Duelling Laksa!

On Wednesday evening, while looking for a place to eat, we aimlessly wandered down a back ally in Sheung Wan. To our surprise, we discovered two shops with nearly identical menus (but different owners) directly facing each other on opposite sides of the street. Stand off!

Now, it's not like they were selling common, everyday Hong Kong food (it wouldn't be strange to see two bakeries, two congee shops, or two dim sum restaurants across from each other). They were specializing a very specific kind of Malaysian+Singaporean soup noodle dish called "Laksa".

I'm sure you're thinking what we were thinking: It is our civic duty to stage a knock-down, drag-out, no-holds-barred comparison of the two! Well, we're not ones to shirk civic duties, so we immediately dipped into one, gave it a fair shake, and then returned the very next night to try the other. The results...

-Wednesday-

Though the restaurants are right across from each other, the first one we saw was "Katong", so that's the one we tried first...

The decor was simple, but quite comfortable, and the menu was full of temptations...

A few unusal drinks to go with Hong Kong standards

Dishes from Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia

This means "Prawn Noodles in Soup / Dry Prawn Noodles",
but I couldn't help but laugh when I read it. ("Prawn me, fool! Prawn me dry!")

Sweet "barley water"

Katong Laksa!

Tong choi

Beef Rendang with rice

Chunks of watermelon with coconut milk and tapioca
(the first dish which truly allowed me to enjoy watermelon!)

This was a very, very good meal. And Katherine, having been to Singapore multiple times, confirmed that it was very authentic. We knew that it would be tough to top, but we came back the next night with an open mind...

-Thursday-

Across from Katong was "malaymama" (which easily won the contest's "cutest name" superlative)...

The menu was a tad smaller, but there's a lot of overlap...

...and, while we mixed things up a little, the basic structure of the meal was very much the same...

Calamansi lime soda
(I love these things)

Tong choi, like before, but with reconstituted dried squid, peanuts, and a sweet sauce

Their "special" laksa (which was soupier and not nearly as chock-full of goodies as the previous one)

Kaya (coconut-egg jam) spread on toast

This meal was also good, but I found the laksa to be too soupy and too salty. I can, without hesitation, say that Katong won this head-to-head contest. So, when you come to visit, that's where we'll take you.

This street has a few other restaurants that we'll come back to try, but the one I'm most interested in is...

A dessert shop called "McSweety"! We were absolutely full after our meals on both nights, but this cutesy name almost drew me inside anyway. I somehow resisted, though, so that will have to wait for another day...and another blog.

High Tea at Island Shangri-La

High Tea is one of the many wonderful British legacies left in Hong Kong - one that I have recently been wanting to explore further. Usually served between 2PM and 6PM, tea set meals can be found all over (in cafés, sandwich shops, etc), but they are most famously associated with high-end hotels and resorts. Last year, I tried my first High Tea with Carson at the Mandarin Oriental hotel and loved it. This summer, Katherine and I had three more High Tea experiences...

• A return to the Mandarin Oriental (where the homemade rose petal jam still leaves you gobsmacked)
• At a café in the IFC mall (I was without my camera, so it wasn't blogged, but it was tasty)
  
• Yesterday's trip to Island Shangri-La (the focus of this post)

I have a list of other High Teas that I'd like to experience, so you can bet that there will be more blogs about it, but today is all about our time in Island Shangri-La.

They serve High Tea in two places: the 6th floor lobby lounge and in Island Gourmet, a small cake shop on the 5th floor. The lobby had live music, but was much more crowded and noisy, so we chose the privacy of Island Gourmet...

About an hour later, just before we finished, this place would be absolutely packed

Unlike the other places I've tried High Tea, Island Shangri-La actually has three different tea sets you can choose from (in my experience, there's usually only one). They all looked delicious, but we went with the "traditional" set...

Rather a lot of goodies!

Elegant presentation

Clotted cream
(after someone tasted a fingerful)

Beerenberg strawberry jam and orange marmalade

(very good, but not in the same league as Mandarin Oriental's rose petal jam)

Sweets: apple milirtons, praline chocolate bars, raspberry tarts

Savories: roast beef finger sandwiches, smoked salmon squares, and chicken curry puff pastries

Scones!

Cakes: pistachio madeleine, English fruit cake, chocolate financier

With peppermint tea and hot chocolate to wash it all down, it was delicious (though decidedly carb-heavy) and I look forward to returning to try their other sets.

Dragon fruit!

Before today, the one and only time I tried dragon fruit was in June of 2003 during a day trip to Windsor, Ontario. It's appearance attracted me immediately...

...but my interest ended after one bite. Not that it was bad, just that it tasted rather like, well, nothing. (I remember thinking, "I know I'm putting something in my mouth - I can feel it - but I sure can't taste anything.") That's probably why I've passed on the chance to buy it so many times in Hong Kong. When it is in season, it is available everywhere here, and it is extremely cheap (about US$0.25 each).

Today, though, it struck me that there MUST be something good about them if they can be sold in such mass quantities, so we bought one and gave it a second chance.

Just stick a spoon in and start scooping!

As you can see, the fruit is full of tiny seeds that are nearly identical in nutty flavor and crunchy texture to those found in kiwi. My memory of the the whitish-gray flesh wasn't that far off - it definitely doesn't have a strong flavor - but this time I found it to be rather refreshing, actually. The texture is somewhere between honeydew and watermelon, and the flavor can be likened to lightly sweetened water. (Some of you know how dreadful I find watermelon to be, so you might think my texture description is a deep insult, but it really isn't - I truly enjoyed eating it. That does NOT mean, however, that I will be enjoying watermelon any time soon. ;>)

GameNight 5!

Just before the summer ends, we thought we'd have a GameNight for the folks who stayed in the residence hall with us during their vacation...

The Cajun series continued with Red Beans and Rice
(about 3.5 gallons of it, not including the rice)

Bananas Foster, a quintessential New Orleanian dessert

Fui Fui has staked out his corner and is ready to dominate in Settlers of Catan

A trilingual game of Pictionary
(with guesses announced in Cantonese, Mandarin, and English)

The PlayStation 3 was never given a rest!

Summer vacation meant a slightly smaller turn-out (about 25), but in no way was there less fun to be had. ;>

Ritz goes crazy!

I expect you guys are seeing these Stateside too, but I couldn't help but post them...

Yes, that's right, lemon and chocolate Ritz sandwiches. When I saw them, I thought, "How on earth could the buttery goodness of Ritz crackers be in any way complimented by lemon or chocolate fillings?". It turns out that my skepticism was unwarranted, though - they are actually pretty tasty. Well played, Kraft. Well played.

A life-changing experience...

Yesterday, after finishing a bit of grocery shopping, Katherine and I decided to do something we almost never do...eat at McDonald's! (We've only eaten at McDonald's one other time since moving here, and it was in April of 2008.)

We arrived just after noon, though, so I was certain we had missed the cut-off time for my favorite reason to visit McDonald's: the Egg McMuffin (which, I can say without any hesitation, is the greatest single fast-food invention of all time). Against all odds, we decided to ask the cashier if they were still being served. She told us that, not only were they still being served, but that they are actually served all day long! (And for this McDonald's location, the one closest to where we live, "all-day" means 24 hours.) What the what?! Egg McMuffins any time I want?! A revelation!

Suddenly, I heart HK McD's.

Visiting with old friends...

Last week, Katherine and I spent some time with a few folks we hadn't seen in a while...

Enjoying dinner at the Lin Heung Tea House (a place we last visited in June) with - from left to right - Ben, Cynthia, and Amy. Last May, Ben and Cynthia invited us to a magnificent feast, and we hadn't seen them since then.

Digging in to a napoleon cake with Amy (different than the one above ;>) and her two daugthers, one of which was just born. Katherine's mother joined us for the journey to Hang Hau, where Amy and her family lives.

Harry Potter in IMAX!

When we discovered that The Half-Blood Prince was showing in IMAX here, we decided that it was the perfect opportunity to get our first Hong Kong IMAX experience. It took a few weeks to get tickets (IMAX appears to be extremely popular here, so you must get your tickets well in advance), but today we finally got to go.

Hong Kong has three IMAX theaters, but we chose the one inside MegaBox, a gigantic (19 story!) shopping mall in Kowloon Bay...

My camera's tiny field of view just gets a sliver of this monstrosity

It's like they designed the logo with me in mind!

A labyrinth of criss-crossing escalators connect the floors
(some are express escalators, moving faster and spanning multiple floors)

There's even an ice rink!

...and, of course, our IMAX theater

Shortly after we arrived, we met up with Katherine's brother and his fiancé, slipped in to the theater, and slipped on our 3D glasses...

Only the opening of the film is in 3D, but it was quite an opening!

After thoroughly enjoying another Harry Potter epic, we went to California Pizza Kitchen (not my idea - I swear!). It was the first time we'd ever tried it, even though we've seen it many times before (like, in Ann Arbor), and it was quite delicious. All-in-all a great night out!

English Camp!

Our residence hall hosted a two-day English camp for 30 underprivileged immigrant children (aged 8 to 13) this week and we had a plenty of fun...

Including me, they had access to six native English speakers - something very difficult for them to normally get - who attempted to cultivate their desire to learn English through games, drama, and casual conversation. (The setting was also specifically chosen as a way to inspire them to pursue University education.) I've no doubt that the children got a lot out of the experience, but the adults just might have gotten more. It was a wonderful time.