Bia Hong Kong - Part II

We intermingled International cuisine with Chinese food during our stay and although it’s touted as fusion food, I’d count our meal in Felix as an international meal. To explain further, Felix is a Phillipe Starck designed restaurant on the top floor of the Peninsula Hotel, with absolutely fantabulous views. Before we left Ireland we were told that if we felt like treating ourselves in Hong Kong, Felix was the place to go. We decided to book a table there for our last night in Hong Kong.

Felix was a real treat. From the dedicated luxurious lifts that swoop you up to a dizzy height (they also spectacularly dim the lights upon arrival at the restaurant), to the dual frontaged bar, the incredible view, the well designed serving pods, Felix has a serious wow factor, oh, and two g&t’s cost you €18!!!!! So, hands down I think it counts as our most expensive meal we have ever had ever, anywhere. The views are spectacular, the experience was unforgettable and the food is excellent. We had a really great night. We didn’t take any photos of our meals but we couldn’t ignore deserts….
oh, and here’s one which will give you some sense of the décor, just ignore the pensive look (oh, ok, then I was a little inebriated by that stage).

Just in case you might think Hong Kong is a precursor to how we’ll be living in New Zealand, be under no illusion, real life commences when we reach Wellington. We’ll be treating Auckland and Hamilton as part of the holiday (before the long real life holiday in Wellington begins).

Sharon

Bia in Hong Kong

Getting something to eat that would please both myself and Cathal was always going to be a challenge. Cathal isn’t the greatest fan of Chinese cooking and refuses to eat Chinese at home. In Hong Kong we thought we probably wouldn’t have much choice! On the first evening we arrived when we went looking for food we didn’t veer far from our hotel. We were quite tired and jetlagged and chose an inexpensive eatery on Kimberley road that a lot of locals seemed to be enjoying. A quick look at the menu confirmed that we both could get something to our liking. Whilst seated I took a more expansive look at the menu and saw some things that didn’t quite whet my appetite – Pork small intestines and Pork Liver Congee or how about Pork Giblet congee or my personal favourite Chicken Feet in Black Bean Sauce– yummy. We weren’t put off however and had a reasonably pleasant meal. After that we relied quite heavily on the guide book to steer us in the right direction.

We bought the Lonely Planet Guide to Hong Kong and not once, not twice but three times we sought out certain restaurants to discover that they were no longer located on the street to which the guide book referred – very annoying. A quick check of the guide book revealed that it was published in 2006 so we couldn’t have bought a more recent version. I guess the pace of change is rapid in Hong Kong.

After our first experience of authentic Chinese Cuisine we strongly soldiered on but I’ll admit we did upgrade a little when we chose our next Chinese eatery – Fook Lan Moon, touted as one of Hong Kong’s top Cantonese restaurants. It was a great experience, we were served Jasmine tea on arrival and topped up with tea throughout our meal. On the minus side though I felt very uncomfortable with the amount of attention you get from the waiting staff. You are literally watched as you eat your meal so that your every care can be catered to. Someone wasn’t watching me closely enough though. I had a really hard time managing my fatty and grisly chicken with chopsticks and resorted to the best eating implements I know, my own hands. Well, the Chinese aren’t all that graceful themselves when it comes to eating and it seems anything goes.

Desert was a first – I chose the traditional Chinese desert – sweet soup! I have to say it was the highlight of my meal and I will definitely choose it again when the opportunity next presents itself.

Our next culinary treat involved Afternoon Tea at the famous Peninsula Hotel. We arrived at 3.30pm on Sunday afternoon and queued for over 45 mins for a table. Neither of us would normally do such a thing but we really wanted to experience another of the “must do” things in Hong Kong. As it turned out it was totally worth it. Isobel, I thought of you the whole time we were there, hope the pictures give you some sense of the atmosphere. The Christmas decorations at this hotel are spectacular, very classy and jarred totally with our experience of Christmas in the hotel we were staying in – synthesized Christmas musak piped throughout the hotel assaulting our eardrums.

I have a bit more to say on the food front but Blogger just isn't co-operating picture wise so I'll just end it here for the moment. More deliciousness to come.

Sharon

Origami

During my many visits to the IFC shopping centre I was intrigued by the lengths the various shops would go to make the experience more memorable. I was fascinated in particular with elaborate paper installations throughout the shopping mall only to find out that there were 4 art installations by a show piece designer named Zoe Bradley.

What follows are pictures of some of the installations but the pictures don’t really do them justice.

Cathal.

Kia Ora

We've arrived safely in Auckland and are emailing direct from our very lovely hotel. Before we even discuss New Zealand there's quite a bit to report on Hong Kong. So, we may end up interspersing Hong Kong stories with New Zealand news but for now here follows some of what we got up to in a very hectic week in Hong Kong.

Sharon