TASTE OF HONGKONG: TEMPLE STREET IN JORDAN 2011

Last Christmas 2011, we stayed in Jordan and one of the interesting places in Jordan is Temple Street!

We see Mc Donalds... we are now approaching Temple Street...

This is one of the souvenir shops as soon as we enter Temple Street.

But of course, there are also lots of souvenirs in the night market just a few meters away.

This is Temple Street as described in Wikipedia.

Temple Street is a street located in the areas of Jordan and Yau Ma Tei in Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is known for its night market and one of the busiest flea marketsat night in the territory. The night market is in the Yau Ma Tei, Jordan part of the street and not the Mong Kok part of the street. Popular with tourists and locals alike in the evening, it is common to see the place crowded at dusk. It sells cheap merchandise and food items. The place is sometimes known as Men's Street.

This is another description of Temple Street from: http://www.time.com/time/travel/cityguide/article/0,31489,1850110_1850124_1850397,00.html

HONG KONG: 10 THINGS TO DO by LIAM FITZPATRICK

This rowdy thoroughfare in central Kowloon starts at Temple Street's junction with Jordan Road, terminates five blocks north on Kansu Street and looks like every B-movie director's dream of Chinatown. Under the glare of bare light bulbs, hawkers flog everything from bizarre patent medicines to counterfeit watches. Prostitutes work the low-rise tenements, fortune-tellers cluster by the multistory car park and impoverished Chinese opera troupes busk for a few dollars just outside the public toilets. Outdoor food stalls display still-twitching, unnameable crustacea and old men and junkies gamble on games of Chinese chess in the concrete square outside the eponymous temple. Ghetto heaven. (Nearest MTR: Jordan or Yau Ma Tei)

Night market at the background

just like our "tiangges"

The night markets really look like our "tiangges" and you can haggle in these places. But for me, haggling is someone else's talent! 

Especially, if you are haggling with someone who doesn't understand your language!

Just make sure you know the base prices of what you want to buy... in the Philippines and in Hong Kong, then, make your move. And of course, be ready to BUY, after all the haggling!

But, we really did not go for the night market! We went to try out the well known Chinese cuisine, hawkers style, just like in Malaysia, where we ate at the side streets.

We saw the sign Temple Street Spicy Crabs!

You would be amazed at how many people go there to eat... for tourists and even for HongKong people. 

And they usually have a large beer with their meals, even for the ladies in the table near us!

We waited for our table in the middle of the street

from Wikipedia:

The night market is famous for its snacks and roadside dining, which serves local street cuisine. It sells a wide range of delicious local delicacies.

There are also lots of restaurants selling seafood. These hot pots can be perfect for an intimate dinner. They are delicious as well as cheap. All of these culinary delicacies represent Hong Kong's traditional and unique food culture.

So, we sat and chose our food. Since we were all new at this, we decided to check out what the other table ordered, and also what sounded familiar!

see the large beer bottles in the table near us...
and also in the other tables at our back.

of course, use chopsticks!

So, I just want to share with you what we ate here in Temple Street.

Clams in oyster sauce 

Chinese vegetables

Beef with vegetables

Fried Tofu

Chili Prawns

just a close up of the chili with the prawns!

If you are not into the hawkers type, the surroundings of the place wasn't that good, BUT, the food was reaaaalllllly GREAT!

As they say, to have the ambience of a Chinatown, as in the movies, Temple Street is one place to be in!

TASTE OF HONGKONG: DIN TAI FUNG IN TSIM SHA TSUI 2011

Second night in Hong Kong, our friend brought us to Silvercord  since he wanted to show us what is said to be the Number 1 Restaurant of 3243 Hong Kong restaurants according to TripAdvisor, and this is Dai Tin Fung.

So here we are in Silvercord at Canton Road... 

Din Tai Fung is located at: Shop 130 & Restaurant C, 3F
Silvercord, 30 Canton Road, Hong Kong, China.

Tel. No. 852-27306928

Lo and behold!

This is the longest queue that I ever did see and to think it was about a half past nine p.m.!!!

View through the glass: customers in Din Tai Fung

Part of the long queue at Din Tai Fung

and many more in line!!!

Well, this time, we were hungry so off we went to find another restaurant.

Well, I guess, not this time for the Din Tai Fung Xiao Long Bao!!!


This is the taste of Hong Kong i did not taste...yet!

TASTE OF HONGKONG: CRYSTAL JADE LA MIAN XIAO, TSIM SHA TSUI 2011

As I mentioned in my Hong Kong blogs, I thought I would just sit in my hotel room and immerse myself with the computer after the conference.

However, I met two new friends who decided to make the most of the evenings by enjoying Hong Kong and I obliged.

We just followed Anthony C. because Bong B. and I have no idea about Hong Kong. It was 16 years since I last visited Hong Kong! Other times in between I just passed by the airport -- in transit!

For our first dinner at Tsim Sha Tsui, Anthony brought us to Crystal Jade Restaurant, sounded like one in Manila but the old Crystal Jade is not of the same company.

There is a new Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao in Greenhills, Philippines with this address: 

Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao

Unit 117-121 (near Haagen Dazs and Goodwill Bookstore)

V-Mall, Greenhills Shopping Center

Greenhills, San Juan City, Metro Manila

Website: www.CrystalJade.com

Telephone: +632 570-6910, 570-6912

Operating Hours: 11am to 9.30pm.

Reservations are accepted for a group of 8 or more only.

We went to the Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao at Harbour City in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong.

Address of the Restaurant: Zone GW 3328, Harbour City, Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong, China

Tel. 852 2622 2699

From Trip Advisor: Ranked #35 of 3,231 restaurants in Hong Kong

Good for: Families with children, Local cuisine, Dining on a budget

Here is a bit of the history of Crystal Jade from the web.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Jade_Culinary_Concept_Holdings

Crystal Jade Culinary Concept Holdings (Chinese: 翡翠食饮集团; pinyin: fěi​cuì shíyǐn jí​tuán) is a restaurant-chain serving Chinese cuisine based in Singapore. The group has restaurants in Asian countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China, Japan, Vietnam and South Korea. The group has restaurants and bakeries in the city, Singapore Changi Airport and the suburbs, including Jurong, Woodlands, Toa Payoh, Holland Village and Tampines.

History

The company was founded in 1991 at the now defunct Cairnhill Hotel. It opened its flagship restaurant known as Crystal Jade Palace at Ngee Ann City a year later, serving exquisite Cantonese cuisine. That same year, it opened Crystal Jade Kitchen at Shaw House serving affordable Cantonese cuisine, such as noodles, jook, cze char and roasted meat. It opened its first overseas outlet in Indonesia. The group expanded its group of restaurants during the late 1990s opening more outlets across the island.

The group expanded into the suburbs and opened restaurants at Causeway Point and Holland Village in 1999, with the latter being known as "Seafood Kitchen". It was then when dim sum was brought into their "Kitchen" brand restaurants. Long queues started to form at the restaurants during that period of time, and waits can be as long as an hour during peak periods. It opened the Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao outlet serving Lanzhou style la mian, jiaozi, xiaolongbao and northern style Chinese cuisine. Bakeries were also opened, selling Hong Kong-style bread.

Crystal Jade opened a Teochew and Cantonese restaurant in the Paragon in the early 2000s. During the 2000s, the chain expanded in Indonesia and throughout Asia. The chain also opened a Korean restaurant at Ngee Ann City and The Centrepoint.

We were already warned that usually, the very good restaurants would have a long queue and it may about an hour before we could be accommodated.

So we have to get a number from the lady just outside the door of the restaurant. Our friend came back and said, the wait may not be that long because there were only 6 ahead of us.

We were there at about 9:20 p.m. since we went around the malls before going to the restaurant. Good that we weren't too hungry, too.

So we waited, and we saw a big group leave.

And we thought we would be seated soon!

We were wondering now how they called numbers. Maybe, there were two sets or maybe, it depended how many customers left. We never really got to know how they handled the queue, but, the people didn't really complain. 

Maybe, our friend didn't understand the lady at reception.

So, if you already see a long queue, just make sure you aren't too hungry.

It was already 10:04 p.m. before we were seated. That's 44 minutes before we got in the restaurant! And we noted, everyone around was cool.

In the Philippines, I guess, there would be lots of noisy people complaining!

There, those who couldn't wait, just moved on.

Finally, we are seated...

So yummy!!!

And now have our Shainghainese meal. And here it goes...

Xiao Long Bao or soupy Shanghai steamed pork dumplings... this looks like the typical dumpling, but with a very good soup broth within the dumpling!

Xiao Long Bao costs HK$28 for 4, HK$7.7 =US$1

Wanton in spicy chili sauce

Wanton in spicy chili sauce

Sichuan Dan Dan noodles using authentic ‘Lanzhou’ noodles (spaghetti thin egg noodles) with very spicy peanut, sesame broth. Broth is usually made of pork tailbone, chicken, Jinhua ham and dried tangerine peel. 

The Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long bao Dan Dan Noodles cost HK$48.
We can just call it Spicy Beef noodles.

Beef with green onions

Beef with green onions

Shrimp with salted duck egg

And of course, Chinese vegetables...

As I said, I am no good judge of food, but I appreciate eating.

I am glad we were brought there for dinner.

The wait was worth the dinner!

But, you could also visit at less busy hours so you can be served faster.

TASTE OF HONGKONG: HANG HEUNG'S KITCHEN IN CITYGATE, TUNG CHUNG 2011

Actually, Hang Heung's Kitchen is just HongKong fastfood within the Food Court in Citygate Outlet Mall in Tung Chung, but I'll feature it anyway.

This is the Food Republic Food Court in Tung Chung!

We were quite confused since there were many stalls within the food court! But, it was decided that we sit in a cozy corner where Hang Heung's Kitchen is located.

We had an idea that this place would have Cantonese barbecued pork, chicken and goose as their specialty. 

It was a nice place since it was a bit elevated and we could see more of the food court area.

And here is our food...

got Hong Kong style Milk Tea for myself 

Soya Chicken

Cantonese barbecued pork

and of course, the Chinese vegetables!

The interesting part that I noted in this restaurant was the drawer beneath our table, where the chopsticks and other utensils and table napkins were placed...first time to see this!

I guess for me, the important part of the meal is not just the food itself but the company sharing the food!

It was a nice food court restaurant and I liked the milk tea!!!