Like all lost evenings, it began with the most innocent of occasions. Well, first it was Friday night, the official start of the weekend. And second, my fren Wallace, who was visiting HKG with our other fren Coy, was flying back to the land of tax (AKA USA) on Saturday. So there were two excuses to debauch!
We began the evening at Alcove, a restaurant located in the upper part of Central. It’s a very very small place that serves Beijing style fusion food. The dishes didn’t necessarily match like a typical Chinese banquet but it was very good and the decor was funky in a mainland sorta way.
The front door!
Our table was the entire depth of the restaurant! That’s how small lah!
I broke one of the rules of food blogging…I put the camera down and enjoyed the meal and the company. If you want to check the place out, call first! It’s one of those places that great for a party or great for a date…
Alcove
55 Peel Street
Central, Hong Kong
+852 29759788
We then adjourned for several hours of debauching. Actually, it was from 2300 to 0330. Hong Kong is one of those progressive places where there is NO last call and the owners of the drinking establishments determine when to close. What a concept! Since I was inebriated (that means “drunk”) for much of the evening, I don’t remember specifics. We went to three different places as a group and I took silly pictures (and drank a lot).
Here’s an outtake
Here’s the real picture!
This is what happens when you collect for the bill for ten people…and you’re smashed!
Wal and Helen. Helen’s the one who prepped the hairy crabs…thank you!
Helen and Kevin. They live in HKG. She’s from SFO. He’s not.
We went on like this, gradually losing people on the way, until we called the evening at 0330. Then Wal, Coy and I got the munchies and wound up in Causeway Bay at some late night place. It was fine for me because I was 5 minutes walking distance from my place. It wasn’t so fine for Wal and Coy because they were staying in Kowloon Tong, it’s a HK$300+ cabride back & the MTR dun open until 0550. So what do you do to kill time?
You haggle for porn!
and take pretty pictures…
“thank you for riding the MTR”
Which way?
To Causeway Bay, of cors!
Amber Rainstorm Signal
Back in Hong Kong for 32 hours. And so far I’ve experienced:
A torrential downpour for 5 hours yesterday afternoon. Home cooked food (thanks Helen!). Old HK movies on cable (God of Gamblers 2). Dessert (mango with sago). Won ton Mein and Daan Taats (they ALWAYS go together). Flaky people (if you can’t make it, let people know!). Kopi. Yum cha. High ticket window shopping (LV, Dunhill, Dupont). Star Ferry to HK side (the seksi-est commute in da world!) and the HK Tram. 7.8 kilos of laundry.
And the day’s not done yet! Wahahahah.
Amazing…
“The flight is full, so you’re being moved to Business Class”…
I heard these words about 20 minutes ago as I checked in for my return flight to Hong Kong.
Amazing!
Food Republic at VivoCity
This is a small part of a themed food court at the new VivoCity mall. Definitely not Panda Express and Sbarro lah! The food here is diverse, cheap and good!
I finally figured out the difference between a food court and a hawker centre. One is quiet and the other has the owners “hawking” their specialities.
So that’s the answer to THAT question…
HK Alternative Tea Time
Assorted Notes
Just some quick observations…
UA still sucks rocks. Horrible experience going HKG-SIN compared to my SQ flight from SFO-HKG. No video on demand. Cabin drier than Las Vegas in summer. Bleagh.
And speaking of the flight over on SQ *swoon*, why is it on EVERY flight I’ve taken to Hong Kong, regardless of carrier (UA, CX, SQ), there are ALWAYS screaming rugrats in Economy? And why do I always get seated within screaming range of at least three of them?
The sunrise as we were about an hour out of HKG
Not that I have anything against rugrats…they’re nice, as long as they’re not mine!! WHAHAHAH!
After several stays at The Inn Crowd, I’m staying here this time. Some observations.
Great facilities. Rooms feel like rooms and not a big dormitory. On top of a mountain!
Kick-ass view from the rooftop deck!
Here’s the rooftop deck!
Free Nescafe coffee! Got real restaurant next door! Bathrooms MUCH cleaner and nicer. Comfortable beds (not bunk) and decent air con.
Real beds! And a place to keep your stuff, sorta…
Now the bad. DSL slower than dialup. NO WI-FI! Location is a bit removed (meaning a taxi ride or a 20 minute walk to go down the hill). Brekkie for S$7.00 for toast, hash brown cakes, breakfast weenies, apple juice, cereal and diner coffee is just a bit too much.
I did just get here so I will reserve judgement…
Busy Week
It’s been a busy week for me, as the week before a trip always is. I think I’m getting better at packing and prepping though.
I’m continuing to follow my “go places I’ve not been” resolution by visiting Taipei and Guangzhou on this trip in addition to a visit to Singapore. I’ll be flying into Hong Kong on SQ, to Singapore on UA (I need da miles!) and to Taipei via CX, which will be the first time I’ve flown them in over four years!
It feels good to be back on the road.
Speaking of “da road”, I was sent a last minute (4 days!) invitation to a party in Los Angeles last week. Flying down for a day plus car would have cost over US$350.00! Even I’m not that desperate for 1000 EQMs!
So I drove. And strangely enough, it wasn’t too bad. I spent 12 hours and around US$50 for gas. Stayed at a fren’s house and had yum cha the next day in Rosemead.
Always working, always on da phone!
The staple of all yum cha, a dish of good siu mai!
You gonna eat that?
Oh yeah, the party the night before was at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills.
Confetti drop! Lots of green and orange flakes!
And the guest of honor (by a frakkin’ landslide!)
I vin again!
Yes, that is Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and this was his Victory Party. This was the best pic I could take with my lil’ Ixus using maximum zoom. It’s a bit grainy but what can ya do?
Afterwards, it was out poolside in the balmy Southern California night, smoking cigars and enjoying the palm trees (and copious amounts of alcohol).
Yes, this was an inebriated photo again!
Different kind of debauchery
We got all the guys together last night for a festival of food not on a Late Friday this time but an Early Saturday evening because two of the five guys attending are flying out on CX tomorrow night heading out to HKG. Lucky lah! There was Rib-Eye steaks all around. Homemade pesto over some kinda pasta, rabbit food (AKA “salad”) and smashed potatoes. We also had several bottles of red wine. Burp. And after a heavy meal lidat, you can figure out how motivated we all were to go out and debauch like we did last week.
Yeah right. WHAHAHAH. Whipped out the cameraphone to take pix.
Looks like someone gassed the room! Eeeew!
Just think, 10 minutes ago, they were all whining “wannagoout!”
I left them all lidat as I walked home at 2330. They all left late this morning! Good thing I didn’t need a ride…
A change of pace (it’s not ramen this time!)
When I’m stuck in San Francisco, I morph into a creature of habit. I ALWAYS go to the same places to eat, depending on what it is.
For example, when I want good ramen, I go to Santa or Himawari. For spicy Chinese food, I go to Spices. For izakaya fare, I go to Oyaji, each of these places I have written about at one time or another in this blog. Now, it’s not out of stubborn loyalty or benign ignorance but rather that these are the “best” places for these kinds of foods. There’s not a lot of diversity here in San Francisco, food or otherwise so ya gotta go with what you know.
There’s a small restaurant across from the Kinokuniya bookstore in the Japan Center here. Besides being a fully stocked bookstore (with all sorts of Japanese books, magazines and DVDs), it’s a good meeting place because traffic and transit here makes it impossible to meet at an agreed time after work.
“Want to eat?”
“Sure. Where to meet?”
“Meet me inside Kinokuniya and we’ll figure it out then”
Across from Kinokuniya is a small restaurant called Maki. It’s really small inside (19 seats!!) and has some tables outside.
I’ve run past this place soooo many times!
The menu is posted outside as well as all the accolades they’ve received. Lunch specials are a bit on the high side. Dinner is higher. Maki makes good Japanese comfort food like sukiyaki, shabu shabu and fresh made maki. Sounds ordinary, right? I mean, this is comfort food and the prices make it sound like a “date place”. However…
They specialize in Akita style udon, called inaniwa udon. Unlike typical udon that’s the width of TV cable (the kind you buy from Comcast) and has a chewy, almost undercooked doughy taste, inaniwa udon here is made fresh, is half the width of fettuccine and is very light on the palate. As is the broth. Yum.
This is the ebi udon and those are small tempura shrimps in the bowl along with a vegetable
I’m a self-confessed ramen guy and I’ve also developed a taste for Matsumoto soba. I never thought I’d like udon. Until now. It was really good! But be ready for sticker shock if you come here for dinner cuz this bowl costs….
US$18.00!! WAAAAAAAAH!
So this is definitely a date place, but unlike many date places in San Francisco, you will get a good quality meal and you’ll leave satisfied knowing you’ve had something unique.
And I’ve got to stop running past small hole in the wall restaurants like this in future…
maki
Kinokuniya Building
1825 Post Street
San Francisco CA 94115
415-921-5215