Top 10 "must eat" in Hong Kong, Part 2

Hi folks, my apologies for witholding this post for quite some time, I know many of you have been waiting for it!  In my excitement to share about the amazing AMC Cookware range, I had totally forgotten about this post until several days ago. 



I want to thank all of you for the positive comments and feedback about my posts on AMC Cookware, either on my blog, FB pages, direct email or personal conversations.  The responses have been quite overwhelming, as many of you commented that you did not know of any cookware that are so versatile and with such intelligent and flexible features.  For others, it is a case of "Oh yea, my mum has this and she loves it!" Many of you have also requested for more recipes using the AMC cooking method.  

I most certainly will be cooking more with my AMC cookware, but rest assured, I will continue to provide cooking instructions for conventional stove-top cooking as well.  If you have missed our CNY recipes, here they are:

Siew Yoke / Chinese Roast Pork
Char Siew / Chinese BBQ Pork
Thai Style Steamed Fish, Grilled Chicken, Steamed Broccoli with Mushrooms and Scallops


I still have one last post on our series of Fuss Free CNY recipes with AMC Cookware; this time it's a show stopper, traditional CNY dessert.  So do keep an eye out for it during the coming week.

OK, back to today's post on some of the best Hong Kong food you must eat.  This is Part 2, so if you have missed Part 1, CLICK HERE.

In Part 1, we covered the top 10 - top 6 must-eat food items. 

Here is must-eat food Number 5 ... *drum roll*

 

#5   Duck Century Egg with Pickled Ginger

 

No, they certainly aren't steeped in horse urine or aged for a hundred years!

 

I wonder if duck century egg has been featured as a fear factor food in the popular franchise show.  I hope it has, coz we Chinese would win it hands down.  Or at least I would win it hands down heehee.

 

Forget about chicken century egg, the real stuff uses duck.  Here's how you can tell the good ones from the not-so-good ones.

 

a.  the best eggs have a delicate snowflake pattern on the exterior of the “egg white”, after the shell has been peeled off

 

b.  the yolk must be dense, creamy and runny, instead of a soft clumpy mass (like those usually found in supermarkets), whilst the "white" is springy and firm, not break into wobbly jellified pieces (like those usually found in supermarkets)

 

c.  a distinct stratum of blackish-grey, greenish-grey and some yellow bits (at the yolk) should be discernible upon slicing into the egg.  The smell should be a faint, acrid pong, until you bite into it.  The taste of a gloriously rotten egg should burst onto your tastebuds (some of you must be like eeewwwww-ing now!)

 

And this is how the best eggs look like:
 

 

 

 

Here is one of my favourite recipes using century eggs.



Quick soup of red spinach and century egg, recipe HERE. 
Look at this century egg - typical of what you'll get in local
supermarkets here...the eggs have not been steeped long enough.  
Worlds apart from the HK version.  

 

No, there is no need to trek all the way to the famous Yung Kee to have a slice of this pungent, ammoniatic delicacy.  Just order a bowl of pork and century egg porridge from any good porridge soup, dim sum restaurant or better still, buy a few back from the popular evening wet markets where all the locals go.  Just look for egg stalls where all the aunties crowd around. 

 

My hubby and I absolutely love this with lots of picked ginger; and now we have to fight for these precious morsels with another person - my 5 year old boy!  I was like..."Son, you are only 5 years old, how can you love black egg?!"

 

 

I saw this huge glass jar of picked ginger in one of the noodle soups

 

#4  Pork liver and kidney porridge

Hong Kong people love their porridge. You can tell by the number of porridge shops at every street, and the sheer variety of porridge on the menu. You can tell it's a porridge shop becuse they will all have a see-through rack at the shop entrance that is filled with fried cruellers of diferent sorts. 

The best pork liver and kidney porridge I've ever had was at this small porridge shop in Mongkok, adjacent to Soy Street

Just like how the beef in Hong Kong taste so much better than the ones we get here, HK pork is also super yummy.   I'm sure it has to do with more than just the way HK people cook their meat; it is also largely due to how the animals are reared and the type of feed they consumed.

 

 

 

 

The slices of lean meat and liver was sublimely tender and smooth.  What's more, the prices are unbeatable, and I was not dying from thirst after the meal (ie less or no use of MSG).  I think I must have come back to this shop every day for my porridge fix. 

 

 

 



Best "england". Look at item $9. ROTL!

 

 

#3 Braised Piglet Trotter

 

 

Let me stress that this is NOT your normal adult pig trotter.  We are talking about a 30day old (yes, that's only one month old) cute little piggy, being forced into porky heaven and cooked for the sole purpose of human pleasurable consumption. 

 

 

 

I am generally not partial to roast piglet (or referred to as suckling pig) but boy, I took one small hesitant bite of this and I wanted to grab the whole bowl for myself.  The meat was extremely tender and juicy (it's a baby, what did you expect) and the layer of fat extremely thin (it's a baby, what did you expect).  

The moment your teeth cut through the top thin layer of skin, then into the juicy lean meat, slicing through the soft gelatinuos layer of fat and collagen, your eyes will widen in gastronomic pleasure.  I kid you not.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hong Kong chefs really know how to make the best braised dishes.  Somehow the flavour is just the perfect balance of spices, herbs and sauces, infused with the aroma and taste of the meat used.  You can find this dish in most upscale restaurants. 

Oh my piggy, you did not perish in vain. 

#2 Roast Pork / Siew Yoke

 

We've eaten the baby, might as well do justice to the parents right?! (Sorry folks, the morbidity will stop here :p)

 

 

 

Roast meat in general is a popular take-away food in Hong Kong and is displayed on hanging hooks behind see-through kitchens or stacked on tables by the five-foot-way.  The most popular items are the roast pork, roast goose, char siu, and braised chicken.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately i have not tasted any roast goose worthy of being listed on my Top 10 (*gasp*) but I sure have had some of the bestest roast pork ever.  Crispy crackling, perfectly salted roast pork meat on hot steam rice with a dash of sauce on the side.  Nothing much can top this on the gastronomy scale. 

 

   

I know the above two photos (combination roast pork and roast goose rice) in no way do any justice to the #2 must eat item on this list :P  Sorry, we always forgot to snap some photos before we dug in.  I'm sure you noticed that these two photos were taken after a few greedy mouthfuls first!

 

Again, good roast pork is available in many roast meat restaurants.  Just look for the crowd!

 

The next few photos are gonna make you cringe...the "real" way roast pork is made.  Brace yourself...

 

 

Look inwards toward the centre of the photo...

 

 

Mama and Papa Porkie and baby porkie...

 

 

Still game for roast pork?! :P

 

No porkie activitists reading this I hope..

 

And that brings us to the #1 must-eat food item in Hong Kong, according to yours humbly.  I crave for this at almost every meal while i was in Hong Kong.  So what is??

 

#1 Steam Hai Nam Chicken with Spring Onion

Did i hear you say "What?! Pak Cham Kai? What's so special about steam chicken?"

 

For starters, the chicken is NEVER undercooked, with those icky raw and pinkish parts in the middle of the drumstick or thigh that you always find in chicken rice shops here.  I always encountered this in the local coffee shops here, and it always rub me the wrong way.  I am sure you know that uncooked chicken meat is not safe for consumption, unlike beef or lamb. 

 

The steam chicken in Hong Kong is perfectly just cooked, and so smooth that it just glides down your throat.  The skin and meat is fragrant with that delightful combination of sesame oil and gamey flavour and the meat is never tough or sinewy.  It is just right.

 

 

 

 

 

And the ginger spring onion condiment - OH! I could never get enough of this.  I always ask for two servings; sometimes three, which either amuses the serving staff, or irritates the heck out of them.

 

 

 

Try making this at home, it will elevate your homecooked chicken rice to new heights.  Recipe is HERE

 

 

So there you have it, my personal Top 10.  Boy, now I need to book my next flight to Hong Kong soon!  I have a couple more posts lined up on other yummy food in Hong Kong so do keep an eye out for them.