黃枝記粥麵店 Wong Chi Kee Congee & Noodle Shop

On this trip, two restaurants are worth a special mention – they are both inexpensive, reliable, open at all hours, and make an effort to produce a best-in-class dish.  They are well-known locally and I am now a fan too.  The first is 黃枝記粥麵店 Wong Chi Kee Congee & Noodle shop (WCK), the other is 翠華餐廳 (Tsui Wah)  which I will cover in a later post.

Cantonese egg noodle with dried shrimp eggs, soup on the side (lo mein)

WCK is famous mostly for its noodles – they have a long essay on its heritage of making Cantonese style noodle (since 1946) printed on their paper placemat.  On this visit to HK, I noticed every brand tries to tell a proud story about its historical past and heritage to some old-fashioned values and time-tested know-how in making the product … now wonton noodle too.

We ate at WCK’s shop in Macau which is located in Senado square.  WCK has branches in HK.

Pork in stir-fried soft noodles (yee mein), notice a bit of yellow leek, chinese black mushroom and red pepper in the noodle

Wonton soup – no MSG, and less clear than those I had in the past (probably full of MSG)

Seafood congee

A second plate of  lo mein with marinated beef brisket and tendons.  Great with chili sauce.

This is basic Hong Kong style lunch food at its best – both quality and price.

The Shopping Arcades: vrai ou faux

One thing you cannot avoid in these Macau hotels is the shopping arcade, each with the same ubiquitous luxury brands – some more exclusive than the others – all expensive but boring – and they were mostly empty when we were visiting.  The masses had not yet descended on these hotels and shopping centers as it was before New Year day.

The public areas of the Venetian are built around indoor canals with Venetian-style facades and a painted ceiling of the outdoor sky. There was a long line of people waiting to take a gondola ride with a singing gondolier. Yes, I saw a woman holding a little flag taking a group of tourists around the place.

This is a shopping mall, faking the ambience of Venezia, but selling genuine branded goods to tourists mostly from China, a country that knows quite a bit about fakes.  Vrai et/ou faux ?Access to the Venetian’s hotel rooms are also located near the canals so it completes the illusion of “being there.”   We were so glad that we did not stay there –  for one – you have to walk miles to get out of the hotel, and the worst part I imagine is the feeling that you are staying in a mall designed for shopping and not a hotel for pampering.

The Four Season’s shopping arcade is constructed to look like the arcade of yesteryears – think Burlington Arcade of London or Galleria Vittorio Emmanuel of Milano.  Its ceiling is so high and the entrance so tall that the names of the shops are scaled-up accordingly.  The labels are really in your face and bigger than life.

David Yurman, Brioni, and Canali in a mall ?  Only in Macau.

I liked these light fixtures suspended from the ceiling with a skylight.  They are massive yet give such soft relaxing light.

Möet & Chandon’s own bubbles bar at the Shoppes at Four Seasons.

Our 200th post

Hudson and GW bridge from our old home in Edgewater

This is our 200th post – a small landmark !

Celebrating with a random collection of pictures and … Near Geneve

We also want to announce that our Links page is finally up.  It is in the top right hand corner of the page.  Scroll back up and look  → ↑ For those with sharp eyes, they may have noticed a change from “under construction” to “Links” about 2 week ago.  Go explore ! If you think there are other sites that is worth visiting, put them in the Comments section for sharing. Chinese New Year

Thanks for visiting.  I received the highest number of hits (108) recently, on March 2, 2011 with a post on the Michelin 2-star dim sum lunch at Zi Yat Heen in Macau.  Are all my readers foodies ? I haven’t use the word “food porn” for a while and people are still visiting. Old Macau

I am too lazy to do any statistics but readership has gone up to an average of 40-50 per day – one explanation could be because I have more indexed pages than before – but I much prefer to believe that it is due to the content which has attracted more readers. Berlin

Monday usually produces the bigger numbers – I suspect people spend more time browsing than working on a Monday.

I do have a lot more pictures to share and I will start traveling again – so this blog will continue …

Lausanne

One of the perennial favorites is a post about HSBC’s “Different Values” poster campaign which was posted sometime in spring of last year.

Dell Inside.

Posts about the books I read generally receive the least hits – thanks people – is that how you feel about my choice of reading material ?

Our building’s Christmas tree.

Ciao !

MGM Grand, Macau and lions

We had dinner at MGM’s Rossio, some of the tables spilled into the atrium of the hotel.  The atrium was fantastically decorated, almost to the point of being garish.  But it was an immense space, as a result, the large number of fake trees with lights were not claustrophobic but it was a bit overdone.  In case you are wondering, we did not stay here.

Among all the razzmatazz, off to one side of the atrium is this pinkish romantic-looking bar.

More fake flowers, kiddie bridge and green rabbits – I imagine some 3-year old will love it.

In Vegas, one of MGM Grand’s attraction is a lion habitiat. That may explain the number of lions used in Chinese lion dance placed around the hotel, including ones that move automatically as you walk past them.

What was also interesting was the facade of the fake palace inside the atrium – images were projected onto it to create a even more dazzling sight. More lions on the balcony.

Below is a video of a lion attack that happened last year in the MGM Grand in Vegas:

By the way, that is what the atrium looks like normally (photo borrowed from MGM’s web site).

Rossio 盛事 @ MGM Grand, Macau

This restaurant Rossio (盛事) is located inside the MGM Grand just beyond the gambling floor.  I am not sure what cuisine it serves normally.  They were offering seafood buffet the night we went (Chinese New Year’s eve) – on offer were unlimited sushi, oysters, snow crab legs, shark’s fin soup, a wide selection of international dishes, US and continental, and even raclette ! …. The quality was very decent despite the all-you-can-eat setting.  We went quite late so the food were not piled high but there were still plenty.

oysters, snow crab legs, razor clams and shrimps

It looks a bit like Möevenpick marche, doesn’ it ?

We were not that hungry (you may ask why go to a buffet ? –  most places were fully booked), hence the small portions.

Except the US Louisville-style BBQ ribs, the rest are all from Asia – yakitori, chinese roast duck, chicken tandoori, lamb curry, fish curry, etc.

Interesting decorative jars of something, are they infusing their oils with herbs ?

Overall, I liked the restaurant – comfortably efficient. I think this is the main place where breakfasts are served.  It is a bit too informal for dinner, however.

Largo do Lilau, Macau 亞婆井前地

We walked from A-Ma Temple via Calçada da Barra and was looking for a way to get up to the Church of our lady of Penha  (Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Penha, 澳門主教山小堂). And we wandered into Largo do Lilau (Lilau Square or 亞婆井前地) which is a part of the UNESCO recognized “Historic Centre of Macau”.

We really liked the ambience, perhaps we were thirsty and a bit tired, the square felt really relaxing in late afternoon. Quiet, slight breeze, diffused shadows, friendly storekeeper, canned iced coffee.  At first, the atmosphere felt a bit artificial as it seemed so perfect or staged.  But then some old ladies gathered around the fountain to chat, and a dog owner walked around with a watering can, pouring water at places where her dog pee’ed and at other corners where her dog did not.  What a neighborhood.

There used to be a spring here which was a main source of fresh water for early residents of  Macau.  I wonder if that little fountain above is a remnant of the water source.  This area corresponds to the first Portuguese residential quarters in Macau (1500’s).

On our way to Largo do Lilau, we passed the Moorish Barracks, now the Maritime Administration (Capitania do Portos) – built in 1874, this building was to accommodate an Indian regiment from Goa appointed to reinforce Macau’s police force.  There must have been lots of tourists wondering into it as they have a sign out front stating entry is for official business only.

This spiraling structure must be a recent addition.

Restaurante Litoral 海灣餐廳, Macau

On the same day we went to the A-Ma Temple, we went to lunch at – Restaurante Litoral 海灣餐廳 at 261A Rua do Almirante Sérgio, in the inner port area.  They serve traditional Macanese dishes – a fusion of Portugal, Chinese and African flavors.  Macau has more than 500 years of history (compared to HK’s 150 years) – being a busy port serving traders between Europe and Asia by way of Africa.

This restaurant has been mentioned by Fodors and Frommers, and my verdict is recommendable – I think I could be more enthusiastic if I had order the right dishes.  We had African chicken, duck cooked in blood, and a bacalhau-based fried rice dish.  We should have ordered the clams (as the table next to us did).

媽閣廟 A-Ma Temple

The A-Ma temple (Barra Temple, 媽閣廟) was one of our first sightseeing stops.  Macau has more history than HK.  And this temple apparently already existed before the city of Macau came into being.  According to Wikipedia:

Built in 1488, the temple is dedicated to Matsu, the goddess of seafarers and fishermen.

The name Macau is thought to be derived from the name of the temple. It is said that when the Portuguese sailors landed at the coast just outside the temple and asked the name of the place, the natives replied “媽閣” (pronounced “Maa1 Gok3”). The Portuguese then named the peninsula “Macao”. … It is also one of the first scenes photographed in China.

The temple was quite busy as it was near the New Year.  A teenage girl was asking her fortunes by shaking a little cup with the bamboo sticks, each with a fortune. Obviously, she does not know how to do it and scattered the entire cup of sticks on the floor.  We saw a few men came into the temple with a roasted suckling pig, burned a bunch of incense each, said their prayers in front of the statue, and let off a hugh bundle of firecrackers.

Roasted suckling pig on the alter.

The temple consists of several pavillions linked by steps.  These men must be seafarers as they were hardcore with their ceremonies.  They carried the suckling pig from the bottom entrance all the way up to the top pavilion, bought more incense and solemnly made their wishes and asked for blessings in front of another set of statues.  The ladies selling incense were doing brisk business.

Giant lotus candles costing HK$888 and $1388 (about US$110 and $180).

“Quiet, solemn, retreat”, “Dirty matters – do not approach”

Zi Yat Heen 紫逸軒 @ The Four Seasons, Macau

Zi Yat Heen 紫逸軒 is a Michelin 2-star Chinese restaurant located within our hotel.  It was impossible to book a table so we ended up crashing in for dim sum at almost 2pm.  The ambience was top-notch and so was the food.  Their menu listed at least 12 different shark’s fin soups – different grades and preparations – not for dim sum.

The stir-fried vegetable was done superbly as was the shark’s fin soup dumplings.

Their shanghai soup buns were ok but I really liked the way these little buns are individually served.

They have their interpretation of a couple of dishes – the beef cube appetizer (taste so so, although the texture of the jelly fish and the beef cube matched).

The sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves was done just right – not too dry or salty.

We ordered Osmanthus Jelly 桂花糕 for dessert and they gave us two additional types.

We did not order wine but there appears to be plenty of choices.

Not having the time to try their main menu, we could not fully enjoy or explore whatever they can do that earned them the 2 stars.  But the whole experience is solidly top grade.