3 Days, Four Nights in the City of Lights : Tim Ho Wan

HONG KONG – I had first heard about Tim Ho Wan from watching an episode of Anthony Bourdain’s The Layover. It was the bit when they ate those BBQ Buns that got my taste buds salivating. I then started to read up on the place to the point of obsession! I had read articles and reviews about the one-starred Michelin restaurant, and by the end of it, I had a come up with a list of things I was going to order (this was even before we had booked the flight and hotel). Everything I read about Tim Ho Wan was about how (1) the chef, Mak Pui Gor, used to be the dim sum chef at the Hong Kong Four Seasons Hotel before opening up his own restaurant, and that (2) it was the cheapest Michelin starred restaurant in the world, and (3) as a result you had to wait 3 hours to get a table. Based in Manila, I’ve had to wait for 3 hours just to get my driver’s license renewed, and there was no Michelin starred dim sum at the end of that wait! I was up for it!

We left the hotel at around half 6 in the evening and made our way to the restaurant. We got out of Yau Ma Tei station and we were greeted with the smell of curried squid balls in a hole in the wall right outside the station. We were torn between looking at our map and watching this lady ladle curry sauce over freshly fried squid balls into a styro pot, stab a barbecue stick in and hand it to her customers. We couldn’t resist and thought this would tide us over perfectly for the next 3 hours. We were so caught up with looking for Tim Ho Wan on the map and eating this yummy squid balls that we forgot to take a photo! Anyway…

After about 20 minutes of fighting with the iPhone map app we finally found our destination. There isn’t a great big sign saying TIM HO WAN, but after reading so much about it and seeing the photos, not to mention being confronted with a mini-queue, I knew we had arrived.

The events that followed our arrival was not what we had expected at all. We had no idea whether we had to queue first and then get a number, or get a number and then wait in the queue. I tried to talk to the lady who kept popping in and out of the restaurant, but it was impossible to get her attention. I then went up to someone in the queue and asking them how they managed to get a number. She was local and nice enough to say “Let me try and ask for you…”. I could see she was having an equally difficult time getting the lady’s attention, when finally she managed to speak to the guy, who then handed me – what I like to call up to this day – The Golden Ticket. We were #204 – and all we had to do now was wait. Just then I got a text message from my friend that she was running late and that she would be there by 8 pm. “Number ONE-NINE-SIX!!!!”, I heard him yell out. “ONE-NINE-SEVEN!!” This was not going to be the 3-hour wait we had expected!

While waiting for our number to be called and my friend to arrive, I started to fill out the menu that they handed to us. This didn’t take very long as I already knew the things we wanted to order, with a few additional vegetarian friendly ones for my friend. “TWO-OH-THREE!”… Oh no, my friend hadn’t even arrived yet. “TWO-OH-FOUR!!”, I had to explain to him, if my friend could just follow inside when she arrived. And he said “NO NO NO!! Come back later!”. Argh! Had we lost our slot?!! This was ridiculous! We only had to wait 20 minutes for our table; anyone would have loved to be in our shoes! I waited for a bit before going up to his “podium” and looking to see if our number was still on the list, but it had been scratched out. This was not going well. When he appeared again on his podium, I asked if I could get another number, and he said, “No, just come back later”. This was very confusing, was he turning me away, or was he saying he would hold the slot for us? After about half and hour, he started calling number he had called before – this was our second chance! “TWO-OH-FOUR!” he called out, “We’re still waiting for someone!” “Okay, wait. Come to me after.”. Okay I now understood what was going on. “TWO-OH-FOUR!”, “Still waiting!” “Okay okay, come to me after”. This went on several times until finally my friend arrived! “TWO-OH-FOUR?!!” “HERE!!! WE’RE READY!!!”, he then ushered us in.

We were finally seated elbow to elbow in this no frills 20-something seater restaurant. But that didn’t matter because the food we were about to try was definitely worth it. They serve you a glass of Pu-erh tea, which is a customary charge of HK $2, but honestly, it goes really well with Yum Cha (Dim Sum). We wait excitedly for the food to arrive. It didn’t take long but when ever the lady would come towards our direction with a couple of bamboo steamers stacked over each other, it was hard not to be disappointed when it was for the people next to us. That was until ours arrived…

BBQ Pork Bun HK $17
Their version a Char Sui Bao, but fried. Sweet, lightly crunchy but soft bun which leads you pocket packed with barbecued pork. Seriously delicious! You may want to order 2 of these like we did. Took the rest back to the hotel, had it cold the next day and it was equally fantastic!

Lo Mai Gai (Glutinous Rice Dumpling) HK $24
Glutinous Rice with a savoury filling.

Cheong Fun (Vermicelli Roll Stuffed with Shrimp)HK $22
Handmade steamed rice noodle rolled around a tender shrimp swimming in a sweet soy sauce.

Steamed Egg Cake HK $12
Also known as Malai Ko. It's a soft spongey cake, which tastes nothing like egg, more like a treacle cake.
(Har Gow lurking at the background. Equally delicious.)

Tonic Medlar & Petal HK $12
This was wonderful surprise. Cubes of jelly with edible flowers and goji berries that burst in your mouth. YUM!

We spent HK $211 on the 3 of us for 12 dishes, which was extremely reasonable. The food was as fantastic, and in some ways, even better than what we expected. I was so pleased with how nice the guy was about holding our slot for us that we tipped him on our way out.

Everyone has different experiences when queuing for and dining at Tim Ho Wan, this was ours, and hopefully we'll have another one, equally memorable, in the future.

3 Days, Four Nights in the City of Lights : Day One

HONG KONG – The last time I was in Hong Kong was 24 years ago, that is, apart from connecting flights to London. I didn’t have awfully fond memories of my last trip to Hong Kong, and perhaps that was the reason why I was never drawn back to visit. I have a friend who has been living there for a couple of years now and who will be leaving HK by the summer, so I thought, there is no better time to visit than now.

We arrive in Hong Kong Airport and for the first time in years I actually headed towards immigration to leave the airport and set out for the city. We had planned to take the Airport Express, and after doing some research, I found that they have a type of Octopus Card (their version of the Oyster Card), called the Airport Express Travel Pass. The card costs HK $200 or HK $300 (refundable deposit of $50), which include a one or two single journeys on the Airport Express, as well as three consecutive days of unlimited travel on the MTR . You are supposed to be able to use it on trams and buses, but it never worked for us on the buses – instead we topped up with $50 at one point to be able to get on the buses. Besides that hiccup, I think this card is worth it especially if you are only going to be there for a few days. These travel cards can be bought as soon as your clear immigration.

Photo taken from the dicoverhongkong.com website

After purchasing our travel cards and drawing some cash, we headed to the Airport Express platform. There are areas as you enter the train where you can store your luggage during your journey into town. I knew Hong Kong was modern, but this train was fantastic. It was quiet, the ride was extremely smooth, and fast. Depending on where you’re stop is, you can be in Central in 24 minutes. We accidentally got off at the wrong stop, but we had the option to get back into the train or take a free shuttle bus service, which stops at most major hotels and transport interchanges. We decided to give the shuttle bus service a go. Not the best decision! It was great for the experience; however, it wasn’t the most comfortable journey! The driver drove like a maniac and the seats were rather small, so trying to buckle up while he was whirling through the city was completely impossible. We literally had to hang on to our seats for dear life! But it gets you from A to B, and you have a funny story to tell afterwards. We were dropped off in front of the Novotel hotel, as this was the closest stop to our hotel. So if you are staying at the Novotel this option might be great for you. It was about a 3-minute walk to get to our hotel. The weather was fantastic, and the smell of Chinese food everywhere welcomed us as we walked. We definitely knew that we were back.

As I mentioned in my last post, I was having trouble deciding which side of Hong Kong to stay in. Everyone said Hong Kong, but most of the places I wanted to visit were in Kowloon, plus my friend also lives in Kowloon. By the end of our trip, we were glad that we decided to stay in Kowloon side. Everything just seemed to work out, the hotel, my friend living round the corner from us, and really, if you want the true vibe of Hong Kong, it’s in Kowloon. Dare I say, we found the people in Kowloon a lot friendlier.

After checking-in, we headed to Tsim Sha Tsui to grab some late lunch in Din Tai Fung, Silvercord mall. The last time I had Din Tai Fung was when I was living in Singapore. Back then I was totally unaware of the popularity of Din Tai Fung until I left Singapore. We had the famous Xiao Long Bao, and another fish dish. Dishes were rather pricey, and although it tasted good, I wasn’t closing my eyes and letting out a soft appreciative ‘mmmm’ after every bite. It didn’t help that I recently tried Shi Lin, and it is very close to DTF’s Xiao Long Bao.

Xiao Long Bao - Known as the soup dumpling. I read somewhere that each dumpling recipe is exactly: 1g of dough, 16g of pork and 18 folded pleats, precisely. Once in your mouth you savour the the soup juices ooze out and you slowly chew the filling of minced pork, ginger and spring onion.

After lunch we wandered around the TST area, to get our bearings for the next day.

Heritage 1881 - the former Marine Police Headquarters. Now home to luxury brands, an exhibition hall and hotel.

Victoria Harbour

After all that walking, the day’s journey was slowly catching up on us. We also had an exciting dinner to look forward to that evening (which I think merits it's own entry), so we headed back to the hotel to rest and freshen up.

To be continued…

3 Days & 4 Nights, In The City of Lights : Hotel Madera

HONG KONG - Apart from it’s neon lights, awesome food, and being a shopping haven, Hong Kong is notoriously known for it’s tiny living spaces. That being so, it was tricky to find a hotel within ones budget that wouldn’t compromise ones comfort, and which would also be well located. To stay in Kowloon side or Hong Kong side was another thing to consider. Everyone I asked said to stay in Hong Kong side, but the hotels that were within budget were in Kowloon side. Also, most of the things we wanted to see were in Kowloon side. So we narrowed it down to 2 hotels, the Novotel and Eaton Smart, both of which were in the Jordan area. When we were about to book the Novotel, we did a last minute comparison between the two hotels and just to humor ourselves, we decided to check the rates of Hotel Madera. The clincher was that Hotel Madera had free Wi-Fi and the sizes of the rooms were bigger, but then again it was also slightly more expensive. We bit the bullet and booked Hotel Madera – and we were ever so pleased that we did so!

We got to the hotel lobby and it looked exactly like it did in the photos on their website. It looked and smelt clean. I am almost certain they have piped in ‘odorizers’ because the hotel had a distinct fragrance, which you can smell even as you approach the hotel. Check-in was smooth and they even upgraded our room from a Grand Deluxe Room to a Premier Room. This meant having an even bigger room, a shower AND a jet bath, and we were in a higher floor, which also meant better view from our room.

We were really happy with the room we got. It was clean and smelt great, just like it’s surrounding areas in the hotel. Wi-Fi was great and worked everywhere within the hotel (even in the lifts!). The rooms have JBL iPod docking speakers, which we never really got to use. Amenities in the bathroom were Crabtree and Evelyn, which was replenished everyday. I know hotels are supposed to do so, but a lot of hotels don’t. The hotel has a free one-off mini bar offer in which you can take anything from the mini bar during your stay, and you are only charged for it once they’ve replenished it and you’ve consumed any of the items. The only issue we had with our room, and hotel for that matter, was that the division between the room and bathroom were made of frosted glass. I am not a fan of this at all! But it is looking like the norm in most modern hotels, especially in Hong Kong.

Upon check-in we were given breakfast coupons for which we could use at the hotel’s lovely café on the 3rd floor. The coupon entitles you to any pastry of your choice (croissant, scones, pie or pancakes), a bottle of their own really fresh and delicious orange juice, and a choice of your coffee made by their in-house barista. For some people, they might find that they’d need a more substantial breakfast, but for us this was perfect. Every morning we enjoyed our croissant, juice and macchiato (which was more like a cappuccino). Coffee in this hotel was really good—and I do like a properly made cup of coffee.

On the same floor the hotel has a gym and game room, which hotel guests can use. We didn’t really get the chance to use those facilities, but we did have a peek and found the gym to be really nicely decorated and well equipped.

The hotel has a rooftop bar on the 29th floor with a spectacular view of Hong Kong and it’s bright lights. Okay, it might not be as fantastic as the view from the Four Seasons or the Ritz Carlton, but we weren’t paying those prices either. We had a drink one evening at the rooftop bar to watch the Symphony of Lights, which I think was much better to do that trekking back to Tsim Sha Tsui to watch it.

On the same floor as the hotel lobby, there is a small gallery that holds an assortment of things vintage and modern in Hong Kong. It is such a lovely touch to the hotel, especially when you don’t necessarily have enough time to visit one of the museums.

They even had a real working post box in the gallery where in-house guests could use to post letters or postcards.

The location of this hotel was perfect, it’s a 3 minute walk to Jordan MTR, and another few minutes walk to Temple Street Market, which is great in the late evenings.

What I particularly liked about this hotel was that we were paying say 3 star hotel prices (or at least it felt that way because of booking.com), but we were getting 5 star service. The staff in the Madera was always approachable and friendly. They’d always be willing to answer questions or even to just have a chat about the city. It was nice to erase from past experiences and the stereotype that people in Hong Kong are rude. On our last day at the hotel, we had checked-out early so we could wander around the city and shop a bit more, without having to rush back to the hotel and worry about checking out. They were extremely accommodating and told us they could store our luggage for us until we got back, and if we had any additional shopping to do, they would let us use a space to repack our luggage. I came back that afternoon with a new luggage as the one I had arrived with was literally collapsing in its seams! When we got back to the hotel, one of the staff asked us if we would like to use the facilities (bathrooms) on the third floor or even a complimentary drink at the café, before repacking our suitcases. They were making it incredibly difficult not only to leave Hong Kong, but also to leave this lovely hotel!! I think the reason why this hotel exceeded our expectations was because, it wasn’t a branded or chain hotel, nor was it extortionately expensive or big, but we were treated as if we were staying in the Shangri-La.

At the end of each day, we couldn’t wait to go back to our hotel room and just enjoy the place. It really is the little things that make a holiday great and memorable, and it’s nice to see that this hotel takes that seriously.