In Hong Kong, health requires wealth - Life Cafe

The customer rep guy from PURE fitness (gym) called me the other day to remind me that my credit card entitles me to a reduced joining/monthly fee. I went into PURE about 3 weeks ago (?) for a free trial and I have to say, it's one of the best I've been to in Hong Kong. I can say this with a little authority because I had a lot of spare time on my hands when I first got back to Hong Kong so I did actually go and take advantage of quite a few of those "one-day free trials" out there. PURE costs quite a bit more than most of the other 'executive' clubs, but if you can afford it, it's worth every cent.

So I went in and had a listen about this deal, which turns out still to be about double of Fitness First and Seasons, so I suppose I'll have to give it a miss for the time being, considering my current situation.

A couple of days before this call, I visited a cafe on Shelley Street, next to Eat Right. I wonder if it was pure coincidence that these two cafes for the health-conscious are right next to each other. Maybe soon we can call Shelley Street "Vego Street"...

I remember reading about Life as a hippie kind of place with a Birkenstock-wearing clientele. When I read 'hippie', I think dreadlocks, sweeping beaded Indian cotton sari-like dresses, and colourful Tibetan prayer flags. To me, 'hippies' are vegans into raw food, and, in keeping with the theme of nature, marijuana. I imagined the café to be more of a crumbling (or at least made to look crumbling) wooden shack than the minimalist dark-wood ski lodge that it turns out to be.

The diners certainly aren't dreadlocked either; the look could indeed include Birkenstocks, but paired with hip leather biker jackets (animal activists: attack!) rather than faded, tie-dye cottons.

I've spent so much space to describe the customers because they better define the price range and target market of the café. Coming from Australia, where fresh produce is plentiful and organic is increasingly becoming the norm rather than a niche, the prices on Life's menu are a little astounding. The least expensive food items are the soup and dahl of the day, going for $35 for a small or $55 for a large (which, to their credit, lives up to the size). Both come with house bread, which was on this particular day, a yeast-free heavy millet-looking slice. (WTH do yeast-free and organic have in common anyway? What makes you think people who suffer from coeliac disease have to consume organic products? They're put together in the 'niche' category so often that you wouldn't be blamed if you thought it was common knowledge.) A serving of edamame beans, so often offered as a complimentary starter at Japanese restaurants, will set you back $45.

I went for salad, and was advised that a mini ($30) would only be a scoop and that the next size up (small) would be $75. The benefit of choosing this size is that you can choose a maximum of three salads, for a bit of variety, which was welcomed wholheartedly by this indecisive eater.

The roast pumpkin salad was great, the mushroom (white button - boring!) and potato was fine, the beetroot and chickpea, I suppose, would have been good for roughage, as the chickpeas seemed hardly cooked.

Although a little pricey, I must admit that the quality of the ingredients was very good on this visit, which is absolutely necessary for a place that offers so little in the way of culinary skill (salads, pizzas, simple noodles). For coffee, pop into Eat Right next door, unless half-heartedly frothed soy milk is your thing.

At least I left feeling I did something good to my body for once. Akin to a session at the gym, really.

Life Organic Health Café
10 Shelley Street
Soho
Central
Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2810 9777

Wonton noodles - Not the Mak's you know

It's been ages since I've been to Mak's - almost forgotten how to get there. This isn't the one featured in tourist guide books, that one's on Wellington Street around Soho I think, and should be a lot larger (and a bit more expensive). This one's tucked inside the narrow Wing Kut Street, off Des Voeux Road Central, with street hawkers and random clothing stores as its neighbours. We got there at around 12.45 and I was half expecting there to be a line, especially because it's not much more than a hole in the wall, but to my surprise, we got seats straight away (albeit sharing a table with two other lone diners).

The waiter comes to take our orders before we even had time to settle on the tiny stools, which was fine since we both wanted the wonton noodles they're most famous for anyway. Wonton noodles come in two sizes, large or small bowls. Usually small is sufficient if you're not particularly hungry. At $21, it's a steal, especially since Wellington St is selling them for $25 (I think) and Tsui Wah (which isn't even a specialist wonton store) is probably asking around the $30 mark.

There are about five wontons in the small serving along with plain egg noodles that are excellent clean-cut strings. The wontons themselves have a similar fresh, almost crunchy quality that unfortunately does not seem to be able to be expressed by a word in the English dictionary. In Chinese it's 爽. The pasta around the dumpling is extremely thin, delicate and silky, allowing diners to see almost exactly all the ingredients within - which is mostly, a very fleshy and tasty prawn.

We even polished off the soup afterwards...

Mak's (Chung Kee)
Wing Kut St
Sheung Wan
(strictly speaking between Sheung Wan and Central, close to Central Market)

I can't believe it's not summer! - 798 unit & co

Hau Fook Street has always been a bit of a refuge for hungry shoppers on this side of the Victoria Harbour, since eateries along Canton Road can be pricey and/or unreliable, and a bit far from us 'hip' people (look, it's a euphemism, okay? No need to spell out that we can't afford a new Bottega every weekend...) who shop at Rise, and in and around Granville Road.

Then again, Hau Fook can be a bit boring, dominated by cheap and cheerful Canto outlets, with the dessert shop that everyone knows (I forgot the English name) as its only salvation.

Introducing 798 unit & co. - a new(ish) NY bistro type place in the heart of Hau Fook Street, right next to the groovy design/homewares store Homeless. According to my friend, 798 is in fact the Hong Kong outpost of a restaurant by the same name in NY. Anyone been (to the NY one)?

Located on the first floor, the dining room is quite spacious, especially by HK standards, featuring a stainless steel open kitchen at the entrance, where cakes are also displayed. There is an almost nautical feel with the round windows lining the side (painted black) of the space that looks out to HF Street, and mirrors on the back wall where several white banquettes are also located. Tables and chairs are simple solid wood that squeal and grumble like a kid and a grandpa rolled in one (though both would be quite unhappy making those noises) when moved upon the black and white tiled floor. Tables are sans tablecloth and with paper napery, but good basic silverware (as you would expect at any decent cafe, not to mention restaurant in say, Melbourne). Lighting is a little in sufficient for me, but then again maybe I'm just not enough of a romantic. One last comment before getting onto the food - the aircon is bloody freezing.

I've been here two times now, and my impression of the food, unlike the quality of food itself, has been quite consistent - not exactly up to scratch... sometimes.

The first time I went, I had a fennel risotto with some sort of fish, which was fine. I remember being glad that the risotto was actually cooked to the correct texture (though it was nothing amazing). It was the fact that fennel was on the menu that caught my eye. Ask someone at some so-called 'western' restaurants and they wouldn't have a clue what it is. That was the night I had a glass of wine off their winelist. I couldn't resist at $38 a glass (yes that is HKD), but just let me say, price can never determine quality, but can be suggestive of it nonetheless.

On my most recent visit the service was unattentive to say the least. Do they understand that the same course for people on the same table have to be served at the same time??? Just because I ordered roast chicken doesn't mean my friend's (mediocre) Thai-inspired risotto had to sit under the freezing aircon-created conditions for a full 10 mins (at least) before my dish arrived. errr, sir, ever heard of planning? Or even an apology?!

My roast chicken was fine - huge portion - about four to five pieces of honey-glazed roast chicken spruced up with paprika or something. A little too sweet for my liking, but the baby spinach (salad) underneath helped. For dessert we had banoffee pie (they spelt it 'banoffi' - more on menu proofreading should-haves later) which was very nice. The cream on the pie seems to have been chilled for a while and by the time we ate it, was marshmallowy, which suited me fine, although my friend said it was quite different from what she had on her last visit. We also had a lime pannacotta that was way sour - I only liked it because I'm the kind of person that basically drinks vinegar from a soup spoon with my xiao long bao and drowns my viet broken rice in nuoc cham.

They've changed the presentation of the menu since I last visited; added Chinese translations (not that that affects me as such) and updated some of their offerings, which is what all good restaurants should do. But apart from the 'Banoffi' incident, we noticed a pasta dish claiming to feature summer vegetables. I know winter isn't really wintry in this part of the world, but it certainly ain't summer any more by anyone's standards. Unless of course, they were using imported vegies from Down Under or the Kiwis, which I doubt. I can smell a hint of pretentiousness in the air...

The main thing to give them credit for is for their Hau Fook Street-friendly prices. Pastas go for about HK$60-90 for more than acceptable portions, and there has definitely been thought put into the food, just not enough care on the part of management - both within and beyond the kitchen. The wine list is horrific, but I guess they're just trying to keep within (customers') budget and good enough for most of the target market. But I mean, anyone in the right mind would not have wine in HK that costs $28 a glass, $140 by the bottle (pompous comment by me that night: "I usually have wines by the glass at the price of that bottle"). Okay enough said.

798 unit & co.
1/F 9 Hau Fook Street
Tsim Sha Tsui
Hong Kong
Tel: +852 23660234

Best Burgers in Town? - Main St. Deli

The festive season's come again and for some reason I'm getting hungrier and allowing myself to eat more. Yay for oversize clothes this season! Popped down to Main St. Deli at the Langham Hotel in TST for dinner - I'd been to their 'high-end' restaurant The Bostonian before and wasn't too impressed, so I wasn't really expecting much.

I think it was a Wednesday night - mid-week, nonetheless - but they were full. The waiter at the door asked to have my name to put on the waiting list and said it might be a half-hour wait because there were three to four other names on the list. (Possibly because of the trade fair on right now?) Really weird, because every time I walk past this place is near empty. Anyhow, seeing I had to wait for my aunt, I grabbed a copy of HK Mag and sat down. So my aunt (who suggested we come here and is pretty much a regular) arrives and is equally stunned that the place is full. She proceeds to hassle the girl (in a nice way - perhaps they recognised her), at which point a table leaves, and we get offered that table. So much for a waiting list haha...

The decor is, as the name suggests, very down-to-earth, although still quite American. Think Dan Ryan's with more lights plus a bit if art deco. The four-seater banquettes would be the best seats, but unless we wanted to be back on the lobby seats, a normal dining table it was.

The food - burgers, sandwiches, salads and grilled meats pretty much says it all; portions are at least 1.5 times of what is usually offered, i.e. very American. My aunt tells me that the Monster Burger is the best - a pretty 'standard' sort of beef burger with pickles, tomatoes etc. The burger varieties are pretty standard and if I remember correctly there's a vego one too. We order the most expensive one on the menu (one of the things you can do when dining out with aunties and uncles kekeke...), a wagyu burger with foie gras. Thank goodness we're 'supposed' to gain weight around Christmas. The wagyu, according to the manager there, is graded M7 - if that means Marble Score 7, then it's pretty damn good (max is 12, anything above 9 is great). In Australia, only really bad cuts and bad grades of wagyu are ground into mince for burger patties, and I've had a pretty bad one before at Urban Burger.

The foie gras is actually a foie gras terrine (which is usually cheaper and should have been indicated on the menu but wasn't), and although encased within the wagyu patty, makes no effort to stay inside it once you bite into the burger - it just comes oozing out. All very messy as the juices, oils and sauces start dripping and soaking the so-so bun, but at the same time extremely indulgent.

Along with a generously sized grilled chicken salad and a huge slice of NY cheesecake (both very decent), I felt like I didn't need to eat for the next three days (but of course I did and had custard buns for breakfast the next morning...)

I'd probably go back on a cold drizzly day when everything else seems to have failed me, because I know their burgers won't. Although I think I'll stay away from the foie gras (terrine) for a while.

I'm a little inspired for a burger hunt now. I've heard good things about the one at the Lobby Lounge of the Intercon...

Main St. Deli
Langham Hotel
8 Peking Road
Tsim Sha Tsui
Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2375 1133

Dim Sum is Yum - Lin Heung

What's old is just plain old at lin heung. for what seems like a million years, this restaurant has had a no-bookings policy except at dinner, and there isn't even someone to point you to a free table. But maybe that's because there just aren't any around here.

this is only a quarter of the restaurant.
imagine the whole place this full...

a take-out bag i stole from them. apparently the
seal (glued closure) at the bottom of these bags can only be done by hand, which is why
they're starting to disappear from restaurants

Lin Heung at yum cha hours is a bit like a train station at peak hour, but on steroids. to get a seat, you basically eye tables that you think are almost done and just stand next to them and wait. to get food when it comes out on a rickety trolley, you have to run towards the cart, pushing and shoving at the mass of like-minded diners and stick your hand into a couple of hot bamboo steamers (without really knowing what you're getting your hands into - quite literally) and force your little ordering card at the cart lady to be stamped. Phew.

Lucky that you'll have burnt a few more calories by then though, because there's so much worth eating here you wouldn't want to miss any of it. 

Dirty, noisy, cramped, it's basically WWII all over again. But I suggest you go, and go early, very early, on a weekday, because the food and the 'experience' is all worth it. (although next time I may just get take-out - you'll still have to fight your way into the carts though, I suppose)

There's been all this fuss about eating eels lately, but the report's not out yet, and it would be horribly pathetic if you let the terrific steamed eel pass you by (if I were meant to die of some unnatural cause, I know it would either be from food or wreckless driving). It's not just the usual black bean and garlic - that can be nice too but nonetheless a little unexciting. The sauce at Lin Heung is savoury and somehow manages to create a concentrate of the sauces that run out of the eel. it's fresh, but not fresh-out-of-the-sea, it's more like what cantonese people call seen ('fresh') - some soy sauces for example, despite having been fermented for goodness knows how long, exude that sort of 'freshness'. I guess it's just one of those things you have to try for yourself.

     

    
clockwise from top left
pork stomach siu mai dumplings; 'cotton wool' steamed chicken and steamed turnip cake; 'chicken bundle' gai tsaat and steamed eel (foreground); old-school lotus paste bun; fried egg twist with syrup and traditional pork siu mai dumplings (foreground); one of the waiters (it must be an employment requirement here that they must all be at least aged 50+) pouring hot water from a mile away into our teacups.

Lin Heung Lau 

160-164 Wellington Street
Central

Hong Kong

+852 2544 4556

RARRRRRRRRRRRR

my photos won't appear!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have to say, the layout on Blogger is so much more aesthetically pleasing, but so much less user friendly (maybe I'm just slow to adapt). I'm staying on Xanga. Sorry...!

19.08.2008 edit: seems that Blogger has made itself more user friendly in the time that I haven't touched it... testing the waters cautiously now...

Bangkok

I absolutely lurve Thai food, and although I don't have all the addresses of places I went to, hopefully this will suffice to give a vague idea of what's on offer in this city that's forever under construction (seriously, they're digging up roads everywhere).

First, my favourite dishes:
- Tom Ka Gai - Coconut chicken soup (although I eat it like curry - over rice - but it's not spicy)
- Ga Pow Mu/Gai - Minced pork/chicken with holy basil; excellent again with rice
- Pork Knuckle rice - My guess that it's heavily influenced by Chinese (esp. Chiu Chow) cooking, as the pork is braised in a five-spice type sauce. Easily found in street stalls and food courts.
- Fish balls - especially the kind that looks like a rugby ball (with pointed ends)
- Mango sticky (glutinous) rice
- Any way they they cook fish - deep fried or steamed with lemongrass, lime etc.

Places I liked:
- MBK food court (6/F)
In general, food courts in Bangkok malls serve great food at excellent prices, and because they've all renovated recently to keep up with the competition, they're now also a fairly pleasant place to sit in too. MBK is a pretty local, down-to-earth mall, and it's got everything from mobile phones to hair accessories to furniture. They have this glam 'food court' thing on the fifth floor - I say avoid it unless you've had enough Thai food. Head to the sixth floor for stuff like pork knuckle rice, pad thai, som tum (green papaya salad) and fish balls. Buy coupons at the counter - buy more rather than less as they are fully refundable if you don't use them all. Prices are similar to street stalls; everything is pretty much 30-45 baht. To get there, just get off the skytrain at National Stadium station.

- Some day (funnily enough, closed on Tuesdays)
A small restaurant somewhere around Thong Lo. Nothing glam, just comfy and cozy with good Thai food. Pretty hard to find though, so hopefully your local friends are as good as mine! haha just kidding...

- Mango Tree/Lemongrass
Both upmarket Thai restaurants - yes, they are featured in tourist guidebooks, but hey, those things aren't all evil. Lemongrass is just behind Emporium (an upmarket mall at Phrom Pong station) which easily dissolves post-shopping fatigue/hunger - although the food court at Empo isn't bad either.

Mango Tree is a bit further away, in an old-ish business district, but is worth the trouble. Décor is bright and cute, whereas Lemongrass' is more subdued but no less elegant.

Lemongrass
5/1 Sukhumvit Soi 24
Tel: 02258-8637

Mango Tree
37 Soi Tantawan (near the Ramada Hotel)
Tel: 02236-2820

- Street food
There are street stalls all over the place, and while they do vary in quality, given that you are without any local guidance, just try anything that you think looks good. If you are concerned with hygiene, all I can say is that I don't have the strongest of stomachs and I didn't have any problems with street food, even with cut fruit. When I did once have a problem, it was actually at a posh restaurant where I had a cold drink with ice that was probably house made with tap or badly-filtered water.

There are more places (including non-Thai cuisine), but I don't know where I've put all my name cards... However, I did once find a good restaurant guide at the concierge of my hotel, so I guess it wouldn't hurt to look in there.

May the manao soda be with you~!

Cellar Bargains

Sorry, this isn't a post about wine - but if you want to have bang for your buck to the max, try out this Italian treasure, the cheapest sibling (as in least expensive, not lacking in class) of the Grossi Florentino trio.

More detail to come.

Meals: around $10-20

Grossi Florentino Cellar Bar
80 Bourke Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
Australia
Open: Mon-Sat 7.30am-midnight
Tel: +613 9662 1811