Kosher Meal

Dinner

Appears that purity/separation from other (potentially non-kosher) food is taken very seriously. See first photo below, the red label lists the meal's contents individually. The tray, itself is as big or bigger than the seat's tray table, and is heavily saran-wrapped. The main course (just above the red label in the first photo) is heavily wrapped and sealed separately from the other items, but within the tray. In other words, can be tough to unwrap the tray and then the main; risk of making a mess is not to be underestimated. Then you have to somehow get rid of a large handful or saran wrap while the flight attendants walk around with the dining cart. In short - the logistics of getting to the food are not ideal.

Now to the food. Appetizer is a sort of spiced potato salad with tuna. Edible. A sort of dense but decent roll (beats the airline standard fare) with non-dairy spread (mixing meat and dairy is a big no-no in the Kosher diet). Main is a "beef casserole" more like a sort of salted roast beef with carrots, sauerkraut and potatoes. Very edible though was not a fan of the potatoes. Dessert was a kind of artificial-tasting cake, which I didn't mind, had a caramel topping. 

Overall, not too shabby. Happy eat again, minus complex logistics of unwrapping the whole thing and worrying about where to throw out saran wrap. A close second to the Hindu meal previously reviewed.

Date of travel: November 2013
Flight: BA 293 - LHR (London Heathrow) - IAD (Washington Dulles)

Hindu Meal

Warning - This is what I believe, a liberal interpretation of what is permissible in a Hindu diet, one could call it a Hindu non-vegetarian meal. Many Hindus do not eat meat or fish of any kind. It appears that CX's definition for this meal is that  beef or pork won't be used but that fish/chicken will be. Folks who are strictly vegetarian or want such an Indian meal should go for the Asian/Hindu vegetarian meal (code AVML) instead.

Dinner

Now down to business...Best airline special meal ordered to date that's been reviewed here. Pause

Was more than edible. Main dish of Fish Jalfrezi, fish was dry (nothing new here), but curry more than serviceable. Airline rice in the middle and on other side, a sort of curried/spiced potato. Soft and pretty flavorful. Standard dinner roll and butter, ditto fruit. Dessert was some kind of Kesari - like thing (a sort of sweet cream of wheat with clarified butter, plenty of sugar and food coloring) pretty tasty, but like most other Indian desserts, a heart attack inducer.

Date of travel: November 2013

Flight: CX 636 - SIN (Singapore) - HKG (Hong Kong)

St. Roque 34 Cafe in Macau

Note: Not in HK, but Macau's close enough, easy to get to and this place is delicious and not well known.

A place we stumbled into after our reservation at Albergue 1601 was not honored. Were told on the phone that no reservations were taken. Arrived to a near empty restaurant around 1130am on a Sunday and were told  it was full. Apparently full of bookings (didn't they say they don't take them?) and despite our efforts to say that we were told no bookings were taken on the phone...

Walked around nearby charming area and came across St. Roque 34 Cafe. Small, charming place and easy to miss. Ordered chicken stew, fish curry, croquettes and a "hamburger." Croquettes (pictured below) are minced cod and deep fried. Crispy and light outside, moist and flavorful inside. Perfect. Chicken stew and fish curry flavorful and full of different layers of spices though without overdoing it. Not Asian style and worked well with both rice and bread. "Hamburger" was the star, 2 patties which appeared to be pan fried, with crisp edges on the outside, but moist, tasty inside and not heavy. Was not beef, tasted actually like Indian-style tuna cutlets mom used to make but apparently (we found out later) was pork. Oops. Very tasty and a mistake worth making. Repeatedly. Was topped with a dollop of a sort of thousand island-like dressing sauce on which sat a fresh shrimp. Served with salad. A must try. Lots of stuff on menu needs 24 hours advanced notice but looks tasty.

MC/Visa accepted (I think - we used cash)
Reservations accepted

HKD/MOP 150-200 per person 

Rua S. Roque, N. 34, R/C Macau (near Igreja de. S. Lazaro)
澳門聖祿杞街34號文輝大廈地下. 
 +853 2835 4011 / +853 6640 8385

Phone transition

To add to the previous post - just an illustration (below) regarding why I had to go through a phone transition. 

Gluten Free Meal

Dinner

First - apologies for the poor photo quality. Currently in the middle of a phone transition courtesy of my clumsyness (or fat fingers). 12 days ago, I may or may not have dropped my phone at a crosswalk, whereupon said phone fell on the street as the traffic light turned green, 4 cabs ran over it. R.I.P. Anyhow...

Best part of meal was the rice cakes. Says a lot. Rice dry and overcooked, chicken dry and flavorless. Bell peppers edible, mushrooms the kind of standard stuff often seen in airline breakfast omelets. Fruit may have been past its prime... As expected everything was very bland. Funny thing, lady sitting next to me had low calorie meal which had the same chicken and mushrooms but different veggies and of course, the ubiquitous airline roll and some interesting looking dessert.
 

Date of travel: October 2013
Flight: CX 636 - SIN (Singapore) - HKG (Hong Kong)

Fruit Platter Meal

Dinner

As expected...Though no big expectations, variability of fruit quality was disappointing. Dragon fruit pedestrian (ie. more than ok for airline food), pineapple nearly inedible, large slices of melon (bottom left) actually quite tasty. Real disappointment was that small slices of melon (above left) were tasteless though what looks like the slice of a cocktail grapefruit (ok tasting) tried to help it out. Above center, was a canned apricot and canned pear which were the most disappointing. Mostly because being served canned syrupy fruit rather than the real stuff (even if its just an apple or banana or something) was lame. Roll and butter were standard.

Date of travel: September 2013
Flight: CX 505 - NRT (Tokyo Narita) - HKG (Hong Kong)

Bland Meal on Cathay Pacific

Dinner

True to its name. Was, well, tasteless. Main of a piece of rubbery, flavorless and sort of dry chicken, with a decent carrot mash (added some salt) and bog standard steamed broccoli and some mushy chips/fries. Don't get why airlines serve fries, really. Usually want them to be crisp or have some edge to them, rather than be soggy... Fruit and roll same as with other meals served on board. Instead of cup of Haagen Dazs ice cream, which standard meals got, was served some sweet tofu instead (on right side of picture). Was pretty tasty and I felt good about myself since it was healthier (yay?). Overall, not a meal worth special ordering.

Date of travel: September 2013
Flight: CX 542 - HKG (Hong Kong) - HND (Tokyo Haneda)

Diabetic Meal on Cathay Pacific

Described on CX's website as "With complex carbohydrates, high fibre, low fat and calories, it is suitable for both non-insulin and insulin dependent diabetics." Hmm.

Lunch

White bean salad with some tomato/cucumber, edible, needed some salt. Roll was a sort of multi-grain standard airline fare, though served with a veggie spread/margarine rather than butter. Main of plain grilled chicken was surprisingly moist if not otherwise flavorless, on the side were purple rice and steamed broccoli. Added some salt for flavor. Full confession - I do not like broccoli (sorry mom). Dessert of grapes and cocktail grapefruit/orange slices - nothing special but nothing I'd object to. Slight concern due to the salad dressing (green container on right)'s first ingredient was "high fructose corn syrup" - didn't try it.

Overall, not good, but not a terrible meal.

Dinner

Cucumber and pepper salad with cherry tomatoes on a bed of lettuce. Pretty tasteless. Roll/spread/salad dressing similar to that of lunch. Main of spiced and herb crusted (I think) chicken with steamed/boiled green beans and a spiced black bean and corn quinoa. Chicken was dry, and overspiced, beans were blah as one would expect (added a little bit of salt). Highlight was the spiced quinoa, had right amount of kick and nice texture to it. Was lovely to eat. Dessert was a few pieces of melon and cantaloupe - nothing fresh and a gluten free/wheat free, lemon cookie that was dense and artificial tasting (despite using fruit juices as sweeteners).

Overall, lunch was better but the quinoa was genuinely nice to eat.

Date of travel: September 2013
Flight: CX 807 - ORD (Chicago O'Hare) - HKG (Hong Kong)

Special Meals on Airlines

As most probably haven't noticed, I haven't posted in a while since I've been traveling a lot and its, well, tough to write about places in Hong Kong when one's not there.

Like many others I know, I fly a fair bit. And like most folks I know, I too, dread airline meals or skip them. I booked a flight a while back and when prompted to see if I wanted to request a special meal (Vegetarian, Kosher etc), I figured, "why not have a little fun?"

Looking at Cathay Pacific's website (and this is not meant to be an advertisement - I just happen to fly them a lot), they offer 20 special meals ranging from "Bland" meal to "Vegetarian Oriental" meal - with a bunch of choices in between that I have never heard of/thought of or can't really explain.

I plan to try every one of Cathay Pacific/Dragonair's special meals in the coming months/years. I will use as similar format as with restaurants. Keep posts brief, with 1-2 photos. I will also include the flight number, month/year of travel, meal (ie. breakfast, lunch or dinner). Unless otherwise mentioned, all meals are in economy class, and I drink water with all of my meals.

I hope folks enjoy this. As with restaurants, if anyone else has any experiences with special meals on airlines, please do feel free to send them over and I will be happy post them with due credit given

Xinjiang Stall/Sidewalk eating in Shenzhen

Note: Not in HK, but literally a stone's throw away, easy to get to and delicious.

Outdoor area with plastic furniture in a sort of parking area near a health center and hotel that starts up around 6 PM. Run by Uyger folks, little Mandarin spoken, basic English understood (ie. "bread"). Make their own "Nang" bread in the oven outside (sort of like a Tandoor), with charcoal grill for meats/veggies. Pick desired meats/veggies out of fridges that have been set up, put them in a basket and give said basket to the grill master. Can tell grill master not spicy "bu la", little spicy "xiao la" or say nothing (which means it will have a generous helping of crushed chili and cumin - glorious). Sit at a table that is empty and the food will find you when its ready. My favorites are the lamb kebabs/ribs, nang and eggplant (veggies also very tasty). Eggplant takes at least 15 minutes, but is soft, well spiced with just enough garlic but not overkill.

They also have shisha and serve tea, never tried former. If not busy they'll buy you bottles of water and tack it onto the bill. Otherwise, walk past the place to end of the alley, turn left (nowhere else to turn) and the last shop on the left is a convenience store where one can buy beers/soft drinks.

No reservations taken. Cash only.HKD 50-100 per person 

Nearby landmark is the Vienna Hotel which is on Chunfeng Road, near Xin An Road. Show the Chinese address to cabbie (below).

维也纳酒店（深圳春风路店）深圳罗湖区春风路151号.

Directions: When facing the front of the hotel turn to your right and walk down no more than 50-100 meters, Xin An Lu will be on your left (or just ask a kind passerby).  春风路 (Chunfeng Lu - pronounced "Choon fung loo" - say it fast) and 新安路 (Xin An Lu - pronounced "Shin ahn loo" -say it fast) and Vienna Hotel pronounced "Way N Nah Joe Dee N" - say it fast and the streets mentioned above. Google map of the area here.

Dim Sum Square

Surprisingly (to me and bud who took me here) no line at 1130am on a Saturday morning. Homey, small very-HK institution like place. Little English spoken, mostly local folks, kind but hurried service. Overall very tasty dim sum with standard offerings. Standouts were crispy, baked bbq meat buns (pictured), and shao mai (steamed meat and shrimp dumpling). Felt the har gao (shrimp dumpling) was tasty enough, but not as good as Tim Ho Wan (Michelin Star dim sum place covered by every guidebook/blog), ditto the beef meatballs and cheung fun (shrimp in rice rolls).

.


No reservations taken. Cash only.

HKD 40-100 per person 

88 Jervois Street
Sheung Wan
2851 8088

Champs Sports Bar

Walked past it a million times in my 5 plus years here in HK. Pretty dive-y basement sports bar with plenty of TVs and typical bar food. Buffalo wings the most authentic I've had in HK. Were devoured before photos could be taken. The wing and drumstick are still attached (ie. not cut) to each other, deep fried and served with a significant side of authentic buffalo sauce as well as blue cheese. Glorious sauce. Otherwise, ribs were soft and tender, mini burgers well done (ie. dry) - so give the latter a skip. Onion rings were solid, fries were standard issue.

A warning - the bar is a Liverpool supporters bar, so on days Liverpool plays there is a mandatory spend of $143 HKD per person for 2 standard drinks regardless of whether you're eating or drinking (ie - we were eating but had to shell out the HKD 143 on top of it). The atmosphere is great though (if you like or don't mind Liverpool).

No reservations needed. Credit cards accepted.

HKD 175-200 per person (if not a Liverpool game)

Charterhouse Hotel
209-291 Wanchai Road
Wanchai (Causeway Bay, Times Square exit is closest MTR)
2892 3386

http://www.champsbar.com.hk/

Stone Nullah Tavern

Restaurant well covered so will keep short. In Wanchai across from "Blue House." Dishes served as smaller sharing plates. Pigs' Head Terrine with Lobster Salad and the Brussels Sprouts were the stars, the former for its texture and lovely mix of flavors and the latter for its cooking and sauce. Chicken wings a melange of different flavors, well balanced and don't clash. Mac and Cheese kept nice texture but was nothing stunning taste-wise, ditto on Squid Salad.  Real reason for this post is to encourage folks to keep space for dessert.

Order the "Fat Kid Cake." It has a red velvet base, with cheesecake above that, chocolate fudge above that topped with creme brulee (as the frosting essentially) and is sprinkled with chocolate pop rocks. Among the best if not the best dessert I've had in HK (surprise factor may be a part of this). Photo below.

Service quick and friendly, solid looking drinks list with craft beers.

Reservations suggested but probably not needed on weekdays. Credit cards accepted.

Dinner for HKD 300 and up (not cheap). 
G/F, 69 Stone Nullah Ln

Wan Chai

3182 0128

http://www.stonenullahtavern.com/

Woodlands

Most authentic Indian food in HK (in my humble opinion).

In Wing On Plaza (sort of a kind of C-grade 90s style mini-mall) next to Kowloon Shangri La. Decor of Woodlands is "down to earth", menus are paper and also act as place mats. Emphasis on South Indian vegetarian cuisine with some North Indian dishes (paneer, alu, etc) thrown in. Vegan friendly.  None of the dosas (a thin rice crepe) will disappoint. Get Mysore-style if you like spicy, masala if you want something more filling. Mixed uttapam (see photo, served with sambar and coconut chutney), a thick mixed rice and dal-batter pancake stuffed with tomato, onions, coconut and a few green chillis is a delight. Served with sambar, a staple South Indian vegetable stew and coconut chutney. Skip the idly (a cake-ish thing made of rice and lentil batter), though vada (a vegetarian fritter) is often fresh and delicious.  Masala tea a nice (and culturally authentic) way to finish the meal. No meat served here but you probably won't miss it too much.

No reservations needed. Credit cards accepted.

HKD 50-120/person.

UG 16-17, 2/F (from street level only 1 escalator ride up)
Wing On Plaza
62 Mody Road
Tsim Sha Tsui (MTR TST East, Exit P1 or P2)
2369 3718

Yu Chuan Club

Sijie's Wanchai rival, also has been covered by the blogs but somehow escapes most people's attention.  Splits opinion among my Sichuanese friends as to which place they prefer. I'm slightly partial to Sijie - probably because the proprietress there is so energetic and hilarious. Yu Chuan is tucked away in a side street in Wanchai in between Queens Road East (about halfway between 3 Pacific Place and the Hopewell Center, but on the opposite side) and Johnston Road on the first floor of a small building. Place is a bit fresher in looks than the old Sijie location, with cleaner looking white floors, a large tv playing in one corner, but only about 6 or 7 mostly large tables. The beef tripe here isn't as good as Sijie's but the kou shui ji, cold chicken appetizer is much better. Favorite dish is the cold Sichuan noodles. Other tasty dishes, like Sijie,  include ma po tofu, shui zhu yu "Mandarin Fish in Chili Oil" and the stir fried green beans.

Reservations recommended. Cash only.

HKD 230/person fixed. Corkage (correct me if I'm wrong) HKD 30/person

1/F, Shop B, Hundred City Centre
7-17 Amoy Street
Wanchai
2838 5233; 9858 1561

Si Jie

Probably my favorite Sichuanese place in town, covered by blogs but somehow still not known by so many folks who claim to love Sichuanese. Used to be hidden in an apartment building between Wanchai and Causeway Bay, and has now moved. Old place had paper tablecloths, a dirty-looking kind of white linoleum floor and was noisy. The food? Fantastic and family style. I'm a huge fan of her beef tripe starter dish, as well her shui zhu yu or "Mandarin fish in chili oil" with numerous chilies and the famous ma la or numbing chilies  Don't like fish? You can get the same dish as pork or even beef. Also a fan of the Mapo Tofu. The Sichuanese noodles are fantastic (I think Yu Chuan's are better - see next post), served at room temperature, spicy and al-dente-ish. Would avoid the kou shui ji , an appetizer spicy chicken dish, that's just not as good as the other stuff. Plenty of reasonably priced beer (Erdinger, Heineken/Carlsburg and Blue Girl? - no more Tsingtao) to go around and I think, free corkage (don't quote me on the latter.). The boisterous proprietress comes out and chats to everyone (despite not being able to speak English). Oh and she drinks beer. Lots of it. Fast. Faster than most dudes. Impressive.

New location much more posh than previous. Reservations suggested. Cash only.
HKD 280/per person fixed.
10/F Bartlock Centre
3 Yiu Wah Street
Causeway Bay
2802 2250

Photo above taken by a friend

Motorino

Well-known Brooklyn/East Village (NYC) pizzeria just opened up 4 days ago in HK. Had the pleasure of eating lunch there today. Set lunch came with a fresh green salad dressed with olive oil and I think, balsamic vinegar, a choice of pizzas and a soft drink/iced tea. Pizza quality, I would argue, was of the original location's level (ie. Some of the best I've had in the US). Pizza was half margherita/half without the cheese; need to try marinara next time. Working out a few kinks with the timing of dishes, but otherwise, service was pleasant and very helpful. Totally made my week and its only Monday. Blackberry camera does the pizza an injustice...

Recent second visit for dinner yielded pizza of same quality. Best crust in HK, chewy, just enough salt. Margherita as good as in previous visit. Marinara (no cheese but garlic and other spices in sauce fantastic as were others. Tiramisu was good, but nothing special.

Set lunch of HKD 118 +10% service charge. Dinner about HKD 200 per person (1 pizza pp, 1 app and 1 dessert split 4 ways)

14 Shelley Street (Just past Yorkshire Pudding)
Central, HK
2801 6681

http://motorinopizza.com/hongkong/

The point of this thing

I live in Hong Kong and like eating good food, especially with friends and family. Like most working professionals in this city who aren't married, I eat out. A lot. Sadly, like many other expats I often find myself going to the same mediocre and over-priced places in Central (where I work), which is kind of annoying (ok-I'm lying, it's really annoying).

I'm setting up this blog as a sort of resource for anyone who finds a place in this great city that has great grub and just isn't covered much (or at all) in the myriad of expat food blogs and publications. That being said, this blog is by no means an effort to replace openrice (http://www.openrice.com) which is a treasure trove of information and I would say, the "go-to" food directory/review site in HK.

The other goal is to keep it short and sweet. 1-2 paragraphs (I can't say my palette is great or that I'm some sort of expert), 1-2 photos as well as the place's address and phone number. Hopefully the bias is towards places that are not in Central and uber high profile (ie. well covered the folks at chopstixfix/dimsum diaries etc), or very new (ie. within a week or two). 

There are far too many solid places to eat in this town that don't get enough recognition (ie. people including myself often overlook them when we're thinking "what should I eat today?") for what they are, and I'm sick of complaining. So here we go...

Any submissions/ideas are more than welcome (I won't take credit for it)!