Hong Kong - Ho Lee Fook

Ho Lee Fook - dinner on August 30, 2017

Yes, you read the name right. Sound it out if you wonder why we got a chuckle when our Hong Kong host brought us here. But supposedly it means “good fortune for your mouth”. Apparently, this is locally famous and well-known for its beef ribs. It didn’t matter. Our Hong Kong host(ess) hadn’t steered us wrong yet so I was a willing lemming to follow her lead.

We entered the restaurant at street level, saw a bunch of mounted cat clocks (see pic, I’m not kidding) at the top of the stairs and took the stairs down into a darkened room that had a definite clubby feel. This is not a place where you take your sweetie so you can whisper sweet nothings to each other. This is good for group dinners, small and large, when you want a high energy, dancy vibe. Awesome 80s music the whole time we were there so it made me feel right at home.

Once again I cannot tell you what exactly we ate so this isn’t going to really be a restaurant review but more like a food porn post with some words. And some of my pictures didn’t really turn out because the lighting was so dark and I did not have the luxury of making fussy lighting adjustments with my phone before the dishes were passed around and spoons gouged out servings. So it’s more about “hey, here’s one of the places we ate at in Hong Kong”.

By now, I was a veteran of our team meals and had learned to pace myself. No matter how good something was, I knew enough to only take a small portion or else I was going to be hopelessly full too soon and would miss out on possibly the best dish(es).

Two dishes did stand out though. One was fried chicken wings that were crisp and amazingly flavorful. They were spicy; you know I don’t normally go for the spicy but these were really good, not burn-your-mouth-spicy but wake-up-and-say-hello-flavorful-spicy. At first I couldn’t recognize them, not just because of the poor lighting but because they were literally buried under a pile of crisply toasted chili peppers. At least that’s what I assume they were. I don’t know if anyone ate the chilis “straight” but the chicken wings were soon gone and the platter only contained crispy peppers.

The other dish that stood out in my memory came out last (see, this is why I save room) and were the famous ribs. I had gotten used to thinking of American-style ribs like baby back ribs but these were dinosaur-sized (okay, I exaggerate) ribs with generous slices of beef arranged around the bone. The outer edges were almost charred but only served as a nice contrast to the tenderness of the beef ribs inside. Very yum.

I miscalculated my pacing though and ran out of room for dessert. Which was some kind of ice cream or yogurt with some sort of fruit, served in bowls meant to be shared by 2-3 people. I cried uncle by then and didn’t get to take a picture so you’ll have to just imagine it. Another great dinner, another fun night in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong - Playt (buffet lunch)

Playt - buffet lunch on August 30, 2017 at The Park Lane Hotel in Hong Kong

The second day of our offsite had a packed agenda so we didn’t have time to leave the hotel for lunch like we had done the day before. Fortunately, the hotel had a buffet restaurant on the ground floor so it was quick and convenient to troop down there instead.

I’m going to preface the rest of this post by saying when it comes to buffets in Asia or any other part of the world, I’ve been forever ruined by Niu by Vikings in the Philippines. That’s pretty much the pinnacle of all buffets with its block-long stations of different types of cuisine and the plethora of superior offerings. Vegas casinos have nothing on Niu.

So you’ll have context for when I say Playt was okay. It wasn’t bad but it didn’t come close to toppling Niu for me. There was an eclectic selection of food. And by eclectic, I mean offerings from made-to-order soup bowls/hot pot to sushi to a carving station to chicken nuggets and fries. The selection was varied but offered in small portions so the buffet didn’t take up a lot of room. Presumably the restaurant staff were quick to replenish the serving dishes since they didn’t seem to run out of anything.

I had my usual plate of mixed assorted small bites of “real” food including a custom-made bowl of noodle soup so I had room for dessert. The desserts were sectioned off, almost like a mini candy and ice cream store but with a variety of plated desserts, some macarons and a gelato “stand”.  Gelato, yum.

Although, I did mention I don’t have very Asian taste buds, right? The flavors were a bit too exotic for my non-adventurous taste buds except for the chocolate gelato. It was billed as chocolate banana and at first I was hesitant because I’m actually not a fan of banana and chocolate combined. Unless it was whole banana being dipped into warm liquid milk chocolate as part of a chocolate fondue offering.

Therefore I was pleasantly surprised that by banana, they made frozen bits of bananas as a mix-in to the chocolate gelato. I had thought it was be mashed banana stirred into the chocolate before freezing as gelato. This way was much better. Turns out I’m definitely a fan of frozen banana chunks suspended in chocolate gelato.

As is customary in Asia as well as Europe, the serving was small. That was okay. It gave me an excuse to go back a second time and ask for the single scoop in a cone. Something to take back with me when we got back together for the afternoon session.

Hong Kong - Sang Kee Seafood Restaurant

Sang Kee Seafood Restaurant - dinner on August 29, 2017

This was the first of our three team dinners during our 3-day sojourn with the Asia team. Our Hong Kong host(ess) planned out each dinner to give us the best exposure to her hometown cuisine, balancing between “no, not where the tourists go” and highly rated local favorites. 

Eggs with bitter melon - the eggs were really good

Sweet and Sour Pork

The first night was all about true Cantonese cooking. As she explained, Cantonese cooking doesn’t believe in adding a lot of sauces to their dishes. Instead it’s about making things simply and well to bring out the food’s optimal flavor. 

Yes, the prawns were that big

Similar to our dim sum lunch at Lee Garden, I can’t tell you exactly what everything was or how much it cost since I never saw the menu or the bill; she ordered everything ahead of time since we were such a large group. But there was ample variety and tons of food as you can see from the pictures. I don’t think I took a picture of all of the dishes either since they kept coming and I might’ve lost track.

Everything was delicious. I appreciated the “simple” flavors. Simple doesn’t mean tasteless; in fact, it was the opposite. The food might have been simply prepared, whether it was steamed or poached or fried but the ingredients were fresh and the dishes were straightforward and well done.

Described to me as something similar to pork belly

Oh, and here’s another thing about many Asian cultures. Food equals caring. As our Hong Kong host explained, it’s about sharing and making sure people feel welcome. That’s done through the generosity displayed with the food being prepared well and shared generously. Which means this is a bad place for a diet. I sat next to my coworker from Singapore and she showed her caring by heaping my plate whenever a new dish arrived. “Here, try this!” I tried it, I ate it, I enjoyed it. Can’t be rude by refusing, right? By that standard, I was the most amenable guest. At least until we got to the last few dishes and I had to end up crying uncle “I’m full! I can’t eat anymore!” LOL

After dinner we ended up extending the night by taking the ferry from Hong Kong to the Kowloon side. It was only 2.70 HKD or about 30 cents USD each way. The ferry ride was short and the night was humid but the views were pretty with all the lights. Plus it gave us a small chance to walk off a tiny portion of that delicious dinner.