Hong Kong: Tim Ho Wan

Next stop (not really) Tim Ho Wan! As mentioned previously, we went to a dim sum place but was disappointed that Tim Ho Wan was not at Mong Kok. So we tried again, and went to a different location. I definitely was looking forward to this because it is considered to be the cheapest Michelin Star restaurant you can find.

Nothing too special about the interior of the restaurant. It is just like any other restaurant that you can find in Toronto or Hong Kong. It did have a very roomy feel to it though but that doesn't mean you wouldn't be eating beside a table of strangers. I guess that's just the culture of Hong Kong.

Tim Ho Wan is spread throughout Hong Kong and there are many locations that can be found. We went to the one near Tin Hau Station (I can't tell you exactly where it was because I was guided). Regardless, we were pretty hungry even though it was early and ordered a tonne of food between the 4 of us.

At first, the fish dish that came does not look appetizing at all. But here we are, something that blew my mind away. It was simply delicious! This is the plain old BBQ pork bun but revamped. It had a crispy shell and the same filling that it normally has on the inside. 

There is a the lotus sticky rice, chicken feet and rice rolls. I wasn't a big fan of those, especially the chicken feet because I find anything messy to eat unappealing. The sticky rice was very average (sort of comparable to Fung Shing Restaurant). The rice rolls, I don't remember much about it...so it must have not been that impressive.

The siu mai though, this siu mai...it was pretty good! It is a bit bigger than your average size but for whatever reason it tastes a lot better too! There wasn't anything too special about the ingredients (at least not from my taste bud or through my naked eye) but for some reason they put something in there that I thought tasted pretty awesome! Overall, I'd rate this restaurant a 3.5/5 for the atmosphere and food quality. I loved how it wasn't super packed and you are not elbowing the next person trying to consume your food, but I do feel that some of the food can be a bit more special.

Hong Kong: Fung Shing Restaurant

This restaurant was actually an unplanned adventure in Hong Kong. The one we were originally going to go to was actually Tim Ho Wan in Mong Kok (I will have a post on it later). Since the Mong Kok location was actually closed, no thanks to GoogleMaps, we decided to look for something else. As they say, most of the restaurants are on a higher level floor due to the high rent on ground level.

For someone who doesn't have a very clear understanding of how the roads in Hong Kong work, it could be confusing to get to. There were actually 2 floors that this restaurant occupies. We weren't sure which one we should be going to so went to the 3rd floor like the people who was in the elevator with us. If you are unsure as to where to go, just follow!

Hong Kong: Ho Hung Kee

This was my first Michelin star restaurant (one star). Little did I know that restaurants open a lot later than the ones in Toronto. We got there around 10:30 am but it wasn't opened till 11:30 am. Thankfully, this mall has a lot of floors so we were able to walk around in one of the largest book stores down below! It featured a total of 3-4 floors (can't remember the exact number). Anyways, even before it opened there was a line up of people waiting to get in.

 By the time it was 30 minutes after opening, the place was filled and there was already a line of people waiting to be seated. The interior decorations are absolutely fantastic! Featuring the Tiffany blue with gold accent, it was definitely breath taking. The place was also very clean which can sometimes be rare in Hong Kong. Even though it looks very modern they still managed to keep a touch of tradition by adding the lanterns and vases around the restaurant.

I wouldn't say it was a super big restaurant. There probably was a total of 50 tables, which maybe half of them included booths. Even the table legs were exquisite with the gold accent wrapped around. What fascinated me the most was the service. They were not explicitly amazing, but it definitely was very speedy! We probably sat down, ordered and ate all within 40 minutes. Since there were many staff it was very easy to flag someone down when we needed something.

For a small girl like me, it is very important that the portions are smaller. This was it. This was the perfect portion size for me! It may not be to someone who eats a lot, but the small bowl of noodle goes a long way. We ordered 2 items. The first is beef noodles. I have to say, nothing compares to what I've ever had. The beef was very tender and the texture of it was not ridiculously chewy. 

The soup was filled with MSG, but let's be honest here...that's what make most things taste good to begin with! The noodles were soft enough that didn't make me feel like it wasn't going to digest. I have had noodles before where it was extremely chewy that I thought it was just going to sit there in my stomach. Everything down to the veggies was amazing. I didn't finish the soup, but this small bowl of noodle was just perfect for the first meal of the day.

The second dish is a marinated pork lo mein. So what you do is you mix everything together and (optional) eat it with the soup that is provided. Since I already ordered a soup noodle I didn't really bother with the soup provided. Again, the texture and the right tenderness of the noodles was what made it so good! This was a slightly larger portion than the soup noodles but nonetheless it was still amazing.

This is a picture of the ceiling because I found it very fascinating that they covered the whole restaurant with the same swirly design. Ho Hung Kee was a bit more expensive than the restaurant at Shek O, but it was still worth every penny that we spent! The only complaint I might have is for the service to be better. I felt very rushed when eating our food, but other than that I would rate this 4.7/5 stars! Truly one of the must-try restaurants if you ever go to Hong Kong.

Hong Kong: Shek O Happy Garden

Well hello there! It has been a while since I've blogged but due to school and such it's hard to go and explore new restaurants. This post is going to be a little different since I am going to be posting about some Hong Kong restaurants as versus the usual Toronto. I was away for 2 weeks (hence the lack of posting) and really enjoyed my vacation there! When people tell you 2 weeks is not enough to explore the city...it really is NOT enough. I would have to say, my first time being in Asia was definitely a successful one! For the next several days, I will be posting about all the delicious finds that I have come across.

I didn't live anywhere near the city, but rather in Shek O. It was honestly pretty far from everything, including the MTR but it was nice going back to a place that is quiet at night. This was one of the restaurants I went to on the first day of my arrival. I believe most of these restaurants were family owned and/or occasionally opened on the weekends for tourists. Although secluded, the area featured a nice beach (which I will post later on) and a golf course nearby.

Doing it right by eating veggies! The first dish contains a blend of different veggies and some veggies that had a hallow interior. Not sure what it is in English, but it's known as "tong choi" in Chinese. The dishes were a lot bigger than the normal portions in Hong Kong but nonetheless still very delicious.

I'm not usually a fan of curry, but this is a soft shell crab dish. We had pitas that came with it so it balanced out the salty flavour. In the picture it looks like a pile of mess, but I assure you that it was very very good. I would probably say that there was a bit too much sauce to crab ratio but other than that, it was super filling!

 This was some of the menu items that they had in the restaurant. Mostly it was more Malaysian style or some sort of fusion dish. For the price of these dishes, it was a pretty big portion for the same price as if you were to go into the city. You can briefly see the other options on the other side of the menu, but they really do have a variety of options on the menu. This is one of the rarer restaurants in the area that would be open everyday of the week, and even into the late night.

The last item we ordered was beef and chicken skewers. I don't have much to say about this except for the fact that it was tender yet chewy. It wasn't the best item that I had there but it isn't terrible, just nothing special. Skewers can go really wrong sometimes being over cooked or burned, but these were pretty standard. Overall I'd rate this restaurant a 2.5/5 stars. Wasn't exactly the BEST of the best, but it was very moderate. The total came out to be only $24 CAD with tips. With that being said...for 4 items, and pretty much not being able to finish everything? I think that is well worth the price!