Ippudo -Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

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After some shopping around TST (Tsim Sha Tsui) in Hong Kong which is a great area for shopping, Jean and I were famished and came across a cute little Japanese ramen bar in one of the shopping malls.

We were seated by a lovely Japanese waitress and on the table in front of us were all the cute little trimmings including; a sesame seed grinder, a garlic crusher and two little salads.

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We decided that all the starters sounded so delicious and we would just order loads of them and just share one bowl of ramen – which ended up being a good shout because we got to try a bit of everything.

We got the calamari, the fish roe stuffed chicken wings, the gyoza and a bowl of their spicy pork ramen. The calamari were perfectly cooked – still soft (not rubbery) and the batter was a light and flavourful dusting (not the thick tasteless batter that you can get sometimes). The wings were lovely and crisp on the outside and the gyoza were lovely too. The ramen was super spicy but tasty all the same.

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The perfect no-frills-restaurant for a post-TST-shopping-spree-dinner.

http://www.ippudo.com.hk/en/

http://www.openrice.com/en/hongkong/r-ippudo-hk-tsim-sha-tsui-japanese-ramen-r52892

Exploring Temple Street, Hong Kong – Spicy Crab Restaurant

Temple Street is a night market in Hong Kong where you can buy jade stones, Chinese tea sets, trinkets, bags etc. As you walk along the street you will find an interesting array of vendors, fortune tellers and opera singers. Yep – they stand on stalls singing away (no joke!).

Spicy Crab Restaurant is on the corner of one of the streets and here you can get fresh seafood every night. Just pick a number of seafood dishes and share in the middle of the table. It is very much on the street so it isn’t the nicest of venues but its a good experience being in the middle of the hustle and bustle having street food.

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Steamy Seafood Cuisine – Jordan, Kowloon, Hong Kong

In Hong Kong, food is very much about the experience as well as the flavour. There are hot pot dinners, cartoon character dim sum brunches, the Chinese 12 course banquet -style dinners and even outdoor barbecue spots where you have a buffet of foods available to cook.

The current new craze is the steamed seafood restaurants, which I had never been to before, where they steam an array of different dishes and then underneath there is a congee to finish off the meal which is flavoured by all the seafood, meats and vegetables that have been steaming on top. It is GLORIOUS!

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My Mum, her childhood friends and I went to Steamy Seafood Cuisine in Jordan. I had never been to one of these restaurants before but a banquet of dishes came over to our table for steaming in the middle of the table in an in built steamer.

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There is a section in the restaurant where you can create your own sauce to go with your food. I made mine with soya sauce, fresh chilies, garlic and coriander.

The meal began with seafood (lobster, scallops, razor clams, clams and fish) and then we moved onto some chicken, steak, vegetables and Chinese turnip cakes.

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Then once all the steaming had been done, the steamer came off and in the pot underneath (instead of water boiling like a normal steamer) there was congee cooking away the whole time so it had absorbed all the flavours from the foods that had been steaming above it.

It was a really good experience and the food was really fresh. The food was so fresh in fact that they have all the aquariums with the seafood swimming around at the front of the restaurant. I definitely recommend.

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http://www.openrice.com/en/hongkong/r-steamy-seafood-cuisine-jordan-guangdong-hot-pot-r474217

Bistro Manchu – Soho, Hong Kong

If you like spicy food or if you are just a dare devil and want to try to consume mouth numbing chilies – then Sichuan food is the food for you! The Sichuan peppercorn, which is used in a lot of their dishes, is so spicy that is creates a tingling, numbing sensation on your lips! Their dishes are usually balanced out with cooling dishes as well.

My friends Jean and Chris introduced me to Bistro Manchu, a Sichuan restaurant in Soho, Hong Kong. It was so good that I took my mum there to try it as well!

20151017_183501 — The famous Hot and Sour Soup

Two dishes that you would recognise in your local Chinese restaurant that originate from Sichuan are Kung Pao Chicken and Hot and Sour Soup which I had when I was with Jean and Chris.

With my Mum we had dumplings that are filled with soup. You are supposed to bite off the top and then suck out the soup before you continue to eat the rest of the dumpling.

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20151017_184110 — A spicy beef noodle soup

We also had a spicy noodle soup which was filled with the mouth numbing peppercorns. I felt like my lips were swollen after from eating them, but it was so tasty I couldn’t stop!

It is a quiet restaurant, hidden away on a quiet street in the super busy Soho area in Hong Kong, which serves good old traditional Sichuan cuisine.

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g294217-d2484867-Reviews-Bistro_Manchu-Hong_Kong.html

A Lorcha – Macau, China

We went on a day trip to Macau at the end of last year – My aunt, my uncle, my mum, brother and his girlfriend – and we ended up for dinner at A Lorcha, which is a famous Portuguese restaurant. It is a very casual atmosphere. The arch doorways and the dark wooden beams creating the old fashioned, hidden-European-restaurant, cave-like feel to it.

Portuguese food is very much grilled meat or fish with potatoes and rice or stews. It is very home cooking type food. We ordered an array of different dishes to share in the middle of the table (Chinese style) so we would try a bit of everything.

There was some steaks and chips, some vegetables, some seafood dishes and some famous Portuguese salt cod croquettes. There was no “wow” factor but it was a tasty banquette of home-cooking-type flavours and great fuel after a day of walking around the casinos and exploring the old town.

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http://www.alorcha.com/en/home/

Royal China – Queensway, London

If you are looking for a taste of a proper Hong Kong Dim Sum, I recommend Royal China in Queensway. To get a table you will need to get there early as you cannot do a lunch booking on the weekends.

My aunt and uncle and I went for a dim sum lunch one Saturday. We got there just before 12noon and luckily we got a seat but the restaurant was already almost full up!

You order from the menu at The Royal China and there is plenty to choose from.

We had some dumplings which were all made so beautifully and you could taste that they were freshly steamed.

We had some sticky rice which is wrapped and steamed in lotus leaf.

We had some fried bits like spring rolls, which I am not usually a huge fan of, but these were cooked so well. They weren’t greasy and they were perfectly crisp on the outside and again you could taste that they were freshly cooked.

We also had some barbecued suckling pig which comes cut in squares with absolutely crisp and crunchy skin piled perfectly over squares of soft and tender meat.

And finally to end the meal we had some duck pancakes which again was lovely. A great barbecue-like taste to it.

Overall it was a great meal. I definitely recommend for a very Hong-Kongese Dim Sum.

Mini Bangkok Thai Food – Hong Kong

My cousin always takes me to my favourite Thai restaurant when I am in Hong Kong. It is on a street, called Nam Kok Road, that is full of Thai restaurants, but this Mini Bangkok is definitely my favourite.

We always order some mixed satays which have been marinated in a sweet sauce and served with the peanut sauce on the side, pineapple fried rice which comes served in half a pineapple, a spiced minced pork dish which you eat wrapped in crunchy, fresh lettuce leaf, and then there are my personal favourites…

The fresh raw tiger prawn which are so sweet and melt away in your mouth. It comes with a garlic chili fish sauce on the side to give it a little kick.

The fresh fish which come to your table bubbling away in a lovely sauce. It comes cooking in a hot plate with a fire underneath which eventually goes out. The fish is soft and just falls apart and the sauce has a fresh and slightly sour taste to it.

And I absolutely love the giant clams that have been cooked with butter, garlic and spring onions.

I absolutely love the seafood here, but they have amazing food other than their seafood as well which is just as good.