Uniquely Asia
On our last free day, we thought and thought about what we should do. We've been in HK for what seems like forever, but we needed to make sure that we left confident that we had seen and done all we could. After much deliberation, we decided that there were two things we had yet to do. See 'The Exorcism of Emily Rose' and go out to a famous lunch.
For real, we spent a gorgeous Friday afternoon watching a movie. It was great! You know, theatre people love movies, especially in HK with assigned comfy seats and the best caramel corn I've ever had. The movie is very scary, but also more thought provoking than I expected. We watched it, screamed and grabbed each other, and then came back into the safety of a sunny day. That's when Jess and I headed to lunch.
One of Hong Kong's most famous restaurants is a floating restaurant, called Jumbo Kingdom. Let me tell you, it really is Jumbo. To get there, we took a bus to the part of HK Island called Aberdeen, where we found the ferry station. Jumbo has a little sampan that you ride out to the restaurant, manned by Chinese men in little outfits. You're surrounded by the Shangri-La's harbor, with huge white yachts, and you're on this dinky little brightly colored dragony Asia boat. It's great. The ride takes about a minute, and then you're in the middle of the harbor on a HUGE island restaurant. It's front face is covered with windows, it's about four stories high and Humongous. Welcome to Jumbo Kingdom.
I've never been on a cruise (my family went without me once) but I imagine eating at this restaurant was a lot like being on a cruise ship. It's so huge that you can't feel the restaurant moving at all, even though it totally is just like a big huge boat. So not only are you in the biggest restaurant in HK, but once you walk up four flights you might be in the tackiest restaurant in HK. It's strange, but it's almost not tacky. The walls are covered with mirrors, or dragon-themed mosaics. At one end of the room we ate in there were three thrones decorated in some ancient Chinese style where you could get your picture taken. Somehow, this decends into the truly tacky... dragon statues with light-up eyes, etc. I took a bunch of pictures, while chortling to myself. I think most of mainland China would have found this to be the most beautiful restaurant they'd ever been in, while in New York it would have been totally kitsch.
After admiring the decor, Jess and I ordered traditional dim sum. Hong Kong is famous for dim sum, which is a meal made of a bunch of small dishes. Think of it as the Asian version of tapas. Traditional dim sum items include barbecued meats, dumplings, and buns. We did it up food style, and ordered at least half of the menu. We drank a million cups of oo-long tea. We had shrimp and vegetable dumplings, scallop dumplings, and pork dumplings. Mushrooms wrapped in rice noodles, barbecued pork and crispy beef slices. For dessert we had egg tarts and buns filled with egg cream. It was all Asian, and overall, it was all great.
It's been a long time since we've had a traditional Chinese meal of any kind. After being forced for months last year in the mainland, I swore off it permanently. Of course I caved, but after being forced again in Hangzhou for weeks, I was sick of it for good. In HK, we've eaten every other kind of food. A lot of American, Japanese, Mexican, Italian, and Indian. But very very little Chinese, until today. And you know what? I'm going to miss it!! I loooove dumplings of any kind, and there is something great about food that you eat until you're stuffed, and then half an hour later you're hungry again. This was the epitome of the Hong Kong meal, and the best way to say goodbye to Asian food in Asia. Who wants to bet that I'll be at Outback this weekend? Me! But I sure wish they had dumplings.
For real, we spent a gorgeous Friday afternoon watching a movie. It was great! You know, theatre people love movies, especially in HK with assigned comfy seats and the best caramel corn I've ever had. The movie is very scary, but also more thought provoking than I expected. We watched it, screamed and grabbed each other, and then came back into the safety of a sunny day. That's when Jess and I headed to lunch.
One of Hong Kong's most famous restaurants is a floating restaurant, called Jumbo Kingdom. Let me tell you, it really is Jumbo. To get there, we took a bus to the part of HK Island called Aberdeen, where we found the ferry station. Jumbo has a little sampan that you ride out to the restaurant, manned by Chinese men in little outfits. You're surrounded by the Shangri-La's harbor, with huge white yachts, and you're on this dinky little brightly colored dragony Asia boat. It's great. The ride takes about a minute, and then you're in the middle of the harbor on a HUGE island restaurant. It's front face is covered with windows, it's about four stories high and Humongous. Welcome to Jumbo Kingdom.
I've never been on a cruise (my family went without me once) but I imagine eating at this restaurant was a lot like being on a cruise ship. It's so huge that you can't feel the restaurant moving at all, even though it totally is just like a big huge boat. So not only are you in the biggest restaurant in HK, but once you walk up four flights you might be in the tackiest restaurant in HK. It's strange, but it's almost not tacky. The walls are covered with mirrors, or dragon-themed mosaics. At one end of the room we ate in there were three thrones decorated in some ancient Chinese style where you could get your picture taken. Somehow, this decends into the truly tacky... dragon statues with light-up eyes, etc. I took a bunch of pictures, while chortling to myself. I think most of mainland China would have found this to be the most beautiful restaurant they'd ever been in, while in New York it would have been totally kitsch.
After admiring the decor, Jess and I ordered traditional dim sum. Hong Kong is famous for dim sum, which is a meal made of a bunch of small dishes. Think of it as the Asian version of tapas. Traditional dim sum items include barbecued meats, dumplings, and buns. We did it up food style, and ordered at least half of the menu. We drank a million cups of oo-long tea. We had shrimp and vegetable dumplings, scallop dumplings, and pork dumplings. Mushrooms wrapped in rice noodles, barbecued pork and crispy beef slices. For dessert we had egg tarts and buns filled with egg cream. It was all Asian, and overall, it was all great.
It's been a long time since we've had a traditional Chinese meal of any kind. After being forced for months last year in the mainland, I swore off it permanently. Of course I caved, but after being forced again in Hangzhou for weeks, I was sick of it for good. In HK, we've eaten every other kind of food. A lot of American, Japanese, Mexican, Italian, and Indian. But very very little Chinese, until today. And you know what? I'm going to miss it!! I loooove dumplings of any kind, and there is something great about food that you eat until you're stuffed, and then half an hour later you're hungry again. This was the epitome of the Hong Kong meal, and the best way to say goodbye to Asian food in Asia. Who wants to bet that I'll be at Outback this weekend? Me! But I sure wish they had dumplings.
posted by Beth at 2:46 AM
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