Hong Kong Disneyland

Hong Kong Disneyland is located on a reclaimed land in Lantau Island and opened to visitors since September 2005. The theme park is part of Disneyland Resort which also consist of 2 hotels and the Inspiration Lake Recreation Centre. Disneyland was the highlight of our Hong Kong tour. My eldest sister was the only one who had visited a Disney theme park (Tokyo’s Disneyland) prior to this visit, so it should be a wonderful experience especially for my 2-year-old niece.
The theme park opened on 10am; we got there a bit earlier via a shuttle bus from Hollywood Hotel, which is just minutes away from the theme park.

Welcome to Hong Kong Disneyland Resort

Mickey and Minnie’s fountain before the theme park entrance

Based on my eldest sister’s experience, we went straight to the Fantasyland to take pictures with the cartoon characters – Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Winnie the Pooh etc. It could take some time to take photos with these characters if the crowd started to pour in… so it should be a good idea to get to Fantasyland as early as possible.

The Sleeping Beauty Castle, entrance of the Fantasyland

Adventure with Winnie the Pooh (kinda boring though…)

There are some (short) musical shows that are worth watching in Disneyland; we went to “The Golden Mickeys” and “Festival of the Lion King”, and both of the shows were good.
Golden Mickeys was a show mimicking the Oscar awards and introduced the cartoon characters (and films) such as the iconic Mickey, Minnie, Donald and characters from later stories like “The Little Mermaid”, “Beauty and the Beast”, “Mulan” and “Lilo and Stitch” etc.
The Festival of the Lion King was a brief story based on 1994 animated movie, “The Lion King”.

The Golden Mickeys

Festival of the Lion King

The Tomorrowland… we didn’t spend much time there

Other highlights of Hong Kong Disneyland include the Disney on Parade in the afternoon and the fireworks show at night.

Merry-go-round at Fantasyland

Yung Kee Restaurant, Wellington Street, Hong Kong

Yung Kee (鏞記) is one of the most famous restaurants in Hong Kong. Founded in 1942, the restaurant is located on Wellington Street in the Central District; and is fame for its roast goose, barbecue pork, and perhaps for their expensive price as well.

Roast goose at Yung Kee Restaurant

Dined at Yung Kee in Oct 2007 during our Hong Kong visit. We already knew about the price, but we had promised ourselves to spend a bit more on one of our meals for fine cuisine, and we picked Yung Kee.

We ordered some iconic Hong Kong food… roast goose, roast quail, fried rice-noodle with beef (乾炒牛河; cau ngau hor), some veges and century eggs (皮蛋). The century eggs were served as starter and are the best I have tasted.
The roast goose was superb as well. The goose was served in typical Hong Kong style, with cooked groundnuts and fermented veges. The meat was tender and the gravy blended very well with the meat. Top class.
The fried rice-noodle was just ok.
I was quite disappointed with the roast quail though, which was dried and tasteless. I am not sure if roast quail should taste that way as it was the only roast quail I have had in Hong Kong… and I didn’t like it.
The bill was above HK$400 for 3 adults… a bit expensive but I think it’s worth the splurge.
Address: 32-40 Wellington Street, Central, Hong Kong. [Official website]

Yung Kee Restaurant… century eggs, roast quail and fried beef-rice-noodles

Cotton candy @ Hong Kong Disneyland

Cotton candy at Hong Kong Disneyland.

Cotton candy…

I am not really a fan of cotton candy, I don’t have sweet tooth. It brought back some childhood memories though… it’s always fun seeing the candy vendors making the fluffy candy floss.

Really Good Restaurant, Soy Street, Hong Kong

Really Good Restaurant is not a really good restaurant… it’s just a literal translation of its Chinese name which should be pronounced as Geek Ji Ho (極之好粥麵茶餐廳) instead.
Actually we went into the restaurant because I was desperately in need of a washroom when walking around in Mongkok. At first glance they had an interesting variety of food (lots of Hong Kong specials) and from their billboard it seems like they were highly rated by local papers.

Cart noodle, egg tart and pineapple bun

We ordered a cart noodle (車仔麵), an egg tart and a pineapple bun (菠蘿包). The food quality was quite a disappointment honestly… it was not too bad, but it’s the kind of quality that I would not be interested to visit the restaurant again.
Well, at least I managed to try the cart noodle and pineapple bun before I left Hong Kong… so I shouldn’t be complaining too much.
Cart noodle was one of the food icons in Hong Kong; it got its name from street vendors who used to operate their business on roadsides using carts (I think they no longer exist these days). This restaurant was supposed to be famous for selling this noodle.
There is nothing special about the noodles; the essence of cart noodle is actually the variety of toppings the customers could choose from… the common toppings are radishes, pig blood cubes, fish balls, pig skins, Chinese sausages and beef balls etc. The customers could choose according to their likings or simply include everything (like what we did).

Wing Wah wife cakes, Hong Kong

Wing Wah (榮華) is one of the two most popular wife cakes makers in Hong Kong. Their first restaurant-bakery (they are famous for Chinese preserved meat too) was opened in 1950, and has now expanded into a catering chain with over 30 outlets in Hong Kong.
Wife cake (老婆餅; lou po beng) is a Chinese pastry traditionally made of winter melons paste. Wife cakes these days came in variety of favours though; such as red bean, almond, coffee, green tea, sesame seed, lotus seed and cheese etc.

Wing Wah’s wife cakes

We found one of Wing Wah’s branches on Nathan Road in Mongkok area. There were all kinds of traditionally Chinese pastries, cookies and cakes available… some of those were freshly made, while some others were in nice packaging which were pretty convenient as souvenirs.
We only got to taste the wife cakes we bought after we were back to Malaysia. The cakes were quite good and tasty… I guess it would be even better if I got to taste it when it was fresh out of the oven. I can’t quite remember how I managed to forget trying some freshly made wife cakes back then.

Shark Fin Soup

Here is your delicious cuisine-list of Shark Fin Soup cuisine. Shark Fin Soup is well known as one of the “Big 4″ dishes in Chinese Cuisine. It is a very popular dish throughout Asia. Shark Fin Soup is originated from China. It is very famous and can be found at the Chinese style restaurant in China, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Singapore, and other Asian countries.

However shark fin soup is delicious, it is not safe to consume by some group of consumer. Who are they?

Shark Fin Soup

Shark fin soup is made of shark fins obtained from any of a variety of shark species and sliced crab meat/chicken meat.
In traditional perception, Shark Fin Soup is a symbol of wealth in Chinese community. So, it is commonly used to show one’s monetary status in a banquet or function.
In restaurant, Shark fin soup is commonly served in two forms; there are individual bowl style and large bowl style.
For individual bowl style, shark fin soup is served in individual bowls with a bit of thick broth. This is purchased as dish by affluent individuals in a la carte menu.
For large bowl style, shark fin is mixed with strips of chicken meat or crab meat, and then served with a thick chicken or pork broth. Shark fin soup is put in a large family-style serving bowl and then distributed into individual bowls by waiter/waitress when the big bowl reaches the table. This style of serving is used in special occasion such as weddings, banquets or clinching a big business deal.

History of Shark Fin Soup Cuisine

Shark fin soup originated from south China in the Sung dynasty (AD 960). Shark fin soup became an established tradition in Ming dynasty (AD 1368) and since then the Chinese eat it during Chinese New Year celebrations, weddings, corporate functions, and other special occasions.
In current century, Shark Fin Soup is served as one of the necessary menu items in Chinese wedding banquet. In Chinese community’s perception, if shark fin soup not served at these important events, the host will look very cheap and is not giving respect to his guests. This is because shark fin soup as the sign of wealth and a demonstration of respect.

Safety Tip to Consume Shark Fin Soup

Because of healthy reason, pregnant women are recommending to avoid shark fin soup. It is because of the high levels of mercury in shark, which could harm the baby’s developing nervous system. On the other hand, men also must prevent consumed too much shark’s fin, because it is probably causing sterility because of heavily contaminated with mercury and other heavy metals.

Gui Lin Gao (Chinese Herbal Jelly)

Gui Lin Gao is a bowl of black jelly made of full medicinal herbs goodness. It actually tastes bitter. If you are not used to it, you can add honey to neutralise the taste of the bitter jelly.

 

The benefits of Gui Lin Gao include improving the metabolism rate, reducing human body heat, relieving cough. Consuming Gui Lin Gao can also help adjusting blood fats and blood sugar.

 

How to Make:-

Made some herbal jelly and it is a lot better than the already made one from the stores. What is herbal jelly and why is it good for you? Gui ling gao is translated as tortoise jelly. But not to worry as there is no turtle parts in the ingredients. Maybe back in the old days they do but not now as it is illegal to use turtle. The herbal jelly is made out of different herbs and flowers. It help nourish our yin and clear body heat while resolve blood toxin. Also specially effective on recovering skin disorder. The taste might be a little bit bitter but taste great with syrup. Eat this chilled and it's a great dessert. A healthy one at least. :) I'm eating at least one bowl a day since I really need to remove all the heat inside me...all those hot chillies, fried food, and sleepless nights.



Ingredients:

5 bags of gui ling gao powder
4 1/2 cups water
100 gm rock sugar
1 slab of candy sugar
3/4 cup water

Method:

1. Put 3 cups of water in a pot with the rock sugar. Boil until rock sugar dissolve.

2. While boiling sugar water, mix the 5 bags of jelly powder with 1 cup water. Mix well with a whisk.

3. After the sugar water is ready, slowly pour in the jelly powder mixture. Whisk at the same time when pouring in the sugar water. Risk the bowl with rest of the 1/2 cup of water and pour in the pot. Whisk fast to prevent lumps and for a smooth texture. The jelly thicken up really quick so prepare the molds a head of time.

4. Pour the thick jelly into the molds and let it cool and set. It will set once it cooled. Put all the jelly in the refrigerator.

5. In another pot, mix the sugar slap and 3/4 cup water to make syrup. Boil the sugar until it dissovle and bubble up. It is have a consistency of the honey. Do not over boil as it may get too thick. If that's the case then add more water in and continue to bring to boil again only until it slightly thicken.

6. Pour some syrup over cold jelly and serve.

Optional: You can serve this with honey, condensed milk, or canned fruits.