Hong Kong + Macau: out of this world scenery

To celebrate Malaysia Day, me and wife decided to spend it in HongKong. Irony. The real thing is that I was attending official function there, so wife decided to might as well make it into our trip. It was bit rush since I am attending events in the morning and afternoon. We were only able to run around in late afternoon or evening but as long as planning is good, we manage to cover most of the place we intended to.

Day 1: central, sheungwan + peak

Arriving in the late afternoon, we immediate start our trip after checking into our hotel. Leaving the hotel at about 4, we had the whole day to go around. Taking trip on star ferry, it was a ride to remember. Hitting on central, just walk around. Initially we wanted to follow the heritage trail recommended by HK tourism, but we found that it was bit long. Walking to sheungwan and turning back to central again, we pass by hollywood road and SOHO. We even manage to grab a light dinner by a rather famous roadside stall for wantan mee. Yup, the wantan mee is really good. Then we walked all the way to tram station and took the tram up the peak. Remember to visit Madam Tussaud wax museum, although the ticket price was bit steep, it was worth it. The horror house did gave me nightmares for the coming few nights. View from the sky terrace alone was worth the ride up. However, the place is so packed that one need to be bit rough to get a place to enjoy the view. Our initial plan was to take the ting-ting tram down in central but we were too tired to do so.

Day 2: lantau island, avenue of star, symphony of lights and all the night market

We manage to start our day 2 journey in late afternoon so we decided to travel to tungchung and pay a visit to NgoPing 360 where PoLin monastery and the big Buddha awaits. It was rather nice cable car ride up. We were not keen on Disneyland at all since we seldom hear any good review of the place so we decided to give it a miss. We still manage to visit Citygate outlet but were unable to buy anything. Both of us are kiam ayway. Hitting back to Kowloon at 8, just in time for symphony of lights at avenue of stars. The building across in HK island lights up to designated music and the sight was something to behold. Ending that show, we paid all the famous night market a visit. We were bit late to Apliu street to buy electronic goods, but still made it in time to Tungchoi and Saiyeungchoi street. We end our journey to Temple street. The night market here is not much different from the ones here in Malaysia, so it was bit of letdown. The food was not so much different and lacks the variation one would find in Taiwan night market.

Day 3: Macau

This had been a adventurous decision. Going to Macau at noon, the first stop was to Ruins of St Paul and all the nearby heritage buildings. We underestimate the whole journey, we should had allocated more time for this. We had to rush through the museum and buy some famous biscuit back home. We still manage to visit Venetia at night to find Lord Stow's Portuguese egg tart. It was nice, but definitely not worth the journey from Macau town to Venetian.

Day 4: epilogue

We initially plan to visit Wongtaishin before leaving, but we were so tired from all the running for the past 3 days that we abandon the idea. We simply went around our hotel area for dimsum, but fate had it, the restaurant we chosen, despite fair review online, did not impress us at all.

Overall, I would agree that HongKong is impressive but one need not spend too many days here. On the other hand, I would like to spend more time in Macau but just unable to . Food there also were bit different and probably more impressive.

Ratings: 3 half poink!

comments: be kiasu again, do visit so you can tell people I've been to HK and Macau. But both of us enjoy Taipei more.

Chooi Yue DimSum: rare hidden gem

It had been a while since I last update the blog. I still had not finish with HongKong and Macau photos yet. And to note that the dimsum I had in HongKong was bit disappointing. It was not bad either, it could be just that dimsum here is getting better in comparison. Recently while bringing my dad for followup I found one rare dimsum gem around in Ipoh.

Inside Ipoh Garden South, behind Pantai Hospital, is this new dimsum joint. Though the area is not too big, but the amount of shops and the one way street may make the search bit difficult. If anyone know BeeGaik, this restaurant is just across the street, in the corner. Just look for the new ChooiYue signboard.

Arriving on saturday morning, there is quite a lot of patrons in the shop enjoying their breakfast. We were lucky to find an empty seat so there was our start of dimsum adventure here. The deco is simply, typical of street style dimsum shop rather than the posh ones like FooShan. Service was swift, with few waitress running around inviting you to order the dimsum which they are carrying. Once the dimsum was placed on the table, the waitress will make the necessary marking on your receipt, and once finished, the boss will calculate the whole payment. Typical dimsum style. I just love the authenticity of it.

Now, the most important thing. The dimsum itself. First thing that reach our table is the deep fried ones. It was surprisingly good. It was just crispy. The oil used was fresh, therefore there was no weird taste of the usual oil which was used for frying repeatedly. The prawn used is rather fresh and one can actually taste the prawn rather than just pork. The mayo used was bit letdown though, but did not affect the taste of the deep fried dimsum. Next was the fishball. Typically good. It still did not have the fresh taste of fish but the consistency is rather "bouncy" which just taste good in the mouth. The steam siumai was rather good. My wife was impressed with it, though I preferred it with more pork. Not the best I ever had. The chucheongfun was one of the better ones, though it was bit too thick in consistency. However, the soya sauce which sort of flooded the chucheongfun was brilliantly done, simply lift the taste to a different level. Next was lomaikai, which my dad simply love. Much glutinous rice was used, unlike most joint which would mix it. Therefore, the consistency was rather different, leaning towards the usual rice we had for normal meal, not so much sticky at all. The taste was great. Yam pie or wukok was good and freshly fried, therefore was simply great. The fillings was tasty, with the taste of chasiew simply irresistible.

Pricing is reasonable, unlike the posh dimsum restaurant which charges a arm and leg for one simple dish of dimsum. An average dimsum cost about RM 2.40-Rm 3.60 and overall, we spent RM24 for 3 person inclusive of tea, dimsum, chucheongfun and lomaikai. Very reasonable indeed.

It was simply nice, unexpectedly, since this was the first dimsum after I came back from HongKong. The only regret was we did not taste hakao/ prawn dumpling since it was so popular that everytime the steam dimsum reach our table, hakao was just finished. I would come back again definitely.

ratings: 3 half poink!

comments: top of the list for street dimsum. challenger for the rest of those posh dimsum restaurant.

Chooi Yue DimSum

2, Tingkat Taman Ipoh 12,

Taman Ipoh Selatan,

Ipoh

016-5345965