鯉魚門紹香園合桃果子專門店 Walnut Shop, Mongkok, Hong Kong


Healthy tasty snacks could be found here. Their purple sweet potato walnuts make great gifts for nut lovers. Naturally sweeten with purple sweet potato and lightly roasted. Completely guilt free and simply delicious. The store could be found on your right hand side after you exit from the MTR station walking towards Langham Place mall.

彩福皇宴 Choy Fook Banquet, Jordon, Hong Kong

Choy Fook is a restaurant specializes in wedding banquets at night that offers quality dim sum lunch during the day. Located upstairs in a mall/office building, the entrance could be rather easy to miss. Once you have found your way to the restaurant, the ambiance immediately transformed. The crystal chandeliers decorated dining room has no dim sum carts or noisy crowds. Everything is made to order and the menu (which is actually a dim sum list you can just check off) comes in both Chinese and English. A great place to spend a relaxing afternoon sampling some authentic and delicious Cantonese dim sum.

快樂漁港酒家 Happy Seafood Restaurant, Lei Yue Mun, Hong Kong

Lei Yue Mun Seafood Bazaar is one of the most heavily promoted tourist attraction. It was quite an experience just walking through the arrays of colorful fish tank featuring unknown sea creatures. You pick out what you want from any of the fish stalls and have restaurants prepare them fresh.

Happy Seafood was a friendly restaurant. While I was not too fond of the wedding banquet style dining room, I did find the ambiance welcoming. Food was nicely prepared. Whether it was a simple steamed dish, a salt and pepper stir fry or just sashimi style, everything was tasty. The restaurant also throw in complimentary items such as fish soup, dessert and fruits.

海景軒 Hoi King Heen, Tsim, Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

This Michelin one star restaurant offers more than just modernized upscale Cantonese affairs. From simple traditional Hakka dishes to the chef’s highly elaborated signature dishes, everything was highly innovative and artistically presented. Just one look at the lovely grouper roll tower or the grape like stuffed winter melon balls was enough to invoke rounds of ‘oohs and aahs’ from patrons. Food tasted amazing. There were nothing that was not perfectly prepared.

If good food alone is not enough to impress you, the impeccable service and comfortable dining room would. Hoi King Heen set a great stage for a relaxing fine dining experience.

肥姐小食店, Mongkok, Hong Kong

Your trip to Hong Kong is not complete until you have sample some exotic local street food. As scary as they might look, these little snack shops you find near busy streets are regulated and routinely inspected to ensure all food safety and hygiene standard are met. So don’t be intimated by the random animal parts. Give the giant octopus, duck gizzards or pork intestines a try. They are real delicacies.

銀龍粉麵茶餐廳 Ngan Lung Restaurant, Mongkok, Hong Kong

Old school Hong Kong style cafe (Cha chaan teng) serving great local classic such as milk tea, french toast, piggy buns and more. Tea sets are always a good deal. Food does not disappoint. Don’t be intimidated by extensive Chinese menus. Foreign visitors venture in here quite often.

明閣 Ming Court, Mongkok, Hong Kong

Contemporary Cantonese restaurant with a very modern yet classy vibe. Quality of service is a high priority here. Waitstaff will do anything to make sure your dining experience a very enjoyable one. Food was good but I was a bit dissatisfied by the very limited dim sum selection for lunch. Fortunately, everything they offered was great. Shanghainese soup dumplings, cheese spring rolls and the egg custard buns were must trys.

Reservation highly recommended even for lunch because the restaurant is rather small. Ming Court is a bit pricey compare to typical Cantonese restaurants in Hong Kong serving similar fare but what you get is 5 stars service and comfort.

Amoura Cafe, SFO International Terminal, San Francisco, CA My best effort to fully stuffed myself before arriving at the airport had failed once again. I ended up at the gate with over an hour wait time, and hungry. Despite the seemingly vast selection of eateries at the newly renovated SFO, post-security dining options at the international terminal is about as scarce as a smile from the flight attendants. Don’t make my mistake. The food court before the security check is where you should get your last grub if you must. Food is not going to get any better as you approach your gate, just increasingly more expensive. There is also nothing ‘international’ about the food. Your choices are sandwiches, more sandwiches, or maybe a fruit cup or yogurt if you are lucky.You couldn’t believe how happy I was when I found out there is this little cafe that serves Mediterranean food. Domas and falafel certainly sound way better than some cold turkey sandwich. I picked up a spanikopita which seems to be the freshest thing they had at that point. The filo is already soft and soggy which is expected for pre-made food. The taste was bland but tolerable. They will also heat up your food, though with the microwave oven only, still a nice gesture. High-res

Amoura Cafe, SFO International Terminal, San Francisco, CA

My best effort to fully stuffed myself before arriving at the airport had failed once again. I ended up at the gate with over an hour wait time, and hungry.

Despite the seemingly vast selection of eateries at the newly renovated SFO, post-security dining options at the international terminal is about as scarce as a smile from the flight attendants. Don’t make my mistake. The food court before the security check is where you should get your last grub if you must. Food is not going to get any better as you approach your gate, just increasingly more expensive. There is also nothing ‘international’ about the food. Your choices are sandwiches, more sandwiches, or maybe a fruit cup or yogurt if you are lucky.

You couldn’t believe how happy I was when I found out there is this little cafe that serves Mediterranean food. Domas and falafel certainly sound way better than some cold turkey sandwich.

I picked up a spanikopita which seems to be the freshest thing they had at that point. The filo is already soft and soggy which is expected for pre-made food. The taste was bland but tolerable. They will also heat up your food, though with the microwave oven only, still a nice gesture.

Hoshi, Santa Clara, CA


Hoshi has been my favorite izakaya restaurant for a long time. For some reasons I had not return to Hoshi for quite some time. Probably too busy sampling other new restaurants.

It is one of the very few places that excel in both izakaya and sushi. The chef has solid classic training in Japan and that really shows in his creations.The traditional no nonsense style might scare away some foreign clientele and Japanese food novice. Years ago, they didn’t even have a complete English menu. I am delight to find out all those special menu items written on the walls now has English translation. Still difficult to read for those with poor eyesight but that is a good start.

I almost always order omakase. You get 5 or 7 plates of izakaya small plates that is good to share between 2. Chef will feed you whatever he feels like making including some special dishes of the day. The great part about this is there is no set menu and you hardly get the same dishes on repeat visits.

Another I highly recommend is their sushi omakase. It is $28 for 8 pieces and a handroll. Not cheap but the quality is beyond excellent. Always great selection of quality fish impeccably crafted. Lunch sushi is even a better deal. I much prefer Hoshi’s nigiri to more popular places like Tomi and Yuki nearby. He got great style and presentation too.

They are running a special right now. If you are seated between 6-8pm on Tues to Wed they take 10% off your bill.

Eating my way through Hong Kong and China


Hopping on a flight to Hong Kong tomorrow. See you all again in 3 weeks.