Comfort food...

I had to post about my lunch today, because I NEVER get to eat this sort of food in Hong Kong.

We took B's Canadian family to Bubba Gump Shrimp for something that didn't include noodles, rice or pork.

I never knew this place existed!

I had fried shrimp, a BBQ cheeseburger with fries, and a soft chop chip cookie with vanilla ice cream for dessert that came on a plate as big as my burger.

I am SO sick of noodles, rice and pork.

And I am so very, very full.

Do you find this appetizing?

This is the famous crispy duck; one of the signature dishes at one of Hong Kong's most talked about restaurants, Hutong. It's on my mind because B's mum, sister, and two nieces arrive on Sunday to stay with us for a week, and we are really looking forward to having family here!

But, whenever visitors come, so does the inevitable question: "should we take them to Hutong?"

It's very much a show-off place... the sort of place you bring people who think it's a bit weird that you live in Hong Kong (which is most people), and you want to show them that Hong Kong is actually a pretty wow-ish place. The 'wow' moment usually happens when the guests sit down to a Hutong champagne and glance out the window. It literally has one of the best views I've ever seen, of one stunning looking city.

Right above Hutong is its sister franchise, a bar called Aqua which does a serious lychee mohito. So its customary to begin at Aqua and mosey on down to Hutong. With the perfect vantage point for the Hong Kong skyline at 8pm light show - it really is an experience.

It's - of course - not cheap, and is meant to replicate decadent "old world China"... which it does well. All the furniture is made of beautiful and imposing antique wood, gentle silk curtains drop down from the ceiling, and the restaurant is famously littered with bamboo bird cages.

The menu, on the other hand, is where I start to vague out... its based on traditional Northern Chinese food, and is elaborate, spicy, and often features a head or some other body part that really doesn't belong on my plate. Admittedly their crispy de-boned lamb is incredible, but I'm still getting used to Canton food. In this case, my duck arrived with its head split in two!

It's considered a real plus here to receive an entire animal on your plate - brains, booty, the whole enchilada. It proves to the guest that they have received a complete and dedicated animal... um, thanks, but I'll take your word for it!

Hong Kong video on You Tube!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRjKU8NcQFw

Morning!

Here is the link to a little video I've done on Hong Kong, about the fascinating Hong Kong Wet Markets. I plan to do more of these.

Warning! A wet market is a live food market. It's a traditional part of Chinese culture, and very much the norm here. However, best not to watch if you're an animal lover or very squeamish. I don't agree with some of their practises, but it's not up to me to judge! I'm just reporting on Hong Kong life. Nothing is killed on screen.

p.s. I'm speaking live tonight at an event, to introduce my Presentation and Media training courses... yikes!!

My local Wonton Noodle joint...

I am ashamed to admit that when I first moved to Happy Valley I refused to eat at this place...

I wish I knew the name of it, but as you can see - it's entirely in Chinese. And that's what threw me. My rule was, "I won't eat anywhere too local".

How painfully princessy of me! Not to mention incredibly boring.

B would be inside happily chowing away and I'd be off to Starbucks, where the menu wasn't scrawled down on paper in Chinese and I knew what animal parts I was ordering. But sour cream pringles and cardboard apple muffins lost their spark after awhile, and B's Wonton Noodles were starting to smell undeniably good. I was also beginning to feel malnourished, and B was glowing from the inside out.

Eventually I decided that being difficult was all a bit - well, difficult - and on one brave afternoon, B managed to charm me inside.

After all, how bad could it be if he was still alive.

I nervously slid into a chair and delicately sipped my Diet Coke while B took the liberty of ordering Singapore Noodles, Fried Chicken Wings, and Wonton Noodles.

A tiny bite here, hold the stomach, wait - nope, it's feeling ok! - and I'd take another slightly larger bite. Damn this stuff was tasty!

As I began to relax - even giving the odd accepting nod to the staff - I looked around me and noticed the place was absolutely packed to the rafters with locals, happily chattering away while wolfing down overstuffed plates with satisfied smiles on their faces. At lunchtime, there was a queue out the door!

And every last one of them was alive.

I really can be such an idiot sometimes.

Hong Kong has some strange places

This is the 'Modern Toilet' restaurant.

You eat sitting on toilet bowls, your food comes out in mini toilets, and you drink out of urinals. Sounds disgusting? Well it's certainly not appetizing... !

To cope with a bit of homesickness, I've been exploring the eating places in Hong Kong (eat, shop, work, party - the key rules to Hong Kong I'm learning) - and while they're not all as mad as Modern Toilet - what comes out of the kitchen is certainly different from Western food, and takes some getting used to... Oh and possibly a toilet nearby for the first few months (hang on - now the Modern Toilet concept is actually making some sense!)

I always thought Chinese food was pretty 'greasy grub' - it's always considered a below average meal in Australia, something you get when there aren't many other options. But how wrong we all were, I've enjoyed finding out how much better 'real' Chinese food tastes, the Hong Kong version is really quite moorish!

Fave dishes so far are the fried rice from Pang's Kitchen and the fried chicken wings from down the road (that place is very local and I was scared to go there at first - nothing is written in English so I don't know the name of it!)

And as the Chinese food here is brilliant, Western food is equally as disappointing... B and I are on the hunt for an Aussie/Canadian style fry-up breakfast, and thought we'd found it on Sunday - until it came out with 1 small piece of toast, enough bacon to feed merely an ant and overcooked eggs.

Aaargh! So for now, it's back to Pang's Kitchen!

But for the record, I'll be avoiding these menu items:

Marinated Pig Ear

Snake Soup

Congealed Blood

Birds Nest

Shark Fin

...And the list goes on!