Hong Kong Summer Spectacular with HKTB – Day 4 of 6

My fourth day in Hong Kong was also the last day I will be spending with the ten bloggers. Most of them will be headed back to Singapore, with the exception of Sze Ping who had also extended his trip for another two days like me, on our own expenses.

My colleagues, Siew Kian and Ming Choy extended their stay too while Vivien from the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) accompanied the other nine bloggers back to Singapore later part of noon.

In the morning, we set off for congee at Law Fu Kee Congee and Noodle Specialist (羅富記粥麵專家). This humble looking establishment is listed in on the very helpful HKTB’s “Local Delicacies” booklet guide. Don’t play play okay, the Michelin Hong Kong Macau guide gave it two stars for its culinary excellence in congee.

You can read the review on Law Fu Kee via Catherine (Camemberu)’s blog entry.

Personally, the bowl of pork liver and sliced fish congee I had that morning was the best tasting congee I had in my life. Now that I am looking at the pictures again, I am salivating, just thinking of the bowl of congee.

After a very satisfying breakfast, we met up with Leon Suen, a professional photographer who took us through a heritage walk in the Central/SoHo area.

Jerome wrote two very insightful and descriptive blog entries on our heritage walk – one on the Sheung Wan (上环) area where the  recent award-winning Hong Kong movie, Echoes of the Rainbow (岁月神偷) was shot on Wing Lee Street (永利街); the other on the neverending Central Mid-Level Escalators (中環至半山自動扶梯). Do check out his two blog posts, HERE and HERE respectively.

The weather was sweltering hot and we were all perspiring from head to toe as we trek up and down the steep slopes, thankfully with the aid of many long escalators. The feel of entering into a time warp to a location where time stood still in the 60s/70s made it all worthwhile though.

I managed to watch Echoes of the Rainbow, highly recommended by Vivien from HKTB, on the return flight to Singapore via Cathay Airlines. It was a heart-warming movie to watch.  The movie, steeped in nostalgia and feel-good elements; captured the struggles of the working class in Hong Kong in the 1960s. Do catch it. 🙂

By noon, we gathered at Hong Kong celebrity chef, Margaret Xu’s private kitchen (at 18 Ship Street, tel: +852 2866 0868), Yin Yang (鸳鸯) for lunch. To dine there, you need to make a reservation at least a day in advance. Deliberately kept small to ensure the highest food quality, there are only three tables in the retro refurbished shop house in Wan Chai (湾仔).

Margaret has a interesting life story to tell – she used to run an ad agency before becoming a self-taught cook. She is a champion of healthy, organic food and the cuisines served in her private kitchen are mostly her own creations or are made with ingredients cultivated at her own organic farm in Yuen Long (元朗).

You can read more about Margaret Xu; her private kitchen and the cuisines served, via Catherine’s detailed blog entry.

In summary, all our us enjoyed the meticulously crafted food as well as the nostalgic ambient at Yin Yang very much.

It was also the last lunch together for all of us as most of our entourage will be returning to Singapore after that. Hence everyone was in a particularly chatty mood (a few bottles of beers helped too), reminiscing on the Hong Kong trip thus far which was coming to an end.

After lunch, Margaret Xu did a LIVE demonstration of making a piquant  condiment, made from vegetables and green chillies. I still have my bottle in my fridge and it goes well with a lot of stuff, ranging from chicken to fried wantons. You can get the recipe for this via Catherine’s blog entry.

I parted way with the bloggers from Yin Yang as they made their way back to Singapore. For them, their Hong Kong summer trip ends at Yin Yang on a high note. For me, there’s two more days to look forward to. 🙂

First thing I did from then was to check out of Mira Hotel and make my way to a budget hotel, Mingle on the Wing, located at Sheung Wan (上环).

The hotel was very small with barely room to walk about after putting in my luggage and Rachel’s luggage. It did take a while for me to get accustomed to the size, after the luxurious stay at Mira.

Nonetheless, it is less than 5 minutes walking distance from the Sheung Wan train station; centrally located to many shopping areas and attractions; provides free DVDs to watch as well as a DVD player; provides a mobile phone connected to the hotel number; and most importantly, has free Internet access. A pretty good deal. 🙂

After checking in, Rachel and I decided to make our way to Gough Street to try out the famous Kau Kee beef brisket noodles 九記牛腩 (21 Gough Street, tel: +852 2850-5967) which we missed on our second day in Hong Kong as we dined at Gingko House at the same location instead.

You can read the review on Kau Kee via Catherine’s blog entry. According to Catherine, the humble looking eatery counts even HK Chief Executive Donald Tsang, actors Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Nick Cheung and Takeshi Kaneshiro as its regulars.

As we arrived there relatively late, there wasn’t much of a queue and we got our orders pretty quick. I had a curry beef brisket noodle while Rachel ordered a clear soup vermicelli version. I am a big fan of beef noodle and love every sip of the curry and the tangy beef brisket.

We had a good time shopping and checking out the streets while navigating to Gough Street and also hanging out at the various botique stores located on Gough Street before dinner.

Rachel was delighted to find Hong Kong designer, Carrie Chau (Wun Ying)‘s shop, Wun Ying Collection on Gough Street. We bought quite a few pieces of her stuff.

After Gough Street, Rachel and I decided to head back to the Temple Street (庙街) area which we went to the previous night to continue exploring the huge area.

We returned back to our hotel after that, ending our fourth night in Hong Kong. Stay tuned to my next update as Rachel and I head up The Peak. 🙂

Read my previous Hong Kong trip blog entries:

Day 3: Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival 2010; Hong Kong Old Restaurant; Tsim Sha Tsui and Temple Street shopping

Day 2: Yuen Po Street Bird Garden, Flower Market and Goldfish Market; Gingko House at Gough Street; make-over with Celia Wong; and on board the Bounty

Day 1: Dragon Boat Carnival Opening, Robatayaki at Busy Suzie

Hong Kong Summer Spectacular with HKTB – A Prelude

Flying Off to Hong Kong in a Few Hours

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