28 March 2012

Ocean Empire Food Shop, Hong Kong 海皇粥店

The shop name in Chinese says it all - Ocean Empire (海皇粥店) is a chain of food shops specializing in congee, along with some other simple foods such as soyabean milk (豆漿), fried doughstick (youtiao, 油條), rice rolls (腸粉) and turnip cakes (蘿蔔糕)

This shop was recommended by the hotel concierge, as Ms K was craving for some soyabean milk and rice rolls with youtiao. The shop was a 15 minute walk away from our hotel, located near Yau Ma Tei MTR station. 


The shop can be spotted easily, with their purple signage and decor. 

We were lucky to get a table for ourselves, although it was still quite cramp. 


This is the riceroll with youtiao or 炸兩 in Cantonese which Ms K was craving for. It's a very common dim sum dish in Hong Kong, but not so easy to find in Singapore's dim sum restaurant. 

Next came the fish and century egg congee.


This is my favourite - plain rice roll (斋肠粉). If you eat it just like that with the soya sauce, it just tastes normal. You have to add "something" to it to make it special....


And this is the "something" which is actually the condiments on every table. Dip a little of the peanut sauce, sweet sauce, chilli sauce and a sprinkle of sesame seed to the plain rice roll... SUPER! especially peanut sauce is a must have. However, I think this must be another acquired taste of mine, as Ms K and Ms V didn't seem too interested in it. 

The fried noodles are so so, this is the typical type of fried noodles you get at most Hong Kong congee / soyabean milk youtiao cafes. 


Last was the steamed turnip cake (蒸蘿蔔糕) which Ms V ordered. It was very light and fluffy, but it's really a big piece of turnip cake! Luckily we had 3 person to share it, I couldn't imagine one person having to finish it.


Not to forget our hot soyabean milk. You have to add the sugar yourself if you want it sweet. I was expecting the soyabean milk to come in a bowl, like Yonghe doujiang style, but I guess they have made it more convenient for customers to drink it from a cup instead. Actually I still prefer those from a bowl where you drink from a spoon.


As the Chinese saying goes: 吃得平淡也是福 (It's also a blessing to eat simple food). For some simple pleasure of hot soyabean milk, plain rice rolls and fried doughstick, Ocean Empire Food Shop would be a good choice for you. 



Ocean Empire Food Shop 海皇粥店
 
G/F, 479A Nathan Rd, Yau Ma Tei

彌敦道479A號地下



Open daily: 6am - 1am
Nearest MTR station: Yau Ma Tei exit C

21 March 2012

Lamma Island, Hong Kong

One of our main aim this time in Hong Kong is to actually visit a few of the outlying islands, since Hong Kong has actually 263 islands, the largest being Lantau Island and the second largest being Hong Kong Island. Ms K suggested that we go for seafood dinner at Lamma Island (南丫島), the third largest island in Hong Kong.


On the way to Central ferry pier, we passed by an Apple store. This is Apple's first ever retail store in Hong Kong at International Financial Center Mall. And a huge outlet it is! 



Great views of the Central ferry pier, amidst the reclamations going on at the area. 


The famous Star Ferry, picking up commuters and tourists across the Victoria Harbour to Tsim Sha Tsui. 


Look out for Pier No. 4 which is the pier for ferries to Lamma Island. There are two piers at Lamma Island - Yung Shue Wan (榕樹灣), a northern village of Lamma Island and Sok Kwu Wan (索罟灣), the eastern part of Lamma Island where it is the largest fishing site in Hong Kong and home to many seafood restaurants. 


Off we go to Lamma Island!  


We took the upper deck of the ferry, you could catch great views of the Victoria harbour and the Hong Kong skyline! 


This pair for lovely cockatoo are going to Lamma Island with us together! They are cockatoos right?


International Commerce Center - the tallest building in Hong Kong. See how low the DHL balloon is, compared to the building. 


Two International Finance Center - the second tallest building in Hong Kong. 


Olden Chinese Junk among the skyscrapers background


Repulse Bay - a luxury residential area in Hong Kong, as the Chinese say 靠山面海风水好 (i.e. the best fengshui for a house is facing the sea with the mountain at the back) 


Glimpse of the sun setting soon... 

Houses built on stilts above waters.. there are still villagers living here!

We finally reached Lamma Island. The pier is full of people waiting to get on the ferry back to Hong Kong Island. 

Welcome to Lamma Island!

And the first tourist attraction to welcome us upon arriving at Lamma Island is the Sok Kwu Wan Public Toilet!




The stretch of seafood restaurants along the coast. 


Map of Lamma Island. The island has a shape of the letter Y or the Chinese character 丫 (pronounced "ah" in Cantonese) as such the name of the island 南丫島.


Valentine's day menu at HKD480++ - any takers? 

I believe that this is called 茶粿 in Hong Kong, made of mochi with various fillings. Something like our Ang Ku Kueh in Singapore.

Nice park with some benches for the lovey dovey couple? 


As the sun sets, we head towards the seafood restaurant for our scrumptious seafood dinner!

Rainbow Seafood Restaurant (天虹海鮮酒家) is one of the more popular seafood restaurants at Lamma Island. Many celebrities also frequent this restaurant. Another reason we chose this restaurant is because they provide free ferry service to and fro Central ferry pier. That's free transport back to Hong Kong Island for us after dinner!


There are 2 branches of the restaurant located along Sok Kwu Wan First Street. 
One of them is the first restaurant you see when you hit Sok Kwu Wan First Street (unit 1A-1B) and the other located somewhere in the center of the whole stretch of restaurants (unit 23-25). We went to the center one as it looked bigger and there were also more guests dining there. 

Watch out for these 4 tables of guests. Their menu is super luxurious, with lobster sashimi, geoduck, fresh fish, lobster etc ... We were guessing their nationality (Vietnamese? Thai? Mynmar? ) and only confirmed out guess towards the end of our meal, when we heard someone say "Kapunka"  

The food here is not exactly cheap. Maybe around the same prices in Singapore. We ordered the set menu for 2 at HKD480, and added another steamed geoduck clam dish. 


First came the Deep Fried Squid with Sweet & Sour Sauce (酥炸吉列鮮魷).  "Where's the sweet & sour?" we asked the waiter. Sweet and Sour is actually a dipping sauce which comes with it. ◔̯◔

Next came the Fried Lobster with Butter Sauce (牛油焗龍蝦). 


Steamed Scallops with Garlic Sauce (蒜蓉蒸元貝). The waiter recommended us to add an extra serving of scallop since we had 3 pax. Extra scallop costs us HKD27, approximately SGD4.50. 

Our extra order of Steamed Geoduck clam with spicy black bean sauce (豉汁蒸象拨蚌). HKD105 or approx SGD18 for 3 pieces. 


Next came the seasonal fried vegetables (郊外靚油菜). Luckily it's not Kailan. We had enough Kailan for the previous few days. 


Rainbow Special Fried Rice (天虹炒飯) came next. 
"Hey, something is missing.. I told Ms K and Ms V... WHERE'S OUR FISH? " Not sure if the waiter forgot about our fish, as normally fried rice always comes last in a meal. But our fish has not come yet...
 
After clarifying with the waiter, the seasonal steamed fish (清蒸游水海鮮) finally arrived. It was well worth the wait, as the steamed fish was very fresh.


Lastly some seasonal fruits - pineapple and honeydew. 



Total damage is HKD700 (approx SGD115). Not too bad, considering the menu was quite good and seafood were generally very fresh. There was even 3 ferry passes included into the receipt!

The waiter will approach you to check which is your preferred ferry timing back to Hong Kong Island, and issue you the sticker. Not all seafood restaurants have this complimentary service. Rainbow's business must be doing very good!

They even have a ferry schedule card for guests' reference


While waiting for the Rainbow restaurant ferry at the pier, there were many private yachts embarking and picking up guests. That's the life of the rich and famous!

 

The "not so rich" us have to wait in the cold before our ferry finally arrived!

 

Same angle, different background. Yes, we have arrived back to Hong Kong Island. 

 

Some photography enthusiasts were taking photos at the pier. Wondering what photos are they taking of? 

International Commerce Center - a different perspective of the building at night

 

I spotted a softee ice-cream van parked along the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront. 

 

How could I not buy one softee when the van is already in front of you.. 

 

Lastly to wrap up our day, we were entertained by the light festival of the 12 animal horoscope going on at the waterfront.

 

 

Rainbow Seafood Restaurant 天虹海鮮酒家


1A-1B & 23-25 First Street, Sok Kwu Wan, Lamma Island
香港南丫島索罟灣第一街23-24; 1A-1B號地下
Open daily: 10am - 11pm
Free shuttle ferry service for Rainbow customers at Central Pier 9, Tsim Sha Tsui Public Pier and Aberdeen Ocean Count Pier




 


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