Day off/eating with the folks!

During my short stage in HK, I was able to take a day-off in the middle which was fantastic as it was the one day I was able to spend together with Ma and Pa Chan - a real treat since I've spent most of my life apart from the family! :)

It goes without saying that the day was dominated by food which took us out to Causeway Bay and finished back in the New Territories for a yummy dinner.

A visit to renowned wonton noodle establishment, Mak's Noodles ("Mak Ngun Gei") for some lunch - I had additional beef brisket with mine. OK, the noodles could've done with a little less lye water.

Request from Pa Chan to go for a bowl of "guilingao" (lit. turtle essence jelly) - herbal jelly, traditionally made with powdered turtle shell (according to Wikipedia, the particular turtle is endangered, oops!) Supposed to be great for detoxing your insides and getting rid of spots! :)

It has a pretty strong taste (think strongly brewed herbal tea) but there is sugar syrup to make it taste nicer!

Dinner at Shatin 18 - new restaurant opened in Hyatt Shatin (near University KCR station), recommendation from CSY, thanks! The restaurant has an open kitchen with 3 chefs from different regions in China (Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai) - the star attraction here is the Peking Duck, served in the traditional style "up North"!

We had ordered the duck 24 hours in advance but were feeling peckish before it was served so ordered a plate of "woh tip" (pan fried dumplings) to kick things off - very yummy and nice home-made chilli sauces served with them.

Duck! First, we were served a plate of the skin only which was to be eaten by itself with a sprinkle of sugar. Then it was onto a plate of lean meat which would be eaten the "normal" way, wrapped in a pancake with julienne of cucumber and spring onion and BBQ sauce. We were served a 3rd plate of meat with skin which was also eaten the same way as meat but with an additional garlic sauce. The duck got Pa Chan's seal of approval!! :)

 The rest of the duck meat was stir fried with some crunchy vegetables and served with a lettuce leaf as an additional dish, whilst the duck carcass was used to make a soup.

The other dishes we ordered (cos we're true fatties!) included: stirfried baby shrimp and fish (my favourite dish of the night), panfried fish and meat patties (recommendation from Time Out but nothing too special) and beef noodles (handpulled on site but unfortunately, the poorest dish of the evening)

Really stuffed after all this food but couldn't really skip on dessert so sampled the Portuguese egg tarts and tofu dessert (sadly, a little underwhelming)

Despite desserts being a dampener, I would recommend the trek out to NT just to sample the duck - best to order in advance when you are booking a table for dinner and ideally, go with around 4 people to be able to eat the whole thing and sample other dishes!