Adventure #4: Pata Negra House

Sometime last year, I read about a shop that sells Spanish produce. The interesting thing is they also host private Spanish ham and wine tasting. So, as part of our culinary adventure, I set out to organise one for our friends at Pata Negra House.

At the tasting, we sampled different Spanish ham, churizo and cheese. The highlight, of course, was the 24- and 36-month Iberica ham. They both taste distinctively different. The 36-month is much smoother, sort of melt in your mouth and the taste more intense. Towards the end of the tasting, some of us were given a little bit of the 48-month to try. Definitely much better but I think for the price, the 36-month is good enough.

I was so pre-occupied with the food, I forgot to take any photos.  The only one I have (above), I downloaded from the net! 

After the tasting, a small group of us went on to Ho Hak Shan Dong for supper!

Pata Negra House
G/F, Tung Cheung Building
1-11 Second Street
Sai Ying Pan
Western District
Tel: 2527 5181

Adventure #3: 渝川菜館

Following our late night visit to Shau Kei Wan when Fred really wanted to have 水煮魚 but we ordered a different but equally good spicy fish soup instead, we decided to fulfil Fred's craving and visit a Sichuan restaurant this time. Unfortunately, Fred was tied up and we went with another couple Justin and Carol instead.

This restaurant is in Wanchai and specializes in extremely spicy food. We decide to order standard level - I want to be able to taste the food I eat! We order the usual and once again the food is excellent! We also brought some sparkling wine along with complemented the food really well.

The 凉麵 is good but not as good as 四姐's, I think

The 水煮魚

 is excellent

The Salt n Pepper Deep Fried Prawn is great as it counter the spiciness

So far, our adventure has taken us to 3 wonderful eating places and the food is excellent. Very encouraging results. More to come!

渝川菜館
Shop B, 1/F, Hundred City Centre
7-17 Amoy Street
Wan Chai
Tel: 2838 5233

Adventure #2: 魚鍋

The kids were back from KL and were used to going to bed late. So, late one evening, we called upon Fred and went in search of this restaurant in Shau Kei Wan called Yu Wo (魚鍋). Although I know where Shau Kei Wan is, I have never in my 18 years in HK been to Shau Kei Wan. Anyways, armed with our HK map, we drove to Shau Kei Wan for supper - this restaurant opens till 4am!

Yu Wo as the name suggests is famous for fish in a pot - spicy ones. We ordered a spicy fish soup, baked clams and frogs buried in a mountain of chillies!

水庫魚鍋

Once again, the food is excellent and the ambiance - UNIQUE. We like the open air seating as it makes us feel like we are back in Malaysia. And the entertainment - priceless - a domestic violence scene right next to us where the husband slapped the wife around, they shouted at each other, the wife cried and left, husband continued to eat with his friends, all sitting topless - had to stopped the kids from starring!

Again, we will be back next time to try the 水煮魚。

魚鍋
14 Mong Lung Street
Shau Kei Wan
Tel: 2967 6868

Adventure #1: 好客山東

Life is getting a little mundane.  So, towards the end of the summer, we decided to spice up (in some cases, we literally did!) our life a bit by embarking on a culinary adventure right here in HK. This I think for us is long overdue considering we LOVE food and have been in HK for almost 18 years! Well, better late than never. The food we are going to try need not be in expensive restaurants but hopefully is good and interesting.

We start our adventure with a little Shandong eatery in Sai Ying Pun known as 好客山東 Ho Hak Shan Dong. This really is a little gem. The food is excellent and prices very reasonable! We particularly enjoyed the Hand Shredded Chicken, the Fried Mutton and a "noodle" in a tomato based soup the name of which I still cannot pronoun!

手撕雞 Hand Shredded Chicken

京燒羊肉 Fried Mutton

I was told that the dumplings are really good....well....until our next visit.

Ho Hak Shan Tung

Shop A1, 143 Second Street
Hoi Shing Building
Sai Ying Pun
Western District
Tel: 2117 9680