KAMPUNGBOYCITYGAL A MALAYSIAN FOOD & TRAVEL BLOG

For our trip itinerary, please click here.

Tucked away on the sloppy Elgin Street, Leaf Dessert is a 100 years old premise that serves traditional Chinese desserts. It is also one of the few dai pai dongs (only 28 left!) situated around the Hong Kong island and Kowloon.

The dai pai dong which is now in its fourth generation is so well known among the locals and tourists that one needs to exercise some patience and wait!. We were there on a relatively quiet morning so the owner (I presume) instructed us to just grabbed a stool and sit down. Apart from their sweet specialties such as Red Bean Soup, Green Bean Soup, Seaweed with Green Beans, Black Sesame Soup, Sago with Coconut, and Glutinous Rice Balls with Sugar, Coconut and Sesame; we spotted the locals indulging in some other noodles dishes.

We ordered the famous Rice Ball with Sugar Coconut Sesame (糖不甩 HK$8) which looks a lot like our mua chi. However, the rice balls were being served differently from mua chi – it was hot, soft and chewy with a generous amount of shredded coconut+sugar+sesame sprinkles. It’s a winning combination, just like apples simmered with cinnamons, or warm brownies with vanilla ice cream. Must try!

The Green Bean Soup (HKD too, is very different from our version. It is flavoured with stinky grass 臭草, a type of Chinese herb which despite the name is not stinky at all. It can release excessive toxic heat and clears up acnes. The soup is served together with barley and seaweed as well. Very refreshing, and healthy too!

Not too far off from Leaf Dessert is where Sing Heung Yuen is situated. It is one of the most highly rated dai pai dong in HK that serves up simple and wholesome local fare such as beef noodles with tomato soup and toasts.

However, the queue was so long that it will take at least an hour for us to get a seat. Maybe next time?

Leaf Dessert
2 Elgin Street, SOHO, Central
中環蘇豪伊利近街2號
Opens daily from 12:30pm – 00:30am
Tel: +852-2544 3795
Openrice Page here

Sing Heung Yuen
2 Mee Lun St (near Gough St), Central,
Opens daily from 8am-5:30pm.
Tel: +852 2544 8368
Openrice Page here

For our trip itinerary, please click here.

Did you know that tram is one of the cheapest ways to see Hong Kong Island? A journey costs only HKD 2 and you just need to pay as you leave the tram. You can pay with coins or just tap on your octopus card.

Running along the northern side of Hong Kong Island for 16km between Shau Kei Wan and Kennedy Town, with a branch circulating the Happy Valley racecourse, the tram network is excellent.

Tram ride is an excellent way to see Hong Kong and I find the whole experience really enjoyable. During peak hour, we were packed like sardines into the tram, along with the locals. However, people come and go so we secured our seats in a short while.

If you are interested in doing the same, refer to HK Tramway’s official webpage here. Another page that I found useful is this website where you can follow the tram route to explore some of the best Hong Kong’s culture and culinary experiences recommended by local celebrity Craig Au Yong.

WANCHAI

We began our journey at Wan Chai, which has evolved from a fishing village into the most famous district in Hong Kong. We took a stroll along the open-air stalls in the Tai Yuen Street Market, where the locals do their daily marketing here. It was followed by a brief visit to the Blue House, a preserved Grade-I heritage site that is home to a community museum and a handful of long-time residents.

Wan Chai Post Office

It was built in 1915 and now a resource centre. The letter pigeon holes are still preserved.

We seek out for a bright blue building as we alighted at Queen’s Road East.

It is known as Blue House (藍屋) and was built before the war as a community medical centre.

After the 1920s, it was converted into a four-storey residential building, then in the 50s and 60s, Kung Fu master Wong Fei Hung’s student, Lam Sai Wing, and his nephew launched their Kung Fu studio here.

Now the Blue house is home to the Wan Chai Livelihood Museum where visitors can experience the old-time living quarters of the locals.

The Blue House is also one of the few remaining examples of Tong Lau of the balcony type in Hong Kong and is classified as Grade I historic building.

Information source: here & here

Another Tong Lau , the Yellow House, which sits on Hing Wan Street behind the ‘Blue House’ of Stone Nullah Lane.

outside Wan Chai market

Discover the hustle and bustle, sights and sounds of Wan Chai’s street market.

We also dropped by the famed local toy street, Tai Yuen Street. Lined on each side of the street are some toy shops but we were not too interested. We were distracted by these pretty fresh (and artificial) flowers and ended up at a local boutique shop eventually.

Our Wan Chai trail ended with a light breakfast at Honolulu, a 40 years old establishment in Wanchai that serves up typical Cha Chan Teng fare. It is also a place where you can find people from all walks of life itching their scratch for milk tea, toasts and pork chop rice. Read more about the flaky crust egg tart (酥皮蛋撻) that boasts of 192 layers from our previous post.

How do you like my Hong Kong “Heritage Trail”? Central trail and Sheung Wan trail coming up next!

Towards the end of our trip in HK, Ivy and I spent some good time venturing North Point due to the fact that we stayed at Grand Harbour Hotel (got a good deal for this 5 star hotel, that’s a post for another day) the night before. North Point ((北角) is the most northerly point of Hong Kong Island, adjacent to both Causeway Bay and Quarry Bay. It is also a busy neighbourhood with plenty of good food.

We started our morning early and got to Duck Shing Ho to get some famous egg roll. It was around 9.45 am and  we spotted a long queue formed outside already! My friend told me that normally the egg rolls are sold out by noon! Remember to call and make a reservation to avoid disappointment.

德成號 Duck Shing Ho
北角渣華道64號地下
G/F., 64 Java Raod, North Point
Tel: 2570 5529/2571 5049
Opening Hour: Mon to Sat 930am to 700pm
Open Rice page here

By the time we queued and waited for our turn and finally got ourselves 9 big boxes of egg rolls, it was 1030am! We proceeded the street next door to Fung Shing, a Shunde restaurant specialises in Shunde cuisine and some good ol’ traditional dim sum.

Stir Fried Fresh Milk with Egg Whites, Shrimp and Pine Nuts 大良炒鲜奶 is one of their specialties but Fung Shing is only offering dim sum for the morning session.

Yum Cha (literally means ‘drink tea’) is a ‘must try’ dining experience in HK, so here we are. I think that this place is much less chaotic than their famous counterpart Tim Ho Wan and Lin Heung Lao.

So instead of having carts of dim sum pushed around, they gave us a menu/card on which we would fill out indicating the items you want. Fung Shing is also running a promotion on all small and medium sized dim sum – HKD 12 (RM 4.80) per portion. That’s even cheaper than some of the dim sum restaurants here in KL!

Fung Shing is filled with local people having dim sums, so it’s definitely a good sign for me.

We had quite a variety of dim sum; so let me rank them from best to good to mediocre.

Ma Lai Kou 马来糕. The best that one could ever get – warm, light, fluffy and not too sweet.

Char Siu Pastry 叉烧酥. A tender, buttery pastry holds the sweet, succulent cha siu filling.

Beancurd Roll with Superior Soup 高汤鲜竹卷

Har Gao 虾饺.

Fen Guo 粉果.

Siu Mai 烧卖

Steamed Milk Pudding – Yi Shun’s version is far better.

鳳城酒家 Fung Shing Restaurant
G/F & 1/F, Goldfield Mansion, 62-68 Java Road, North Point
Branches: Tsim Tsa Tsui, Wan Chai, Causeway Bay, etc
Open Rice page here.

Our eating spree did not stop here! We took the tram to King’s Road just for some crunchy version of Egg Puff Waffle aka Gai Dan Zai (北角雞蛋仔)!

Photos of celebrating trying their gai dan zai and magazine article featuring them were plastered all over the place.

Cispy on the outside and hollow inside, the gai dan zai (HKD 15) is filled with wonderful eggy aroma. It was great fun to snap the little balls one by one and pop it into our mouths.

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勁辣派甜甜掌門(北角雞蛋仔)
北角英皇道492號
492 King’s Road, North Point
Branches: Tsim Tsa Tsui, Wan Chai, etc
Open Rice page here

That concludes our last day in HK ;(

If you like my HK travel posts, remember to click on my 2009 trip and 2010 trip.

When in Hong Kong, one should visit a “bing sutt” in Mong Kok or Yau Ma Tei to get a slice of old Hong Long. My top pick is Mido Cafe, an old, rustic place with more than 40 years in history. However, if your coffee addiction kicks in, go to Starbucks “Bing Sutt” at Duddell Street. It is the world’s first as Starbucks have collaborated with Douglas Young’s G.O.D to create a concept coffee space. 冰室/”Bing Sutt”, which literally means ice room is the coffeehouse back in the 1950’s through to the 1970’s.

Duddell Street in Central, Hong Kong is famous for its four gas-powered street lamps. These street lamps are still powered by town gas. And to get to Starbucks “Bong Sutt”, one has to climb those flight of stairs. Duddell Street Steps and Gas Lamps are declared monuments of Hong Kong.
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For our trip itinerary, please click here.

boarding onto a ‘Van仔’ (Van Zai)

Shopping is an integral part of travel so we just have to make our way to Tsim Tsa Tsui to indulge in some retail therapy. With Harbour City, Heritage 1881, SOGO and the many retailers along Peking Road, Nathan Road and Cameron Road all located within a radius of few hundred meters, Tsim Tsa Tsui is truly a shopper’s paradise.

sexy car wash?

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For our trip itinerary, please click here.

Gong Xi Fa Cai my dear readers! Chinese New Year is the time to feast and binge on all the sweet goodies and one of my favourite festive cookies is the Egg Roll! During my recent trip to Hong Kong, I managed to get myself some to-die-for egg rolls from Duck Shing Ho. It is located just next door to the famous Fung Shing Chinese Restaurant where we had our dimsum earlier.

We got there around 9.45 am and there was already a long queue formed outside! My friend told me that normally the egg rolls are sold out by noon! If you think that is crazy, just read on and you’ll be surprised.

Apart from the original flavor, Duck Shing Ho is offering egg rolls with butter or coconut too.

It was only late November, and they have stopped taking orders for Christmas and Chinese New Year! Which means that patrons can only resume buying after mid February!!

Furthermore, the prices of the egg rolls aren’t exactly cheap. It costs around RM 20+ for 1 lbs (about 453 grams).

We have to first queue up to pay. From there, the store owner issued us a receipt and holding it, we joined another long line to collect our goodies.

old school tin containers

Finally our effort have paid off! We left the store absolutely happy, with both our hands full with tins of egg rolls. We hand carried the all nine tins of egg rolls onto the plane and the egg rolls inside stayed intact! This is because each egg roll were rolled into many, many layers so the end product was thick enough to weather any “external forces”.

source

The egg roll does live up to its fame! The handmade egg rolls were thick, and beehive web effect on the skin is enticing. Doesn’t this reminds you of taro puff (wu kok)? Taste wise, it is definitely much better than some of the commercial names out there. It was so crispy to the point that it shattered once you sink your mouth onto it. The original egg roll has a light egg-y flavor to it and it was not too sweet. The coconut flavored egg roll is sweeter, with a hint of coconut taste.

德成號 Duck Shing Ho
北角渣華道64號地下
G/F., 64 Java Raod, North Point
Tel: 2570 5529/2571 5049
Opening Hour: Mon to Sat 930am to 700pm
Open Rice page here

For our trip itinerary, please click here.

Our magical day does not end here…

We continue to enjoy the wonderful magic of Disney at the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel.

The hotel is tastefully decorated in an old world Victorian-style.  The moment we stepped in, we knew immediately that we would be in for a real treat.
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For our trip itinerary, please click here.

Hong Kong Disneyland

A place where the atmosphere is so magical you feel like a child again.

Thanks to HKDL, we spent magical 2D1N in Disneyland Park as well as Disneyland Resort Hotel. Hong Kong Disneyland Resort is located on Lantau Island, and is accessible via an array of convenient transportation options.

We took the MTR and interchange for the Disneyland Resort Line. The Disney train is so cute complete with its Mickey Mouse handrails and windows.


Welcome to Hong Kong Disneyland Resort!

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We just came back from our Hong Kong trip! It was my third time to Hong Kong but the city never ceases to surprise and inspire me. Together with Ivy, we’ve had some great meals, met some great people and did quite a lot of shopping (look away in guilt).

Here’s a roundup of where we’ve been and what we have gulped down. Detailed posts will be followed shortly, just like our HK Trip in year 2009. Scroll down and enjoy the pictures!
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For our trip itinerary, please click here.

The bustling region of Mongkok is one of the busiest and highly populated district in Hong Kong. Most tourists would have been to Tung Choi Street aka Ladies Street, Fa Yuen Street aka Sneakers Street and the many streets with quirky name such as Bird Street, Sai Yong Choi Street, etc.

While street snack is widely available throughout Mongkok, there is one particular Macau Portuguese food stall in the cooked food market that ignites our interest.
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For our trip itinerary, please click here.

roaming the busy streets of Wanchai

I just came back from another fruitful trip to Hong Kong with my comrade,  Ivy. Fruitful in terms of shopping this time, more about that later! One of our many great finds was the egg tart from Honolulu Coffee Shop.

Honolulu Coffee Shop is a 40 years old establishment in Wanchai that serves up typical Cha Chan Teng fare. It is also a place where you can find people from all walks of life itching their scratch for milk tea, toasts and pork chop rice.

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