The Best of the Rest

Have I bored you with my tales of Hong Kong yet?

It was an epic eating adventure, and one I'm going to miss but hopefully recreate in the not-too-distant future. Here was the best of the rest.

On Lamma Island, the best area to go for restaurants is Yung Shue Wan. We, however, missed the boat which isn't all that regular and opted for Sok Kwu Wan. You can walk between the two in an hour. We settled at a seafront restaurant called Sampan and simply ordered clams in blackbean sauce, poached prawns and squid in shrimp paste. Beautifully sweet prawns, really pungent squid due to the shrimp paste. Excellent stuff.

Bizarrely, we went to a Thai cafe and had some amazing Hainanese chicken rice, in Wanchai. I'm afraid I didn't get the name of the place, but it looks like this and it has yellow chickens hanging up. The chicken was so moist and tender and it can be ordered on or off the bone, with or without skin (without skin? Sweet Jesus why?). Chicken broth with a chicken claw poking out of it was light and flavoursome.

Congee with a deep fried dough stick to dip into it was another great breakfast, served in many cafes - we just spotted the great bubbling pans of it. I opted for pork rather than the pigs blood my mum went for. The dough stick dipped in goes all soft and spongy.

Tofu fa with sugar syrup was another light breakfast I had, though I usually have it as a dessert. I prefer mine cold; far more refreshing.

I also visited Hui Lau Shan, a chain of cafes selling healthy desserts twice, once in Causeway Bay and once in Jordan. Refreshing drinks made with aloe jelly, coconut milk and mango juice was delicious, while tofu pudding in mango juice with red beans, alongside a fresh fruit bowl was quite mammoth. A great place for people who like textures; lots of glutinous rice balls and jelly options.

More traditional was Yuen Kee, on 32 Centre Street in Western. A small place that held roughly around 20 people, they do only hot soup desserts. Bowls such as almond soup with lotus nuts and hard boiled eggs, we elected to go eggless (above). I had a mung bean soup that was sweet and refreshing, even if it was hot. Mung beans are said to be cooling, after all.

One sweet I will probably miss the most - mochi ice cream. Why don't we have this in London? Different flavours of ice cream, wrapped in a rice flour mochi wrapper, available in cornershops (7-11) and supermarkets. The texture contrasts are amazing; soft gooey rice flour skin, giving way to cold sweet ice cream. Black sesame was a favourite, but I also love red bean, green tea and the purple ube flavour.

So that's it. Normal service to resume henceforth. No more holidays for ages. Pass the gin.