PaiGu

After my first taste of culinary paradise, who can blame me for scheduling a weekend stopover in Hong Kong just for food (and maybe a bit of shopping)?

As soon as I made it through immigration, I headed straight to Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao for some xiao long bao. I hadn’t had pork in ages since I’d just been in Malaysia, and I had it on good authority that the Crystal Jade xiao long bao in Hong Kong was better than the ones in Singapore. I was not disappointed.

Second stop was Greenland Taiwanese Cuisine in Wan Chai. Hearty and filling Taiwanese food for very reasonable prices. Set meal for two included seaweed soup, mixed rice, choice of drinks (we chose lychee and bubble tea), and several delicious entrees.

At the last minute, I accepted an invitation for an alumni dinner at Yixin Restaurant, which has been around for quite some time in Hong Kong, its survival no doubt due to its consistently delicious Cantonese fare.

On my last day, I went for xiao long bao one more time, at Wu Kong Shanghai Restaurant. We also had some popular Shanghai-region dishes, such as Shanghai fried rice cake and yu xiang qie zi (eggplant with minced pork). The xiao long bao here were the best I’ve had outside of China.

Although the trip was short and sweet, I know I’ll be returning to Hong Kong for more. 香港真是一个美食宝地！

I’ve already reviewed Ambassador Chinese Cuisine, but this Sunday, I returned for more, and my experience only reinforced my previous review.

I’m always a fan of crispy noodle bowls just because they’re fun to eat, but the vegetables were good too.

The chicken feet were cooked until they were very tender so it was easy to eat.

I’m still not sure what exactly this was, but it was quite savoury.

Crispy perfection. I didn’t find any meat in this pancake, just some dried shrimp and scallions.

This was the only disappointing dish. They could have picked better cuts of pork. The pork was also not cooked long enough. And there needed to be more black bean sauce.

This is actually a common dish in Singapore, although I’m not sure where it originated. This was a little too chunky and thick.

Har gow, tender and delicate, perfect as always.

The egg custard was good, but I thought the puff pastry could have used a bit more “puff.”

Like last time, most of the items were good, but some were so mediocre you wondered how it could have come from the same kitchen. Still, the good items seem to be consistently good, so if you know what you like, you can come back for the same thing and you won’t be disappointed.

I haven’t cooked once since I arrived in Singapore, not even to make rice (which you all know is like my life line). Apparently, eating out is the Singaporean lifestyle, since food is so cheap and plentiful. There are shopping complexes (with food courts, cafes, and restaurants) and hawker centers (outdoor food courts) everywhere. Literally, everywhere.

I have been eating all varieties of Asian food, from Indian roti prata to Singaporean laksa to Korean spicy soup to Chinese dim sum. And while I may have died and gone to Asian culinary heaven, I noticed an interesting phenomenon. Some of the longest lines were in front of the fish and chips joint, or the McDonalds, or the pasta place that serves only one type of pasta, or, god forbid, the sandwich shop (I mean, really? Sandwiches?). And that’s when I realized: Western food is really popular here. I don’t know if it’s because people actually think fish and chips tastes better than a bowl of curry, or if it’s because of the Asian mentality that “Western is better.” Probably the latter, I can’t imagine a ham sandwich competing with made-to-order roti prata on any scale.

Lunch/dinner at ThaiExpress, a popular chain ‘restaurant’ in Singapore. It can be found in many shopping complexes.

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