My Hong Kong trip: notable eats! (Part 1)

Happy New Year, everyone! I do realise it's the 2nd already, but I happen to have spent the 1st of January aboard a plane bound for Sydney. And before that, I was doing some last-minute shopping and eating in Hong Kong!

Indulging in some Ben & Jerry's at the Times Square Hong Kong shopping mall.

My HK trip was absolutely perfect - the sights, sounds, smells, and atmosphere...all of it left my yearning to return there someday soon, and continue my gastronomic tour of her fine-dining restaurants, her back-alley street food, and, yes, those terrible-for-your-waistline snacks that are somehow okay to eat because you're on vacation!

Chinese savoury donuts/crullers

One such waistline-endangering but oh-so-addictive food item is the youtiao (油条). It's yeast-risen dough that has been deep-fried. It is golden and crunchy on the outside, but soft within...like a donut! My grandmother makes it for us at home all the time, and these particular ones are denser than the ones I'm used to. Which made it all the more interesting to try!

The paler, soft insides of the donut.

[At this point, I should apologise for any potential mistakes made in naming the foods that appear in this post. I neither speak nor understand Cantonese, so all the names are ones that I've found on the Internet, or the Mandarin-equivalents.]

The amazing view from my hotel room window.

There was so much to eat in Hong Kong. And eat I did! All the while trying to capture the glorious experience with my unwieldy iPhone. I attracted quite a few stares (not to mention under-the-breath mutters) with my tendency to stop in the middle of the pedestrian walkway and take pictures of whatever it was that I happened to be chowing down at that very moment. It was probably a bit antisocial of me to obstruct the flow of human traffic like that, but I simply had to document everything.

In the midst of the throng of humanity.

Over the course of the next few posts, I will attempt to convey to you a recount of my adventures in Hong Kong. I stayed there for only three days, and my travels were limited to Causeway Bay (銅鑼灣; Tong Lo Wan). My senses were overwhelmed as it was - next time, I will aim for a longer stay, in order to more fully appreciate the place and its wonders.

A deflated fried glutinous rice sesame-coated ball

Another ubiquitous edible is the matuan (麻糰). The one pictured above was bought from the same breakfast stall as the Chinese donut, but they also happen to be a popular dim sum dish at yum cha. The skin is made from glutinous rice flour, and encases a variety of fillings. We came across ones containing red bean paste and black sesame paste.

Smaller and more refined-looking matuan at yum cha.

Speaking of yum cha - we went to Cheers Restaurant (迎囍大酒樓), a dim sum restaurant located in Windsor House in Causeway Bay for brunch, and the ones we tried were pretty good. The matuan pictured above are from there. The price for the dishes was relatively cheap, but the range was quite limited. And service wasn't exactly stellar either. Still, we got a good feed. Here are some of the dishes we ordered:

Braised pork knuckle.

'Pineapple' or Polo buns. Named for the pineapple skin-like crust on top. It doesn't actually contain any pineapple.

These otherwise sweet polo buns were filled with a savoury BBQ/char siew pork filling. Interesting flavour combo!

Roast goose.

Pig's blood.

 Deep-fried tofu.

 Tofu skin roll, filled with bamboo shoot and other goodies

Xiao long bao - Shanghai steamed buns

Steamed beef mince meatballs.

Steamed spare ribs with fermented black beans.

Mushroom with duck feet.

Beef tripes.

Shrimp dumplings (ha gaau)

Shaomai/siu maai: steamed dumplings filled with pork and minced shrimp.

"Phoenix claws" (fung zao): steamed chicken feet.

Duck egg and pork congee (皮蛋瘦肉粥)

Braised mushrooms with vegetables.

And that concludes Part 1 of this series of posts on Hong Kong. Keep an eye out over the next few days for the write-up of the rest of my trip!

For Part 2 of my Hong Kong adventures, click here.