Tag Archives: Lan Fong Yuen

Two Days in Hong Kong

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The final leg of our Hawai’i trip was a two-day stop in Hong Kong.  A former residence of mine, it is one of my favorite cities in the world and a place I always enjoy returning to.  Thankfully, we still have many friends there are were hosted by a former university classmate and her husband.

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This couple has three adorable children and two days wasn’t enough time to properly visit with them.  The older two were keen on showing off for the camera, seeing what funny faces and poses they could make!  Next time we’ll be sure to leave extra time so we can do some exploring of the city with them.

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One of our stops was breakfast at Lan Fong Yuen along the Central Escalator.  I wrote about this place almost exactly a year ago.  The full entry (with loads of food porn) is here.

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It was mighty crowded and we were placed at a table shared with two other couples in the back corner of the restaurant.  Ordering is always a bit of a challenge because the level of English spoken isn’t as much as it used to be, and our Cantonese is basically nonexistent.  Nonetheless we were able to work it out and were rewarded with some comfort food.

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Drawing on the memories of so many school children throughout East Asia: instant noodles and broth with chicken on top.

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And toasted buns with sweetened condensed milk on top, to accompany the milk tea that is just at the edge of the frame.  Nothing fancy here but certainly a tasty way to start your day.

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Most of the two days was spent wandering around, with Tawn doing some shopping and me chilling out in cafes, reading magazines.  Above is a small street in Lan Kwai Fong with some pretty flowers.  We passed by on our way to dim sum with a friend I had not seen since the day Tawn and I met in January 2000.  By coincidence, I ran into this friend and her mother in Hong Kong Airport that same day, as they were on their way to India and I was on my way to a fateful meeting with destiny.

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Lots of galleries in the Hollywood Road area.  This work is called Imperial Pig and it is by Chinese artist Huang Cheng.  It shows a pig receiving a traditional Chinese medicinal treatment known as fire cupping.  When I lived here, I actually had my own not so good experience being on the receiving end of one of these treatments, which left me bruised for months after!

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One of the coffee shops where I spent some time: Holly Brown Coffee, located on Stanley Street.  Fantastic coffee and ambience.  Their gelato is supposed to be pretty good, too.  I like the graphics on their cup.

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Walking around Central, I noticed this store.  I think the metal screens on the facade of Harvey Nichols are beautiful.  There is so much interesting architecture and design in Hong Kong.

We also had the opportunity to meet up with some Xangans.  By sheer coincidence, Jason and his husband Daniel, exiled from Tokyo for the moment, were in town for the weekend.  While they had visited Bangkok just a few months ago, we were excited for the chance to spend some time with them again.

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Photos borrowed from Jason’s facebook page (without permission – yikes!).  On the left, Tawn, Jason, and Daniel.  On the right, me, Jason, and Tawn.  You should check out Jason’s blog.  He isn’t posting as often these days but has some of the spectacular music he has written and performed.

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Following a tip from Gary’s blog, the four of us sought out this retro Starbucks.  Located on Duddell Street, which dead-ends off Queen’s Road in Central, it is designed as an old bing sutt, literally an “ice house”.  The exterior doesn’t give anything away…

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But once you’re inside, you feel you have been magically transported back to the 1950s and 60s.  A bing sutt was the coffeehouse of the old days, where people could take a bread, enjoy a beverage or trendy Western treats such as soda pop and ice cream.  The design was a fusion of East and West even back in those days.  It feels even more fusion seeing a recreation in the context of the modern day.

This particular project was a collaboration between Starbucks and the Hong Kong brand G.O.D. (Goods of Desire) and the location was chosen because it is very close to the city’s arts community.

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While we were there, some photographers started a fashion shoot.  My lighting isn’t that good but the model’s cheongsam fits the interior of the bing sutt perfectly.  Feels very much like the Wong Kar Wai film, In the Mood for Love.

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New shopping area at the tip of Tsim Sha Tsui in Kowloon called 1881 Heritage.  The developers took the former Marine Police Headquarters (which closed in 1996) and restored it, creating an interesting mixture of history and commerce.  Worth a visit, more for the sights rather than the shops.

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A ride on the Star Ferry remains one of my favorite ways to see the city, and one of the least expensive, too.

The other Xangan we met with was Angel.  He splits his time between Hong Kong and Vancouver, so we’ve been able to meet before.  Didn’t get a picture as we met in a crowded coffee shop.  You should stop by his blog, too, as he recently wrote about a stay at the new W Hotel in Taipei, which is beautiful.

We did a lot more with our two days, but those were the highlights.  On Sunday evening we headed to the airport and flew back to Bangkok, arriving just before midnight.  Of course, all this happened two and a half weeks ago.  I’m so far behind in my blogging!  So now I’ll get back on course and catch you up with what’s happening here in Bangkok.

 

Food in HK – Lan Fong Yuen

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Continuing the Curry Puffy Cuisine Crawl, Tawn and I headed out to Central one morning to retrace Gary’s secondary school breakfast steps, on the hunt for Hong Kong milk tea.  Our destination this morning was Lan Fong Yuen, ostensibly (but unverifiably) the place where milk tea was first created.

Located on the north side of Hong Kong Island, Central is the business district.  Immediately to the south of it is the 1800-foot Victoria Peak.  The rapid elevation gain combined with the population density creates an interesting warren of narrow streets that are great for exploring.  The Central Escalator, a public conveyance system that combines moving sidewalks and escalators, makes it easier for pedestrians to go from Central to the Mid-Levels, a popular residential and, increasingly, commercial area part way up the mountain.

The Central Escalator bisects Gage Street right where it meets Wellington and right below it sits Lan Fong Yuen.  The original shop (there’s a second one a few doors down) still has a pair of wooden stools out front on which you can sit and enjoy your milk tea and a light meal.  The picture above shows the Central Escalator in the top left of the picture.  The red taxi is on Wellington Street.

Looking down Gage Street from Wellington, you can hardly resist the urge to go explore.  It is a lively street with vibrant sights, well worth a post-tea stroll.  But before strolling, it is time for tea.

The interior is clean but dingy, looking just like a hundred other similar restaurants that have been around for ages.  The staff is friendly and a picture menu makes it easy for those who don’t speak Chinese to order.  Tawn, being part Chinese, gets spoken to in Cantonese everywhere we go in Hong Kong.  He’s much too polite, of course, to tell them that he doesn’t understand, so just smiles and nods, occasionally responding in Thai or English.

This is the milk tea.  Not much to look at, right?  This is the essence of simplicity.  It is a very strong black tea cut with evaporated milk.  The flavor of it is almost coffee-like, in terms of the richness of the tea.  It isn’t your grandmother’s Lipton.

The tea is made using pantyhose – the leaves steep inside a pantyhose strainer set in a metal pot.  The pantyhose is attached to a wire handle and it is lifted up and the tea is allowed to drain into the cup.  Worth noting, this is the exact same technique used by street vendors in Thailand for making Thai coffee and Thai tea.  (Note to self – that’s a future entry needing to be written.)

Lan Fong Yuen is an all-day operations offering the tea along with a dozen snacky type dishes to satisfy your hunger.

The fried pork sandwich, a single piece of fried pork loin put on a hamburger bun with a slice of tomato and a slather of sauce.  Incredibly simple, but very tasty.  While at first glance you might think it is tremendously unhealthy, consider that the alternatives offered at fast food restaurants have been heavily processed with added fillers, salts, etc.  This is just a slab of pork with some salt and pepper, fried up and placed on the bun.  Relatively speaking, better for you than a filet-o-fish.

Probably a little less healthy for you is the French toast.

Two pieces of white bread stuffed with jam inside, battered with egg and then fried in lots of oil.  I couldn’t identify whether it was butter or margarine on top and was tempted to think it was the latter.  This was tasty but after two bites was a bit overwhelming.  Probably best when trying to mop up a hangover.

Tawn ordered one of his childhood favorites – this is what qualifies as Chinese comfort food, it seems.  A plate of noodles with some veggies and fried chicken on top.  I looked at the noodles and remarked how much they looked like instant ramen.  Which was the point at which I learned that they are instant ramen.

So what’s the verdict?  Pretty tasty tea and the chicken and pork were both good.  There were several other menu items we wanted to try but we had lunch plans just two hours later and needed some room for that.  The French toast was fine but was pretty oily, all things considered.  For a quick breakfast or a spot of afternoon tea, though, Lan Fong Yuen is definitely on the list!