I was really excited to go to Hong Kong especially since I’ve heard so many comparisons between Hong Kong and Singapore. I would have to say, although they are two modern, expensive cities of pre dominantly Chinese population, the similarity ends there. English is much less spoken in Hong Kong (even though it was a former British colony), traditional culture seems much more prominent in Hong Kong (it’s not littered with Western brands) and the city has seasons! It was a perfect 65 degrees in December. I had a fabulous time shopping (I had a chance to practice my bargaining skills once again) and exploring as well as trying out the food.

One of my favorites was this dim sum place in Tsim Sha Tsui.We had decided to go in for a little afternoon snack…but instead we ordered 7 dishes. Everything was so incredibly delicious that it was well worth it and we ended up coming back for lunch the next day. The menu is translated into English and each dish has a picture beside it so you can see what you are ordering. We didn’t plan it but everything we ordered was vegetarian-ish. Yum yum!!

Steamed Eggplant – The name is a little misleading since you have to fry it later but still delish. Made by steaming the eggplant, then covering it in corn starch and frying it in a skillet wtih chopped garlic and dark/light soy sauce. Sounds easy enough for me to try out one day! My favorite dish of the night, I’d eat eggplant everyday if it was made like this.

Crispy Custard Buns: We had a choice between steamed buns or crispy ones. Naturally we chose the fried crispy ones. The buns are chewy and crispy on the outside with a sweet custard filling on the inside. They look small but fill you up fast.

Flat Noodles in XO Sauce: The flat noodles were rolled up and fried in the XO sauce. I had no idea what XO sauce was so I had to look it up: it’s a spicy seafood sauce with scallops and dried fish cooked with chili, onions, garlic and oil. You actually can’t really taste the fishiness at all. Apparently the name XO comes from Extra Old cognac and was usually served as a condiment at higher end restaurants.

Mango Sago Pomelo: I’ve had this before in Singapore but the quality of mango was much better here. I also had to look this one up since I wasn’t exactly sure what I was eating. Sago is basically a starch extracted from palm stems, it has a spongy consistency and pretty much looks and tastes like tapioca pearls. Sago pearls are usually boiled with water or milk to made a pudding and in this case it was made with pomelo – a citrus fruit and fresh mango. It pretty much tasted like mango pudding so I was happy.

Glutinous Rice Balls: Compared to everything else I had, this wasn’t as great. The rice was really sticky and combined with the sticky sweet peanut sauce, it just wasn’t the best combo. And it was heavy. I had to strategically plan for enough room in my stomach so I didn’t eat too much of this.

Vegetable dumplings in chili sauce: standard vegetarian dumplings but they were submerged in chili sauce with bean sprouts and lots of MSG so they tasted delicious.

Mango Pancakes: It was more of a pancake filled with food and folded into a square… I’m not sure how the pancakes were made but I’m assuming there was either some food coloring in there or some mango flavor. The inside was stuffed with fresh mango and whipped cream. I wish I took a picture of the inside but I was too busy stuffing my face. Maybe next time!

The Sweet Dynasty
100 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
Hong Kong