Desiree Koh:
November 2, 2010. A quick spin around Yau Ma Tei while waiting for the hotel room to be ready yields some awesome sights, like this selection of lup cheong (Chinese sausages) and waxed pork belly.
Desiree Koh:
Lup cheong could make your arteries look exactly like it does - worse than the regular sausage because after you stuff all the pig discards into the casing, you then sweeten it all and wax it. Oh yes, chemicals and preservatives galore! But don't let that
Desiree Koh:
Lup cheong livery - that is, with liver.
Desiree Koh:
An insight into roast pork - the slab of fat beneath the crackle.
Desiree Koh:
This little piggy went to market!
Desiree Koh:
I am so not doing any justice to what I feel is one of the most beautiful skylines in the world, but you get the idea I hope.
Desiree Koh:
Hong Kong island, from Kowloon.
Desiree Koh:
By Temple Street for dinner - enough wax to light up the entire place on this series of chickens.
Desiree Koh:
Under a makeshift tent on Woo Sung Road, but these guys look like they're here to stay.
Desiree Koh:
A lively affair.
Desiree Koh:
Mutton stew cooks before your very eyes as a wok full of lamb gristles, sinews and brisket simmers amid beancurd skin and herbs. I discovered some bristles of hair on my mutton pieces stew - but who's counting?
Desiree Koh:
Green vegetables stir-fried in garlic meekly takes its place among more appealing platters.
Desiree Koh:
Fish head in black bean sauce.
Desiree Koh:
This is for Pete. See, it's not just a Dublin thing.
Desiree Koh:
Hark-bark - tofu sunk into black sesame paste for dessert, a yin yang symbol is created. This may be my favoritest Hong Kong tong shui - sugar soup - ever.
Desiree Koh:
White fungus with papaya in a sweet soup.
Desiree Koh:
Barbequed squid on a stick.
Desiree Koh:
Fried pig's intestines - on a stick, of course - so pungently alluring you can smell it from a block away.
Desiree Koh:
November 3, 2010. Dinner at Aberdeen Seafood Restaurant, also off Temple Street.
Desiree Koh:
Red snappers, never to lap in the ocean again.
Desiree Koh:
I am not being sacrilegious, but my momma makes the best version of this - lup cheong steamed with rice - and even a streetside restaurant in Hong Kong cannot compare. And that is the truth.
Desiree Koh:
The fried intestines are good, with a dribble of hot mustard.
Desiree Koh:
Roast goose - you just have to go to Yung Kee on the island for this. It's a delicacy, and you can't do justice eating it this way.
Desiree Koh:
Mussels steamed live drenched in garlic and a light soy sauce.
Desiree Koh:
Water spinach, stir-fried in garlic again. At least we ate our greens!
Desiree Koh:
Eggplant, pork and salted fish braised in a clay pot. Really good with steaming hot white rice.
Desiree Koh:
Tonight's sweet soups - here is egg drop soup of a different sort. Instead of savory starch, it's a sweet chestnut broth.
Desiree Koh:
I had to have the black sesame paste again - without the tofu tonight, because I wanted more of that awesome black stuff. I love black stuff. Such as Guinness.
Desiree Koh:
November 4, 2010. Back along the streetside seafood dives of Temple Road - fish head pieces tossed in garlic and dried chiles. This was SPICY, and you are soon embroiled in a vicious cycle of sucking on fish bits and bones while your lips continue to swel
Desiree Koh:
Sort of the same as the fish head, but with crab. Sorry, Hong Kong, but you lose - our chili and black pepper crab is so much better.
