Friday, February 12, 2010

Hong Kong: Eating Our Way To Wan Chai Ferry

We took the Wan Chai Ferry across to the Tsim Sha Tsui area in Kownloon last night. The last time we were in Wan Chai we walked past a restaurant and were presented with this scene:

We were meeting up with some friends and as such we were unable to stop to discover what these cute little birds were and what they tasted like. But we made a mental note to come back to this place. So come back we did.

We left our hotel last night, heading out for the ferry early so that we would have plenty of time to eat on the way. Our destination was the aforementioned restaurant, but we got a bit sidetracked along the way when we passed by a noodle shop which advertised itself as being recommended by both the michelin guide and openrice.com. We were pretty ready to eat and decided that we should try the place out, so in we went. They had a menu in cantonese and another in english/japanese. They also had a cohesive aesthetic throughout the restaurant, something we have never seen in a Hong Kong noodle shop before. Here is what we got:

Cuttlefish Ball Noodle Soup

Beef Tripe with Ground Dry Flatfish and Noodles

To prove to the world that I took science classes, I will engage in the scientific method and make a Hong Kong noodle shop hypothesis: guide recommendations and aesthetic appeal make noodles more expensive and less tasty. That is where my experiment ends however, I will assume that I am correct and go back to eating at hole-in-the-wall shops with communal tables and no english menus.

We finished our plates. Kids are starving in Africa after all, how could we justify wasting food? I turned to So-Han, "I still want to eat the baby birds." He agreed. So off we went to eat our second dinner!

Paddy Birds
What about the bones? You may wonder, as we did. You don't taste or feel them at all! The entire bird eats with a perfectly uniform consistency. Imagine the most beautiful tasty dark poultry meat you have ever eaten. Not Turkey or Chicken, I am talking about delicious duck or goose, the best bite of the bird. Thats what this little Paddy Bird tasted like as we bit off their heads before devouring them whole. I love Hong Kong.

Roast Suckling Pig
In the spirit of eating baby animals to while away our sorrows (So-Han accidentally deleted his blog before we ventured out on this excursion) we also ordered this Suckling Pig. My first experience with suckling pig, and I promise you that it will not be my last. Every bite of this meat was the most phenomenally tender pork I have eaten. If Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations Hong Kong is to be believed (which I definitely think it is), they roast the suckling pig with a blow torch in order to get the skin to be the consistency which it is, crispy sweet and delicious, rendered just perfectly to contrast texturally with the smooth tender pork and then to melt away to nothing along with the meat, leaving the eater in a state of culinary nirvana.

I forgot to take a picture of our third dish, Roast goose, and perhaps the best poultry I have ever eaten in my life. I hang my head in shame for this mistake, never again will I deem a dish "just another less than photogenic plate of poultry." I didn't know that birds could taste this decadent. Goose fat is the most delicious lipid in existence.

Once on the Ferry we got to behold Hong Kong Island at night
And we saw some of the decorations and preparations for Chinese New Year
As beautiful as Hong Kong is, Roasted Baby Animals will live on in my memory far longer than the skyline.

3 comments:

  1. Max - we're loving your blog here in Memphis, very humorous and lovely at the same time. Here's to roasted baby animals! Love and miss you.

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  2. Thanks for stopping by the International Food Blog! The food you are eating is simply amazing. Given my location in the middle of a culinary black hole, I can't tell you how jealous I am.

    Keep up the good work!


    Kent

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  3. Haha, thanks for letting me know you are still reading dad! To roasted baby animals indeed!

    Kent - Thank you for following my link! Hong Kong truly is a treasure trove of delicious food! I hope you keep following as I can assure you I will keep up the hunt for delicious and photogenic meals!

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