of mojitos and other madness: rediscovering hong kong!

august nineteen ninety nine was the last time i was in hong kong so this trip really is about my rediscovery of the territory eleven years on. the holiday was put together quite last minute but trust me, since the moment go, the family has been charting the entire holiday purely based on the meals! i guess one does think 'eat & shop' at the mention of hong kong and this girl definitely did a whole lot of eating and quite a bit of shopping!

before i dive into the food itinerary of day one, i do have to rave about the singapore airlines triple seven flight that i was on. maybe its been a while since i flew (yes, am sorely deprived of a holiday!) and flew sia at that, so i was quite blown away by the neat details that sia has included on their triple seven fleet. i love this class because of the three seater rows and more rounded overhead compartments giving way to the illusion of a higher ceiling...but the new details of a larger tele screen, front stowing of the controls, cup holder, mirror on the table and my favorite - the in seat power, really makes sitting in economy class that much more comfortable.

being on the first flight out of singapore brought us into hong kong just after lunch. after checking into the discovery golf club, we hopped onto the ferry and were in the spanking ifc mall by two pm. with dinner already planned to be quite big, we decided to just nibble and headed to honeymoon dessert for some classic hong kong tea time temptations.

between the seven of us, we tucked into five different desserts. my nephew e being the creature of habit he is had the mango pudding which came as a nice thick slab, while my mom and i stuck with the classic mango pomelo and sago sweet soup. both the pudding and sago desserts were good, not too sweet and served with generous bits of mango. sis k could not resist the walnut cream which had a nice black glutinous rice touch, while aunty b and niece e had the papaya and snow fungus soup and sweet ball (tang yuan) respectively. the dry tang yuan was unique in that they were empty dumplings but smothered with a yummy mixture of peanut, sugar, sesame seeds and coconut..it was so addictive that we had to literally pull the plate away from niece e before she polished the entire plate off! i would recommend a stop by for a quick sugar fix (go with the sago and or the dry tang yuan!) and rest for tired shopping feet!

honeymoon dessert

shop 3013, level p3

ifc mall, central

(852) 2868 9799

www.honeymoon-dessert.com

dinner was at yung kee which i believe is on everyone's list of places to eat at when in hong kong. touted to serve up hong kong's best roast goose, we had pak law leading the recce and getting a reservation for us, while the rest of us spent the ninety minutes at the near by three storey h&m flagship store. with the shopping itch scratched, we were all ready to tuck into some renowned roasts.

dinner kicked off with a serving of century egg and suckling pig. not being a huge fan of century eggs eaten neat, i can't quite comment (and won't actually know how to) on how good it was but those around the table were quite wow-ed. apparently the century egg at yung kee also has quite a following, one of them being my uncle d who actually brings them back home from trips to hong kong. the suckling pig was in one word - outstanding. again, i cannot claim to be a suckling pig connoisseur but this one had a nice crisp layer and extremely tender layers of pork beneath. it was surprisingly lean and literally melted in one's mouth...the kids loved it and it was really the case of who had the fastest chopsticks as the pile was literally demolished in minutes!

the rest of dinner consisted of half a roast goose, spinach and egg done three ways, braised tofu with mushroom and a roasted pigeon. all the dishes were very refined and classic of cantonese cooking. the goose was not bad but in comparison to the suckling pig and roast pigeon, paled a little in comparison. it was a tad too oily and rich for my liking but i guess you can only say you've dined at yung kee if you had the goose so...the spinach and tofu were both very good with the use of extremely fresh ingredients, a whole lot of garlic (yum!) and touch of chinese wine. my favorite though was the roast pigeon...roasted till crispy on the outside but still maintaining the tenderness of the meat on the inside, dipped in an old school salt and pepper mix, the pigeon was by far the most memorable in my book. it was a good first dinner and it definitely fueled me and my sis to conquer the ladies market that night! *grin*