Hong Kong: Architecture and Food Tour
Our second day in Hong Kong also brought the first (and only) activity that we had booked in advance - a food tour through the Central and Sheung Wan areas of Hong Kong through Hong Kong Foodie Tours. It wasn't until the afternoon, though, and we had been directed to eat a heavy later breakfast beforehand....so we hit up the guidebook and ended up at a traditional 24-hour diner called The Flying Pan, which served up a more than adequate fried breakfast.
Getting there was part of the adventure, though, as the Central location required one to take the escalators to get there. What are the escalators, you ask? Simply put, the the longest outdoor covered escalator in the world. When you have a huge mass of people to move for the morning commute on a very hilly terrain, everything helps - the escalators run down in the morning for the morning commute, then run up the rest of the day. Pretty neat!
After breakfast, we headed back down to Central to walk through a couple of really neat architectural structures, including the HSBC Building, which at the time it opened in 1985 was the most expensive building ever built. On the atrium level, there was a really neat history display describing the history of HSBC in Hong Kong and the history of the land itself - the site used to be on the waterfront, but is now much further from the shore, thanks to land reclamation.
We also wandered through a few green spaces nestled amongst the skyscrapers - namely, Cheung Keon Park next to the Bank of China Building and Hong Kong Park. This was one of my favorite things about Hong Kong - the spots of green nature nestled in amongst the buildings.
After our morning wanderings, it was time to report to the Food Tour. The tour consisted of 6 stops spread out over 3.5 hours, and also included an extensive walking tour of the Central and Sheung Wan neighborhoods. Our tour guide was great - he was a Hong Kong local who was passionate about food and had good stories to share of how the island was being redeveloped and what had changed since the hand-over in 1997.
Food Stops:
Tsim Chai Kee Noodles, a won ton noodle shop that had 3 things on the menu - fish balls, beef slices and shrimp wonton in fresh fish broth. We had a hearty bowl of shrimp wontons, which were delicious. Our guide also taught us the trick of first tasting the broth (which was very good on its own) then adding a little bit of vinegar (in our case, red wine vinegar) to mellow out the flavor. I proceeded to do this with pretty much every bowl of soup noodles I ordered for the rest of the week.
*Fun facts about eating in Hong Kong - sharing tables is very expected. To get service, raise your hand. You will not be coddled, especially if you are looking for cheap eats.
Dragon Restaurant - Roasted meats is the name of the game here. We had our first taste of Char Siu Faan, or barbecued pork with rice. You also could have gotten roasted duck, goose, pigeon or other parts of pig, including entrails. We stuck with the pork slices, and they were very nice indeed. Unfortunately, we did not get a tour of the pig roasters (where one could roast a pig in 1.5 hours), as the fire department was there for inspection that day.
Between stops 2 and 3, we had an extensive tour of a wet market, where one goes to buy fresh foods - so, vegetables, fish, and the like. Very cool - but neighborhood development might soon wipe this out in Central.
Kung Lee Sugar Cane Juice - the shop where you can get freshly pressed sugar cane juice and lots of other concoctions that will cure whatever ails you, including something called "turtle soup" that we did not try but smelled..... interesting. The sugar cane juice was very refreshing, though!
Wong Wing Kee Preserved Fruits - not so much a food stop as a snack stop - here we were able to sample many different kinds of preserved fruits, and received a little snack box to sample from later. ES and I definitely returned here later in the week to buy up more preserved lemon and preserved ginger to bring home as presents and souvenirs.
Dim Sum Square - hooray! Time for Dim Sum again! Here, we sampled Har Gao (shrimp dumplings), Siu Mai (pork dumplings), jaa chun guen (deep fried spring rolls) and my favorite, char siu bao (BBQ pork buns). Served alongside some very hot tea, it was very tasty. I'm amazed we had room for it!
But wait, here comes the last stop! Hei Lee Cake Shop, home of some very delicious Daan Taat, or egg tarts. OMG. These are my favorite things. Egg custard baked in a shortbread crust, eaten straight out of the oven. ES and I definitely made a return trip here as well for more egg tarts later on in the week.
After the tour, we headed back up to the Kowloon side and met up with LF to check out the Temple Street Night Market - LF wanted to purchase some little things as gifts for coworkers, and I wanted to get a head start on checking out the purse buying potential. After a quick swing through the market, ES and I made one of our many stops at McDonalds' - THEIR GREEN TEA SOFT SERVE ICE CREAM WAS AMAZING. DON'T JUDGE. And then we proceeded back to the hotel for a well-deserved rest, as it had been a long day of walking.... and eating.
You can view pictures from the trip HERE.
Previous posts:
Hong Kong: Fragrant Harbor
Hong Kong: Flower Show and Din Tai Fung
Getting there was part of the adventure, though, as the Central location required one to take the escalators to get there. What are the escalators, you ask? Simply put, the the longest outdoor covered escalator in the world. When you have a huge mass of people to move for the morning commute on a very hilly terrain, everything helps - the escalators run down in the morning for the morning commute, then run up the rest of the day. Pretty neat!
After breakfast, we headed back down to Central to walk through a couple of really neat architectural structures, including the HSBC Building, which at the time it opened in 1985 was the most expensive building ever built. On the atrium level, there was a really neat history display describing the history of HSBC in Hong Kong and the history of the land itself - the site used to be on the waterfront, but is now much further from the shore, thanks to land reclamation.
We also wandered through a few green spaces nestled amongst the skyscrapers - namely, Cheung Keon Park next to the Bank of China Building and Hong Kong Park. This was one of my favorite things about Hong Kong - the spots of green nature nestled in amongst the buildings.
After our morning wanderings, it was time to report to the Food Tour. The tour consisted of 6 stops spread out over 3.5 hours, and also included an extensive walking tour of the Central and Sheung Wan neighborhoods. Our tour guide was great - he was a Hong Kong local who was passionate about food and had good stories to share of how the island was being redeveloped and what had changed since the hand-over in 1997.
Food Stops:
Tsim Chai Kee Noodles, a won ton noodle shop that had 3 things on the menu - fish balls, beef slices and shrimp wonton in fresh fish broth. We had a hearty bowl of shrimp wontons, which were delicious. Our guide also taught us the trick of first tasting the broth (which was very good on its own) then adding a little bit of vinegar (in our case, red wine vinegar) to mellow out the flavor. I proceeded to do this with pretty much every bowl of soup noodles I ordered for the rest of the week.
*Fun facts about eating in Hong Kong - sharing tables is very expected. To get service, raise your hand. You will not be coddled, especially if you are looking for cheap eats.
Dragon Restaurant - Roasted meats is the name of the game here. We had our first taste of Char Siu Faan, or barbecued pork with rice. You also could have gotten roasted duck, goose, pigeon or other parts of pig, including entrails. We stuck with the pork slices, and they were very nice indeed. Unfortunately, we did not get a tour of the pig roasters (where one could roast a pig in 1.5 hours), as the fire department was there for inspection that day.
Between stops 2 and 3, we had an extensive tour of a wet market, where one goes to buy fresh foods - so, vegetables, fish, and the like. Very cool - but neighborhood development might soon wipe this out in Central.
Kung Lee Sugar Cane Juice - the shop where you can get freshly pressed sugar cane juice and lots of other concoctions that will cure whatever ails you, including something called "turtle soup" that we did not try but smelled..... interesting. The sugar cane juice was very refreshing, though!
Wong Wing Kee Preserved Fruits - not so much a food stop as a snack stop - here we were able to sample many different kinds of preserved fruits, and received a little snack box to sample from later. ES and I definitely returned here later in the week to buy up more preserved lemon and preserved ginger to bring home as presents and souvenirs.
Dim Sum Square - hooray! Time for Dim Sum again! Here, we sampled Har Gao (shrimp dumplings), Siu Mai (pork dumplings), jaa chun guen (deep fried spring rolls) and my favorite, char siu bao (BBQ pork buns). Served alongside some very hot tea, it was very tasty. I'm amazed we had room for it!
But wait, here comes the last stop! Hei Lee Cake Shop, home of some very delicious Daan Taat, or egg tarts. OMG. These are my favorite things. Egg custard baked in a shortbread crust, eaten straight out of the oven. ES and I definitely made a return trip here as well for more egg tarts later on in the week.
After the tour, we headed back up to the Kowloon side and met up with LF to check out the Temple Street Night Market - LF wanted to purchase some little things as gifts for coworkers, and I wanted to get a head start on checking out the purse buying potential. After a quick swing through the market, ES and I made one of our many stops at McDonalds' - THEIR GREEN TEA SOFT SERVE ICE CREAM WAS AMAZING. DON'T JUDGE. And then we proceeded back to the hotel for a well-deserved rest, as it had been a long day of walking.... and eating.
You can view pictures from the trip HERE.
Previous posts:
Hong Kong: Fragrant Harbor
Hong Kong: Flower Show and Din Tai Fung