48 hours in Hong Kong

I made a short trip up to Hong Kong over the weekend to celebrate my cousin’s big 40th birthday, and indulge in the two things Hong Kong’s best known for – mai dong xi (shopping), chi dong xi (eating). In my opinion, the ‘mai dong xi, chi dong xi’ campaign that the Hong Kong Tourism Board launched many years back is one of their most iconic because till this day, whenever I think of what to do in Hong Kong, that familiar refrain of ‘mai dong xi, chi dong xi’ comes to mind.

(Note: lousy picture quality ahead, I was using my iPhone which only really produces decent quality photos in good lighting.)

I left Singapore early on Friday morning, and arrived to foggy weather. This is a snapshot from the plane window. I flew budget, so we landed on the tarmac away from the terminal (and a hangar) and had to be taken by bus to the terminal. It was freezing because I was still in sunny Singapore wear, with only a shawl to keep warm. Didn’t quite expect the tarmac dash – thought I’d be going straight from plane to terminal to car to hotel.

Stayed at Hotel LKF right smack in Lan Kwai Fong, which is in Central, so everything you need is within walking distance. Hotel LKF is a boutique hotel with great service, and comfy spacious rooms – big by Hong Kong standards. I had two beds for one of me, so my iPad got a bed all to itself. The room also came with yummy smelling Molten Brown toiletries and a fancy coffee machine that you could use free of charge, unlike some of the other hotels that charge you for using the machines they put in your room. Unfortunately, it was wasted on me because I don’t drink coffee.

The toilet (and this is just half of it).

After checking in to the hotel, I managed to get about half an hour’s sleep before we had to go get our hair done for my cousin’s birthday dinner. The theme was burlesque, and my cousin got me a really cute, fluffy corset dress. Looked like something out of Swan Lake. It shed really easily though, so I left a trail of feathers everywhere I went that night.

After we got dressed, it was decided that we had to take a cab to the restaurant even though it was only a five minute walk away, because it was five minutes down the steep sloping streets of LKF in killer heels, and nobody wanted to break a leg, or neck that night.

Dinner was in a private room at Kee Club. Many pictures of the table setting to come because a whole lot of love and effort went into making it perfect. Everything from the gorgeous hugeass flower arrangement, individual hand bouquet for each person to take home, swarovski crystals and glitter around the table, candles, down to the table cloth and napkins – they were all painstakingly picked out and put together by my cousin.

More of the table setting.

Close-up of the hand bouquet that we were each given to take back.

The menu.

And more of the table setting.

The gold rose in the glass container was a party favour for us to take home.

The service at Kee Club was excellent. They even replaced the bread every half an hour so you would always have warm bread.

The first course: Foie gras on chocolate biscuit with apricot and dessert wine glaze. I’m not a fan of foie gras so the foie gras and I spent a good ten minutes just looking at each other.

Finally, I caved after seeing everyone else tuck happily into theirs and decided that maybe I had been too hasty to judge it in the past. After all, was foie gras not considered a delicacy? So I cut a tiny slice and sniffed gingerly at it. Nope. Couldn’t stomach the smell, so I left the lonesome piece there for the waiter to take away.

Second course: Gnocchi with black truffle, morels and chives. I was quite excited about this when I saw it on the menu because I’ve been going through a truffle craze, and this was delish. The sauce was rich with truffle flavour, and complemented the little pillows of gnocchi perfectly. After eating shaved truffles a couple of times though, I have ascertained that whilst I like the flavour of truffles, I don’t really like its texture per se – it’s tough, and even a little chewy. But when cut into tiny bits and eaten with the gnocchi, wasn’t too bad.

Third course: Pan fried scallops with confit white onions, old balsamic, parmesan slices and cress. The picture really doesn’t do this justice. The scallops were fresh and cooked perfectly, and the sauce was all sorts of yums – rich, creamy, cheesy.

Fourth course: valrhona chocolate souffle with tonka bean ice cream and vanilla sabayon. You can’t ever go wrong with chocolate, vanilla and berries. I loved this, the chocolate souffle had a rich, warm, oozy chocolate centre that went awesomely with ice cream and tart strawberries.

Group pic before we left for the club. Really a shame I don’t have better quality pictures of the night.

Every birthday has to have a birthday cake. So this was dessert part 2. Red velvet cake with a candle that lasted through many, many, many pictures and a birthday song before it snuffed out.

We went on to Volar at LKF next. About a 3 minute walk from the restaurant. It’s probably because I don’t get out very much and so am not familiar with the kind of chichi lala things that happen in clubs, but I was really fascinated by the theatrics with the Moet we ordered. It came with sparkles that I excitedly snapped pictures of, and after they poured it out, the bottle was put in a bird cage. We also got iced strawberries to drop in the champagne. I wonder if they do that in Singapore. Must ask my friends.

From L-R: Sex on the beach shooters, moet in cage and champers with strawberries.

Went for udon the next day, but I have no idea where we were. All I remember was that the udon was freshly made in the restaurant, and it was really nice and chewy. I normally don’t take udon because I don’t like the texture, but this was good. I also liked that they served it with little fried tempura bits to add to your dipping sauce.

Went to IFC for some shopping, ended up at City Super supermarket because I love supermarkets, and I remembered from past trips that they have an awesome deli and Japanese counter. Also because I saw the the lady above slicing iberico ham from the entrance, and I absolutely love prosciutto and iberico ham. We have a 365 day love affair.

I am extremely particular about the prosciutto and iberico I buy – it has to be thinly shaved (as thinly as possible), and it cannot have too much fats. I absolutely refuse to pay so much money for a whole lot of fat that I will discard. In Singapore, supermarkets get it wrong 50% of the time because they don’t trim the fats off before slicing, or because they slice it too thick and it irritates me to no end.

But in Hong Kong, it was completely awesome. First, they had a huge array of prosciutto and iberico hams to pick from – in Singapore there’s usually only 1 or 2 varities max. Second, you can ask to try anything you like, and they’ll happily oblige. Third, they’ll trim the fats off (without you asking), shave a slice and ask if you’re happy with the thickness before doing the rest. It’s that awesome! I had to call Boo immediately to tell him about it because he knows how particular I am, and has stood by me many-a-time whilst I insist on standing there to watch the person trim the fats and shave the ham to my satisfaction, and barking instructions if they get it wrong. I know, I’m a little tyrant in the supermarket when it comes to my ham, it’s just that it’s not cheap so I want to at least make sure I’m going to love what I buy.

I used the Airport Express check-in services for the first time, it’s amazing, I can’t believe I’ve never used it before. You can basically check in your luggage, get your boarding pass and then head over to the adjoining IFC mall to shop before heading to the airport. So after checking in, my aunt took me to Sen Ryo sushi at IFC for my last meal in Hong Kong. They open at 1115am, we got there at 11am and already there were people waiting. By 1130, the restaurant was full, and I’m told you often have to wait more than an hour during peak periods for a table.

It is by far the best kai-ten sushi (conveyor belt sushi) I have ever had, including Japan. Everything was fresh, and fairly reasonably priced. I’m not saying cheap, but reasonable for the quality that you are getting.

This is the first time I’ve seen freshly grated wasabi in a kaiten sushi – not even in Japan. Most of the high-end Japanese restaurants in Singapore don’t even bother with freshly grated wasabi.

And they’re not stingy with it, each table gets a whole tub. They dispense it the way regular wasabi is dispensed. It’s nice because it doesn’t have that powdery, pasty texture you get from the powdered/paste wasabi.