Circumstances lead me to take a relatively unplanned holiday, and one for visiting relatives instead of exploring by myself. However, my brother managed to suggest that we stop by Hong Kong first, and that way, I could tick off another country that I’ve been too!

I was quite looking forward to it since I heard about the efficiency of Hong Kong, and I figured it’d be easy to navigate and communicate since the people there could speak English.

But first, plane wings!

My plane was quite empty so I could take all the window seat pictures I wanted. I’d also forgotten how nice daytime flights are.

Obligatory airplane food pictures! All the food on these flights had flavours about right; lately I’ve really noticed that plane food and hospital food have far too much salt. Nothing needs so much salt! These were all quite tasty. In fact, they hand out surveys to random people on the plane, except I got handed a Chinese one and they didn’t appear to have an English one available, but I got picked again on my return flight and that’s when I provided feedback on the food.

And touchdown!

My brother and I were originally set to arrive at similar times, but for typhoon reasons, he was delayed quite significantly. So, I was left to my own devices. First off, coffee! Because Asian countries know how to enjoy coffee at night!

Look, people who make coffee, inside a box! It’s such a cute setup! But while everything looked really great, I had an immediate culture shock here. I didn’t realise that the staff here ignore you until you tell them what you want! I had walked up to the counter, ready to ask about their different coffees, when I realised the person at the counter, who was folding a whole bunch of boxes, was ignoring me until I asked for something. How awkward!

Well, their coffees were intriguing enough that I ordered both an espresso and a filter (the espresso picture didn’t turn out so great). Look at all the coffees in test tubes!

I had ordered a Kenyan on filter which tasted great, it was exactly how I liked it. The espresso was also really good, surprisingly so, as I think they didn’t have single origins (a lot of cafes don’t seem to serve single origin espressos). I was simply offered the choice of fruity or nutty/chocolatey. And I always (almost always) go fruity.

Some random artworks while exploring this little mall. WE LIKE THE MOON!!! This exhibit was definitely better at night than the daytime. There’s also a cute little Japanese-Brazillian restaurant here that I thought about going to,  but I figured it was very tourist trappy.

Instead, I finally got a rose ice cream! I’d been waiting a long time for this moment. I always thought this was gimmicky, especially if the quality of the ice cream wasn’t good and the layering was done poorly. But I managed to pick well first go! This was an assortment of floral flavours – rose, hibiscus, and lavender. Also, they seemed to have some sort of Elizabeth Arden promotion going on, so they handed me a sample of things too!

But coffee and ice cream weren’t going to fill me up for dinner though, so I spotted this busy little stand. A waffle iron!!! Yes, I would eventually have egg waffles from this place (and they were so cheap at 14HKD!) Plus I loved the sheer number of things I didn’t recognise.

This caught me eye, which looked like radish, fish balls, tofu and something. I was guessing the something was fish maw. I never bothered to find out though, but I’m pretty sure I’ve eaten it before. And it was curry flavoured! Yay! Except that also meant it was a tad spicy, so I was sniffling while eating it on the side of the street. But it was cheap and tasty! Though again, not really all that filling.

So I finally hot my Hot Star fix. I’ve never bought anything from the ones in Australia, just because I never felt like Taiwanese fried chicken at the time (things like Gojima, Belle’s Hot Chicken always get my attenti0n instead). Again, I couldn’t figure out why people were pushing ahead and ordering, and it took me a while to realise that all I had to do was walk up and place an order. I think I’m far too polite to survive in a place like this!

Anyway, I chose the two things I couldn’t get in Aus – cartilage, and giblets (though they were labelled as kidneys, but I figure they’re the same thing). Wow, they were so cheap, and so delicious! Now I know why everyone loves Hot Star. I guess I should give this a go when I want fried chicken in a pinch!

Oh yes. I wanted to visit some wet markets though it wasn’t high on my priority list. Turns out I didn’t have to try very hard because it was just around the corner! Man there were just guts and stuff everywhere, it was amazing! I was taking so many photos likes the tourist I am.

I kind of wish that Australia had some of this stuff, but I think it’d violate just about every food safety rule out there!

Now it was time to tram into the city, where the hipster area is. The view while travelling was super interesting – it’s amazing how hilly this place is, and that there are buildings just happily built there. How cool!

The Cupping Room! This was the place one of my baristas recommended. You can tell it’s cool because they have a lego model of their own cafe. Funnily enough, Black Eagles don’t impress me though. I’m more a La Marzocco/Synesso person, and sometimes Slayer. And man, they have an impressive selection of beans. And expensive.

A chausson aux pommes! I forgot that they don’t necessarily know what an apple turnover is, so I double checked the name before ordering. I kind of wish there was cream in this, but it still tasted ok.

Because of the machine, and because they didn’t offer single origins as espresso, I skipped the short black and went straight for milk and filter. I’m pretty sure it was here that I started freaking out about the volume of my flat white again though. I pretty much only like 6oz, and I think this might have been 8 (or it was somewhere in China, I can’t remember). It was ok.

The filter, however, was an expensive competition coffee, and also one that I recall Proud Mary having on offer. I chose this over the two higher priced coffees, because I liked the sound of the tasting notes better. And that mango! Yes, plenty of mango flavour in this. My brother chose an Ethiopian gesha, which wasn’t as outstanding as this one, even though it was the “better” coffee.

More exploration, and more markets. Look at this happy pig head! Also, I didn’t realise that Feather and Bone had shops outside Australia… that was pretty cool!

Sad papaya!

I needed some hydration, and found a health food place with cold pressed juice. There were so many different coconut options on offer! There was juice, juice with pulp, juice with pulp but blended, and then there was this. Silk mylk, which had a luscious (but almost too thick, but still ok) texture. Very interesting mouthfeel, but it didn’t feel as hydrating as I think just the water + pulp would have been.

We passed Noc Coffee Roasters a few times, mainly because I was hoping to get some egg waffles from Oddies Foodies – but alas, they had run out of the only flavour that I was interested in trying! So I opted for more coffee instead. This place had a primising looking LM Strada, so I chose an espresso here. But ugh, it was too dark and not that nice.

Also, I managed to take a nice picture of my skirt!

And the filter – by guest roaster Onibus! This was the Rwanda Coko, which is a super delicious coffee. Here, the flavours still stood out, but no the best brew I’ve had. They were off slightly, but this was still drinkable, unlike their espresso.

Now we needed food to offset all that coffee. My brother couldn’t decide between this place (Mak’s Noodle) or the one across the street, in the end we decided that green was good. Oh, this is wonton noodle soup! Nice! I like the texture of the noodles and while the serving size was small, there was plenty of tendon, so I was happy! I actually think the brother was not as rich as a similar item I had at Singapore airport earlier in the year.

Then, still being hungry, and having stumbled across a soba shop that my brother wanted to visit in Tokyo (and it has a Michelin Star), we decided to pop in. Yep, I was hungry enough that I consumed all this too! Ajitama shio soba with truffle oil. Personally I don’t think the truffle oil was needed, but definitely made it aromatic!

And then the night lights!! The light show was OK, but I liked Singapore’s one better. And I managed to catch the ferry to the other side to return home!

It was only a very short trip, so our time was already up. A simple breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien since it was close and I spotted it on my first night here, and because I’ve been hoping to stumble across really good waffles ever since I left Adelaide. However, even though these were Belgian waffles, they simply didn’t live up to what I enjoyed at Exchange.

And finally it was time to leave. Here is some airport food of roast duck and BBQ pork, with some delicious peanuts. My brother ordered the goose version of this, except I couldn’t tell the difference in flavour and texture between our two dishes.

Overall, I didn’t actually enjoy Hong Kong as much as I thought I might. Singapore was more my style (except for the humidity), a bit more orderly and polite. Hong Kong felt like China if China was a westernised country, or something. I loved the street stalls and they’ve got some good stuff, but the culture just wasn’t the same. Which makes me wonder, will I actually like New York once I finally visit? Only time will tell!

Hopefully I get to post my Shanghai adventures too, but given how busy I am these days, I’m not so sure it will happen. Maybe in December!