18 Grams Roastery Lab – Wan Chai, Hong Kong

There used to be a few places I usually go to for espresso in Hong Kong. When they are good, they are exceptional, and way better than those in Singapore. We found one near where we were staying for Watches & Wonders, and thought it worthy of a writeup.

Curious name, a friend who is not an espresso geek asked. Not at all, 18 refers to the amount of beans in grams one usually measures for a standard pull of double espresso. Of course, this differs from machine to machine, from bean and roast to the other. For eg, on my Elektra Leva a Casa, on my home roasts, I typically pack 20g of powder into its portafilter. But 18g remains a text book standard for a doppio.

Roastery Lab also is interesting. They do have traditional classical espresso and coffee, including slow cold drip, but also some experimental ones. Like Nitro Espresso.

Yes, this is not so novel anymore...Chye Seng Huat Papa Palheta makes one. But it is still pretty avant garde. Looks like a dark beer, served from a tap. But smells like coffee, and taste like coffee. Nitro coffee is slightly efferverscent. The coffee is treated with high pressure nitrogen, chilled in a keg and served on a draught with a foamy head like a Guiness. The mouth feel is rich, creamy, and seem a touch sweet and less acidic than cold brew. 

And a bit more experimental, perhaps, but a very simple sparkling espresso..

Cream soda in a glass with ice, and over it, pour a double shot of espresso. I found this a much nicer drink than the Nitro. All the espresso elements are still there, and the bubblies from the cream soda make a nice mouth feel. Smooth, with the full taste of the espresso showing. First time I have come across a drink like this, but one which has a low barrier to entry as this can even be attempted at home. 

We also had the traditional espresso...a doppio ristretto

Quite excellent. Note the beautiful mottling on the crema. The crema was thick and rich. The ristretto was very viscous, powerful on the nose as it is on the palate. Beautiful long finish. Excellent cup.

I also tried the picolo latte, actually I had this as my first cup, as I always try to avoid disappointment with a new place. As milk often is a good mask for the sins of the barista.

Superb cup. Just the right amount of foamed milk adding the requisite richness and body to the espresso. This gave me the confidence that the barista knows what she is doing to order the ristretto above.

I also tried a machiatto.

Perfectly executed. The touch of milky foam on the espresso was just right. Nice.

I also had breakfast there, and found the Eggs Benedict with ham to be quite superb.

Hollandaise sauce was good, and the eggs poached to perfection. Probably poached sous vide. Comes with a nice side of fruits. 

Upstairs the very small cafe, it sits perhaps 8 pax max downstairs, is the roaster and a small dining area.

Very nice espresso place. Worth a visit every time in Hong Kong. Centrally located just a few minutes walk from either Admiralty or Wanchai MTR station.

18 Grams Roastery Lab

10 Johnston Road, Wan Chai

Tel: +852 2520 5100

Fax: +852 2345 7367

Email: info@18grams.com

Sunday-Thursday: 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Friday – Saturday: 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Day Before Public Holiday: 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Old School Tim Sum: Lin Heung Tea House in Hong Kong

A visit to an old school tim sum (dimsum) place in Hong Kong is quite an unusual experience for the uninitiated. Service in the traditional Western or Japanese construct is almost non-existant, and what there is is efficient rather than polite. With a touch of tension all built in.

First when one arrives at the restaurant, in this case Lin Heung Tea House in Central Hong Kong.

One makes one's way into the restaurant...not as easy as it sounds, as it is likely to be very crowded. The restaurant seats 300 per sitting in about 50 tables. And it is often very crowded. The first task at hand is to find a table. The wait staff will not help you on this other than the cursory "there's a place there". Most of the waiters are old men, who are as grumpy and curt in their responses as can be.

Once one finds a table, and it is mandatory to share a table. Regulars already know this, as well as those who have read their guide books, and they will make way for one to sit...small gestures like a small shift of the chair to allow one to slide over. A nod of acknowledgement.

Once a table/seat is obtained, one needs to capture the attention of one of the waiters. The waiter will then take one's order for tea, and disappear. When he re-appears, he will hand over two cups (if one is alone) or the one cup one per pax, a basin for rinsing cutlery and a tally card. If one is solo, the larger of the two cups is used for tea making, and the smaller one for drinking. One steeps tea in the larger cup and pour it into to the smaller one to drink. If one's party is more than self, then a pot is served instead of the larger cup. The rinsing bowl is filled with hot water, and one is expected to rinse the cups, chopsticks and spoon in it to cleanse them.

The food is served on traditional food trolleys. The idea is for the trolleys to make its way around the tables and the diners choose when the trolley arrives. However, the place is usually so crowded that the trolley almost never makes its round. Diners rush to the trolleys as they exit the kitchen and wave the tally card to the trolley lady. She will take the card, puts her stamp on it and serve one the dish ordered.

And the food?

It is rather good. Portion size is quite large. The style of dim sum is more robust and basic rather than Michelin starred (like Tim Ho Wan). This is not fine cuisine. This is basic, hearty food. Well done. And quite delicious.

The experience of eating is part of the fun. It is rather hectic, but should be experienced at least once. For me, I try to get a chance every visit to Hong Kong.

Lin Heung Tea House
60-164 Wellington Street
corner of Aberdeen Street, in Central, Hong Kong.
蓮香樓 | 蓮香居 | 蓮香老餅家
http://www.linheung.com.hk/lin_heung_tea_house/..

Tsui Wah Restaurant in Hong Kong: Airport branch

Must stop every time I leave Hong Kong, if I have time...the Tsui Wah Restaurant at Airport. Don't mistake this for the Tsui Wah Eatery in the Departures area, after clearing Immigration and Customs/Security. This is before you enter the Immigration. 

After check in, swing upstairs and have the last doze of Hong Kong food before departure. Even if you have access to First Class lounges within, forgo it...eat here.

The last trip I was there, we (4 guys travelling together for the Watches & Wonders) ate and ate in the territory, and had a farewell meal here as well. 

First all of us had the iced milk tea

First the statement: served in a bottle which is cooled by a bucket of ice. The message is that the tea is made just right, and dilution by melting ice will spoil the taste. Indeed, it was excellent. The tannin in the tea was apparent, but was assuaged by the richness of the milk. Nice balance. 

I had the Prawns w/ Tossed Noodles

A noodle classic using bamboo noodle, like those in Hong Kong's wanton mee. The noodles tossed in oil with prawn roe and  XO sauce. It is then mixed with succulent fried prawns on top. Superb. Some might find it a bit dry as the noodles had little sauce. But the combination of prawn roe (the little red dots) and the wonderful prawns were indeed mouth watering. 

One of the famous dishes is the Fish Balls & Fish Cakes w/ Flat Rice Noodles in Fish Soup

Tsui Wah claims their fish balls are made daily with handpicked yellow eels and over 10 types of fresh fish. The noddles are flat rice noodles, which we call here in Singapore kway teow, were very soft and light. The fishball is very springy, fresh fish fragrance. Beautiful stock completes the picture. 

The standard in HK CCT: roast goose

Not as good as those in my favourite Yat Lok, but still very good. The skin was crisp, and the goose meat was flavourful and a bit flaky...such that it is not tough, but yet not powdery...a kinda optimum state in between. Yat Lok somehow manages a more crispy skin and an even more flavourful meat. 

And another standard, Fried Flat Noodles with Beef

Another standard in HK. The noodles were similar to the soupy fish ball noodles above, but sliced perhaps wider. So the same soft, tender texture is found. But instead of being blanched in stock, the noodles are wok fried. The wok hei created a wonderful smokey, burnt flavour and aroma. The beef was done just right, and very tender. Some might find this dish a bit greasy, but such is a plate of fried kway teow.

As I mentioned, this is a must stop place to eat before boarding. But make sure you have plenty of time to partake of this pleasure. Highly recommended.

Tsui Wah have many branches all over Hong Kong and many other countries. The main outlet in Wellington Street, just across from Yung Kee is another great branch, but not all the branches serve food which is equal in quality, even though Tsui Wah uses a central kitchen to ensure uniform quality.

Tsui Wah Restaurant

Hong Kong International Airport Branch

Shop 8T007, East Hall, Terminal 1, Hong Kong International Airport, Lantau.

Business Hours : 07:00-00:00

Capital Cafe: Hong Kong for truffle scrambled eggs

One of my favourite things to do in Hong Kong is to eat at a Cha Chan Teng. Especially for breakfast. Not all Cha Chan Tengs serve an equal breakfast. I don't know why their set is almost always a kind of ham macaroni with eggs and toast and coffee or tea, when most of the time, the macaroni is really not up to par. Australia Dairy Company is one of the best for their scrambled eggs, but fails miserably for the macaroni.

This time round, as we were staying on the island, we decided not to cross the channel to Kowloon, and try out Capital, which is reputed to be a close rival in terms of taste of their scrambled eggs. Plus, they serve it with black truffles. Interesting.

The place was not difficult to find, a short walk from Wan Chai MTR.

No queues. And as we approached, the lady by the counter smiled at us, and ushered us to our seats. Hmm...no brusque waiters. No forced sharing...ok, we shared the table, but the two of us shared a table for 8 with another couple.

Could this civilized CCT rival Australia Dairy? We ordered a buttered toast, a scrambled eggs with truffle on toast, and iced milk tea.

The tea: HK$21 for cold HK Style milk tea. Nice, with a light tannin bite. Smooth mouth feel, and the aromatic tea cutting through the creaminess of the milk. Quite nice.

The buttered toast. HK$9. Nice too. The bread is nice and thick. And toasted lightly, buttered on one side. Fragrance of the butter was not overpowering, but pleasant, and the bread within was moist.

And what we came for:

The scrambled eggs were done perfectly. A thin light "membrane" and within the eggs were just cooked that it looked like it might ooze, but not quite. The fragrance was nice,  and tasted very good. Rich, creamy, tasty. Compared to the Australia Dairy version, this one lacked the salty creaminess of canned soup (reportedly used by Australia Dairy). And was a bit milder.

And the truffles? Kind of disappointing, I think. I was kind of expecting slices of black truffle (ok, wishful thinking as the scrambled eggs with truffle on toast was only HK$42 (less than S$8), it was hard, slightly crisp grains, which lacked any depth of flavour or fragrance. I think the truffles were probably Chinese origin and possibly dried before being crushed. We asked the lady by the counter the origin of the truffles, she did not know.

But overall, I enjoyed the scrambled eggs on toast. And a positive alternative to Australia Dairy. Now to find the steamed milk that is done so well in Jordan...:-)

Highly recommended. Read the history of the cafe. Its quite interesting too.


Capital Café 華星冰室
Shop B1, G/F, Kwong Sang Hong Building, 6 Heard Street, Wan Chai, Hong Kong (10 min walk from Wan Chai MTR) Tel:+852 2666 7766
灣仔克街6號廣生行大廈地下B1號舖
Opening Hours: 7am – 11:00pm

Yat Lok Roast Meats in Central, Hong Kong

One of the best things to eat when in Hong Kong is roast goose...and none better than Yat Lok.

Indeed...roast meats. Wonderfully prepared, and roasted to perfection. Nowhere in Singapore can we even begin to approach this level of finese in roasting. First, the availability of fresh ingredients like the pork and goose is impossible in Singapore, whereas abundant in Hong Kong. And the traditional recipes and knowhow, handed down generations is also well developed there.

I have eaten at Yung Kee, the famous Michelin Starred roast restaurant in Hong Kong. But since then, I think success has perhaps gone to their heads, and the standards has gone downhill since the Michelin award. Today it is mostly a tourist location, and indeed has a great ambience for visitors and for taking out clients. 

In contrast, Yat Lok is a typicaly Hong Kong restaurant, with the roasts hanging in the window, the cook preparing the dishes visible from the street. Inside, it is cramped, not particularly clean and frequently one is expected to share tables. Lingering over a meal is certainly not encouraged. Service is swift, but not particularly polite, and the waiters expect you to know what you want, and are not in a mood to explain what each dish is about.

Having said that, I let the cat out of the bag by saying this is the best roast goose restaurant I have ever eaten. Bar none.

We started with a platter of roast pork and char siew.

Meats in Hong Kong are usually rather fat...but fat equals flavour, so I guess taste is of utmost importance. Indeed, the flavour is very good. The roast pork is full flavoured, the rind crispy. The char siew very tender and very flavourful too. But this is not what Yat Lok is famous for. The level it is achieved, though very good, is not the best one can find in Hong Kong. 

But the roast goose is another story,

My lunch mate had the roast goose leg in noodle soup. It looked marvellous, but I had tried this once before, and though very nice, the soup softens the crisp skin of the goose, and for me, it kind of loses its main attraction.

For me the right way to serve roast goose is with rice

The skin is superbly crisp, under that a very thin layer of super flavourful fat, and under that the tender, delicious meat. The roast goes superbly, no its heavenly, with the lightly soy sauced rice. Marvellous. Out of this world. Definitely the best roast goose I have ever eaten.

Very highly recommended, and a must eat every time in Hong Kong.

Yat Lok Restaurant

G/F, 34-38 Stanley Street, Central, Hong Kong

Phone:+852 2524 3882

Australia Dairy Company: Jordan, Hong Kong

One of the most famous and interesting cha chaan teng in Hong Kong, regardless of the name, has nothing to do with Australia and totally and absolutely Chinese...they don't even have an English menu.

The queue at about 9:30am on a Friday morning. The queue snakes all the way round the block. But clearing about 50 pax in front of me in the queue took all of 15minutes.

The interest in this cha chaan teng springs not only from the simple but exquisite cuisine served within, but also in the ruthless efficiency in which the crowd and queues (and boy what a long queue) are managed, how the food delivery is managed and how the high quality is maintained throughout. The restaurant is a study of efficiency on how to feed thousands in as short a time as possible, without compromising quality. Amazing.

As one enters, the waiter "orders" one to sit where he directs...he did not seem to leave an option...and I guess everybody obeys. Sharing of tables is not a courtesy, but mandatory. Nobody asks you if you mind sharing, the waiter directs you to share, you just sit. He is back to take your order in all of 15 seconds. Most guide books/blogs recommend ordering the sets. Most of these guides also say that the waiters do not speak English...I had an English speaking waiter...though I had practiced the art of just pointing to the third item on the set menu...he understood me, and repeated Scrambled Eggs. It is important to get that right, because the eggs can also be served sunny side up, but scrambled was what they are famous for.

If you had ordered Set 1: the macaroni and ham in a soup would be unceremoniously plonked on your table within 20 seconds from ordering. But I ordered Set 3, which was eggs with toast, tea. I also added a dessert - their famous steamed milk custard.

The iced milk tea was unexeptional. Though fresh milk was used instead of condensed milk, it was unremarkable. There are many better milk teas in Hong Kong. But having said that, it is rather better than almost all we get here in Singapore. So be thankful.

Almost immediately, the scrambled eggs and the buttered toast was served

Some claim this is the best scrambled eggs on the planet. I am not so sure, but it was rather impressive. The eggs were just a tad from being runny, and yet a tad from being solid. The texture was smooth, creamy as it caresses the mouth and tongue. The unique texture and taste is attributed by some to the use of fresh Hokkaido milk and yet others to canned soup. Indeed as one gaze into the kitchen, which is open by the way, one can see cans of Campbell soup tucked on a shelf behind the cooks. 

The buttered toast was also just right. Crisp outside, still moist within, and the butter melted just so, lingering on the inside. 

While I find the taste to be excellent, even more intriguing was their ability to delivery this level consistency. This is almost an art form. Nay, the entire restaurant is like an organism. Efficient, consistent, high quality. 

I come to the steamed milk custard...this was unlike any I have eaten anywhere else

The custard was superbly smooth, and the more than tinge of taste and wonderful aroma of fresh milk was apparent. Sweetened, this is served as a dessert. The taste is rather mild...subtle, perhaps sublime. The smoothness was superb. Our tau huey (soy bean custard) is no where in the same universe in terms of smoothness and texture. 

Highly recommended, not only for the superb food, but also as an observation of the efficiency of a top end cha chaan teng in Hong Kong. 

Australia Dairy Company 澳洲牛奶公司 (Hongkong)

47-49 Parkes Street Jordan (near Jordan MTR)
Tel: (852) 2730 1356
Opening Hours: Daily 730am to 11pm'
Facebook (not official fb)
Location
How to get there: Exit C2 Jordon's MTR Station and walk towards Parkes Street

Eatery hopping in Hong Kong

I have written an article about restaurant hopping in Singapore once...where we did each course of a meal in a different restaurant...drawing from the specialities of each. Recently, I had a try of this in Hong Kong

.


click on the Hong Kong skyline above for a larger photograph.

A good friend/makan buddy and I found ourselves in Hong Kong at the same time for different reasons...and we decided we needed to have at least one meal together. After much deliberation...as foodies are bound to do...we have poor resistance to the lure of good food...we decided on Yixin. This is based primarlily on the recommendations of Jason Bonvivant a foodie bloger in Hong Kong whom I have been following for a while.

But I planned to have a cuppa ristretto first before going for dinner, so on my way out of the Star Ferry at Central, I stopped at an old favourite which I found several years ago while searching for beans in HKG...Zambra.



A double ristretto



A bit long for a ristretto. More like a double espresso...and even that a bit long. But nonetheless tasty, and nice mouth feel. Fixed the coffee needs for the day.

A short walk away is the traditional Yixin restaurant



We zoomed in on the 3 famous dishes...we had a vegetable dish as well...dou miao.

First the duck...



Pipa ya as it was called...featured a nice delicate crisp skin hiding the juicy succulent duck meat within. The serving above was for half a duck.

we also had the char siew that Jason raved about



But I found this to be a disappointing. The meat was very fat...we discussed this with the waitress later, and she confirmed that this was their best cut, and very popular with the Hong Kong people. I guess, our taste buds differ here. There was no crisp, burnt bits. The meat which was there was very fat (yes, I did mention that before), though very tender.

And the interesting dish called Fried Fresh Milk with crab meat.



I am not sure how this is done. But this turned out surprisingly tasty. Light, without the slightest hint of grease. The fried milk tasted very nice. And complemented the crab very well. Nice dish. Reminds me of the egg yolks and scallops I had at Restaurant Ten some time ago. BTW, the wonderful Restaurant Ten at Purvis Street is now sadly closed...the owners decided to ply their trade in China.

Back to Yixin...the servings were very large...too large for 2 grown, hungry men. Perhaps we needed to be a table of 6 to consume what we ordered.

But yet, we needed to look for dessert...and I remembered a dessert store I chanced on when I was in HKG last...somewhere along Pacific Place...to ease the large dinner, we walked...and found Xi Yan's dessert place.



Somewhat nondescript, but almost fully packed. The place served full meals...but we had ours. So I ordered a poached pear with tofu ice cream.



Quite exquisite. The tofu ice cream was quite a nice flavour...unusual, but for me excellent. The pears were nicely poached in syrup. And nice.

Interesting dinner...starting with a coffee at an old favourite which turned out to have lost some of its glitz, to a restaurant picked from a blogger's recommendation, and dessert in a place I have had great experience in the cooking in Singapore. Not bad for a night in Hong Kong.


Cafe Zambra
Shop 1. G/F.
239 Jaffe Road,
Wanchai, Hong Kong

Yixin Restaurant
G/F Shanghai Industrial Investment Building,
48-62 Hennessy Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong

Xi Yan Sweets
Shop 1, G/F, 8 Wing Fung Street, Wan Chai Hong Kong
2833 6299

Tai Hing: chain cha chan teng...any good?

Milk tea is a speciality in many cha chan tengs in Hong Kong. For some reason, the tea dust they use in Hong Kong creates a special flavour to the tea...a bit astringent, tannic, but divinely and intricately intertwined with the rich, creamy milk. Very special. Tai Hing is one such chain stores which serve up a delicious concoction.



Served cold with the ice on the outside, so as not to dilute the tea. Superb. Even the hot version...shown behind the ice cold version is superb.

Though a chain store, each branch is totally different. I am not sure if its a franchise, but I tried two seperate Tai Hings...one reputed to be the original store in Causeway Bay, and another in Mongkok. The food and the tea seemed to be the same to me in each of the stores. But the decor is totally different.



The Causeway Bay outlet is kind of old...more like a coffee shop, as seen above. The Mongkok one is totally fresh, new look...more like a swank cafe.

We ate the mixed roast meats:



Quite tasty. The goose had crisp, light skin while its meat was flavourful...nice and tender. The roast pork too came with a very nice light crisp skin. Pork in Hong Kong is more flavourful than the ones we get here in Singapore. Perhaps because its freshly slaughtered, perhaps its the feed used for their pigs. But the pork is distinctly different. Singapore's pork is more bland while the Hong Kong's pork is much more flavourful, and tasty.

And the same with the vegetables.



I blame it on the fact that we have to import our fresh food from afar. Most of our vegetables in Singapore come from Malaysia or Indonesia or even China. While for Hong Kong, I guess vegetables come mainly from China, so nearer to source. The Kale (kai lan) is all the more less fibrous, and tender than any we get here in Singapore.

And the piece de resistance for me in a Cha Chan Teng...the french toast:



Thick toast, sliced open and generously spread with a creamy peanut butter. Then dipped in egg and fried. The outside is crisp. The bread remained nice, light, fluffy inside. A piece of semi-melted butter accompanies, and a small pitcher of maple syrup completes the dish. Quite divine.

Overall, worthy to seek out one near you. The savoury meals are good. But their milk tea and french toast is excellent.


Tai Hing
many locations throughout Hong Kong and Kowloon

Spring Deer in Kowloon

Spring Deer Restaurant, nestled in the busy streets of TST in Kowloon is one of the old, famous restaurants. A favourite amongst Asian visitors, the restaurant is famous for the Peking Duck...however, with just the two of us, it was not possible to order the famous bird, as it was only offered as a whole duck.



As can be seen, it was totally packed on the Sunday evening, though the waiter managed to find us a table easily, the whole restaurant was packed...mainly with what seemed like local families having their Sunday dinner out.

We settled for three dishes...first the mixed vegetables:



This was actually quite superb. Very fresh, very tasty vegetables - especially the baby corn was wonderful. The light sauce which accompanies was also delicately balanced to show off the vegetables' own flavour. My favourite dish for the evening.

Also, a kind of home made tofu, in a shrimp egg sauce



The shrimp eggs were almost microscopic, and showed their presence as a reddish hue to the tofu, and a rich, but salty taste. The tofu was a bit more firm than I would have preferred, but was nice and fragrant.

We also ordered the fried chicken:



Almost like our har cheong kai, but without the seasoning of belachan. The chicken was fried in a super hot wok...scalding and making the outside and skin super crispy, while retaining the moisture in the meat. Good, but not really special to me. I prefer the HCKs in Singapore.

We then enquired about the xiao loong pau which we saw many tables ordering...but told the waiter to hold the order untill we finished the dishes as we might have had too much food. I guess he mistook our instruction, and delivered the xiao loong pau when we were finishing off our dinner. This took us by a bit of a surprise, as we were rather full, and had expected he'd come to check with us first...but I guess the entreprenaural spirit of Hong Kongers are such that if we did not specifically say we did not want it after our enquiry, they assumed to have made the sale...but anyhow...



The xiao loong pau was not spectacular. The meat was rather leand and a bit dry tasting. The skin was too thick. The juice within was ok. I had expected better, especially when almost every other table had a basket.

Overall, Spring Deer is not a bad place to eat. Not particularly one to make one's way to just to sample the food...perhaps the Peking Duck, but we did not try that. For the stuff we ordered, it was rather ordinary.


Spring Deer Restaurant
46 Mody Road
九龍, Hong Kong
23664012