NOC Coffee shop, Hung Hom, Kowloon, HK

Expected that their coffee was the highlight but it's somewhat not that surprising.  However, their pastry was impressive.  Not bad to find another delight.

 

The Lounge, Hotel Icon, HK

The lounge is next to the swimming pool and gym.  It's good for having a drink (complimentary) in the afternoon for a nice view of Hung Hom.

 

Hung Hom, HK

 

Hung Hom cross harbour tunnel, HK

 

The Promenade Tsimshatui to Hung Hom, HK

 

Diffused and a break

 

The standard glamour, Harbour Grand Kowloon, HK

A 4 course set dinner, at Waterfront Bar and restaurant, Harbour Grand Kowloon, HK

On the 2nd night, brought friends to this place for the staycation offer.  This time it was a 4 course set meal, with a caesar salad, lobster bisque, a choice of pork chop with prawn or sirloin with crag leg, a mango pastry and a coffee or tea.  The person who designed the meals seems not to be quite discerning. The last meal lacked vegetable and this one lacked carbohydrates.  After all, all the dishes were very nice, except the lobster bisque.  It wasn't aromatic and yet some corn starch was used for thickening.

Waterfront Bar and restaurant, Harbour Grand Kowloon, HK

On the first night at this hotel, they mistakenly offered the set meal from the July program.  Until we advised them about their set meal serving mandatory items which are all meats and carbohydrates without any vegetable, they found out the booking should be honoured with the set meal of the June program.  Fortunately this meal set is still very nice though it's a bit too heavy.  I don't like Nacho much but this one could be an exception.   

The landmark of Whampoa, Hung Hom, Kowloon

In between the glass walls, Harbour Grand Kowloon, HK

Harbour view room, Harbour Grand Kowloon, Hung Hom, HK

This time we went to the other side of the harbour, and tried a staycation offer in the the newly built tower wing (expanded with 10 storeys from the office tower behind the hotel).  In walking into the room, the strait of Lei Yue Mun is right in front and the harbour looks like a big river.  On the right, there is the North Eastern side of HK island,  On the left, we can see the east side of Kowloon and the Kai Tak area.

View from above to North Point, HK

Didn't think I could have a view from this angle to the rooftop pool of Harbour Grand Hung Hom hotel.

Let's call it a day, HK

Hung Hom, at night, Kowloon, HK

See you my vertical city

2nd July 2011

Grand Harbour Plaza Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong

As the Grand Harbour Plaza Oil Street (North Point) was opened, this first Harbour Plaza Hung Hom renamed itself as Grand Harbour Plaza. The cafe and Chinese restaurants of this hotel have been keeping up their standard pretty consistently. Came here for a business lunch, and couldn't take too many photos. Anyway, this cafe serves some nice buffet, from oyster to dessert - most of them are above average.

1. the Cafe. 2. This is the only food photo I took while my business friend was away. They serve Hagen Daz ice cream but it's from Japan. Texture wise, it's smooth but a bit too milky and sweet to me. I still prefer the one made in France.

煌府海景宴會廳 Palace Restaurant, The Metropolis Hung Hom, Kowloon

I often told my friends not to be misled by the look of the restaurants/shops. Just like this restaurant using a lot of shiny and golden stuff making it so grand. Naturally it would scare people away from not trying it by considering it's a very expensive restaurant. It turned out it's not so.

1. See the prices of the dessert and the cheapest one is the Dessert of the Day at just HK$3.8. 2. See the shiny and golden/silver decoration and that's the illusion making people think it's expensive.

3. the white for your own use and the black pair for your picking up the food. Very thoughtful. 4. Choy Sum HK$20. Quite selected.

5. Crushed cucumber with jelly fish HK$20. The chef had a very nice skill in crushing the cucumber. This kind of cucumber is very easy to be split if you crush it too hard. If you crush it too lightly, the cucumber can't get the cracks so as to absorb the dressing. A very professional skill! Taste-wise, it's pretty good too. 6. 安蝦咸水角 semi-sun-dried shrimp in deep fried sticky rice dumpling HK$8.8. Yes, it'd be the classic term and I almost forgot this original term. I really like they named it this way instead of abusing the word "nostalgic" without defining what "nostalgic" is referred to. The Chef made a very nice job in this deep fried dumpling - dry and crispy but moist and soft inside.

7. 欖仁馬拉糕 pumpkin seed cane sugar sponge cake HK$8.8. Furthermore, the word 欖仁 simply stands for the classic way of making this renowned sponge cake loved by most of the HK people. Besides, the Chef made it very soft and aromatic with cane sugar! I really like this restaurant as they don't abuse "nostalgic" but put that in practice. 8. BBQ pork bun - pretty good too. The essence of BBQ pork bun is to have the bun with cracked up surface 爆口 that you can see the BBQ pork inside. This means the bun has been well raised.

9. 蔥花蝦米腸粉 - another classical term of this steamed rice roll and nowadays many restaurants either stir-fried the rice roll in soy sauce or with some innovative filling. This is what we had in our childhood! 10. 准山雞扎 HK$25 (don't know the exact English term but it's a root part of some kind of Chinese yam) - more classic terms and this is the original one. Almost now many restaurants forgot to put this kind of 准山 but just wrap it up with fried beancurd sheet (腐皮). Note this one is at HK$25 but it should be at this price because this kind of 准山 is not easy to find. So it's the most expensive dim sum in this restaurant but I think it deserves such a price.

11. Steamed beef balls 山竹牛肉 HK$8 - very nice and they put water cress beneath the beef balls to absorb the juice. Very nice! 12. ok this is the $3.8 dessert - yam in ginger sweet 番薯糖水. When this dessert was placed on the table, our best friend was so happy in telling her husband "see this is the yam of white peel and yellow inside 白皮黃肉", which is the best yam for nice aroma. So $3.8 is a very beautiful price and yet it delivers more than its price to cheer up someone who almost lost the taste on food. I was so impressed. The bill for the above including tea/service charge is $190. Definitely there will be more visits to this restaurant.

13. the osmanthus jello HK$8 - at average but good that they didn't put other ingredients to take away the delicate fragrance of osmanthus. The only thing I would get picky is it's a bit too sweet. 14. the hall.
15. the Entrance.

*the below is the previously posted notes... but of course anyone is welcome to take more dim sum lunch with our best friends if the above interests them.

Another nice magic of food to stimulate someone's appetite. When our best friend who are still in a loss of feeling for food, there came some food catching her eyes and stimulating her appetite. I was very surprised in seeing the nostalgic and classic dim sum titles of all the 3 below. So how would you name them - I mean the classic terms..... Prize will be a free meal on all of these with our best friend. BTW, only the first 2 are good and beyond my expectation. The restaurant is somewhat quite unknown to me. A full review will be there after your guess.