While we were in Hong Kong, I had a mission – eat as much delicious food as possible.  While in California I had developed a taste for Dim Sum and since this area is where it all started we mainly ate dim sum.

So the day after we arrived we decided to go to a Michelin Starred Dim Sum Restaurant: Tim Ho Wan.  While it all sounds very fancy, it is just a cheap dim sum shack in the middle of Hong Kong’s Mong Kok district.  The trick is, you have to go 2-3 hours early and get a number!  It is all very bizarre.  Anyway, we got there, got our number and were told that we had at least 2 hours so we left and decided to walk around for a while.

The Map

It was 10AM by the time we got there and since we’d have to wait so long we decided we’d need a snack before having dim sum.  So, avoiding all the carts with unidentifiable meats we found a really funny potato shop:

OK Not Very Cantonese

We agree with their slogan: “There are two things in the world that can’t be joked: 1. marrriage 2. potato”.  We got a cold drink and some french fries that would last us until our meal of delicious dim sum.  After that we hung out in a Starbucks to try and get free Internet – we didn’t know what to do since dim sum was our only plan!  We ended up relishing the AC and stayed inside most of the time we had to wait.  Upon returning to Tim Ho Wan, however, we were dismayed to find that the power had just gone out!  They were still serving the people inside, but they were turning away all the other customers, including hungry us.  We were really unhappy about this since there was so much build-up, and resolved to come back again another day.

When the other day arrived we had the same procedure: go get a number, then wait a while, then get in.  This time the power supply was working just fine so we made it in!  We were wowed by the food, especially the deep-fried BBQ pork buns (Cha siu baau).  Normally they would be steamed  but as a specialty of the house they offer them fried!  So good!

Delicious Pork Buns

Well that was the most dramatic food story of the week, but there were a few other highlights.  The first is a completely mixed up dish we happened to try after the power went up at Tim Ho Wan – Ramen noodle soup with Tom Yum flavor.  That’s right, we are in Hong Kong, having Japanese noodles, in Thai soup.  It was delicious.

Tom Yum Ramen

Another memorable food was our Moon Cake.  We were in Hong Kong for the Mid-Autumn festival, and wanted to try the traditional moon cake which is made for the event.  Unfortunately the night arrived and we couldn’t find a shop that was obviously selling them.  By luck, we happened to ask a friendly info counter attendant where we could get one, and she said that she had an extra one that we could have!  Apparently she doesn’t like them.  We thought this was an amazing gift, and made her take a picture with me:

Moon Cake Giver and Me

We had a delicious breakfast at an English-style pub: The Yorkshire Pudding.  It wasn’t really the right time, but I went ahead and ordered sausages and a Yorkshire Pudding since I love them!  It was delicious but not as good as either Maggie’s or Hazel’s versions:

Yorkshire Delight

We also had dim sum at two really delicious other restaurants: Crystal Jade and Din Tai Fung.  Crystal Jade specialized in hand-made noodles (which were delicious) – they wouldn’t let us take a picture of the chef in action.  He splits the noodles repeatedly with his fingers to form really good fresh, smallish noodles!  Din Tai Fung did let us take pictures so we have a little bit of what we ate documented:

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The best thing there was the special pork dumplings, which you dip into a mix of soy sauce, vinegar, and fresh ginger.  Delicious!  We ended up going to Din Tai Fung another time before we left town, it was so good!   In short, we ended up a little fatter and a lot happier after our time in Hong Kong!