Nunnery and park: more compassion needed?

 Where to Eat/Drink, Where to Visit  2 Responses »
Jan 232012
 

Chi Lin Nunnery is a Buddhist nunnery built in the Tang dynasty architecture style, consisting of gardens and temples. Construction of the complex started in mid-1990s and opened to the public for visit in year 2000.The nunnery has little heritage value in terms of history, but the complex is grand and elegant, worth a visit.The temples of the complex are open until 4:30pm. So make sure that you get there early enough.

Next door, Nan Lian Garden is a public park designed and managed by Chi Lin Nunnery. It is also in the ancient gardening style of Tang dynasty. The park is beautifully landscaped with trees, timber structures and rocks of special shapes and formation. Such a beautiful park, however, has aroused public anger because of the despotic management style – you are not allowed to eat, even snack, in the park, for example. I personally saw a foreigner being stopped from eating nuts from a small box by a security guard on the day I visited the park. Here, you are constantly under the watchful eyes of guards.

There is a sign at the entrance to the tea house, saying that if you are not a patron, you shouldn’t enter the area. It is not a welcoming park.

I have to recommend the vegetarian restaurant inside though. A very nice place to sit in with decent vegetarian dim sum and food.

the restaurant is behind the waterfall

A set meal per person is HK$120, with four courses. I liked it. This dish of vegetarian dumpling dim sum – thrumbs up.

To be consistent with its “despotic” management style, no photography is allowed in the restaurant and there is minimum charge of HK$80 for lunch and HK$40 for afternoon tea. Shouldn’t a Buddhist related place have more compassion?

Besides the restaurant and the tea house, there is a cafe. A small cup of coffee sells for HK$12 and tastes good. How to get there:

Exit C2 of Diamond Hill MTR station.

 

 Posted by Anna at 10:45 pm

Parkes Street

 Where to Eat/Drink  No Responses »
Dec 292011
 

If you are looking for some light food and dessert of local speciality, you may come to Parkes Street (白加士街) in Jordan, Kowloon. The street has gathered some of the best noodle and dessert shops in town.

If you take MTR, get off at Jordan Station. Take exit C2 (Bowring Street). Once you are on the street level, you can see the sign of the street about one block away: Walk to the intersection between Parkes Street and Bowring Street. At your right, you will first see this dessert restaurant (Mega Eight Dessert,大良八記). You can check out its offering at its website.  The shop offers both traditional and fusion dessert.

But obviously, this dessert restaurant (Australian Diary, 澳洲牛奶公司) , just a couple of shops away, is more popular. The day I was there, there was a long queue at the restaurant. In fact, it is so popular that a queue is commonplace. Its signature dessert piece is steamed milk.

Nearby, you can see this noodle shop – Mak Man Kee(麥文記麵家). Its signature piece is no doubt Wonton Noodle, reputedly among the best in town. A friend of mine often comes here. She loves the shop’s pork knuckle noodle as well.

Next door is Mak’s Noodle, whose owner is a cousin of the owner of Man Man Kee. Mak’s family, known for making superb wonton noodle, has branched out to open different noodle shops in town, including Mak Man Kee, Mak’s Noodle and this one I blogged previously. It looks like that Mak Man Kee, frequented by more customers, is better reputed and more popular than Mak’s Noodle next door.

 Posted by Anna at 9:09 am

Cafe restaurant in TST

 Where to Eat/Drink  2 Responses »
Nov 292011
 

If you look for simple food in Tsim Sha Tsui (TST), especially around the Star Ferry pier, do not miss this restaurant – Deli and Wine, right next to Hong Kong Cultural Centre. This restaurant is actually run by a giant food chain in Hong Kong Maxim’s Group. It is a new move by the group, focusing on light and casual dining with another similar restaurant located in the shopping mall next to Hang Hau MTR station.

My favorite food for Deli and Wine in TST is vegetable curry and mushroom pasta. For their price (about HK$50), the food is unbeatable.

The curry vegetable comes with one plain rice and one bowl of curry

The interior decor is like a cafe. The seating is pretty comfy.

I have tried their fish burger and spicy French Fries in the Hang Hau branch. Liked them. They tasted ten times better than McDonald’s fish burgers and French Fries. The branch in TST sells fish burgers too.

Address: G/F, Restaurant Block, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, 10 Salisbury Road

 Posted by Anna at 1:35 pm

Al fresco dining: the local way

 Where to Eat/Drink  No Responses »
Nov 202011
 

You may easily associate alfresco dining with fine dining and expensive restaurants. This can be so true in Hong Kong. On the other hand, alfresco dining can be simply like this: This is a local restaurant in Chevalier Garden, Ma On Shan, New Territories with simple round tables and plastic chairs placed outdoor. I ate afternoon tea here today, enjoying some gratifying moments after a 3-hour hike.

I ordered a dish of Singaporean style fried noodle with a cup of milk tea. The Hong Kong style milk tea using the branded evaporated milk was smooth, and the noodle, as expected, was ordinary. The tea time costed me HK$25 (US$3). That made me happy – to enjoy the warmth of autumn sun and al fresco dining can be so simple and can cost so little.

 Posted by Anna at 10:23 pm

Yum Cha in old way

 Where to Eat/Drink  No Responses »
Nov 042011
 

The yum cha scene in Hong Kong in old days was different. In restaurants, staff pushed trolleys around with dim sum on them, yelling out the name of dim sum. If you liked the dim sum, you got it direct from the staff.

Now, you are given a paper menu and you mark what you want and then food will be delivered to your table.

The old way was much more mesmerizing, of course. Kids are very intuitive of what is good and that is why my two little nieces like going to Maxim’s restaurants for dim sum where trolleys are still being pushed around.

I have been to the Maxim’s Palace in City Hall in Central and Taikoo Shing. Dim sum is pricy but of high quality. And the atmosphere is good because of the old way. Avoid the crowd on weekends, though.

Here’s a list of the Maxim’s Palace restaurants:

Maxim’s restaurants, with comfortable seating and some innovations in producing new types of dim sum, still represent the modern version of yum cha. If you want to try the really old way of yum cha, the renowned century-old Lin Heung Tea House (No. 160-164 Wellington Street, Central) is the place to be.

Its patrons and its waiters/waitresses are all middle aged and above; the decor, the tea ware and dim sum are very traditional; you have to find seats yourself; it is noisy, crowded and probably a bit unclean, and don’t expect good service. But that is the place for the real old way.

 Posted by Anna at 1:26 pm
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