Back to Mine - 5 star deluxe at 1 star price, Wanchai, HK

It was a hot summer night in 2005. As usual, the Angel and I got on our adventurous road. We walked along Jeffe Road in Wanchai and wondered if we should go in Luk Kwok hotel. Right across the back entrance of Luk Kwok, we saw a local tea restaurant called 5 stars. I made a joke "well Luk Kwok is just a 4 star, do u wanna try this 5 stars?. We ordered a stir fried squid with veggie and a pan fried salty fish pork patty. Wow, what an amazing salty fish pork patty and it's the best I have ever tried! The squid is perfect for powerful super quick stir frying - juicy and tender and aromatic! However, later on a very rude waiter made us not visit this restaurant anymore. Somehow and someway tonight I was driven to pass by this restaurant and there I peeked if that waiter was still there. CLEAR! Herebelow is the encore.

1. Squid was kept in a very good condition and it's fresh and very juicy but not chewy. One remark about this restaurant is that the chef keeps the ginger/scallion sealed with a cover. Many restaurants made a mistake for not covering those ingredients which are easy to be gone with the aroma, e.g. garlic, parsley, ginger, scallion...etc. No matter how much you put those dried out ginger/scallion, the taste is not right though. The chef did make it to the point. Besides, the broccoli was done perfect and it's selected. Nothing rotten or old yellow. What's more, the chef used the golden/silver garlic (brown and raw garlic) and it's a good mix to bring garlic flavour to the squid. 2. My favourite salty fish pork patty. The chef used some semi fat pork and the fat with the salty fish bring a magic blast of devil flavour! The chef also put some scallion and stewed mushroom to make it sweeter and juicer. This dish just makes me blind from my high cautiousness about cholesterol and sodium.

3. This is the 5 star kitchen. 4. the look of this restaurant isn't appealing; so if not under a carpet search, I wouldn't find it. The bill is HK$82 for 2 dishes, 2 bowls of steamed rice, 2 bowls of soup and 2 iced drink (coffee, tea or ovaltine...etc.).

My cooking - Khao Mun Gai (chicken rice)

Hainanese chicken rice was my most favourite but now I can't take it too much due to the greasiness. It's really a love and hate thing. So alternately I made a healthier one but the reality is poultry fat can never be replaced. :) Besides, charcoal boiling is another essential factor.

1. OK, home cooking is home cooking. Let's lower our demand. First heat the wok with some cooking oil (supposed to use the chicken fat or at least peanut oil), but I used olive oil. Put some garlic gloves and ginger slices. The garlic glove shouldn't be peeled and slightly crush it to crack a bit, so for the ginger slice (needs to be a bit thicker slices). 2. Use some pre-washed rice. Best to use Golden Elephant pre-washed rice (with vitamin B-complex added). Don't wash it, as the moist in the rice after washing would get sticky on the wok. Pan fry the rice a bit. Then put that in the rice cooker and pour in chicken broth for cooking.

3. I would give it only 40 marks out of 100, because (1. I used olive oil (or suggest rice bran oil). 2. Should have bought some fresher garlic. 3. I didn't use Golden Elephant rice. 4. I didn't use charcoal boiling.). So where is the chicken? I didn't make it since I didn't have enough time to go to Shaukiwan for buying a nice and lively killed Long Kong 龍崗 chicken. Instead, I just went to buy an already made chicken from the BBQ shop. OK, the classic cooking for the chicken is to dip the chicken in hot boiling water (with some ginger/scallion) for 10 to 20 seconds. Then take it out and dip it in room temperature water (not tap water; should be boiled first). So this process should take almost 40 minutes to an hour depending on the size of the chicken and your testing to the inside of the chicken. This hot and cold process is to maintain the tenderness and sealing of the original flavour of the chicken. Another alternate easier way is to have a big wok and the boiling water is high enough to cover the whole chicken. Put some ginger and scallion in the water. Rub the chicken inside out with some raw sea salt. So put the chicken in the high heat boiling water of the wok. Then turn off the heat and let the chicken soak in the wok. Remarks: the chicken should be a lively killed one and don't put it in the fridge. You should do it right after you get it. Don't let it stand for more than an hour. So that's why in the old days we went to the market twice, or even 3 times a day! :) The above soaking chicken cooking is a tribute to my aunt who told me that. Salute! She is now over 80 years old and still eats a lot of choy sum and fresh fish!

7 layer choco cake, Epoch, Quarry Bay, HK

A set dinner with a salad or soup, main course, a cake and a coffee at HK$98 with 20% off for Hang Seng bank credit card when spending over $200. On separate order, it would be $25 (salad), $68 (main course), $32 (cake), $30-35 (Illy coffee). Why not for a dinner set at half price.

1. 7 layer choco cake. I treated it as my main course. From the bottom, its a crispy choco flakes, then brownie, sponge, mouse, fudge, praline and a thin. Take one bite and feel a mini-cosmo choco inside your mouth. Epoch uses some very refined choco. Smooth, melty, aromatic and not too sweet. Such a gift for yourself after a long hassling week.

2. Well, I would take it as a co-course to the 7 layer cake. Anyway, it's also very nice - stew cheek beef. It tastes quite similar to ox-tongue.

3. A complimentary milk pudding. Green tea and choco. Very smooth and chill and I like the way Epoch makes the cake/dessert not too sweet; so you can taste the real flavour.

East of HK

Went to the East end tip of Chai Wan, called Siu Sai Wan 小西灣.

1. A Sino property - super high rise residential compound called Island Resort on the waterfront at Siu Sai Wan, with a breath taking view to the East of Kowloon, Tseung Kwan O 將軍澳. 2. In entering the Victoria Harbour through Lei Yue Mun, Lion Rock is right there. BTW, HK is now getting into the unstable stormy weather in between cold front from the north and wet warm monsoon from the south. It's also the season for us to see some water tornado.

3. That's the Tseung Kwan O industrial city and now with some very high residential buildings. Quite amazing to see such tall buildings in this rural area. 4. This is what our waste being filled in.

5. The town of Tseung Kwan O.

What will you do?

Just by chance, I turned to a page of a travel guide book by Lxnxly Plxnxt during my stay at Aleenta. Not sure if this guide book is for reference or for amusement? What will you do when you are in a situation of someone fighting, as quoted below?

Suggested answer:

1. Listen to mom. - go home and take the soup made by her.

2. Keep on watching.

3. Preach your religion.

4. Call your friends and hurray for the scene.

5. Get them more beer.

*Of course, none of the above. :)

My Cooking - economy dishes 家常便飯

Wanna have 3 dishes for 3-4 persons at HK$30? OK, let's go buy some spare ribs at HK$15-18, 2-3 pieces of tofu at around $4-6, 1 catty of veggie at HK$4-6.

1. Tofu panfried with shrimp paste and pork fat. When you buy the spare ribs, cut out the fat parts from the ribs and use it for pan frying of the tofu. I would first chop the fat with some raw sea salt to make the burning more aromatic. Also with some chopped garlic. After the tofu get brown, put the shrimp paste and burn it a bit. Then put some water and little sugar to make it taste. If you prefer it more salty, put some soy sauce. I personally don't prefer using soy sauce as I like the light shrimp taste. 2. Put black beans, chopped garlic, chili if you can take it or very little chopped ginger if you can't take chili., soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, very little oyster sauce, cornstarch and little oil. Put it inside the rice cooker for steaming. The rice aromatic steam makes it very nice. Besides, it's more energy saving. Then you just concentrate cooking the tofu and stir fried veggie. I would let the tofu pan fried while rinsing the veggie. 3. This time, I bought lettuce and stir fried it with sea salt and ginger/garlic. Suggest to choose a lighter taste of veggie and not deep green veggie so as to balance the heavy taste of the other 2. Besides, deep green veggie would have certain chemical reaction with tofu, and not good for digestion.

Feast, the cafe, The East, Taikooshing, Hong Kong

Feast is the cafe of the East Hotel. They serve tea buffet on every Saturday and Sunday from 3-5:30pm. Charge at HK$138.

1. the food station. 2. the dessert.

3. the sandwich and pizza. 4. the pancake. You can choose from creamy spinach, Frankfurter sausage, mushroom chicken or fresh fruits.

5. Iced coffee. Pretty aromatic and not bitter at all. 6. a very high ceiling.

7. Almond cookies. Very freshly baked. 8. It's just to my palate - a variety of sandwich, with bread from rye, olive, onion, herb, tomato... The Chef didn't season the ingredients but very wise to use the natural ingredients to contrast the flavour, like cheese to grilled bell pepper (salty vs. sweet). This is the way of smart cooking. Besides if the topping is too seasoned, it would overwhelm the original aroma of each specialty of bread.

9. Parma ham with melon on onion bread. So good! The pizza is also nice. They made the tomato sauce by themselves. 10. Pan cake with mushroom chicken. They also made the fresh cream sauce. Freshly made cream sauce is very different.

11. more pizza (actually more sandwich and pancake). 12. Tiramisu. Caramelised orange slice cup cake. I purposedly chose this one because it's hard to make caramelised orange well. If it's too burnt, it would be bitter. If it's not burnt enough, it's not aromatic with the peel scent. It can't be too sweet, nor not sweet enough. So this one is a bit too sweet and not burnt enough.

13. poppy seed lemon pound cake on the left bottom. Bread pudding on the right. Choco mud cake on the right top. In the middle is mini scone. Left is the mango choco. cake. All are good except the scone which is a bit too dry. 14. the cafe. It's not that empty but I just took it by chance.

15. Raspberry mouse. Quite light and smooth. 16. the stair down to the lobby.

17/18. Want a higher seat or something chic. The chair is pretty comfortable. I noticed Swire does use some refined material.

19. The bar area. 20. I like the elevator to show the floor no. in Chinese and arabic number.

Sugar, the bar and lounge, The East (Hotel), Taikooshing, Hong Kong

Have seen this hotel growing up in a year something. The East is the 2nd hotel run by Swire Group (1st one Upper House in Admiralty). After the tea buffet, I went up to the top floor of the hotel and check out how their bar & lounge named Sugar is. The first moment I stepped out of the elevator and wow - what a spectacular view to the eastern part of Hong Kong.

1. Part of Kornhill in the front. Behind is Yiu Tung Government public housing estate. This is what the 88,000 policy laid by our ex-CEO. Built houses on the hill side with good view and location and the rent is just at around $600-1,000 from 400 to 800 sq. feet. However, for the middle class who is not qualified for public house need to be squeezed below the hill and pay a rent at HK$10,000 for a 400 sq. feet. Ain't it ridiculous when those tax payers live in a much poorer environment while the other people without any tax burden, living on Gov't fund aid, still can't get contented with such a nice house but rather complain they can't get enough. 2. On the left bottom is Tai koo shing, further middle is Lei King Wan 鯉景灣(Sai Wan Ho西灣河). Then the tallest one is Kar Hung Wan嘉亨灣. Further on the left is Lei Yue Mun鯉魚門.

3. Sugar the lounge, open from 5pm until 2pm. A nice place for you to unwind. 4. See this open terrace and the side bench making you feel like you are closer to the sky. I'll definitely try to get a drink with half dozen raw oysters to chill out.

5. Tai Koo Shing on the bottom. The other side is Yau Tong油塘/San Kar Chuen 三家村. My mother used to row a sampan across the harbour to visit her sister in Yau Tong. There was a time my mother got a bit nervous and stopped rowing, and warned me from not hanging out my hand out of the boat. Then a giant shadow moved beneath the sampan. At that time Hong Kong harbour was inhabited with quite many sea friends. 6. Quarry Bay. See the 2 tallest buildings on the left. It's The Orchards - very luxury. An apt. of 800 sq. feet is about HK$8 million.

7. Bottom part is Tai Koo Shing and behind it is Tai Koo Place - a commercial area. 8. My giant neighbour Island East. Due to its presence, my apt. has increased its value by 2.5 times, and I keep getting occasional phone calls from property agents. :)

9. the bar area of Sugar. 10. How can we miss our lovely old friend - Kai Tak Airport? Diamond hill is on the right behind.
10. the Entrance of the East.