Yee Shun Milk Company, Hong Kong

So I've survived my first day gardening and though I've yet to adapt to the painfully slow computer system, blundering and floundering around with all the new systems, I was pleasantly suprised that I could leave at 5pm. On the dot! :DAnother post on HK! Lol I'm getting supremely distracted.
When I was doing my last minuted research for food in Hong Kong, I stumbled upon this BC magazine (or something or another) which had a list of dessert stalls to visit in HK. Also I read about it at Camemberu's blog. Yee Shun milk company was one of the highly recommended dessert places, and best of all, it's located really near to where I was staying (I was staying near Elements Mall at Kowloon MRT station). In fact, the article I read said something like 'condolences if you're lactose intolerant' cos the dessert here is so good!

If you can see closely - there's this film of 'skin' on top of the milk - so it's the 'shuang1 pi2' or two skinned milk dessert. I'm not a big fan of the skin but I really do like the wobbly custard like milk pudding. I have never found a milk pudding in Singapore which can come close to rivaling Yee Shun's.

Lots and lots of the milk pudding dessert - it comes in an assortment of flavours, with options to add toppings but I think it's best enjoyed original and unadulterated and without the interference of all the other additions.

Another thing that I liked about this place is that the service is really friendly. Which is marvellous by Hong Kong standards as most of these small business are extremely brusque. When we got to this place, they welcomed us with smiles and patiently recommended their desserts (to try the original if it's the first time we were here).

Yee Shun Milk Company

513 Nathan Road

Hong Kong

Tel: +852 2374-5460

Lung King Hin - Four Seasons, Hong Kong

I visited Hong Kong at the end of March during my leave... Booking a lunch slot at Lung King Hin is no easy feat. My recommendation is that you book very early. As soon as you secure your flight dates, as this restaurant is immensely popular. It's a three star Michelin restaurant, and the main draw here for me is that they serve dim sum, which is my favourite type of Chinese food. Furthermore, the lunch set is affordable, unlike the western kind of Michelin star restaurant where a meal can come up to a few hundreds. The main draw for me is the dim sum, which is only served during lunch. During dinner, you'll get Cantonese dishes. The restaurant has a nice view of the harbour, and as expected of any posh restaurant, impeccable service.

Condiments - chilli, XO sauce and some black bean sauce.

Baked BBQ pork buns with Pine Nuts (Polo Pau with Char siew) (HKD$52++ for 3 pieces)- these little mini buns were nice and sweet, and as I'm a big fan of polo buns so I really enjoyed these. Though I thought that the onions were a bit too chunky and raw for my liking. I especially like the char siew polo buns from the Kee Wah bakery (which can be found next to Yung Kee and in the airport) which are really value for money (and plus the convenience) cos of the great surface area so you get more of the sweet polo crust.

Steamed Lobster and scallop dumpling (HKD $36 per piece)

All the dian xin skins (the translucent covering) were so thin and translucent, and the ingredients were very fresh. I shall just upload the pictures with minimal commentry cos the food here was really good.

Steamed fish dumpling with air-dried meat, conpoy and coriander (HDK$48++ for 3 pieces)

Steamed vegetable dumplings with bamboo piths (HKD $48++ for 3 pieces)

Steamed Shrimp dumplings and bamboo piths aka Siew Mai (HKD$48 ++ for 3 pieces)

Crispy Taro dumplings with Seafood and vegetables in XO chilli sauce (HKD $52++ for 3 pieces)

This was one of my faves. I really like to eat yam basket but it's messy and you need many many people to eat it with you or there'll be diminishing returns. This is like a bite sized yam basket, with extremely smooth yam, crispy coating and fresh seafood bits altogehter in one portion size helpings (though I could easily eat 3)

Another dim sum that I was yearning for since reading the numerous reviews online was the Baked Whole Abalone Puff with diced chicken (HKD $48 per piece). It didn't dissappoint. It's a braised whole baby abalone perched on top of a buttery pastry and the tart is filled with juicy tender morsels of chicken pieces. The abalone is even sliced diagonally into 2 for easier consumption. And the Xiao Long Pau which Ding Tai Fung single handedly propelled to popularity in Singapore. These were delicious and came on this wooden contraption, I suppose, for ease of dousing vinegar on...

They also had an executive set lunch menu which comes with 3 pieces of selected dim sum (which are some of the above but I'm not sure which). The set lunch costs HKD $450 per person though after trying both the dim sum and the set lunch, I would recommend the former without a doubt, though I am biased already since I really love dim sum and not Chinese food.

The soup of the day - can't remember what kind of soup but it's pork with something or another. The Cantonese can't do without their soups...

Pipa style BBQ duck with seafood sauce

For the life of me, I cannot appreciate roasted meats, so no comments on this.

Braised tofu with scallops and fresh mushrooms in abalone sauce

Another very Chinese style dish, which I thought was passable, the tofu was nice and smooth, scallops exquisitely fresh but it's the Chinese cooking which I cannot appreciate. Wok-fried chicken fillet with dried chillies and shallots

Steamed fried rice with conpoy wrapped in lotus leaf

This was closer to the 'dim sum' category so I really liked this. The lotus leaf made the rice really fragrant and the meat (char siew, dried scallop etc) were cut into very small pieces so the rice was very tasty and infused with the flavour from the meats. Chilled Mango and Sago Cream and Pomelo

This is one of the best Mango pomelo sago I have tried - the mango taste is really fresh and intense, and there'a even a layer of mango pudding right at the bottom. The sago balls are not the soggy kind but are very bonucy and QQ when you chew on them.

Petit Fours

The red bean and coconut agar jelly was pretty nice, but I was too full to appreciate the red bean pastry.

I also ordered 2 additional pastries to complete our meal

We had the baked cream custard puffs, which are leaf shaped and patterend. The pastry here is nice and buttery, though I thought that the custard was a bit too dry for my personal liking.

I really enjoyed the Crispy Carrot Puffs with Milk Custard. Not only do they really look like carrits, they're filled with milk custard. The pastry is the kind of pastry similar to those you get from the A1 curry puff stall, which, on a normal day. Their presentation is really interesting.

Lung King Hin

Four Seasons Hotel

8 Finance Street Central, Hong Kong

Tel. (852) 3196-8888

Yung Kee's Century eggs

Hello! Sorry for the lack of updates - been very busy, and busy procrastinating. I've still got many posts that I haven't blogged about including a dessert tasting at Gusttimo (will be up as soon as I'm done editing the humongous photos).
I've just gotten back from Hong Kong (stressed my pancreas lots by eating many meals and desserts everyday) and in Shenzhen (shopping and relaxing) and I'm now back relaxing infront of my laptop eating the famous Yung Kee century eggs. Didn't eat at their restaurant tho cos the last time I ate there July the food wasn't impressive enough to warrant another visit. Though I must say that their century eggs are worth the cholesterol, crawling up the mountainous area in Central and lugging back since they have such a nice oozy molten center. They're the equivalent to half boiled eggs in the century egg world. And the ginger is really nice. In fact, the ginger is the first preserve ginger that I actually enjoyed and thus now I am less adverse to eating preserved ginger (though I do enjoy ginger in nearly every other form except its original form).

Yung Kee

Address: 32-40 Wellington Street, Central, Hong Kong

Hong Kong Cafe - Novena Branch

I like the millions of dishes Hong Kong Cafe serve, as well as their nice thick toast and desserts! I'm so happy that there's a branch nearer my house and there's free carpark nearby.

This is the XO fried carrot cake ($5.50) which I don't like. Its apparently very famous and popular but I personally don't like it cos it's $5.50 for these lard-chip like things. And it's so super oily you'll feel very nua after eating it. Maybe people like it cos it's like eating lard chips. And$5.50 is way too steep for carrotcake (such a tiny portion too).This is the Macau Baked Rice ($14 something), which is perfect for people who can't make up their minds and want to try everything :D It's a super huge portion for one person (if you're hungry then eat this yourself) but I would probably share it (so i can eat more dessert).

In this, there are three types of baked rice - seafood baked rice with cream, porkchop baked rice with tomato sauce (tastes a bit like sweet and sour sauce), as well as chicken chop in some special sauce (I can't remember the name). The sauce reminds me of non-spicy curry, a bit like the Portugese Beef Hor Fun at Crytal Jade.

It's topped with nicely browned cheese, and it's really nice cos I like having variety. They also have many variants of these, including a Yam and Pumpkin sauce, which I shall try next time.

This is my all time favourite dessert - the Mango Queen. It's a bit different from the one I had at Hong Kong Cafe Siglap cos the coconut pudding is really nice and creamy. Nevertheless, the mango was fragrant and sweet and icy and refreshing. ($5) This is the Plain French Toast (it's about $3) which is fried to a golden crisp on the outisde and cotton wool soft inside. It comes with honey (though I think it's golden syrup not honey) and you can pour as much honey as you want inside. Ah I like bread alot! The french toast here is really good! I'm getting very hungry blogging about it.

Hong Kong Cafe is located opposide Novena Church (next to Novena Square) along the same row of shops as Peach Garden (nearer the bus stop and overhead bridge).

It's opened from 1130am to 1130pm

Xin Wang Siglap

Since I had traveled such a long distance to the east, I decided maximise my trip (and petrol) and used it as an opportunity to go and eat stuff in the East. Since everyone says that the food is much better in the East etc etc etc. So, Yilin and I decided to go to the cheesecake Cafe in Siglap, but then the cafe was so crowded, so we decided to walk further down and look for other types of food. Actually, I was quite thirsty and wanted to drink something cool, so when we walked past this Hong Kong Cafe called Xin Wang, I decided to go in and try the thick toast (just to see how other cafe thick toast tasted like).This place dosen't serve water - it charges 40 cents for plain water. I asked the waiter if this was per cup or free flow, and he paused for a while, and then said (according to Yilin) that he will either 1. give it to us free or 2. Give it as free flow. But because he mumbled, I missed it and ended up ordering a drink (much to Yilin's dismay).

I ordered the Iced HK Milk Tea ($2.90). It came in an aluminium cup, and it was so hot that all my ice melted even before the drink was cool. It was very milky, and the tea was strong. Not bad for $2.90 though I feel that the price is quite steep for tea. We also tried the Thick Toast - more because I wanted to compare thick toast standards between all the various Hong Kong cafes. I ordered a Thick Toast with Butter and Condensed Milk ($3.90), but requested for the butter to be served separately. But then the waiter gave it to us with both the buttter and the condensed milk separate. They were very generous with the butter - 4 big pieces of butter and lots of condensed milk.The toast was only toasted on one side though - the bottom was hardly brown. It's actually sliced into half width-wise and only the top was brown. The bread was soft, but I think that the bread in Tong Shui Cafe was still softer and better toasted than this one.Crispy on the outside, soft but not cotton wool soft.

We also tried the Mango Pomelo Sago ($5.90) which is the most expensive mango pomelo sago I have eaten to date. It is not the milky kind, but the portion was bigger than other restaurants, witha generous helping of pomelo. It is topped with a scoop of mango ice cream (maybe that's why it's so expensive). It is served with the large sago balls (think of the large sago balls you find in Cheng Teng) and not the usual small ones. The sago balls were a bit gooey on the outside and hard on the inside. Not very nice.The large bowl of dessert is served with a tiny teaspoon. I didn't realise it but then I was taking many many tiny teaspoons of the mangopomelosago and the waterline wasn't falling at all, until Yilin said to use the tablespoon instead. The thought never crossed my mind till then.Yilin likes butter with her toast - she's stuffing a piece in between cos I was being fussy and not wanting to eat the butter.

Overall, I suppose if you live nearby, you can go to this one. I prefer Hongkong Cafe, because they have a wider selection of desserts and drinks, and a bit cheaper too. If you don't live in the east, Tong Shui has better toast.

I'm still looking for a place with better toast than Tong Shui, if anyone knows, please tell me!

907 East Coast Road

Springvale #01-03A

Tel 64418802

Opened 24h

Near Cafe Cartel

Hong Kong Cafe - East Coast Branch

Made a rare journey to the far East to eat 'Singapore's Best Crab' at Joo Chiat Place as recommended by C and D. I was quite late, but arrived when the Pepper Crab came. So sorry to all the people who were waited for me to take a photo of the 6 delicious black pepper crabs! I will visit that place again and take a picture and put it onto my blog next time.

The crab was really very good - fresh, juicy, and full of meat. The restaurant is very crowded - there was this really unbelievable crowd queueing for the crab. From the road, it looks like a hoard of fans standing outside a restaurant (coffeeshop) trying to see a celebrity.

The black pepper crab comes in a spicy sauce, but it's not like the dry kind that you find in the usual restaurants. The black pepper sauce is a bit wetter (but not diluted) and the crab is perfectly cooked. We ordered 6 crabs, which costs about $120. It's quite a reasonable price, considering that I once went to this disgustingly run down crab bee hoon place in Geylang (with splintering tables which were about to collapse) and with such a rude stall holder too, and paid $67 for 2 crabs.

Ok I don't have any pictures so I can't convey my delicious crab experience with you so I shall move onto my post-crab snack.

Went to Hong Kong Cafe to try the thick toast.

Here's the French Toast $3.00. It's fried to a golden brown, crispy on the outside and cotton wool soft on the inside.

The restaurant gives you the librety to pour as much maple syrup as you want on the toast. Every time you get the french toast, you can down it with as much syrup as you want! Here's a piece that I cut open. Cotton wool.

This is the Mango Drink (argh i can't remember the exact name) with mango ice cream, mango cubes, and mango jelly $5.50. For the price, it sure beats coffee bean, and starbucks hands down. This is the kind of drink that you'll want to have after going to East Coast Park. The juice is blended with ice, and it's refreshing. Mango Jelly - Looks a bit like slime/mucus but it really tastes good.
Thick Toast with Condensed Milk $3. The French Toast here is much better than the thick toast! So you know where to put your calories.
Macau steamed egg with Ginger Juice $3.80.

Comes only in the Hot version (I prefer the cold one). Other than the ginger juice which is boiled with the egg, I think the Tong Shui one is better. This one is quite firm, less wobbly and much dryer. The ginger gives it a nice spicy taste, but then I didn't quite like the texture.

Hong Kong Cafe

East Coast Road Branch

378 East Coast Road

Tel 64403808, 64400083

Mon - Fri 5pm to 5am

Sat and Sun 6pm to 5am

HK Kim Gary - Vivocity

After going to Bosses in Vivo, we decided to eat (yet again) before Spiderman3 (I liked the effects but I thought 300 was much better)
I've been to Kim Gary once before, but wasn't particularly impressed by it. In fact, I can't even recall what I ate there. But I do remember trying the Almond Tea, which is quite good.

I ordered the Almond Tea $2 and it's a thick and cream almond drink, a bit on the sweet side (for me cos I don't quite like my food and drinks too sweet). Other than being a bit too sweet ( I suppose it will taste normal to most people).
Furthermore, they have kindly given me a nice long spoon to stir up the residual almond (forms a layer of slush at the bottom, I suppose due to gravity?). This is my Thick Toast with Condensed Milk and Butter $2.30 (but I ordered it without butter cos I don't like the taste and it's a waste of calories). I also ordered it with more condensed milk, since they're usually quite stingy on the milk (which is the main reason why I order the toast in the first place)
The thick toast with the normal amount of condense milk (very stingy)
The thick toast when i asked for more condensed milk

The toast was quite unevenly toasted, and there was these carcinogenic looking black patches. The toast was quite dry on the outisde, and a bit hard on the inside. Instead of a cotton wool texture inside, it was more like a dried out piece of bread. I'm not sure if it was because I didn't want any butter, but then butter doesn't seep through the whole bread anyway.

Unless you're dying for a view of Sentosa, I suggest that you don't waste your calories and money here for thick toast. Either go to Tong Shui Cafe (which I think has the best thick toast so far) or to Hong Kong Cafe (which has acceptable thick toast, and good french toast).

HK Kim Gary
#03-128 Vivocity
Tel 63768183