Travel

美都餐室 ​Mido Cafe @Yau Ma Tei, Hong Kong

20161209_1653262016-12-09 17.41.39Since we were in the nostalgic mood today with 蓮香樓 Lin Heung Tea House in the morning, we figured we should continue with the mood at 美都餐室 Mido Cafe.

A short but lovely ferry ride from Central to Tsim Sha Tsui, plus a short walk later, we arrived at 美都餐室 Mido Cafe!

We went up to the second floor, and as we walked, we were transported back in time, with the traditional tiles and old-school windows. The seating was very spacious, which was really quite rare in Hong Kong!

It was a quiet time at 4+pm, and we just chilled out with a 凍鴛鴦 Iced Yuanyang and 凍奶茶 Iced Milk Tea (HK$20 each). The drinks were nothing to shout about, and the minimum spending was HKD$20 per person. Food items seemed rather expensive (not sure if the portions were huge), but since we were planning to have dinner at 四季煲仔飯 Four Seasons Claypot Rice nearby, so we did not bother trying any.

Contact:

  • Location: 油麻地廟街63號地下 G/F, 63 Temple Street, Yau Ma Tei (Google Maps)
  • Nearest MTR: Tsuen Wan Line Yau Ma Tei Station 荃灣綫油麻地站 (Take Exit C and walk 4 mins)
  • Hrs: 9am – 9pm (rest on Wed)
Categories: Coffee/Tea Break, Hong Kong, Travel | Tags: , , | 2 Comments

​Day trip to 長洲 Cheung Chau, Hong Kong

2016-12-09 08.41.56We had a great time at 南丫島 Lamma Island previously, and this time, we decided to check out 長洲 Cheung Chau.

There was also an ongoing discount for ferry tickets till end of 2016, so it was an additional motivation to go pay a visit 😛

2016-12-09 08.25.31First, we had a nice dim sum breakfast at hubby’s favourite yumcha place at 蓮香樓 Lin Heung Tea House, because of its great atmosphere.

The food quality today was much better than our previous visit! We absolutely adored the steamed mushroom 😀

Anyway, after a leisurely breakfast, we walked to Central Ferry Pier No. 5 to wait for the next normal ferry at 09:00.

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Categories: Hong Kong, Travel | Tags: , , , , | 1 Comment

坤記煲仔小菜 Kwan Kee Claypot Rice @Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong

While having porridge for lunch earlier, we shared table with a friendly local who highly recommended that we try out 坤記煲仔小菜 Kwan Kee Claypot Rice. We were going to meet Mr D for dinner and he too mentioned that he failed to walk in without reservations few weeks back for this eatery, because it was just oh-so-crowded.

These led us to walk back to make dinner reservations there, haha!

We managed to make reservations for 3 persons at 6pm in Mandarin with a rather grumpy lady. Do note that there might be time limit for eating (ours was till 7:30pm).

We ended up having the 招牌猪豬煲 Signature Pork Bone Soup (HK$208), a 鴛鴦腸煲仔飯 Preserved Sausage Claypot Rice (HK$75), and 蒜茸炒西蘭花 Fried Broccoli with Garlic (HK$60).

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Categories: Dinner, Hong Kong, Travel | Tags: , , , , | 1 Comment

​Winstons Coffee @Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong

2016-12-08 16.53.13After roaming around the entire night and morning (and eating our way through), we took a much-needed afternoon nap after checking-in to our hotel before coming out in search of some caffeine.

Winstons Coffee was one of the options that appeared on Google Maps, and we were glad we came to this quaint little cafe near our hotel.

The skinny Flat White (HK$35) was strong and very bitter, and hubby definitely felt more awake after drinking it.

The Chai Latte (HK$38) had a good balance of spice and milk, very soothing but I could still enjoy the spice; totally loving this drink 🙂

Both drinks came with a generous slice of delicious biscotti too! And water and WiFi are available for free.

Contact:

  • Location: 西環西營盤皇后大道西213號地下4號 Shop 4, G/F, 213 Queens Road West, Sai Ying Pun, Western District (Google Maps)
  • Nearest MTR: Island Line Sai Ying Pun Station 港島綫西營盤站 (Take Exit A1 and walk 1 mins)
  • Website: www.facebook.com/winstonscoffeehk
  • Hrs: 7am – 7pm
Categories: Coffee/Tea Break, Hong Kong, Travel | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment

​新嘗滿粥店 Xin Chang Man Porridge Stall @Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong

2016-12-08 12.06.46We had originally wanted to go to 坤記煲仔小菜, but they do not serve its famous claypot rice for lunch. We did a quick Google and eyeball scan, and 新嘗滿粥店 seemed to be a rather good option!

We shared a 炸兩腸粉 Rice Roll with You Tiao (HK$10) and 生滾魚腩粥 Fish Belly Porridge (HK$25). The silky smooth porridge was sweet and soothing to the soul, and the fish belly slices were all very fresh. The rice rolls were served cold with soft you tiao, but there was something magical eating it with the hot porridge.

This was quite a popular lunch venue, and we shared the table with a friendly local who recommended a few other eating places to us… and that was how we settled on our dinner venue for the day 🙂

Contact:

  • Location: 西環西營盤皇后大道西258號B舖 Shop B, 258 Queen’s Road West, Sai Ying Pun, Western District (Google Maps)
  • Nearest MTR: Island Line Sai Ying Pun Station 港島綫西營盤站 (Take Exit B1 and walk 2 mins)
  • Hrs: 6am – 11pm
Categories: Hong Kong, Lunch, Travel | Tags: , , , | 2 Comments

The Cofftea Shop @Kennedy Town, Hong Kong

2016-12-08 08.22.34-1

This was really a hole-in-the-wall shop, with only 1 table and 1 chair. But it certainly did not hinder its popularity though, for there was a streaming flow of people doing take-aways early in the morning at 8am.

We decided to try the Cofftea (HKD 35), which was a combination of latte and chai tea (a Western take on 鴛鴦 Yin-Yang). The coffee overpowered the chai, and so it was a tad too strong for me, but hubby enjoyed it very much.

To complete our breakfast, we also had a Blueberry Muffin (HKD 22) which was pretty moist and delicious, though a bit too sweet for us.

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Categories: Breakfast, Hong Kong, Travel | Tags: , , , , | 1 Comment

新興食家 Sun Hing Restaurant @Kennedy Town, Hong Kong

2016-12-08 05.29.13A popular supper dim sum place that opens everyday at 3am, we were very keen to try out the specialty 流沙飽 Custard Bun here!

We arrived at 4am, and there was only 1 available table by the entrance. The lady allowed us to change seats once another table was available, and we ended up having a good view of the kitchen!

We started by ordering 普洱 Pu-er (HK$7 per pax), our default choice.

Shortly after, we had some awesome huge 時菜四寶紮 Cabbage Rolls that were just steamed. There were so many ingredients wrapped within the cabbage!

Then, we just hung around sipping our tea, till the next item that caught our eyes – 山竹牛肉球 Beef Balls. We liked the texture and flavour 🙂

We waited for a good 1 hour before they started making the 流沙飽 Custard Buns. Finally, at 5:15am, a fresh batch of custard buns appeared! We were glad we waited for these awesome sweet and salty buns with flowy salted egg goodness!

Prices of the dim sum that we had ranged from 小點 (HK$17), 中點 (HK$18), to 大點 (HK$19), making this a really affordable meal!

Contact:

  • Location: 西環堅尼地城士美非路8號地下C號舖 Shop C, G/F 8 Smithfield Road, Kennedy Town, Western District (Google Maps)
  • Nearest MTR: Island Line Kennedy Town Station 港島綫堅尼地城站 (Take Exit B and walk 3 mins)
  • Hrs: 3am – 4pm
Categories: Breakfast, Hong Kong, Travel | Tags: , , , , | 1 Comment

​永利清湯腩 Weng Lik Beef Brisket @ Sai Wan, Hong Kong

2016-12-08 03.29.11We are back in Hong Kong again! 😉

After dumping our luggage at the hotel, we walked towards the cluster of late night supper venues that we had read about. Our first stop was 永利清湯腩, and we had read a lot of good reviews about this place!

At 3.30am, there were still customers enjoying a bowl of soupy goodness. We decided to share a bowl of 清湯腩粉麵 Beef Brisket Noodles (HK$32), and the uncle was kind enough to provide us with an additional small bowl 🙂

The clear hot soup was light and refreshing! The meat was sweet and slightly tender, with just enough bite to it. The thin springy noodles were delicious without tasting overly alkaline. This was definitely a bowl of hearty goodness on a cold night like this!

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Categories: Coffee/Tea Break, Hong Kong, Travel | Tags: , , | 1 Comment

Taipei Nov 2016 Itinerary

2016-10-31-08-30-54This was our second trip to 台北 Taipei this year!

There was a SQ promotion going on and we got our tickets at S$518 per pax for this trip. As we were bringing my parents, and it was dad’s first trip to Taiwan, we figured that a slow-paced itinerary in Taipei would be quite ideal.

We decided to stay in 西門町 Ximending area this time, instead of 台北車站Taipei Main Station, because

  • We would not be travelling out of 台北 Taipei this time.
  • We would be making frequent trips back to hotel to rest, and there were plenty to eat and shop in 西門町 Ximending area till late so there would always be stuff to do near the hotel.
  • We also found 丰居旅店  西門館 Via Hotel Ximen, which provided all-day snacks and drinks at level 2, so we could literally just stay in the hotel all day if we were really too tired to go anywhere. We tended to snack a bit in the hotel first before going out. We ended up spending quite a fair bit of time at this common seating area, since we sometimes dabao-ed food back to eat with our parents. (See review at Tripadvisor)
  • 西門町 Ximending is quite a convenient and centralised area to stay with Green and Blue MRT lines (Lines 3 and 5 捷運西門站 Ximen Station), making it easy for travelling within Taipei.
  • We had never actually explore 西門町 Ximending much in all our previous trips, perhaps except during our very first trip to Taiwan back in 2009. So we would have something new to try out as well.

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台北夜市 2016 Taipei Night Market

We revisited some of the night markets that we had been to previously, so here are some updates on the places. For reviews of our past night market trips, please see here.

南機場夜市 Nanjichang Night Market

20161030_165708_hdrBeing one of the closest night markets to Ximending area, and a more local style night market (as opposed to the touristy ones) with decent seating, we opted to bring my parents here first. There might not be many stalls, but there were a pretty decent variety of food options.

It was a short cab ride away (around NT$85 one way), and the first shop we went to was  呷臭彈蒸臭豆腐, for dad to try out some steamed stinky tofu.

We got ourselves a 小辣現蒸臭豆腐 Freshly-steamed Smelly Tofu (NT$70), a small 麻香麵 Dry Noodles with Sesame (NT$40), as well as a 桂花烏梅汁 Osmanthus Plum Juice (NT$20) to share.

Actually, we wanted to bring them to the more famous 臭老闆現蒸臭豆腐 that we went to during our previous trip, but I got confused about the 2 shops… Oops! Luckily, this one was not too bad.

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Categories: Taiwan, Travel | Tags: , | 2 Comments

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