Journey to Hong Kong

I chanced to know that there is a Japanese Ramen food court in Hong Kong. It is located in the basement of Prudential Centre (恒豐中心), at Jordan MTR Station Exit E.

The food court is called Ramen Champion, featuring a number of Ramen stalls which boast Ramen of distinct styles and varieties. Ramen lovers will love this place.

It is certainly a high-end food court. I ordered a bowl of Miso Ramen for HK$60, which was  among the cheapest of all offerings by the Ramen stall I had chosen to patronize. But I must say the soup base was very rich and yummy, and I liked the fact that the noodle bowl was full of bean sprouts, corns and bamboo shoots. Judging by what I got, the price is okay.

The food court has used the technology now popular in Japan’s and Korea’s food courts. Once you enter the food court, you will be given a card which you use for ordering your food. You pay when you leave the food court by producing the card at the cashier. Also, after you order your food, you will be given a device. The device will give signal when your food is ready so that you can wait for your food with peace of mind.

You may have heard of Hong Kong signature drink, Hong Kong style Milk Tea. How about Hong Kong style Coffee Milk Tea, called Yuanyang (鴛鴦) in Cantonese, literally meaning love birds, signifying a love affair between coffee and milk tea. It is a drink that combines coffee and milk tea, served hot and cold typically in Hong Kong style tea restaurants.

Local food industry holds competition in making the best Hong Kong style Milk Tea annually. This year, a competition in making the best Hong Kong style Coffee Milk Tea was first held. A master from a restaurant called Shui Wah Restaurant (瑞華餐廳）has won the competition by preparing the best Coffee Milk Tea in town, with 20% of coffee and 80% of milk tea. The normal formula is half half each.

Upon receiving the award, he commented that Hong Kong style Coffee Milk Tea is best to be had together with Hong Kong style toast. You may want to give it a try. For me, Hong Kong style toast, deep fried bread, is way too oily. And I love Milk Tea more than Coffee Milk Tea. My preference would be Hong Kong style Milk Tea with pineapple bun (菠蘿飽).

Shui Wah Restaurant: 1-3 Yin Chong Street, Mong Kok (entrance at Fa Yuen Street)

See here for review of the restaurant.

If you ever want to try traditional Chinese dessert, I recommend this:Red bean soup with sweet balls is a common traditional Chinese dessert dish. The sweet balls’ contents are usually sesame seed or peanut butter. I fell in love with this dessert recently. Good red bean soup, with the bean completely dissolved into the soup and mixed with dried lily bulbs and herbs, is hard to come by. I love the one prepared in Honeymoon Dessert in Sai Kung. It tastes so good, especially when you eat it hot in cold weather.