HONG KONG: Places to Eat

I could probably write a whole slew of posts on my Hong Kong trip, but I feel that I may lose you somewhere along the way, so I decided to squish all of the food in one post (this one).  I’ll get to my list of places to see in the next post!

Breakfasts were eaten at the hotel where my husband ate salmon eggs Benedict every morning while I enjoyed egg white omelettes and crystal shrimp dumplings.  The food was great, but the view was even better!

The first night we went to Central, to this super cute tapas bar and lounge Zafran.  The atmosphere was cool – dim lighting, interesting chalkboard artwork, and cozy tables.  Of course I took pics of the food.  We started out with cocktails – the first pic is my husband’s choice – the Summer Passionista – Kettle One citron and passionfruit, topped with Cava.  I opted for wine (shocker).  We tried a few of the dishes but our favorite was the Gambas al Ajillo (shrimp in garlic) and the Croquettas (not pictured – we ate them too fast).  We also tried the homemade spicy chorizo, noted as a “must try” on the menu.  I found it a bit dry, but still good.

Looking for a twist on traditional Chinese food?  Atop one of the many tall buildings, is this dimly lit award-winning gem, Hutong.  Dubbed one of the top 5 Chinese restaurants in the world,  my husband made sure I tried it out, as I can eat Chinese food for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  I loved the ambiance inside, but the view of the harbour made it that much more special.  We ordered thinly cut pork belly with sliced cucumber, spring rolls and the grilled pork ribs with fennel seeds.

What was possibly as cool as the food, if not cooler, was the noodle puller.  All of a sudden a spot light above this round table in the center of the main dining area lit up, and then a chef came out with dough and some flour.  He literally created noodles from this lump of dough, effortlessly – with his hands.  It was amazing!  (Please fast forward the first few seconds – I’m vertically challenged and was trying to find an optimal spot to video this.  Also, this is my first video EVER on my blog that I did. LOL)

I was so impressed, I had to take a picture with him!

I am a huge ramen fan, so whenever we weren’t eating dumplings I tried to find ramen – and did so rather successfully!  One night we dined at Ippudo, where my husband said he had the best ramen EVER. He thinks it was the addition of the egg (middle pic below).  His “dessert” was the eel skewer (right pic).

I personally think the best ramen of the trip was when we went to the Venetian in Macau and ate at Edo.  BTW, if you have ever been to the Venetian in Vegas, the one in Macau is basically the younger sibling.  Gondolas and all.  We ate lunch while watching the gondolas row by, listening to the gondoliers singing.

Here’s a short video of a gondola passing by our lunch table.

We also ate at BLT over by the Harbour City Shopping Mall.  This particular mall stood out in my mind because of its immense size, the fact that it was VERY white – walls, floors, everything AND it house La Duree!  I saw a lady on the MTR with a bag from there and had to find out if there was one nearby.  Now if you remember, when I went to Paris, my friend Anouk introduced me to macarons – La Duree in particular.  I HAD TO bring my husband there to try the real deal.

We went to Din Tai Fung three times this trip for their insanely delicious soup dumplings – they were that good.  There are two locations in the US – Seattle and LA.  If you live remotely close to either of these two, I highly recommend checking them out!

Stay tuned to my “Places to Visit” post coming soon!