Cliff(y) Goes Dining

Have some tea by Jing with pineapple bun and/or egg tart at the teahouse! The Pier is Cathay Pacific's largest lounge at Hong Kong International Airport, which my BFF and I visited during our layover in Hong Kong before flying off to Hanoi, Vietnam. We spent some time at the noodle bar to sample a few dishes before relaxing at the teahouse, which is unique to this particular lounge.

Sugar rush with decadent dessert! During our layover in Hong Kong, my BFF and I'd initially decided to spend our time at Cathay Pacific's The Wing. However, it turned out to be really crowded. As there were almost no seats available, we decided to go to The Bridge instead near Gate 35. We sampled some of the food items offered at the lounge.

Would you like some chocolate sauce on your tofu pudding? :P To end off this current series of reviews of HK eateries, let's go back to Victoria Peak. An attractive-looking shop at the entrance of The Peak Tower, Mimi Desserts offers an array of traditional and modern beverages, as well as dessert items for the sweet tooth. Anyway, does the Chinese name of the shop remind you of that old song by Teresa Teng?

"X-treme Chinese Cuisine" by the Demon Chef! How many of you have heard of Alvin Leung, a renowned HK chef who dabbles in molecular gastronomy? I've always been amazed by his creations whenever he appears on TV shows. His first restaurant, Bo Innovation, has been rated Three Michelin Stars since 2014 as he continues to "challenge people's expectations, to surprise and excite them."

"Spread the fun like WILDFIRE!" with semi-buffet! Blessed Easter, everyone! In case you haven't been following us lately, we're still dealing with HK eateries. Whenever my BFF and I go to Victoria Peak, we try to dine at eateries we've never been to before. One fine afternoon, we decided to give Wildfire a try, which offers semi-buffet lunch with a choice of main course.

Sweet and plump scallop sashimi! Hailing from the Tochigi prefecture of Japan, Sen-ryo combines the traditional elements of sushi making with a touch of art and modernity. Managed by the Genki Sushi group, the motto of the restaurant is "the noble class of sushi ".

The birthplace of salted egg croissant! The salted egg craze in Singapore hasn't shown any signs of dying. I finally had the chance last year to visit the birthplace of salted egg croissant, which is the hip bakery-cum-café called Urban Bakery Works in one of the high-end shopping malls in HK that's The Landmark. Do you see the croissant in the cover picture below?

The most delicious pineapple bun I've tried till date! It's said by many that the best pineapple bun in HK can be found at Kam Wah Café, a hole-in-the-wall eatery located between Mong Kok and Prince Edward MTR stations. For the uninitiated, a pineapple bun doesn't actually contain any traces of pineapple, but visually it resembles one.

Enjoy Finnish and other European cuisine with your favourite plushie! UPDATE (23/11/2017):  The eatery has closed down. It was love at first sight when I encountered the Moomins, a family of white hippopotamus-like creatures, many years ago. I felt elated when I finally had the chance to visit the Moomin Café in HK that first opened its doors to customers on 5 December 2014.

Serving delectable beef brisket noodle since 2003! To start another series of HK food reviews, I shall write about Sister Wah that's well-known for its beef brisket noodle soup. I got to know about the small family-run eatery with only six round tables a few years ago while watching a particular food show on TV. It's listed under the Bib Gourmand category of the 2017 Michelin Guide.

Made-to-order cart noodle inside Hong Kong Airlines' lounge! Nope, my BFF and I weren't going to stay in HK yet. Following the flight SQ866 , we spent some time at Citygate Outlets near Tung Chung MTR Station before going back to the airport. Prior to our flight to Bangkok, Thailand on Hong Kong Airlines, we had the opportunity to have dinner and relax at the airlines' lounge.

Nice sweet, sour and spicy spiral pasta for breakfast~ To end the December 2015 food trip series (finally!), I shall review the buffet breakfast that I had at Evergreen Hotel (3*). I chose the hotel due to its very close proximity to the famous Temple Street Night Market, where my favourite Duo Bao Mei Shi  - with its deep-fried intestines on sticks - is.

Have you tried typhoon shelter crab before? To be frank, even though I've gone back and forth to HK pretty frequently, it was only last December that I had a taste of the famous traditional fisherman's dish at Lamma Island. As the name suggests, typhoon shelter crab is believed to have originated from a shelter for fishing boats during typhoons in HK, which numbers have declined in the past few decades. 

What a nice breakfast of silky smooth congee and soothing lemon honey drink! One of the things that I had to fulfil during the trip to HK last year was to complete the Dragon's Back trek, leading all the way to Tai Long Wan (lit. Big Wave Bay). To fuel ourselves, my BFFs and I decided to have congee for breakfast.

Mak's famous wantons in a bowl of beef brisket soup! Happy Chinese New Year! I shall mark the new year with this one-sentence story of Mak Woon-chi who started his business in the 1960s, once serving his famous wanton noodle to Chiang Kai-shek, the president of the Republic of China. The opening of Mak's Noodle in Singapore had made me realise that I hadn't even stepped into the original eatery in HK before. When I was in HK in last December, I only managed to visit the branch at Victoria Peak.

Apparently, there's something way better than the roasted goose! I'd wanted to write in chronological order, starting with the eateries in Okinawa, Japan, but I better try to write about the famous Yung Kee Restaurant in HK before it closes down for good. For the uninitiated, Yung Kee Restaurant is well-known for its roasted goose, which history dates back to 1942.

A set of wife cakes with four different flavours! Hello, February! Before I finally go back to write about Singapore eateries, let me finish off the HK-Macau food trip with  lao po bing  (lit. wife cake). Wing Wah Bakery's history dates back to 1950 at one small corner in Yuen Long, a neighbourhood where the famous competitor - Hang Heung Bakery - is. I didn't go to Yuen Long last December, but I bought the cakes from the airport branch while waiting to board the flight SQ861 back to Singapore.

Juicy salmon steak, coupled with more-than-decent hot milk tea! Maxim's Caterers Limited, the largest food and beverage corporation and restaurant chain in HK, set up its first Hong Kong Day café in 2010. Before enjoying the night breeze at the Avenue of Stars, my family and I went for a quick dinner at the Harbour City branch.

A bowl of hot tofu pudding on the way to Yung Shue Wan!  After a what-I-considered-to-be-pretty-light lunch, we decided to walk back to Yung Shue Wan to catch a ferry back to the main island instead of trekking all the way to Sok Kwu Wan as my mom wouldn't be able to walk too far. On the way back, we stopped by a small shop with a shelter, specialising in dou hua  (Chinese silken tofu pudding).

Vinegary noodle with juicy wantons! Welcome back to HK! On my second visit in December last year, I decided to explore Lamma Island once again. Just about 30 minutes away from the bustling city by ferry, it's pretty much a tranquil island with a relaxed pace of life. Instead of having a seafood meal like what I did before at Lamma Hilton Shum Kee Seafood Restaurant , I went for something simple near Hung Shin Ye Beach. Note that this eatery doesn't have an English menu, so I'm going to give a simple name to each of the dishes below together with its actual name in traditional Chinese characters.