Fun Weekend at Shek O Beach & Village, Hong Kong

Shek O Beach has got to me my favorite beach in Hong Kong. I love the big waves and the clean super fine sand.

OB loves it too, after our holiday in Bali (which I must blog about before next year), he is getting addicted to playing at the beach.

After playing at the beach, we had a lovely lunch at a Thai eatery just across the road from the beach.
The food's decent, and the price isn't a rip off. We love it.

To fight food coma, we had a walk around the lovely village. Look at all these gorgeousness...

Of course I had to make SC do a narcissistic pose against this lovely old window.

Naturally.

Since none of us fancy carrying a naughty 3 year old, so we decided to drive through Shek O Village Road to view the amazing rocky beach at the end of the village.

We had fun doing silly poses, sadly there's no mommy in the picture. 

Sobs... don't worry, I did manage to include myself in photos from time to time by doing selfies.

To summarize, my favorite things to do in Shek O are:

1. Being a lazy bum hanging around the beach without getting into the water - preferably with a good read, snacks and drinks

2. Eat my way through the village

3. Exploring & photographing the village

4. Gawking at the amazing view, listening to the big waves hitting the rocks

But you can also do some hiking, surfing, flying kites, BBQ, getting pre-wedding photos taken, gawking at those getting their pre-wedding photos taken (we saw at least 3 different couples), etc etc etc. Enjoy!

How to go to Shek O?

Take MTR to Shau Kei Wan station & then take bus no 9.

If you drive, be there early (before noon). Parking space goes fast on weekends.

YUMMY Eats from Bangkok

I haven't been cooking much.

I just got back from a business trip to Bangkok...and I surely blew my diet, but it's totally worth it (no point dieting when on trip right? Everything I ate in Bangkok = ZERO calorie?)

So, here are some links of the absolute deliciousness I had in Bangkok. I didn't do much research on where I should go, etc. I submitted myself thoroughly under the tender loving care of my local coworkers who are all awesome!

Hugest, sweetest, springiest prawns with charcoal smoky goodness!

Yummiest mango sticky rice ever!

These are from Ob Aroi seafood restaurant, more pics and info here.

Here's Greyhound Cafe's (I went to the one in Central Chidlom) new chocolate and salted caramel cake...

I adore their crab and corn fritters too!
More pics and info here.

Unbelievably yummy grilled pork, served with rice, refreshing broth, spicy sour chilli sauce and fragrant herbs.

I also had a huge bowl of tomyum goong, which was not red at all.
More pics and info here.

It was also my first time trying home-cooked Sri Lankan food from the only Sri Lankan eatery in Bangkok. This Chinese-Lanka shrimp dish is out of this world! My favorite from the night, along with coconut sambal and hoppers. Adore!

More info and pics here.

If you visit Bangkok, give them a try na~!

Greyhound Cafe - Harbour City, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

I was pretty skeptical about the place, since I didn't really like the one in IFC, Central. But was so happy I ended up trying it last night. Some of the dishes I really love and will definitely order them again!

Here are my favorites...
Greyhound Famous Fried Chicken Wings

Who doesn't love chicken wings? Tasty, crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside, and each piece is cleverly done with only one bone. More convenient to devour! Love!

Greyhound Style Iced Lemon Tea

Lemon tea that doesn't get diluted! Adore!

Salmon Carpaccio

I love how hot, spicy, and refreshing it is. I skipped the raw garlic tho, since I wanted to be able to talk to my dinner companions heheheh. Love this much!

Pita Pizza with Seafood Stuffing

It's almost like a quesadilla. Very pita part's wonderfully crispy and the filling is wonderfully melty. Love much, will definitely order this again.

Pork Stick

Crispy spring rolls. What's not to like! I am a sucker for limited edition stuff, when our server said this is exclusively available in Greyhound Harbour City, I went mad and had 1.5 sticks! Yay!

Spaghetti with Thai Anchovy

Perfectly cooked pasta, wonderful flavors. My low carb diet was definitely OFF last night, but totally worth it!

Coconut Crepe Cake

Out-of-this-world! MUST TRY!


MORE mouth-watering pictures are posted on my facebook page.

Thank you so much for having us, Harbour City & Greyhound!

Greyhound Cafe
Harbour City．Ocean Terminal, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Level：G Shop No.：G01
Telephone：+852 2383 6600
Opening Hours：11:00am - 11:00pm
Website：www.greyhoundcafe.com.hk

Tom Kha Steamed Fish

It's been a while since I shared a lazy and tasty food huh?

One of my recent lazy tasty discovery is....using instant seasoning mixes (bumped up with fresh herbs and spices) to steam fish!

I can't believe I haven't done this earlier. Very easy, and it offers more variety of flavor combos when I am bored of the classic soy sauce or black bean steamed fish. I used tom kha instant seasoning mix this time, but I've also tried tom yum, opor, and rendang. All yummy! I will surely try more flavors...welcome to the world of endless instant seasoning possibilities!

If you hate using instant seasoning mixes (I bow in respect to you), feel free to grind your own paste using fresh ingredients, it could be as quick as a few pulses in a food processor, and I am sure it will be as tasty, if not tastier ;)


Ingredients
Fresh herbs & spices (you can omit all of these fresh herbs and spices if you are feeling lazy)
- a stalk of lemongrass, cut into sections and bruised
- galangal, bruised
- some kaffir lime leaves, cut thinly
- 1 or 2 red chillies, cut thinly

Main ones
- 1 of your favorite fish, cleaned and pat dry
- 1 pack of your favorite instant seasoning mix (I used Tom Kha)

Rub the fish with instant seasoning paste, scatter the fresh herbs and spices on top, and steam until the fish is just done.

Check the doneness by inserting a chopstick into the thickest part of the fish, the chopstick should go through easily, mine took about 10 minutes. Now I am really just saying stuff to make this "recipe" look longer...actually it is really one-sentence easy ^_^'

Experiment, enjoy and share!

A Satisfying Lunch at Best of Thai Food Restaurant - 泰之選泰國菜館 - Kowloon City

This is a place we randomly tried in Kowloon city. We didn't check openrice first to see if it's famous, and we didn't check which dishes to order. We thought, what the heck, we're hungry, they serve food. and there's no queue. We're good.

Working around Central, I hardly find any set lunch priced below HK$50 anymore...so I was very happy to see this HK$35 set lunch, serves with a drink! Oh yes!


I love the spicy minced meat cooked with Thai sweet basil...and the takeaway Thai food joint we always order lunch from do quite a good version of it, and it comes with rice. I could imagine the spicy goodness stir fried with flat rice noodles...but what made me so ecstatic was...this place serves it...
...wait for it...

fried with instant noodles!
My absolute favorite! Tasty tasty tasty!

Another favorite of mine, stir fried rice noodles, Thai style, fried "wet", which means, with gravy.

Soft, slightly chewy, rice noodles with lots of yummy goodies swimming in tasty, garlicky gravy. Yum!

I didn't expect the dishes to have vegetables in them, so, in a desperate attempt to be "healthy", we ordered a mixed vegetables with shrimp paste stir fry dish.

Again...tasty!

The drinks...refreshing iced longan.


Thai "cendol"...I love the cendol, it's thinner and slightly more chewy than Indonesian ones.

...HK$35 set lunches! LOVE! Can't wait to go back and try their dinner.

Best of Thai Food Restaurant 
(泰之選泰國菜館)

37 Fuk Lo Tsun Road

九龍城福佬村道37號

Kowloon City

Hong Kong

Tel: +852 2127 7348

Grilled Chicken Red Curry with Lychee

I fell in love with Thai red curry roast duck with lychee the first time I tried it in Sydney.
I thought, it would be so easy for me to kind of recreate in Hong Kong, since I could get roast duck for as little as HK$18 downstairs, stir in a pack of Thai red curry paste, throw in a box of coconut milk and a can of lychee...and I'd get an easy, yet super impressive dish.

...at least that was the plan.

Naturally, since life is so kind, and luck is my middle name...when I needed a roast duck, it was too late and the siu mei shop just below my flat's closed.
This is totally predictable.
If I could get duck when I needed duck, that would be surprising :D

Anyway, no duck (or lack thereof) shall deprive me of curry lychee, so I went for chicken instead.
A little bit more troublesome, a little less flavorful, but, it should work.

Recipe
(for two)
- 2 pieces of boneless chicken thigh fillet, with skin on
- 1 stalk of lemongrass, crushed
- 1 galangal, crushed
- 2 shallots, sliced thinly
- 1 pack of Thai red curry paste
- 200 ml box of coconut milk
- 1 can of lychee in syrup
- salt, pepper, olive oil
- freshly chopped corriander

Preheat oven to 200C. Season chicken fillet with salt and pepper, brown the skin and grill in the oven until it's almost cooked. Meanwhile, saute lemongrass, galangal and shallot until fragrant, throw in thai curry paste, stir in coconut milk and some syrup from the canned lychee. Keep tasting the mixture until you reach the perfect balance between sweet, sour, spicy, creamy and savoury. Add lychee pieces at the end. Take chicken out of the oven, slice and arrange chicken pieces in the curry sauce, try not to submerge the chicken skin to keep it crispy (unless you don't mind the chicken skin not being crispy anymore. Alternatively, you can also lay the sauce on a shallow plate and add the chicken pieces on the plate, but I wanted to get the chicken meat cooked in the curry sauce a bit). Garnish with freshly chopped corriander and serve with steamed rice or roti prata (I served mine with frozen roti prata, simply heated up in the oven until golden brown. Yum!)

You can also add okra/Thai eggplant/cherry tomatoes and sweet Thai basil into the curry or even make a vegetarian version of it.

PS. A cooking disaster happened when I was cooking this dish. I accidentally used the ladle I'd been using to stir the curry to stir the other dish, which was stir fried zucchini, tomatoes and beancurd sheets in oyster sauce. It was literally just a few secs of stirring, and the damage was done. The second dish was totally infused with a tinge of coconut milk and lychee flavor, it turned it inedible. I tried adding a bit of this and that, but there was no way to recover it. I had wasted a whole lot of ingredients and it broke my heart T_T

PS II. Moral of the story, look before you dip.

Tom Yum Grilled Chicken Drumsticks

I'm gonna start 2010 by being true to myself.
Yuck, somehow that sounds too philosophical.
You know, philosophy + me = nothing good

What's my true self?
Expert cook? Nope.
Experienced diner with amazing palate? Nope and nope.
I spent quite a long time (like 15 minutes?) pondering about who I am, only to realize that I am not a foodie, gourmet, gourmand, wannabe chef, cook, etc, etc, etc.

What am I? I have yet to find a word or a phrase that can represent myself, but I surely know one thing.
I am someone who does yummy the lazy way.

See, I'm more of a Shallow Hal than an Aristotle.

This dish represents so much of myself, it's ridic!
1. Chicken drumsticks with skin on = me
2. Instant tomyum paste = anything "instant" can be followed by "perfect for Rita"
3. Marinate and grill = almost not considered as "cooking" = again, so me

Calling this a "recipe" is laughable, but still, it does list what I used and how I did it...so I guess...here we go~

Ingredients
- 4 chicken drumsticks
- 1 pack Tomyum paste (I love this one)
- couple tbsp hot water to dissolve the paste a bit

The night before serving, dissolve tomyum paste in a bit of hot water until it reaches "spreadable" consistency, not too thin, we don't want our marinate to be watery. Rub and massage paste all over chicken drumsticks, generously, refrigerate for one night, at least.

On the day, preheat oven to 180C, grill chicken covered in aluminium foil until the meat's cooked (about 30 minutes), crank up temperature to 250C, grill chicken uncovered until beautifully golden.

You can do similar things with chicken wings, serve them in a party and watch your guests killing each other fighting over them. These babies are perfect with carb of your choice (hello, steamed rice and lots of it).

This year, I hope I could do yummier things in ways tat are lazier than ever.
Cheers!

Thai Up High - Simply Thai, Langham Place

This place is closed now :( 
Boohoo. I really loved it :(

I am sure you noticed how rarely I post my dining out adventures, except the ones from abroad. In my blog, I probably look like a true domestic goddess, who always cook tasty treats at home, helping my household saving cents after cents in a fat, pink piggy bank, especially during this economic crisis. But in reality, I dine out rather frequently, I just don't blog about them most of the time.

Why not? Hmm, I do have a few lame (but solid) excuses to back up my lack of dining out posts:
- Crappy pictures -> as seen in this post, sorry about that guys. When it comes to photographing objects in dimly lit environments....I suckkkkk biggg time! The pictures either end up blurry, or so dark-you won't be able to tell the difference between a piece of luscious foie gras or my toes. I need lots of tips on how to shoot in the dark . Helppppp!!!!
- I guess my readers may not like posts of yummy stuff they can only see but won't be able to enjoy/try making at home (since most of my readers aren't from Hong Kong). Is this true? Let me know what you think ;)
- Sometimes it is rather embarrassing to expose that 2 or 4 of us could swipe a table of 8 person meal shiny clean. Ehm ehm...hehe

Anyway.....here's one of my favorite Thai restaurant,
Simply Thai
Silly me ordered a mojito when there are a selection of Thai-inspired modern mocktails and cocktails on the menu. The mojito wasn't that good, but I love their rose-lemon or tamarind soda...very refreshing!

I was seated just by the floor to ceiling glass window on 13th floor, overlooking Mong Kok's busy traffic and Langham Place. It's super cool, but probably not good for those who are afraid of heights.


Waiting for my food....

Normally I am not into anything "modern" or "fusion"...I think of them as pretentious, trying too hard, and most of the time, they don't taste as good as the classics. However, Simply Thai is different. I love their modern and creative versions of Thai food. The food look fantastic, sophisticated, and darn tasty!

I am the kind of person who always order the same things again and again once I knew I like them. However, this time I steered clear off my Simply Thai favorites: pad thai, seafood curry in baked whole pumpkin, rice paper rolls with soft shell crabs, and deep fried eggplants with tamarind dip ^_^

We started with Thai beef salad, which was fabulous! The beef was perfectly cooked, the lemongrass and crispy shallot (ohhh I love crispy shallot) gave a nice combination of texture and the tiny green pieces of chilli surprised you from time to time...I had to reach for my mojito way to often to stay un-drunk. Hehe


Moving on to the lamb chops green curry...the chops were probably the only disappointment of the night. Although they were tender and juicy, there's something in the crust that gives it a bitter (not pleasantly bitter) aftertaste. However, I love everything else about this dish. The chops were served on a bed of spinach, which was cooked to perfection, and a bed of silky and luscious sweet eggplant, and the taste of the green curry was just beautiful.

We wiped the curry clean with these roti pratha. They are definitely not something we see on a Thai menu, but who cares, they are sooo good!

Thai stir fried pork rice noodles with gravy. What can I say...I think they put other noodle countries to shame. The rice noodles were nicely velvety, chewy and perfectly sticky, the gravy was bursting with flavors. It's the ultimate noodley comfort!

...and don't get me started with their desserts....these are the desserts from my previous visit. Their desserts are so creative, most people are probably afraid to order. I was amazed by things like Tom Yum ice cream, which turned out to be fantastic and sweet, not savoury and hot as I would imagine (too bad they are not available anymore, I hope they'll bring it back). But my all time favorite is their sticky banana pudding topped with ice cream. It's a banana pudding with a twist of Thai flavors and we just couldn't get enough of it, we double ordered ^_*

Tasty, beautifully presented modern Thai food at reasonable prices, with nice ambience and good service. No wonder I kept going back ^_^

Simply Thai13/F Langham Place
Mong Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Tel: +852 3542 5725

Shop 1104, 11/FL, Food Forum
Times Square, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2506 1212