Category Archive for ‘Chinese’ at gas•tron•o•my

Archive for the 'Chinese' Category Page 3 of 6

Eating in Kunming I

Published

on August 13, 2008

. 9 Comments

Our first full day in Kunming started a bit past noon. We missed our hotel’s complimentary breakfast by two hours so we headed out to town in search of “breakfast.” Just a couple of paces from the hotel, we found a cluster of al fresco vendors dishing up all sorts of goodness. Without English menus or grasp of Chinese characters, we resorted to scanning the crowd of diners and pointing to what looked tasty.

First up, fried tofu with scallions and cilantro sprinkled with some intense chili powder (3 RMB). The tofu’s texture was silky, yet firm. The Astronomer and I both enjoyed this spicy jolt early in the day.

Nooooodles (4 RMB)! These ones were round and thick like engorged spaghetti. The noodles were topped with an oily pork mixture, silken tofu, sesame seeds, chili oil and scallions. The Astronomer and I carefully scooped the chilies out of the bowl to avoid searing our tongues. The noodles really made the dish special.

Here’s what the noodles looked like all mixed together. Although the oily pork mixture didn’t look too imposing at the start, it really managed to flavor and color the entire dish. After a cheap and filling breakfast, The Astronomer and I were ready to seize the day. Our plan was to catch a mini bus to see the Bamboo Temple located 12 kilometers away. Supposedly there are statues of surfing Buddhas!

On our way to the mini bus station, I perused a store called Bear Family. It was filled with, you guessed it, BEARS! I am fascinated by how infantile Asian women are allowed to be. The crowd wasn’t my scene, but the store’s slogan drew me in, “Love me, I will give you more!”

Similar to Hong Kong, Kunming is filled with wonderful bakeries. The Astronomer picked up this lovely creation at Jiahua (3 RMB). We’d never seen anything quite like it—swirly and fancy!

A couple of bites in, The Astronomer thought the baked good was a simple buttery number. However, towards the center, he hit gold, AKA pork floss! Unfortunately, there was also some mayo that The Astronomer scooped out with his fingers and flicked to the sidewalk in disgust. Ick.

Rent a cop.

After walking a solid 400 meters without any food, The Astronomer ducked into a stall selling dumplings and picked up one (0.5 RMB).

The dumplings had a wee bit of pork and lots of doughy breading. Not spectacular, but certainly not shabby for less than a kuai!

A square in downtown Kunming. It’s hard to fathom how a city can be so developed and still so inexpensive to live in. Very impressive.

While on the search for Muslim eats on Shuncheng Jie Street, we found some kids playing pogs! They were so engrossed in their game that they didn’t even notice me spying.

Chinese mosque.

According to our handy dandy Lonely Planet, the area around Shuncheng Jie Street is supposed to be brimming with kebab stands and Halal noodles, but we only found one lonely stand serving steamed buns (1 RMB). The construction in the area seems to have pushed this community elsewhere.

I expected the steamed bun to taste sweet like Vietnamese banh bao, but it ended up tasting neutral. The best part was the texture—the bun was composed of a zillion thin layers. After struggling to locate the mini bus pick-up point, The Astronomer and I decided that we’d rather nap than see surfing Buddhas, so we headed back to the hotel.

On our walk back, we stopped at Jiahua again. When we swung by earlier to pick up a pastry, I noticed that all the kids eating were eating a treat that resembled fro-yo with fresh fruit, a la Pinkberry. I’ve yet to partake in the fro-yo craze, so I was really excited to give it a try.

Turns out the kids were just eating shaved ice topped with fresh fruit and beans (4 RMB). It doesn’t sound like anything special, but trust us, it really was. The passion fruit syrup permeated every ingredient and the beans texture became appealing due to the ice. The Astronomer liked it much more than che.

As expected, the Chinese are really into the Olympic games. There are large screen TVs set up in public places for everyone to watch the competition unfolding. I was hoping to find more unofficial gear for sale, but this is the lone T-shirt I’ve seen thus far. It would’ve been mine, but it was much too small. After napping and watching the Games on TV, The Astronomer and I went on a quality run around the city and Green Lake. By the way, Kunming is located at 6,200 feet, so we’re technically training at elevation. I hope to reap the speedy benefits when I return to sea level.

After our run, we went to a nearby restaurant for a pre-dinner snack because our dinner destination was quite a ways away.

We ordered fried goat cheese ( 乳饼 rǔbǐng) with ham (22 RMB). According to Diana of Appetite for China, goat cheese is “one of the well-loved specialties of Yunnan cuisine. It comes from the Bai and Sani minorities of Yunnan province, and is made by heating fresh goat’s milk with a souring agent until firm, then either pan-fried or steamed before serving.”

Although the dish resembles stir-fried tofu with vegetables, it was SO much more than that. The ham was sliced thinly and had a decadent ration of meat to fat and the goat cheese—OH, THE GOAT CHEESE—was firmer than the varieties stateside, and much milder. Truly, it was nothing short of magical! Fried goat cheese with ham is just so crazy delicious that we’re gonna have to return and have it once more before we leave this town.

A view of Green Lake on our walk to dinner destination number two—Brothers Jiang. After a mile and a half walk, we arrived at the eatery around 9:30 PM and found it closed. We were so bummed.

Back in our ‘hood, we ate at a Muslim restaurant serving fresh noodles and lovelies on a stick—our standby late-night foodstuffs.

The Astronomer and I both ordered the fresh noodles in broth (5 RMB). Both servings were made to order in front of our eyes—the chef’s skilled hands transformed a blob of dough into long strands of perfectly uniform noodles in seconds. How’d he do that? The noodles were topped with a savory mixture of cubed beef and mustard greens and a simple broth. The Astronomer made a keen observation as we were eating our luxurious noodles—whereas the broth is the star of the show in Vietnamese cuisine, in Kunming, the noodles outshine the broth. He’s totally right! The serving size here, as with all of the eateries we’ve frequented in China, was super-sized. The Astronomer had to help me out with this one.

The Astronomer went for potatoes and lamb on a stick (1 RMB each). The lamb stick alternated between cubes of meat and fat, and The Astronomer found it fantastic. My ’shrooms on a stick were fabulous as well. This could be paradise.

The Road to Bejing: Heiku to Kunming

Published

Gastronomer

on August 12, 2008

in Chinese, Kunming and Scenes

. 16 Comments

As long as the powers that be allow it, gas•tron•o•my is blogging live from China! Eee! There’s still so much to share from Vietnam, but since the eyes of the world are currently focused on China, I thought it would be most appropriate to share my travels as they’re actually taking place—a novel concept considering the back log of posts in my queue!

Ever since The Astronomer and I decided to venture on this yearlong journey to Vietnam, our plan has been to travel home via Beijing in time for the Summer Games. In addition to being food enthusiasts, we’re also jocks at heart.

We entered Heiku, China via Lao Cai, Vietnam. It’s pretty crazy how one side of the bridge is China and the other is Vietnam. Boundaries and borders are fascinating.

Farewell, Vietnam. It’s been an absolute pleasure. As I crossed the bridge into China, I kept singing to myself, “It’s the end of the world as we know it. And I feel fine.”

After finding a suitable hotel, The Astronomer and I sought an ATM to procure some Chinese currency (RMB) in order to buy me a snack and to buy us bus tickets to Kunming. I settled on a squishy white bread concoction with pork floss and scallion oil for my pre-run nibble. Even though the baked good was the size of my hand, the lack of density made it possible to down it in three bites.

After changing into our running gear, we jogged along the Red River. We knew for certain that we were no longer in Vietnam as we trucked along the manicured riverside path because as anyone whose ever been to Vietnam knows, the rivers are stinky, filthy and definitely not exercise friendly.

Upon returning to our hotel post-run, we discovered that there was no longer running water in our room (or in the entire facility). Wah wah. For the next hour or so, we argued with the manager for our security deposit and searched for a hotel with working showers. By the time we finally found suitable shelter, I was too angry and exhausted to eat dinner, which is a shame because there was some really good looking stuff on the streets of Heiku.

We woke up early the following morning to have a hearty breakfast before boarding our 11+ hour bus ride to Kunming. Most of the eateries with storefronts were closed at 8 AM, which was another sign that we were no longer in Vietnam. We stumbled upon a vendor under an awning and tucked in for some hot noodle soup.

Since neither of us spoke Chinese, we pointed to a bowl of noodles and smiled and then pointed to the chilies and shook our heads no. We’ll take everything but the chilies, sir.

After we placed our order, the vendor added fresh scallions, bean sprouts, mushrooms and a salty/oily pork mixture atop the noodles and poured a hot broth into the bowl. The broth was actually brown, but turned bright orange due to the oily pork mixture. Whereas the portions in Vietnam are quite modest, this bowl of noodles was nothing short of hearty.

The wide pappardelle-like noodles were my favorite part. Although I didn’t have high hopes for a bowl of noodles served in a parking lot, these were so so good that I couldn’t stop talking about them for the rest of the day. Two bowls of noodles set us back 10 RMB ($1 USD = 6.8 RMB).

We boarded the Yunnan Express at 8:45 AM and got comfy because eleven hours ain’t no joke.

A little past noon, we stopped over for some lunch and a restroom break. The Astronomer and I didn’t know what the heck was going on, so we mimicked our bus mates.

Inside a darkish room, a couple of workers were serving up meat, veggies, and rice for 10 RMB a plate. Even though we weren’t hungry, we played along and bought some food. Our hodgepodge of Chinese delights included stir-fried chayote (a familiar treat and my favorite item), cucumber salad, bamboo shoots and two pork dishes.

This porky number resembled what we knew to be Chinese food in America, with the inconvenient addition of bones. Everything but the chayote was too spicy for me. I wish I were tougher.

The accompanying squash soup was the blandest thing ever, but it turned out to be a good thing because after eating such fiery foods, I needed a calming broth.

All the locals were garnishing with this great-looking cilantro, scallion, garlic, soy sauce and chili salsa. As expected, it was much to spicy for me. After lunch, we boarded the bus and got comfy once more.

The scenery from Heiku to Kunming is gorgeous—seemingly endless green hills and mountains. The only disturbing sight was this burning-action on the side of the road.

And the huge cloud of smoke as a result of the burning.

A few hours later, we were rewarded with another rest stop! This one specialized in deep-fried meats on a stick!

The Astronomer went for deep-fried blocks of tofu sprinkled with chili flakes, which was hot and good! He would have ordered another stick, but the conductor was screaming, “all aboard!” Or so I translated in my head.

I bought some snacks at the convenient store. I was hoping that the product on the left were sweet and sour plums, but they turned out to be wickedly sweet dates. I was totally disappointed. Good thing I had haw flakes because they never let me down.

We finally arrived in Kunming a little after 8 PM.

After the cabbie dropped us off at our hotel near Yunnan University, we suited up for a run. It turned out to be a short one because I was mighty hungry. We started searching for dinner at 11 PM and were bummed that most places were closed. What kind of college town is this? Luckily we found a hole-in-the-wall serving up grilled meats on a stick and hot noodles.

I ordered two sticks of tofu (or so I thought). The one on the left was definitely tofu, but the one next to it turned out to be something totally different—it tasted like a cross between squid and pork fat! The Astronomer ordered a stick of the faux tofu as well and a stick of good ‘ol beef.

A bowl of bun bo Kunming. Not as tasty as the soup from Heiku, but pretty decent considering the options available. The broth started out brown, but after mixing around the oily beef it turned orange. Our entire meal of meats on a stick and noodles cost a mere 13 RMB.

On the way back to our hotel, The Astronomer bought a package of guangsu cake for dessert (6.5 RMB). It tasted really terrible—chalky, saccharine-laced pieces of foam.

The Astronomer’s 24th

Published

Gastronomer

on June 25, 2008

in Chinese, Dim Sum, Hot Vit Lon, Saigon and Vietnamese

. 9 Comments

This past weekend, we celebrated The Astronomer’s big 2-4. There are a million and one spirited things to do in Saigon, but when it came down to it, all The Astronomer wanted on his special day was to gorge on dim sum, consume local libations and sing his heart out. Oh, he also wanted to hang out with babes. Lots of babes.

The babes came into the picture early in the morning. While we were waiting for our friends to arrive for dim sum at the New World Hotel, we saw a bunch of Miss Universe pageant contestants who happened to be staying there. Check Miss Adventure’s site for the full babalicious recap. According to Hawk, Miss Korea is a fox.

Here’s the birthday boy posing in front of a flat screen TV advertising the dim sum special at the Dynasty restaurant that we took advantage of. Only $4.99 for all you can eat! Awesome deal.

Here’s what we ate. The har gow AKA shrimp bags were excellent, as were the tripe, banh cuon and fried turnip. The Astronomer’s favorite were the deep fried dumplings doused with sweet and sour sauce. The food was good, but the service was shoddy for a five-star. In a way, dim sum wouldn’t be dim sum without terrible service, right?

Here is Vernon’s lovely Vietnamese teacher Hanh posing with Miss Vietnam. By the way, Miss Vietnam is wearing heels. Really high heels. And Hanh is short.

After dim sum, The Astronomer and I went home and passed out. Then we went running. Running post-dim sum is one of the grossest things ever. When evening rolled around, our friends gathered at our apartment for late night festivities. First stop, sidewalk seafood!

This no-name joint on Ton That Thuyet Street in District 4 (which we’ve visited a number of times before) attracts a fun local crowd and stir-fries up some mean seafood, especially the clams with tamarind sauce. They also make and bottle their own liquor. Who knows what was in it, but let’s just say that it did the job nicely.

Good friends, good food and good spirits. What could be better?

Peter and Nina. Aren’t they the cutest? Nina is currently ranked my #3 favorite Canadian. #2 is Lainey of Lainey Gossip and #1 is Alanis Morissette. Avril Lavigne is #4.

Two Cathys and one shot.

Hot vit lon. Our Vietnamese guests Hanh and Vuong placed an order for fetal duck eggs in tamarind sauce, so I had one too. Mmm! I mean it. We also ate clams with garlic, blood cockles with tamarind and grilled shell fish with scallions and peanuts.

Group shot minus Nina.

After dinner, we hopped a cab and zoomed to New Karaoke in District 3. Hanh made us reservations so when we arrived our room was ready to go!

I got the party started with a sweet sweet performance (if I do say so myself) of “Dress You Up In My Love” by Madonna. The lyrics appear on the flat screen, while the music blares from a fairly advanced sound system. The most awesome part was the video footage that accompanied the lyrics. Instead of a lame music video, there were scenes of Vietnam—Hue, Hanoi, Saigon! While I was belting out Madonna, Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum popped up. Awesome, right?

Oh, and the other super-cool thing about singing karaoke in Vietnam is that your performance is rated afterwards. I scored a 92 with my Madonna performance and a 100 with “Gangsta’s Paradise”!

Here’s The Astronomer cheerily singing “Drive My Car” by The Beatles. He scored in the high eighties for this performance.

Here’s Peter singing some Linda Rondstadt. Nina did not know the words, but Peter’s vocals were so strong that he carried the tune alone.

Here is Hanh singing a Vietnamese number. Later in the evening she treated us to a performance of “Itty Bitty, Teeny Weeny, Yellow Polka Dot Bikini.” How come all Vietnamese people know that song?

And one last shot of the birthday boy (holding a shot).

Eating in Hong Kong IV

Published

Gastronomer

on May 22, 2008

in Chinese, Hong Kong and Scenes

. 4 Comments

The Astronomer and I started off our final day in Hong Kong with a run. I tried my best to find joy in circling city blocks, but I couldn’t lie to myself very well and stopped after ten minutes. The Astronomer braved the traffic and crowds and got in a solid forty.

After showering up, we grabbed some pastries for breakfast at a Japanese bakery nearby. The Astronomer chose a blueberry cheese one ($6.50 HKD). After several bites, he sadly realized that the only blueberries in the entire pastry were the ones on the top. No one likes false advertising.

My egg tart ($3 HKD) didn’t fare much better. Firstly, it wasn’t kept warm. Secondly, it was flimsy because the filling didn’t quite set. And thirdly, the crust was too crumbly. Sigh. Perhaps we should have stuck to the house specialties like Japanese cheesecake.

After our quick bites, we headed to Bo Innovation in Causeway Bay for our much anticipated lunch, which I will report on in a separate post. Here’s The Astronomer composing a postcard to his family back in ‘Bama as we waited for lunch to be served.

Even though our meal at Bo included two desserts, I procured an egg tart from the Happy Cake Bakery because I was in the neighborhood. I am convinced that this little whole in the wall makes the city’s best. Damn, I could sure go for one right now.

After lunch, it dawned on me that I still hadn’t purchased any souvenirs during my stay in Hong Kong. The Astronomer and I spent the rest of the afternoon looking for the perfect keepsakes for my mom and me. Although I was tempted by the tacky Mao wrist and pocket watches, I couldn’t bring myself to close the deal.

Afterwards, we headed to the Temple Street Night Market. On the way, The Astronomer bought an egg roll filled with daikon and carrots ($5 HKD) from a nameless stall. It wasn’t amazing, but it was deep-fried and thus pretty darn good.

The Temple Street Night Market ended up being a lame tourist trap, so we tucked into the Denny’s of Hong Kong (Jordan Road near Parkes Street, Kowloon) for an early dinner.

The Astronomer was in the mood for noodles and ordered a plate ($12 HKD). It had a bit of onion, a little soy sauce and a healthy sprinkling of MSG. Simple and satisfying.

We shared an order of pan fried dumplings ($12) stuffed with pork and scallions that were excellent. Although the boiled variety is healthier, the crispy skins are just plain yummier.

I washed the dumplings down with a wonderfully refreshing glass of cold sweetened soy milk ($7 HKD).

And for dessert we shared some sweet tofu ($16 HKD). The silken bean curd was served cold and topped with fruit cocktail. I must admit that the dessert looked quite ghetto, but it actually tasted really fabulous thanks in part to the fruit’s light syrup. Heavy syrup would have been too much.

On our post dinner stroll, I spotted a little joint called Hotel San Diego. I vow to stay here on my next trip to Hong Kong.

After Denny’s, we walked to the Kowloon waterfront to catch a little somethin’ somethin’ called Symphony of Lights, which is a nightly light display organized by the Hong Kong Tourism Board. The show stars the city’s skyscrapers and is set to music. I got bored after ten minutes. The skyline is impressive as is and doesn’t need the enhancement of lasers and muzak.

Here is the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, also located on Victoria Harbour. It’s a controversial piece of architecture due to its lack of windows. I like how it curves ever so slightly like the Wynn in Las Vegas.

Shiny happy people.

Here are the official mascots of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. From left to right - Beibei is the Fish, Jingjing is the Panda, Huanhuan is the Olympic Flame, Yingying is the Tibetan Antelope and Nini is the Swallow.

For our last supper, we went to Hing Kee Restaurant (19 Temple Street, Yau Ma Tei) for some classic Hong Kong clay pot rice. The Astronomer and I shared a hefty clay pot with Chinese sausage and chicken ($25 HKD).

The flavors were homey and comforting. The sausage was lovely, as was the crispy rice at the bottom.

And lastly, we ordered a side of Oyster Cake ($20 HKD), which is more or less a deep fried omelette with oysters and scallions. It tasted really great, especially dipped in a mild chili sauce.

After dinner we explored a nearby mega mall and marveled at the 14-story escalator.

Coke was holding a special event on the ground floor of the mall to hype the upcoming summer games. Activities included taking pictures with the Olympic torch and running on treadmills. Guess which one The Astronomer chose to participate in? For running his heart out for one whole minute, The Astronomer was awarded with a stuffed hockey playing polar bear.

Eating in Hong Kong III

Published

Gastronomer

on May 21, 2008

in Chinese, Hong Kong and Scenes

. 3 Comments

Due to the pollution in China, Hong Kong is oftentimes cloudy. Fortunately, we were treated to a rare sunny day on day three of our adventure. To take advantage of the cloudless day, The Astronomer insisted that we head to Victoria Peak.

The fastest way to summit is via the Peak Tram. A sunny day meant longer than usual lines, but we were well entertained by a ginormous shrimp mascot from Bubba Gump’s restaurant, which is located atop Victoria Peak.

Prior to hopping on the Tram, The Astronomer procured an Apple Cinnamon Roll ($16 HKD) at Pacific Coffee Company (St. John’s Building, Central), which is the Starbucks of Hong Kong. Although it cost a pretty penny, The Astronomer said it was totally worth it. I saved my pennies for later and filled up on raisin bran and apples back at the hostel.

A lovely view from Victoria Peak. Although the view of the city from the top is spectacular, the peak is ultra-touristy, especially with Madame Tousseaud and the Burger King hanging around. I can’t believe people seek out wax figures of celebrities and Whoppers while in Hong Kong. As if!

To change things up a bit, we walked down from the Peak via Old Peak Road. The descent ended up being quite steep, so I walked backwards a lot of the time to save my knees, which reminded me of this crazy hill workout I used to do in high school for cross country in preparation for Mt. SAC.

An hour later, we reached the bottom. Famished, we dashed to Wellington Street: the home of welly welly good food.

We decided to tuck into Dumpling Yuan (69 Wellington Street, Central), which is located right across the street from a restaurant called Nha Trang. Fancy that!

Wanting the relive the glory of our first night in the city, we went for some pork leek dumplings ($28) and soy noodles ($26). The dumplings were nearly identical to the ones we had at Wang Fu. Although we should have savored each morsel, we ended up scarfing them down because our blood sugar levels were dangerously low.

I intended to order cold soy noodles, but mistakenly pointed to the hot version on the menu when I placed my order. Doh! The Astronomer’s sensitive teeth appreciated the mix up. The thick soy sauce tasted slightly fermented and melded well with the noodles and veggies. Hot or cold, this dish is a winner.

After lunch, I was craving some sweets because I was way behind on my daily quota for egg tarts. Luckily, we stumbled upon Maxim’s Bakery (multiple locations). I decided to try an egg white tart ($6 HKD) for novelty’s sake. The crust was crumbly and cookie-like, which I didn’t appreciate as much as the flakey and buttery variety. The filling wasn’t as plentiful as the ones I enjoyed prior, but quite decent flavor-wise.

As I finished eating my mediocre egg tart, I spied a boy in front of the bakery enjoying a delectable chocolate-filled pastry. Since life is short, I marched back into Maxim’s and purchased an identical sweet for myself ($9 HKD). Boo yah! The chocolate concoction was unbelievable. The center was filled with dark chocolate, while the outer layers consisted of both sweet bread and chocolate cake. Sugar highs brought about by chocolate are the best!

Properly fueled, The Astronomer and I caught a ferry to Lamma Island. From Yung Shue Wan, which is located on the western part of the island, we ran five kilometres to Sok Kwu Wan on the opposite side. We passed by an inviting beach and lots of interesting food stalls, but were too focused (and full) to partake in the fun.

There were a slew of seafood eateries at Sok Kwu Wan, but we were in the mood for roast meat, so we hopped back on the ferry to Central for dinner.

The house specialty at Yung Kee Restaurant (32-40 Wellington Street, Central) is roast goose. These carcases hang out front to woo passerbyers. Roasted meats are a rare situation where shiny skin is a good thing.

Feasting on a whole bird seemed a bit excessive (even for us), so we ordered a rice and meat combination to share ($46 HKD). The roast goose was deliciously fatty and moist. The paper thin skin was crispy and had sweet hints of five spice.

The goose tasted even better with the addition of plum sauce. The glossy condiment coated the meat with its sweet and sour candy goodness. The sauce was so addictive that I asked for three refills! Once the meat ran out, I ate the remaining sauce with a spoon. Mmm…

The Astronomer and I heard that the roast pork was also outstanding, so we ordered a portion of that as well ($32 HKD). The thin slices of magenta-hued pork were much leaner than the goose and slightly less flavorful as a result.

To round out our meal, we shared a bowl of wonton soup ($26 HKD). The soup didn’t contain any fancy twists or turns, just well executed pork and shrimp filled dumplings.

For dessert, our waitress suggested we try one of the restaurant’s award winning offerings—black sesame pudding ($16 HKD). The set of two arrived in shallow clay bowls and were pitch black in color. The Astronomer took one bite and declared it not awful, but certainly not good. I, on the other hand, loved the stuff. The sesame flavor was deeply intense and tasted almost like bitter chocolate. The texture was simultaneously creamy and gelatinous. There’s nothing like being surprised by ugly looking food.

From Yung Kee, we MTR’d it back to Kowloon. Since The Astronomer had not yet indulged in a suitable dessert, we swung by Hui Lau Shan (71 Argyle Street, Mongkok). This cute shop touts on its storefront that it serves “healthy desserts,” which is another mark of development. We shared a refreshing mango pudding with extra mango ($30 HKD). The mango pudding wasn’t mango enough for us, but the extra mango made up for it.

Like all of Hong Kong’s establishments, Hui Lau Shan’s AC was on full blast. We usually don’t notice the chilly temperatures, but eating a cold dessert in a 60 degree room, especially coming from Saigon, was too much.

Before calling it a night, we had some waffle balls ($10 HKD) at the corner of Argyle Street and Tung Choi Street in Mongkok.

Served fresh out of the iron, the flavor was mildly sweet, while the texture had a bit of a chew. Although I’m not certain, I’d say there was probably some tapioca flour in the batter. A great ending to an even greater day.