So, after a week in Shanghai, we are now spending a week in Hong Kong. A city I know quite well, so my visit will be a combination of trying out new places (to me), revisiting some old favourites, and also checking out the hotel club lounge scene.
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So, one of the new to me places is Xin Rong Ji.
So, tonight we had dinner at Xin Rong Ji, the chain that originated from the mainland. And with numerous Michelin stars under their belt. The restaurant is in Wan Chai, right next to the MTR.
As appetisers we ordered the sugar snap peas, and the crispy fried baby pigeon. Following those were: braised turnips, fried cutlassfish, braised yellow croaker in home style, choy sum, and steamed rice.
Highlights for me were the croaker and the pigeon. Both doused in wine: they both smelled beautifully of wine. The pigeon is amazing, best I have had. When pigeon is good like here, I might even prefer it to duck and goose. The croaker was also beautiful - but since we had a three times as big croaker only last Wednesday in Shanghai… Still perfect sauce, winey flavour, and different sauce than the one I had in Shanghai.
The other dishes were very good as well, the choy sum bursting with flavour and the cutlassfish also top.
The food was great, but in all the experience was not at the same high level as at Yong Yi Ting in Shanghai. Things like the tea, the glassware and the plates were just much nicer there. Here though at Xin Rong Ji, the service was exceptional.
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Are you seeing any Shanghai Hairy Crabs in HK? In the old days at this time of year, every storefront all over HK (especially along Nathan) would have Mitten Crab for sale.
Not to beat a dead horse. 
I strongly suggest a visit to Sai Kung, the fishing harbor. The journey on a classic double decker bus is worth the trip, then jump on a SUICIDE bus back to Kowloon where the drivers seem to navigate by braile at breakneck speeds through the hilly switchbacks. Fun!!
In Sai Kung, splurge on a quayside restaurant and pick from any world class aquarium selection of seafood. Cooked to perfection, this IS HONG KONG!! (for visitors)
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Haven’t seen that many Shanghai hairy crabs yet, but I haven’t been out and about a lot yet. Of course the first stop I make when at the Cordis is the wet market downstairs at street level, especially the cross alley Nelson Street where they have the live fish and seafood. They had lots of crabs but not many hairy crabs, I think I saw only one place where they had them. They had them on the menu though at Xin Rong Ji.
Sai Kung: never been! I did go to Tai O once, but that was a long time ago. I was thinking of maybe going to Ap Lei Chau, see below, buy some live fish and have it prepared, but waiting for a day when we have time and good weather. Sai Kung might also be an option then, though we’ll probably just take the taxi…
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My friends had recommended Lamma instead of Sai Kung if you want to take a look at that given you are with your parents
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Ah thanks for the tip!
Just as a general heads up as to where my parents’ priorities lie this holiday:
- checking out malls
- Go to said malls to find a wok they can use for on an electrical cooking plate, seeing that they now have installed solar roof panels at their home and want to save money by not using gas
- This is not in their main kitchen of course because gas is king, but in their backyard kitchen
- Checking out the variety of vegetables and fish on offer and planning how much they can bring back home (taking into consideration the size of their luggage)
- Drinking wine and eating in the club lounge
- Being amazed by the variety of noodles local people eat
- One of them needs a new battery for their apple watch
- And only then, everything else including touristy stuff like going to a fishing village!!
Lol, it’s (seriously) fun to be with them here.
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Basehall 02 at Jardine might be easy for them to consume some interesting things without venturing to the original locations of those things.
I went to a homeware store in Wan Chai a couple of times – let me find it. ETA: I think it’s King Tak Hong Porcelain Company on Queen’s Rd. There’s an upstairs with more kitchen stuff.
Happy Bakery is right down the street from it.
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Lunch combo today at Mak Man Kee and Australia Dairy Company.
First up, shrimp wonton soup at Mak Man Kee. Delicious!! 50 HKD for a bowl of goodness. Big shrimps. Still a little peckish so ordered beef brisket on noodles (dry) - this was good, not great.
As I didn’t eat all my noodles, and struck up a conversation with the other tourist whom I was sharing the booth with, we decided to go for pudding at next door’s Australia Dairy Company. Another well known place here in Jordan. We ordered the egg and the milk pudding, and coffee. The desserts are good and worth the hype.
Mak Man Kee.
Australia Dairy (fitting to their reputation for having rude waiters we got kicked out for lingering too long… lol).
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They sound like fun people and fabulous travel companions! Tell them to join Hungry Onion!
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Was that the fine gentleman who kicked you out? 
Lol no it happened all in an instant… I can’t remember who it was. To be fair we were sitting there for half an hour already. The place was packed, and it was 3PM. Had the impression that a lot of the clientele were locals, just like at Mak Man Kee next door. Yesterday I struck up a conversation on food with a local taxi driver and he said he also likes the wonton noodle at Mak Man Kee.
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Quick lunch at Dim Sum Square in Sheung Wan. I used to frequent this place a lot when I had an apartment nearby on Hollywood Rd, at their old smaller location. They have very nice bowls of rice and meat (not only claypot) besides their dim sum offerings. I knew that but I still decided to get some classic dim sum, just to taste proper non-hotel dim sum again. Or so I thought.
Maybe my taste buds are getting more demanding, but this wasn’t that much better than what I had at my Shanghai hotel last week. I also didn’t like what they did with the place, feels very dark and unpersonal. The place was packed though.
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Wing Fat Sea food, on Temple Str.
Always come back here. Where last week’s 1 star Yong Yi Ting in Shanghai was beautifully refined, this is on the other end of the spectrum: just big bold powerful cooking.
Probably not to everyone’s taste, because for example the toilet is just some old school hole in the floor in some back alley. But the cooking is top notch - so much so that I went two nights in a row.
Favourite dishes here are things like clams in black bean sauce, steamed shrimps with garlic, beef rib in black bean sauce, stir fried morning glory and so on. Beer goes by the 750ml bottle, either Blue Girl or Hoegaarden, or you can bring your own. The table next to us had a bottle of vsop cognac! Clientele mixture of tourists and locals.
The food here is bursting with flavour - it’s just volume (place is always packed) times speed meaning ingredients are always ultra fresh.
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My kind of joint! I can put up with sketchy washrooms if the food is delicious(and this looks delicious). 
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Hong Kong bakery named Pak See Kut in Wan Chai. Went to the wet market here around 5PM, 10 minutes from our hotel. Saw this local bakery and a customer inside told me how famous their char siu buns are, so of course I had to get one. These are delicious indeed! The pastry has some sugar in it, so the whole experience is the sweetness from the pastry combined with the juicy, salty bbq pork.
A few doors down the road there was a long line for a waffle place, only youngsters. Haven’t had the waffles but something tells me they just cannot be as good as these. Will young people still keep these local bakeries alive? Earlier in the week I walked past Bakehouse in Causeway Bay and again saw lots of youngsters making pictures of even just the bags! As there was a long queue I passed.
Anyway, Pak See Kut.
And a few pics from the wet market here.
Live shrimps jumping out of the box all the time onto the street
Fresh abalone
Crab
Casually parked Rolls Royce while wizzing past in a red cab.
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Yes, the food here is delicious, I’m sure you’ll love it! Check out this clip for some live action (not me of course).
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Shopping mall. What else to do on a rainy day? Today was gorgeous here in HK, but the past few days have been dreary. Also felt a little under the weather as a result. Yesterday we had lunch at the big shopping mall nearby called Pacific Place, where the crowds are being drawn in by giant sized Christmas decorations.
We went to a Thai place called Thai Basil. Ordered fish cakes, papaya salad, green chicken curry, morning glory and white rice. The food was good, though not as good as in Thailand (of course). Bill came to around 65 euro, which isn’t cheap. The place was buzzing, but at some point they turned on a Kitchenaid in the kitchen near us, and the sound became unbearable. That’s the downside of shopping mall eating I guess. Forgot to take a few pics…
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Another Din Tai Fun lunch experience, as we were nearby in Sogo Causeway Bay shopping for Japanese old school hanging clocks with music, and were starving.
Forget about the Michelin stars. The thing with DTF is, it’s just a solid place that is sometimes better than expected (last week in Shanghai) and other times worse than expected, like now in HK. The menu wasn’t as varied as in Shanghai either.
Marinated cucumber in chilli and garlic
Fried shrimp cake and fried pork chop
Xlb with crab roe and pork
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And then a short essay on hotel club lounge eating. We booked rooms with club lounge access. Meaning, we can go a common area in the hotel that is just for club lounge guests, from 06.30AM until 22.00PM and chill out, work, talk, socialise, look out the window, all while being served foods and drinks. During the entire day there is coffee, tea, pop sodas, fruit juices, champagne, wine, beer, and fruit.
And then there are three eating blocks during the day. Breakfast (06.30-10.30AM), afternoon tea (2-4PM), and cocktail hour (17.30-19.30PM).
With breakfast there are numerous pastries (delicious, as good as in a professional bakery), fruit jams, homemade granola, smoked salmon, bread, cheeses, congee and other hot dishes that are ready made, and then a choice of three daily specials, with things like eggs, wonton shrimp noodles, satay beef noodles, Indonesian fried mie and so on.
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