Po, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Make the two-hour hike from one side of Lamma to the other, and you'll welcome a little refreshment along the way: shu mai, fish balls, and hot or cold soy custard (HK6 each). If you hold out till you reach Yung Shue Wan, the village surrounding the island's other ferry terminal, you'll find a wide range of small restaurants and snack shops, many clearly positioned to accommodate English-speaking expats and visitors.
Rest Stop
Tai Wan To, Lamma
Although the touts from "restaurant row" begin hailing you almost as soon as you disembark from the ferry from Hong Kong, Rainbow dispenses with the hard sell, relying on its reputation and an especially engaging array of fresh seafood. The end products may be unexceptional — in our case, deep-fried squid with pepper and salt (HK65), steamed lobster with garlic sauce (HK120 each), fried crab with garlic and chili (HK120 each), Singapore noodles (HK50), and fried rice with seafood (HK50) — and the servers may be harried, but the view and the overall experience is pleasant enough.
Rainbow Seafood
Sok Kwu Wan, Lamma
A premixed mango sago drink (HK$5) was weak.
Drinks Stand
Walker Rd., Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong
My own choice, the fragrant walnut paste with lotus seed (HK$18), was humdrum; I tasted (and envied) the other desserts at the table, including mango pudding with fresh milk (HK$16), mixed fruit with grass jelly (shown; HK$12), and some sort of sweet rice ball dessert (about HK$12).
Chi King Dessert House
Tak Hong St., Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Excellent Sichuan brunch with Bill and Nancy, co-hosted by Neerja and her husband, Baiju. Likely you could find all these dishes somewhere in New York, though likely not to the mouth-watering standards of the sliced spicy pork (shown here), the string beans with spicy minced pork, or the dumplings in hot oil whose long tails offered that little bit of extra noodle. (From the photo at left, click through to Flickr to see more.) Also appearing on the table, though sometimes only briefly: spicy (and less spicy) noodles in broth; cold chicken; baked spicy eggplant; roast duck with shrimp crackers; sweet and sour chrysanthemum fish; and buns with a sweet custardlike sauce.
Wing Lai Yuen
Whampoa Garden, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong
The soft, almost gooey yolks were disconcerting at first.
Shortly before noon (and just in time to get a table for four without waiting) I joined Bill and Nancy, and my local co-worker Neerja, for an exceptional dim sum experience. At most Hong Kong eateries that serve dim sum, diners fill out an order slip and hand it to the wait staff; Neerja believes this is the sole remaining restaurant in the city that still offers cart service. The selection itself, though extensive, was unsurprising; much more notable were the crispness of the pastries and the light touch with the sauces. In addition to these shumai, our selections included vegetable dumplings, noodle rolls, bell pepper with minced fish, pork buns, taro puffs, egg tarts, mango pudding, sago and coconut pudding, and sesame-flavored glutinous rice. (From the photo above, you can click through to my Flickr account to see more from my 9/22 photo set.)
City Hall Maxim's Palace
Low Block, City Hall, Central, Hong Kong
Thank you!
