Looking for advice - Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur

damiano · April 5, 2023, 5:18am

Probably the least impressive meal - from a food standpoint - was at 1 Michelin star Man Wah, in the Mandarin Oriental hotel. The restaurant’s design is gorgeous and the hotel, well, of course if I could afford it I would always stay in a Mandarin! I did actually stay in the Mandarin Kuala Lumpur, but more on that later. I also visited the bar at the HK Mandarin, same floor as Man Wah, and that was a nice spot.

We had Peking duck with pancakes, char siu and pork belly, pork with pineapple, and some other small stuff I can’t remember. The food is good, just not great, could be any Cantonese upscale restaurant in say Vienna. Later on I would have char siu and duck/goose at a much higher level.

So, the duck - first you get the skin to eat with the pancakes. Then later on they would serve the meat, chopped, on a bed of lettuce. See pic. Always different how restaurants go about Peking duck!

klyeoh · April 5, 2023, 9:15am

Gosh, how disappointing to hear that about Man Wah. Back about, say, 25 years ago, a meal at Man Wah would guarantee to be very special indeed. I guess they got complacent - even with the 1-Michelin-star.

I remembered one time - in 1996-97 when I was supposed to meet a friend for dinner: I invited her to Man Ho (at the Conrad), but she went to Man Wah instead!

Google_Gourmet · April 5, 2023, 9:46am

I had stayed there many moons ago when it first opened as The Langham Place Hotel. My, how MongKok has changed in the ensuing years.

Just a couple of city blocks off Nathan, one would see opium addicts nodding off in doorways. Fishball Girl shops (no, they don’t make/sell fishballs).

The same area is now covered with trendy retail and snack shops. Great that the wet/street market is still going strong. We love walking the markets and just reveling in the activity and cacophony that is so exciting and gives me a natural high!!!

damiano · April 6, 2023, 2:33am

Next one up, the Temple Street night market area. There are less restaurants and shops than before covid, but still a pleasant area to walk around and of course to eat!

Usually restaurants here will display live fish in tanks outside, but now there were less of them. I did not know where I’d eat beforehand, but one place stood out because of how busy it was. No fish tanks though.

It’s here. Plastic chairs of course.

I adore clams, so I chose them, stir fried in black bean sauce. These were excellent, and probably still the best I’ve had so far this trip. Juicy fresh clams, and then a light but full flavoured sauce. I think these were 10 euro something.

I had also ordered fried squid with salt and pepper. Usually these are soggy from a heavy batter, but these were light and crispy. With every bite you taste more squid than batter. The squid was also super fresh, nice not rubbery texture. Nice seasoning. Again around 10 euro.

And finally, I saw a plate of kai lan coming by for my neighbours and they looked excellent so I ordered them too. Chinese broccoli. Again super fresh, really nice. Crunchy, tasty, garlicky, juicy!

This is just a ‘simple’ spot, but these dishes were done at an extremely high level. Would not stand out of place in a highly rated serious restaurant. Really my type of cuisine, fresh market produce, simple preparation, by an excellent chef. The sound of the wok burner was truly loud by the way, could be heard all over the terrace!

The restaurant’s name is Wing Fat Seafood, pic below from google for orientation.

damiano · April 6, 2023, 3:08am

Yes, I also stayed there when it was the Langham Place hotel. The adjacent mall is still called Langham Place. Tip: the mall has a very good international supermarket called Market Place, where you’ll find a lot of Western and Asian foods.

The Cordis lacks a nice communal area, and the pool area is not inviting. The rooms are a bit dated, the beds not ideal, but the views can be magnificent. My room looked out over a nice part of HK including the river. The service is also top notch.

The area is still not as gentrified as say Sheung Wan where you’ll find typical Western frivolities as barista shops with pour over (drip) coffee for 6 euro! Did not see them in Mong Kok! I’ve seen a few of them in Yau Ma Tei, 10 minutes walking towards TST.

damiano · April 6, 2023, 3:16am

To be fair to MO, this was my first and only visit. Plus we ordered the most basic, simple dishes as you could see. Still, the pork belly was off, it had a ‘meaty’ off taste like it needed some extra cleaning before cooking (vinegar, or boiling). To me that’s a sign that they will skip parts of the process needed to come to a perfect dish.

Have you ever stayed at the Mandarin in KL? It’s so nice! It was actually cheaper than the Cordis in HK! The Mandarin would be reason for me just to come to KL, stay at the pool, and then whenever I need to eat just get a grab.

I wanted to stay at the Four Points Chinatown as you had suggested, but after booking I got an email from the hotel manager saying that they are renovating the place and some parts of the hotel including the pool would be closed. Hence the change.

damiano · April 6, 2023, 3:33am

Next one up: traditional dim sum breakfast in Hong Kong! Restaurant London on Nathan Road, Mong Kok. Jetlagged, so I was already there at 8AM. They started serving at 8.30AM. The place was near empty when I came in with the first guests, so I just picked a table.

After a few minutes, a lady came to me (she was a guest like me) and scolded me in Cantonese telling me to go to a different table! She looked mad! I couldn’t understand a word of it, but I went to a different table. Later on someone explained to me that tables with a pink sign (as pictured) are reserved! She pulled no punches! Lol, how could I know…

Now, the next hard part came : ordering when no one (wanted to?) spoke English. There is no menu, just ladies pushing the dim sum carts. They would not roll past my table but shout in Cantonese what they offer. So I would just stand up and go to them instead! They also had a separate counter, next to the kitchen, where you could go to yourself and pick whatever you would like.

This was a fun place! Some lady was having the most fun with her friends, laughing out loud. The food was good, not great, but fitting for the environment and price. No tourists at all, only locals, everybody was over 40 years old… I paid around 20 euro in total I think.

damiano · April 6, 2023, 3:54am

Din Tai Fung in Causeway Bay. 1 Michelin star. Still remember the day they opened, as I was in HK at the time. Of course I go for the xiao long bao, which is hard to find for me in Europe.

Appetiser of jellyfish and pickled radish.

Bowl of shrimp and pork wonton noodles.

And finally, the xiao long bao. When you enter the restaurant you see them making the dough. It’s a dumpling filled with broth, which is unique. The dough should be thick enough to hold the liquid, while at the same time thin enough to be enjoyable. You eat them with some shredded ginger and a drop of either vinegar or soy. They were exactly as I remembered! Very good. In total I paid around 25 euro I think.

damiano · April 6, 2023, 4:31am

Next one up: one of the highlights of this HK trip, and THE best roast goose/duck I have ever had. Kam’s Roast Goose in Wan Chai. I was there at 11.30AM and got the last seat. When I left there were more than 50 people waiting outside! It’s a small restaurant, only 35 places I think.

Unfortunately, I could not order more dishes but the roast pork belly and bbq char siu looked extraordinary as well. I will be in Hong Kong next week for a whole day before my flight departs in the evening so I may go back!

Sometimes goose can be too fatty and have a ‘meaty’ off taste, whereas otoh duck can be too lean and stringy. This goose here has the best of both worlds: it’s soft, juicy, fatty but still lean and light in flavour. I took the lower 1/4 part.

The goose was excellent. You can taste decades of experience and respect for the product and process.

klyeoh · April 6, 2023, 5:26am

I haven’t actually! It opened in 1998, but I’d only visited KL 3 times in 20 years (1990-2010) despite Singapore being just a hop away, and each was a business trip nearer the industrial areas and airport which were quite far from the city centre.

When I actually moved to KL for a new job in 2011, I was invited to be a “mystery shopper” by Mandarin Oriental’s management to assess the quality of their restaurants. It came as a culture shock to me to find out that their much-vaunted Chinese restaurant (Lai Poh Heen) was halal, so all their dim sum, etc. did not contain any pork. It explained why their “siu mai” was so hard.

damiano · April 6, 2023, 5:42am

Final restaurant in Hong Kong: Jing Alley. As mentioned in above article on where to find the best char siu in HK. It’s a Sichuan restaurant, also labeled fusion with Cantonese (hence the char siu).

The location is perfect, next to MTR metro Sheung Wan and five minutes by taxi from Central. As a solo diner they gave me a large 4 person table, overlooking the whole room. The service is excellent, they are really nice people just trying to give you a great experience. They also played nice jazz music! The menu is great, lots of choice. I’m not that knowledgeable on Sichuan so it’s all new to me.

So, I had the chicken with fresh galangal. The chicken was deboned by hand (as I found a small bone), and hence a proper half chicken. It was a good dish.

Then, another highlight of my trip: truly magnificent cabbage! Who knew cabbage could be so tasty! Thick but juicy, sauce of garlic, and then spicy from dried red chillis. Extraordinary.

And then the char siu, another highlight. I’ve eaten a lot of char siu over the years, but this one came close to being some of the best. Perfect cut of meat, juicy, just the right amount of burned bits, clean but flavourful taste. Much, much better than the one at the Mandarin. In fact, the Mandarin would be better off just taking over this team to run Man Wah if it were up to me!

Google_Gourmet · April 6, 2023, 8:14am

Hong Kongers can be a bit……brusque. It usually takes me a few days to adjust and not take any perceived slight too personally.

Sounds like you had a wonderful time and some good eats. Y’know, I’ve not yet experienced Kam’s though it’s widely regarded as best in HK and therefore the world. Must rectify this deficiency when we visit in October.

damiano · April 6, 2023, 9:39am

Yes, brusque - like New Yorkers can be as well I guess! I don’t mind, I like it like that and she was in her right telling me off.

The directness is what I like/love about Hong Kong. They won’t adjust to tourists for example, generally, and will leave people alone. That gives me the impression it’s 100% authentic and you as well can be exactly the way you want to be, provided you behave.

HK is the perfect city for nomads, as a cab driver told me. I can see that, and also the reason why I won’t ever be bored of the city!

The same cab driver told me to visit Kam’s first thing in the morning, because the geese are at their best and freshest then. So, I did!

This was my first time at Kam’s. If you take away the Michelin ads it’s a shop like there are dozens all over the city. But then with food that is a (significant) cut above the rest. I also love that a lot of locals still visit, e.g. old men alone ordering a goose leg on rice, reading the newspaper.

damiano · April 7, 2023, 1:37am

I did also had a sushi lunch while in Hong Kong. Restaurant Tenzen in Causeway Bay - you go into this nondescript office building with multiple restaurants, and this was on the 12th floor I believe.

They have a sushi lunch deal - choose 10 from a list of 20 and pay 30 HKD, with some soup and salad.

The food was good, though nothing remarkable. I find it more difficult to truly enjoy sushi these days. Supermarket sushi is adequate to good, and in Europe at least a lot of (popular) sushi places they will add things like mayonaise (eg in Roka, London where I was a few months ago). That only leaves the esoteric hardcore sushi places which are difficult to get into and very expensive. I just don’t value sushi enough these days to want to go through that effort.

This was good, but probably would have been better sticking with local HK food that is difficult to get outside of HK.

damiano · April 7, 2023, 1:57am

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

I arrived Sunday evening. First time Malaysia so completely clueless, but luckily Peter here helped me a lot! Thanks again!

That first night, after checking into my hotel and setting up my Grab, it was already late so I went to Jalan Alor, the outside food street. Lots of restaurants, seafood, but I walked past a stall where they were roasting chicken wings over a charcoal bbq - and that was it! If you come from Swiss Garden, it’s the first stall on the right.

I also had wonderful clams.

Jalan Alor is different from a typical Singapore hawker center, in that it seems more commercial and there is less variety of dishes on offer. It’s also not as clean! had a great time nonetheless.

damiano · April 7, 2023, 2:14am

For my Indian fix, I chose Fierce Curry House in Little India. This was my least impressive meal in KL. The restaurant was empty when I came in for lunch, and I saw on the menu that things like crab and lobster needed to be ordered a day in advance. On the menu, that only left me to order prawns, for fresh seafood. I did not want a full curry meal, so I only ordered some ladyfingers (okra, bindhi). The best part was the coffee, bru.

damiano · April 7, 2023, 2:20am

Heun Kee claypot rice. Saw this place on instagram. Had to wait 10 minutes outside for a table. While waiting, I could already see the chefs in action as they are outside.

I picked the standard chicken claypot rice and added Chinese sausage and salted fish. Really cheap. And really good!

The place was full at 3PM, with a nice buzzing atmosphere.

damiano · April 7, 2023, 2:34am

For my obsession with live seafood, I chose One Seafood, which was near my hotel on Jalan Bukit Bintang. And recommended by the hotel. The restaurant was half empty at dinner time, mostly business dinners. Ordered bbq prawn (big one!), clams (Saba sand clams I think they were) and their own signature seafood fried noodles.

The food was good, but not remarkable. I also like it better to sit outside when eating at a place with fishtanks, like at No Signboard Geylang in Singapore, or like a place I went to in Da Nang, Vietnam. The variety on offer here wasn’t great either.

damiano · April 7, 2023, 2:48am

On my last day came the standout meal of my time in KL, and also one of the better meals so far. In a back alley in Chinatown, this place stood out because I saw big prawns kept cold by ice, a bunch of well dressed ladies sitting together, and just a nice buzzing atmosphere. The stall is called Gerai Makanan Sai Kee. Pic from google and my own.

So, I had to get the prawns! They were magnificent, thick, juicy and fresh, with a sweetish Malay-Cantonese sauce. The well dressed ladies came to admire my prawns when they left and probably felt sorry they did not order them. I also had some kai lan with pork, and white rice. The place got packed at some point, tables were added, and I saw some amazing dishes around me.

Right next to the stall there is a good coffee stall, had some coffee there with condensed milk. You can just order coffee while eating from the other stand.

Initially I wanted to go to a curry noodle place Peter had recommended, but they were closed.

damiano · April 7, 2023, 4:46am

I’m now in Thailand, Phuket (Surin beach), for a week, with my parents. Days are filled swimming in the sea, swimming in the hotel pool at night, and while food is still important, it’s kept simple.