HK Trip: Desserts @ Luk Lam!

After an obviously mediocre meal of wanton noodles, the little darling and I decided to drown our disappointment by enjoying desserts in the Sam Shui Po area.  One thing I have learned from all my previous trips to HK, is that the desserts here are truly amazing and they clearly part of the HK dining culture.  Dessert shops here are mostly filled with people of all ages especially at night.  Luk Lam clearly was not lacking in fans that day.  There was a queue for takeaways and the tables inside were packed.  In fact, they  even have an established Facebook fan page!  And from what I have seen, lots of check-ins and a good amount of fans on it too!

 

Like?

 

My usual dessert :

The dessert which I ordered was a mix of mango, sago and pomelo fruit! Generous servings of mango paired with a sure win combination made this dessert a winner for me.  Always is!

 

As for darling…

Dinner sucked? No worries! EAT ALL THE DESSERT! Yeap that’s right, the mango pudding, durian pancake and a red bean soup mixed with tau fu fah!   Even the couple who shared table with us thought we were nuts when they saw what we ordered!

 

By the time we were done, the mango pudding came out the obvious winner out of the three with their pudding having the right amount of sweetness and taste.  The additional milk was spot on as it went really well with the flavours of the pudding!  As for the durian pancake, the generosity of Luk Lam in putting the fruit in did help make this dessert worth the money but as a person familiar with the king of fruits, the quality of durian used was deplorable.  Instead of being creamy and rich, it was unripe and crunchy.  Could have been a lot better! And the worse one that night was the red bean soup with tau fu fah!  Red bean soup was unenthusiastic.  Bitter orange peel was horrible. Not to mention their tau fu fah (bean curd dessert) was rough in comparison to the ones we had before.  Honestly, I would never eat that dessert ever again! I guess it just was not my type! 

 

Overall, this is the right place for mango type desserts like the one pudding and soup I ordered.  But I was also told that their black sesame desserts are delicious as well. Regardless, I would never come here for either the red bean soup or tau fu fah again.  Definitely have them written off my list!

 

Stuffed to the brim? Checked!  Satisfied? Checked! 

 

WenY

HK Trip: Wanton Adventure @ Lau Sham Kee

If you have tried looking for the best Wanton noodles in Hong Kong through the internet, you will realise that this is a never ending debate involving both tourists and locals.  Finishing our day at the big Buddha, darling and I got off the train a few stops earlier at Sam Shui Po.  There, we dined at a highly rated Wanton Noodles shop call Lau Sham Kee which has been dishing out quality noodles for many decades now.  On top of its list is the Ha Chi Lou Meen or in English the dry wanton noodles with dried shrimp roe.  Darling despite being allergic to prawns ordered that despite being allergic to it while I conservatively picked the traditional wanton noodles. 

 

The classic dry wanton noodles!

 

The famous dry noodles with dried shrimp roe.

 

Each of the noodles came with a serve of wanton soup as well:

 

Over all, I have to insist that we came here expecting more.  The prawn noodles instantly scared the little darling off and instead she had mine.  In all honestly, the noodles were sufficiently bouncy and tasty but having that much hyped roe is an acquired taste rather than anything else.  For me, I love seafood but found that the roe left me with a gritty feel which I dislike.  Instead, I am more seasoned to slurping smooth textured noodles!  Hence, I felt that this was nothing special.  However, I must insist that the wanton soup tasted yummy and with the added freshness of the prawns, what can I say?  It was yummilicious!   In fact I happily enjoyed darling’s bowl of soup as she was allergic to prawns.  Double win!   But do not be put off from giving this restaurant a try.  In fact this might be for you considering this place is packed from lunch till midnight proving that some people really enjoy the shrimp roe noodles.  Hence, do give it a shot as its really near the train station at 82 Fuk Wing Street,Sham Shui Po, Kowloon H.K.

 

WenY

HK Trip: 2nd day! ADC + Big Buddha!

On the second day, our breakfast started unexpectedly with something that came from Australia!  The Australia Dairy Company or ADC as commonly mentioned among locals is one of the hotspots in Jordan where the queue is long all the time.  But thankfully, the turnover here is quick.  How fast? Well, so fast that the waiter does not even have time to bother about you.  When little darling asked them about their specialty, he pointed to the wall and say ‘OK? OK? I’ll just get you two of those sets!". =.=!  Totally insane! Also their food flies out fast.  Our orders were met within 5 minutes.

 

ADC is most famous for its Scrambled Egg and Butter Toast!

When the only thing 100 people eat is this, you know shit just got real!  While the my hype was almost as great as my doubt, it was almost maniacal that the scrambled eggs here tasted better than ones back in Oz.  Believe it or not, butter was used unsparingly.  Everything tasted good thanks to it.  Another big difference here is the use of salt where they decide what’s good for you rather than otherwise.  In Oz, most big brekkie comes with flat tasting eggs which allows you to add salt and pepper to your liking.  My take on this? 10/10!  But of course do not expect this to fare as though it is something worthy of a 3 starred restaurant!

 

Darling on the other hand asked for fried eggs which were better than the ones I had at Sayers where the eggs were cooked in a little pan to the extent that something that was meant to taste magical ended up “OK”!

The egg white itself was cooked just nice still smooth with a coating of oil, while runny yolk are still finger licking good! Good but no match for its scrambled version!

 

Macaroni and ham with soup!

The macaroni soup with ham is the accompanying dish which in my opinion, the suckiest one for the day.  With pieces of ham, this dish was unpopular with many people as there were plenty of unfinished ones around.  And to be honest, doesn’t the soup look suspiciously mixed with butter?  I guess it was! I would not recommend this!  Another set of scrambled egg and toast would have been more appreciated!

 

Our meal at ADC cost us around 65HKD/RM26/$A8 for all the above and 2 drinks.  Quite decent in my opinion ;)!  If you are making a trip to HK and are sick of dim sum, this is definitely worth a shot despite its poor service!  Even a friend who studied in Melbourne mentioned that one of the thing he misses the most in Hong Kong is ADC! So my fellow foodies be sure to put ADC in your address book @ 47 Parkes Street, Jordan, Hong Kong.

 

After our quick breakfast, we visited the big Buddha which I have to say, is still looking pretty kickass despite me coming here just 2 years ago!  To get up there, take the cable car called the “Ngong Ping 360”!  You have a choice of crystal or normal cabin!

Darling and I tooked the Crystal Cabin Package which was cheaper than taking either of rides by itself! And jesus! I really hated the Crystal Cabin as it was scary as hell!  Worst of all, the cable car ride takes something like 30 minutes?

 

Up in the hills we decided to feast on some delicious Tau Fu Fah.  A dessert commonly found in Asian markets and in Perth, at Dim Sum places!

Silky smooth consistency makes this hard to beat.  Even the ones in the CBD areas of HK was no match for the ones near to the big Buddha!

 

Curry fish balls were an extra order after we started tucking into our desserts :P!

 

After eating, starts our long ascend up the flight of stairs leading to the Buddha statue. 

Ambitious child makes her way up the flight of stairs while..

 

Someone is tired!  Doesn’t matter! Still lovely to me :D!

 

The Buddha and us!

 

After walking around and taking more pictures, we came back down and prayed in the nearby temple before helping ourselves to another serve of Tau Fu Fah! This time at another place!  My take on it? Equally good!  Hence, it is fair to say that the dessert around in this area is consistently good!  And I guess this will be all for now :)!  Will try to get the next post up soon!

 

WenY