Location: Hong Kong, China
Dinner in Hong Kong
After my first day in Hong Kong, I took the shuttle bus back to the ship I sat next to my fellow guests, Virginia and Tom. They mentioned one of their friends could not use a spot at their dinner reservation and kindly invited me. The restaurant is the T’ang Court, within the Langham Hotel. Turns out it has three Michelin stars, one of only a handful of Cantonese restaurants in the world with that rating. Now, I’ve heard of Michelin stars, but have never paid any attention to them.
Wow.
After a bit of walking from the evening shuttle bus drop off, we arrived to a lovely room. Immediately I noticed that two pairs of chopsticks were on the table. The white set were for moving food from the center plates to your plate and the black set were for eating – that way people don’t transfer germs to each other. Makes sense, but I had not seen it before.
We spent some time reviewing the 10+ page menu, but then I saw “Peking Duck“, which I had never had before. Everyone agreed to that and added appetizers and vegetables. If you don’t know, and I had only learned the other day, the point is not the duck meat. You eat the duck skin within a small pancake, garnish and hosin sauce. They carve the skin at your table.
At the T’ang Court they prepare each individual pancake for you, leaving you to add the amount of hosin sauce you want and then you roll the pancake like a burrito. Afterward they added the duck meat to fried rice. Tom said it was the best Peking Duck he has ever had, and he had eaten it in Shanghai and Beijing. We both agree the Osaka Teppanyaki was a better total meal experience (they were there with me), but this dish was excellent.
Day two
Yesterday I walked around Kowloon getting measured for shoes and suits, so today I signed up for the “Foodie Walking Tour”. I might as well eat while I exercise. The tour took place in Central Hong Kong, across the bay from Kowloon.
We started with a stroll thru the various local shops.
Many ingredients are what I expected, but there was the occasional surprise like abalone, deer antler and dried lizard.
While we were there for food, some of the buildings were fun to look at.
We then walked to Mak’s Noodles, to be there when they opened to beat the lunch crowd. I understand why, as the wonton soup was very good. My picture was not good, so I’m borrowing an image from their web site.
Now’s a good time to talk about freshness. I was never a fan of Japanese miso soup until I had it in Japan. I was not a fan of steamed dumplings until I had them in Shanghai. I was not a fan of wonton soup until I had it in Hong Kong. Maybe it is not freshness, but just local ingredients – which is not really the same thing.
I like how Mak’s decorated one of their walls as an old-fashioned medicine shop.
We then walked around and looked at some of the buildings. I noticed a “Lost Cat” flyer, but then noticed it was an ad for an Instagram site. Well done, getting my attention.
Sticking with an animal theme, I’m still not sure why this building thought they needed a giant inflatable monkey on the side.
We then visited a fresh sugar cane juice store, and ate sweet egg tarts. The juice is very sweet (duh), but I enjoyed it – I just don’t need to drink it often. I saw surprised at how quickly the line grew once the owner started crushing sugar cane.
I then returned to Kowloon to pick up my shoes and to have a final fitting. It will take several weeks for the suit to be finished, and they will then mail it to an upcoming port. I’ll show you once I get it.
Theme Night
Similar to when we left Australia, the ship had a theme night as we left Hong Kong. The ship did a wonderful job decorating the dining room. Images taken by the ship’s staff photographer.
Your beloved Cruise Boy is not a small man. As our second day in Hong Kong was ending, I despaired finding anything to wear for the theme night. I walked into stores, pointed at a men’s shirt, pointed at me and the workers just laughed. I was walking to the last shuttle bus, resigned to just wearing a panda pin, when I saw a store within 50 meters of the shuttle bus that had a shirt and hat in my size.
Final Thoughts
- The ship officers have had a hard time the last few days. The seas are full of small fishing vessels equipped with spotlights. Seems that shrimp and squid are attracted to the bright lights.
- I was surprised by the number of Tesla cars and SUVs I saw in Shanghai and Hong Kong – and I live in California, the center of Tesla ownership
- China has no national cheese. Seems cheese is a very European thing.
- In Hong Kong you trip over money changers and tailors. I have no idea how any can stay in business
- I mentioned last time about Pizza Hut, and you can certainly find McDonalds. But I think KFC and 7-11 have larger presence in the places I’ve been.
Tomorrow: Vietnam!