This post is about dining explorations.
There was Sun Hing, the awesome dim sum place from last trip; I went there a bunch. Actually, I figured out a neat "use" for it -- meaning a way to organically fit it into my schedule and way of doing things, rather than making a big-deal occasion out it. Sun Hing, famously, opens at 3am (and closes at some later-but-still-pretty-early a.m. hour). I wake up very early in general, and certainly was doing so on this bonked out trip while not even knowing what time my body thought that it was. Soooo...I'd roll out to Sun Hing, grab some dim sum, and come back to my tiny but totally acceptable AirBNB to write for a few hours. It was good! The main thing that I always got were those incredible sweet-savory egg buns; those are amazing. And the things that were like fried milk pudding or something went great with richly salty, spicy things (some from Sun Hing, some leftovers from elsewhere).
There was the intimidating breakfast/bakery place on my block; they too were open early, and I wasn't sure they were legit cuz they didn't look like a bakery but they sold baked goods out on the street from a little metal locker with glassed in doors. I bought a red bean bun and an egg custard tart from them, my first or second morning. Together, these items cost around a buck.
Okay! Then there was the first of J's recommendations--J is one of my colleagues on campus, one of the writers of 'the note', and a very helpful local guide in general. She recommended Tak Kee Chiu Chou, a short walk from my house. I arrived at 1020 or so, and they were closing at 1045 (I figured out); so inside this room that sort of looked like a small function hall set up with tables and chairs there were guys with mops and buckets going around while I ate. But they were very nice, seriously; even through the language barrier, I sort of felt like I was clearly not being hustled out or rushed along. I did not use the note, here; partially because they had an English menu and partially because I got shy. I was served by a dude at first, and left a tip for the lady who somehow inherited me, and she acted like that was funny even though I do think a small tip isn't unheard of in Hong Kong. Maybe mostly at the ex-pat places?
For this dinner, I had:
⇝Fried chicken in mrrhshmswr (sorry: don't remember!) sauce. I am going to write this sentence here: this was really tasty. Now, please imagine my writing it after every other food-item noted in this post unless I otherwise elaborate. THE FOOD IN HONG KONG IS SO GOOD AND SO REASONABLY PRICED IF YOU ARE JUST THE TINIEST BIT SMART ABOUT WHERE TO LOOK (more on this--"smart about where to look"--below).
⇝Cucumber with peppercorns and Sichuan pepper (tingly lips! also the thing I just said ⇖).
⇝Small Fish in Black Vinegar. These were tiny little fish (smelt?) sort of flattened and fried, almost like fish chips, served in yes this black vinegar that wasn't so acid/vinegary and made a nice base for dipping.
This was a very good dinner, and really it was enough for two dinners (for, again, I mean like ten bucks or something).
So now we get to the second of J's recommendations, which also brings--as promised--back to "smart about where to look". Because guess what J's second recommendation was? Cheung Heung Tea Restaurant, of course. What's that, Reader? You haven't heard of it? Oh but you have -- as the "intimidating breakfast &c. place" I wrote about at the top of this post. Wuuuuut? That's right. I, lanuage-less and helpless as a child on the streets of this fevered metropolis, had corrected on my own deduced the right place in my vicinity to go for quality goods of this type.
However, I take nothing away from J. Because, with her suggestion and validation, I got to experience a whole new thing that I'd kind of timidly skirted around the edges of (i.e., buying the delicious breakfast items from the outside guy rather than just going on in to this place). So I went in.
I'm not sure how I sort of knew this from the start; I think because I'd read enough about "bakeries" and "breakfast" in Hong Kong to know that I had gotten something kind of wrong. What I'd gotten wrong was this sharp divide in my mind between bakeries, restaurants, and Western-style breakfast places. Basically (this is like really dumb stuff, but I learned it all own my own so I'm telling you, friend) there are indeed diner/cafes in Hong Kong, they are this type of thing called "tea restaurants" or something like that often, and they serve a distinctive and delicious set of goods.
What I had for breakfast at Cheung Heung this time, for example--and I did this twice on this trip, because it is very pleasurable--was a bo lo bao, or pineapple bun (with a big pat of butter (that you get charged for (which is actually totally reasonable, when you think about it. It's nice when restaurants give you butter for free. But why should they?))). As the charming recipe / blog-post I linked to on the name there notes: there is no pineapple in a pineapple bun. It gets that name because of it's appearance. It's a kind of spongy-bread bun with a sweet crackly sugar topping. IT IS SO GOOD.
I also had a classic Egg Tart that first morning (though not my second). I've written about these things before. These things are the best freaking things.
Note: both of these foodstuffs, and others in this category, are both delicious in a kind of 'objective' sense (lol I know shutup) and a way that particularly suits my personal needs at breakfast: I kind of want a lot of "food", meaning calories; but I kind of don't like to get very full. So these dense caloric flavorful things are awesome, especially because while of course they are sweet and they're a far cry from my paleo Cali home diet, they're not like cake or something. They're fantastic.
AH BUT THE TEA. Hong Kong Milk Tea. What is it? It's tea with milk in it (zoom!) that idk wtf gets strained or something so it...look if you've had it you'll know just what I'm on about, and if you haven't just do the first/next chance you get. It is hot, it is a little sweet but not very sweet (it's not like a proper Indian chai, which also I love), and its not-so-sweetness means it goes great with...you guessed it.
So, needless to say, this breakfast was freaking awesome. I didn't use the note here, either, although tbh it didn't even really occur to me to because (a) it was 515am or whatever, and (b) I knew what I was in for on this one -- I wasn't having my first (or second, whatever) Hong Kong tea restaurant experience with the intention of going off piste and ordering some cray-cray shit. I wanted the classics, and got them, and they made me really happy. I wish there were cafes like this where I lived. I mean-- I live in a canyon so basically there are like deer and then sometimes mountain lions and forest fires where I live but...even anywhere close to where I live.
Now, while I did not have a terrible time ordering either of my times at Cheung Heung (especially the second time. I was a pro by the 2nd time) the amount of gesticulation and misdirection ("butter" was hard. A knife? No. A...wash your hands? No. We got there, miming) underscored my utter bullsh1tness with this language and terribleness as I pass through this city. So, I have resolved that by the next time I go to Hong Kong (hope it's soon!) I will be able to say the following things:
pineapple bun
butter
please
thank you
egg tart
milk tea
hot
cold
Those last two because that's an important distinction, with the milk tea.
I won't be able to discuss politics, and if I fall in love with someone I'll have to find creative ways to express my feelings, but it's a start.
Now, I have a small post-script here. If you recall, Reader, as I have no doubt you do: my first night in Hong Kong I instinctively found my way to a scrappy and chaotic dim sum place (not Sun Hing; different place) at which I had a very good meal and a fun time ordering things I don't usually get to eat. Also, as I really hope you recall, Reader, I like three paragraphs above got all braggy for awhile because I'd self-selected Cheung Heung as good before J's recommendation.
Well, guess what. The day after B, W, and J sent me the note, B approached me. Oh I forgot to tell you, said B (who is very nice, and also dresses so freaking well; it's like every suit was made on top of his body). There is a really good dim sum place in your neighborhood that is popular with the college kids.
I thought he meant Sun Hing; he didn't; he meant (you saw this coming)...that's right! I had again selected the quality place, even in my jet-lagged just having traveled 20 hours or whatever state, that first night. That first place I went was a recommended-by-B place! And lemme be clear here, cuz I'm not done tooting my own horn: lots of places were open, in both of these examples. There were other choices. AND it's not like either of these places had some new-food-trend-in-Manhattan type line out the door. I just sussed 'em out.
I'm a beagle for quality foodstufferies.
I need to learn those words in Cantonese. It took like forty-five seconds to order some butter.
There was Sun Hing, the awesome dim sum place from last trip; I went there a bunch. Actually, I figured out a neat "use" for it -- meaning a way to organically fit it into my schedule and way of doing things, rather than making a big-deal occasion out it. Sun Hing, famously, opens at 3am (and closes at some later-but-still-pretty-early a.m. hour). I wake up very early in general, and certainly was doing so on this bonked out trip while not even knowing what time my body thought that it was. Soooo...I'd roll out to Sun Hing, grab some dim sum, and come back to my tiny but totally acceptable AirBNB to write for a few hours. It was good! The main thing that I always got were those incredible sweet-savory egg buns; those are amazing. And the things that were like fried milk pudding or something went great with richly salty, spicy things (some from Sun Hing, some leftovers from elsewhere).
There was the intimidating breakfast/bakery place on my block; they too were open early, and I wasn't sure they were legit cuz they didn't look like a bakery but they sold baked goods out on the street from a little metal locker with glassed in doors. I bought a red bean bun and an egg custard tart from them, my first or second morning. Together, these items cost around a buck.
Okay! Then there was the first of J's recommendations--J is one of my colleagues on campus, one of the writers of 'the note', and a very helpful local guide in general. She recommended Tak Kee Chiu Chou, a short walk from my house. I arrived at 1020 or so, and they were closing at 1045 (I figured out); so inside this room that sort of looked like a small function hall set up with tables and chairs there were guys with mops and buckets going around while I ate. But they were very nice, seriously; even through the language barrier, I sort of felt like I was clearly not being hustled out or rushed along. I did not use the note, here; partially because they had an English menu and partially because I got shy. I was served by a dude at first, and left a tip for the lady who somehow inherited me, and she acted like that was funny even though I do think a small tip isn't unheard of in Hong Kong. Maybe mostly at the ex-pat places?
For this dinner, I had:
⇝Fried chicken in mrrhshmswr (sorry: don't remember!) sauce. I am going to write this sentence here: this was really tasty. Now, please imagine my writing it after every other food-item noted in this post unless I otherwise elaborate. THE FOOD IN HONG KONG IS SO GOOD AND SO REASONABLY PRICED IF YOU ARE JUST THE TINIEST BIT SMART ABOUT WHERE TO LOOK (more on this--"smart about where to look"--below).
⇝Cucumber with peppercorns and Sichuan pepper (tingly lips! also the thing I just said ⇖).
⇝Small Fish in Black Vinegar. These were tiny little fish (smelt?) sort of flattened and fried, almost like fish chips, served in yes this black vinegar that wasn't so acid/vinegary and made a nice base for dipping.
This was a very good dinner, and really it was enough for two dinners (for, again, I mean like ten bucks or something).
So now we get to the second of J's recommendations, which also brings--as promised--back to "smart about where to look". Because guess what J's second recommendation was? Cheung Heung Tea Restaurant, of course. What's that, Reader? You haven't heard of it? Oh but you have -- as the "intimidating breakfast &c. place" I wrote about at the top of this post. Wuuuuut? That's right. I, lanuage-less and helpless as a child on the streets of this fevered metropolis, had corrected on my own deduced the right place in my vicinity to go for quality goods of this type.
However, I take nothing away from J. Because, with her suggestion and validation, I got to experience a whole new thing that I'd kind of timidly skirted around the edges of (i.e., buying the delicious breakfast items from the outside guy rather than just going on in to this place). So I went in.
I'm not sure how I sort of knew this from the start; I think because I'd read enough about "bakeries" and "breakfast" in Hong Kong to know that I had gotten something kind of wrong. What I'd gotten wrong was this sharp divide in my mind between bakeries, restaurants, and Western-style breakfast places. Basically (this is like really dumb stuff, but I learned it all own my own so I'm telling you, friend) there are indeed diner/cafes in Hong Kong, they are this type of thing called "tea restaurants" or something like that often, and they serve a distinctive and delicious set of goods.
What I had for breakfast at Cheung Heung this time, for example--and I did this twice on this trip, because it is very pleasurable--was a bo lo bao, or pineapple bun (with a big pat of butter (that you get charged for (which is actually totally reasonable, when you think about it. It's nice when restaurants give you butter for free. But why should they?))). As the charming recipe / blog-post I linked to on the name there notes: there is no pineapple in a pineapple bun. It gets that name because of it's appearance. It's a kind of spongy-bread bun with a sweet crackly sugar topping. IT IS SO GOOD.
I also had a classic Egg Tart that first morning (though not my second). I've written about these things before. These things are the best freaking things.
Note: both of these foodstuffs, and others in this category, are both delicious in a kind of 'objective' sense (lol I know shutup) and a way that particularly suits my personal needs at breakfast: I kind of want a lot of "food", meaning calories; but I kind of don't like to get very full. So these dense caloric flavorful things are awesome, especially because while of course they are sweet and they're a far cry from my paleo Cali home diet, they're not like cake or something. They're fantastic.
AH BUT THE TEA. Hong Kong Milk Tea. What is it? It's tea with milk in it (zoom!) that idk wtf gets strained or something so it...look if you've had it you'll know just what I'm on about, and if you haven't just do the first/next chance you get. It is hot, it is a little sweet but not very sweet (it's not like a proper Indian chai, which also I love), and its not-so-sweetness means it goes great with...you guessed it.
So, needless to say, this breakfast was freaking awesome. I didn't use the note here, either, although tbh it didn't even really occur to me to because (a) it was 515am or whatever, and (b) I knew what I was in for on this one -- I wasn't having my first (or second, whatever) Hong Kong tea restaurant experience with the intention of going off piste and ordering some cray-cray shit. I wanted the classics, and got them, and they made me really happy. I wish there were cafes like this where I lived. I mean-- I live in a canyon so basically there are like deer and then sometimes mountain lions and forest fires where I live but...even anywhere close to where I live.
Now, while I did not have a terrible time ordering either of my times at Cheung Heung (especially the second time. I was a pro by the 2nd time) the amount of gesticulation and misdirection ("butter" was hard. A knife? No. A...wash your hands? No. We got there, miming) underscored my utter bullsh1tness with this language and terribleness as I pass through this city. So, I have resolved that by the next time I go to Hong Kong (hope it's soon!) I will be able to say the following things:
pineapple bun
butter
please
thank you
egg tart
milk tea
hot
cold
Those last two because that's an important distinction, with the milk tea.
I won't be able to discuss politics, and if I fall in love with someone I'll have to find creative ways to express my feelings, but it's a start.
Now, I have a small post-script here. If you recall, Reader, as I have no doubt you do: my first night in Hong Kong I instinctively found my way to a scrappy and chaotic dim sum place (not Sun Hing; different place) at which I had a very good meal and a fun time ordering things I don't usually get to eat. Also, as I really hope you recall, Reader, I like three paragraphs above got all braggy for awhile because I'd self-selected Cheung Heung as good before J's recommendation.
Well, guess what. The day after B, W, and J sent me the note, B approached me. Oh I forgot to tell you, said B (who is very nice, and also dresses so freaking well; it's like every suit was made on top of his body). There is a really good dim sum place in your neighborhood that is popular with the college kids.
I thought he meant Sun Hing; he didn't; he meant (you saw this coming)...that's right! I had again selected the quality place, even in my jet-lagged just having traveled 20 hours or whatever state, that first night. That first place I went was a recommended-by-B place! And lemme be clear here, cuz I'm not done tooting my own horn: lots of places were open, in both of these examples. There were other choices. AND it's not like either of these places had some new-food-trend-in-Manhattan type line out the door. I just sussed 'em out.
I'm a beagle for quality foodstufferies.
I need to learn those words in Cantonese. It took like forty-five seconds to order some butter.
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