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As M said when she first met me. There’s nothing to do in HK except eat and shop. But M doesn’t hike and there are things like that, and surfing to do in HK.<\/p>\n
So it was off to Central for some wanton noodles at Wong Chi Kei.<\/p>\n
The noodles were good, but the wanton skin, where it was sealed was pressed so thickly together it didn’t really cook through. I felt the noodles were better than Mak’s noodle which is a bit hard.<\/p>\n After that, we proceeded two doorsteps away to Tsui Wan Restarant, the first of the modern cha chan tang that spurred the development of others. Anyway, they have a few outlets around Hong Kong, but Q insists that she only eat at this original branch where it all started, because it’s the best.<\/p>\n This makes me sad. A restaurant that chooses to open several outlets must be judged on the food produced at all outlets. If a branch fails, then the quality of that restaurant as a whole falls.<\/p>\n Branches of restaurants must be managed like chain restaurants. Even though you might not have the efficiency and impersonalisation (I made that word up) of chain restaurants, you have to manage the quality of food like chain restaurants – reliable, dependable quality no matter where you go. The purpose after all is to increase business, not serve lousy food at one branch to drive business to another branch.<\/p>\n As we already had a big bowl of noodles, I only got the toast with condensed milk and a lime mint drink, both of which I enjoyed a lot.<\/p>\n I really wanted to order eggs, but I restrained myself.<\/p>\n I feel the way a diner or a breakfast place, place that serves breakfast food should be judged by the quality of eggs it produces from the kitchen. If they serve other good stuff, it’s icing on the cake.<\/p>\n Okay, that mint drink I shall one day try and mimic. it’s a slushy mix of crushed mint and lime juice. I suspect it has some sour plum in it too.<\/p>\n Now that condensed milk toast. I have a love hate relationship with condensed milk. For example, I think Milo is best with condensed milk. However, in South Africa, they like to make their key lime pie with condensed milk and I think that is the vilest thing anyone can do to a key lime pie. Actually, I forget if it was key lime or lemon meringue. Okay, no matter what, it just didn’t go.<\/p>\n But this condensed milk was so sparingly drizzled on toast, it was good. And the bread was not just soft but had a crust that is more like the French bread, only not as chewy or crusty. But it had a good bite, not like the soft stuff that we’re used to. Q said it’s like an Asian ciabatta. At first I agreed, but then I thought about it and I think it’s not like a ciabatta at all.<\/p>\n The ciabatta has big air holes, uneven, this has small air holes, more regular. It’s still a soft bun. The difference is the crust. It doesn’t have the high sugar, and oil that is typical of soft breads. I think there is less cake flour used in this than Asian soft breads. In contrast, European breads are made up of 100% bread flour.<\/p>\n If I go back to Hong Kong, I will order a few of these and analyse them again. I’ll wait till they’re cool to see if they get hard or not when cold. It’s a lovely bread.<\/p>\n Okay, then I went to Wan Chai computer centre and bought some stuff that I didn’t need, but was nice to have. I was really thinking about my (lack of) luggage space.<\/p>\n Then it was off to The Pawn for a drink.<\/p>\n The Pawn is a drinking hole that occupies the space of an old pawn shop and is supposed to retain the old quality of the pawn shop, but I think it fails. It merely makes a cursory nod to its history when what you want is a kowtow to its origins.<\/p>\n I found the rubbish dump more interesting. It had a curtain of a picture of a forest at the entrance.<\/p>\n Finally, we went to Goldfish Street on Tung Choi Street in Mong Kok, a place I’ve been wanting to see for some time.<\/p>\n It’s an exciting collection of fish shops. The variety of fish wasn’t that great, but they have more brands of fish equipment. I really wanted to get a long arm pincer to help me reach the far ends of my planted tank, but decided I didn’t have the space in my luggage.<\/p>\n Then the T8 warning was “hoisted” – I don’t know why they choose that term and we left to have dinner at Xi Yan in Elements, the shopping centre at Kowloon Station.<\/p>\n I saw many Hong Kongers rushing back home before Koppu hit.<\/p>\n Some already lost their umbrellas.<\/p>\n Smoked duck egg and a spicy chicken Sze-Chuan inspired dish. Food not bad. Smoked duck smoked taste was a bit too mild, but had a runny egg yolk.<\/p>\n <\/a> The unusually quiet streets of TST at night before Koppu hit.<\/p>\n All braced and ready.<\/p>\n The trees swinging in the wind, taken from the taxi home.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
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