Local Favorite Taiwanese Breakfast

If you aren't familiar with Taiwanese breakfast, it can easily be summed up to this: cheap, fresh, daily-made, bread stuffed with more bread, cold or hot soy beverage, and dumplings! It's really quite simple but when done right, it tastes absolutely amazing. This is what I would consider a hole-in-the-wall spot because of how small it is and cleanliness and comfort isn't their strongest point. It's so small that they have someone working on making the dough outside the restaurant.  This place serves cheap and delicious food. Yes, that's right, I said those two words in the same sentence. I wish United States was like that but sadly this is where Asia reigns supreme. You can basically get full with spending less than 5 dollars USD. Most of their items are either 1 USD dollar or less. It's basically 30 TWD to 1 US dollar.

I ordered the mandatory Fried Savory Doughnut served on a Sesame-sprinkled bun and a cold sweetened Soy drink. I also wanted to taste how their "Xiao Long Baos" dumplings would taste and let me tell you, I personally think the ones served here are better than the ones at Din Tai Fung. Shocking! I know but I'm sure others might agree with me on this one. It was simply more juicy and had more flavor but the wrapping is a little thicker so there was a drawback but it was relatively minor complaint to me. We also ordered a pork bun just because...I kind of LOVE to eat and wanted to try EVERYTHING on their menu if I had an infinite stomach!

Definitely recommend coming here to get some authentic Taiwanese breakfast!

Name: 永和豆漿大王 (sorry no English name)
Address: 106, Taiwan, Section 2, Fuxing South Rd, 102號永和豆漿大王
Google Maps: Click Here!!! 

Store Front

Where the magic happens!

So cheap!

Huge Xiao Long Baos

Infamous Carbs wrapped around more Carbs

So juicy!

Pork bun

Chefs hard at work

Seafood in Kowloon City

My Aunt took me to another delicious place for seafood and it was located in Kowloon City. Unfortunately there's no English name for this one so you'll need to just rely on Google Maps and look for the front entrance! I come here basically every time I visit Hong Kong because we know the chef and he does amazing wonders to his creations. It's not too well known as it's still a relatively new restaurant but I don't mind as long as I can enjoy delicious seafood at a good price and don't need to wait!

We started off with cold and marinated Jelly fish noodles. It was really good and I rarely eat it because it's usually for special occasions like a wedding banquet. Next was something new that I never tried before and it was Sichuan style "Thousand Year Old Egg"! Usually if you have heard of this, it's usually black and not in this case! It's Sichuan style and it's yellow! The flavor is quite similar but it's a little more on the lighter side in terms of taste. It's quite the interesting appearance, as the "egg white" is completely clear! Learn something new everyday!

Next we ordered a steamed whole fish. I believe it was a "Strawberry Grouper". I love steamed fresh whole fish and this was no exception. It was cooked perfectly and had amazing texture and flavor. Next dish was steamed garlic infused scallops with stuffed clear noodles! That was amazing! I love clear noodles with the scallops. All the juices and flavor from the garlic and the scallop don't go to waste at all as it gets all absorbed by the clear noodles for you to enjoy!

 We also ordered Razor shell clams. This is probably my favorite place so far in terms of how it's cooked and flavored. The chef cleaned the clams very well as usually they can be quite sandy if it's not. It was black bean sauce flavored which was very well done.

Next on our list were the mandatory Mantis Prawns or in direct translation in Chinese "Pissing Prawns". It was cooked very well, they seem to always be served deep fried. That's probably the best way to get the natural flavors out I guess. This tasted similar to other seafood restaurants I been to.

Next we ordered a non-seafood dish and it was deep fried pork chunks drenched with a tomato/bbq sauce. It was pretty good. Cooked very well and flavored well. This meal would go very well with some rice.

Lastly we got some crab and a dessert. Nothing too special about those. I definitely recommend giving this place a try if you are in the area.

Name: 晉萬川
Address: G/F., 15 Nga Tsin Long Road, Kowloon City, Hong Kong
Google Maps: Click Here!!!
Phone: 2383-3314
Website: http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=154356

Store Front

Look for this!

Golden Thousand Year Old Eggs (Sichuan style)

Cold served Marinated Jellyfish

Strawberry Grouper

Scallops

Clear Noodles tucked underneath!

Razor shell Clams

Mantis Prawns

Deep Fried Wet Sauce Drenched Pork Chunks

Crab

Glutinous Rice Dessert sprinkled with Sesame Powder

 

Epic Seafood Dinner in Sai Kung

My Aunt took me to a one Michelin star seafood restaurant in the Sai Kung area of Hong Kong. It's located to the East of Hong Kong near the waters. And as you could obviously guess, they are known for seafood here. They have many ports in the area where local fishermen bring their daily catches for sale.  The restaurant I went to was called Sing Kee Seafood Restaurant (勝記海鮮酒家). It is located next to the harbor and surprisingly has 3 floors! Hong Kong is known for having one of the most expensive real estates in the world and having a restaurant have that much space is definitely out of the ordinary.

This restaurant like many restaurants in Sai Kung has a huge display room of their fresh seafood to show off and as you might have noticed, it's priced as "Market Price". You will never see anything like this in the USA. There are so many exotic seafood and things that you normally see frozen; are alive and kicking in their tanks. Simply amazing! Freshness obsessed!

Let's take at look at what we ordered here. Be warned, this is not at all a place to eat for people on a budget, it's super expensive. If you have the money or are willing to spend a little just for one seafood dinner, then this is a place to come check out. We had Fried Cuttlefish Ball which was really good. Full of flavor and lightly breaded. It was super bouncy as well which usually is a good indicator on how well it is. Next we ordered a seafood soup which is just loaded with various seafood and the soup was simply light and very rich and flavorful at the same time. We ordered Chicken Feet as an appetizer which I must admit isn't something I would usually order since it's not a food item that is too difficult to master. Next we ordered in-shell Abalone which was light fried. It was very delicious and well seasoned. They cooked it very well here. The next item was the Fried Mantis Shrimp or "Pissing Shrimp". It has the texture of somewhere between a lobster and a prawn. Don't let the name fool you, it's actually quite delicious when done right and no it doesn't have any taste of "urine". Next was the Razorshell Clams! They were cooked to perfection in Black bean sauce. Usually they have a sandy texture if not cleaned well and they did a great job at making sure it was cleaned. Next was fresh "Longdon" or Grouper which is a very expensive fish and it has full of flavor. It was lightly stir fried with celery and some thickened broth to ensure the natural flavor of the Grouper is the primary focus of the dish. Next were delicious steamed clams with flavored clear noodles served on top of them. Again focus is on bringing out the natural flavors of the seafood so you can taste how fresh it is. Followed by the clams were the Fried Skin with wet sauce from the Grouper / "London" as the skin has a ton of flavor. I'm not too crazy over eating Fish Skin so your experience may vary. Last but not least were the seasonal Soft-Shell crabs! It was pretty good as well. We got some dessert as well but nothing to brag about. Come check this place out (if you have have the money though)!

Name: Sing Kee Seafood Restaurant (勝記海鮮酒家)
Address: G/F, 33-39 Sai Kung Tai Street, Sai Kung
Phone: 2791 9887
Google Map: Click Here!

Store Front

Fried Cuttlefish Balls

Seafood Soup

Chicken Feet

Abalone

Mantis Shrimp

Razor Shell Clams

Longdon/Grouper

Clams

Fried Grouper Fish Skin

Soft-Shell Crab

Yikes!

Dessert Jello

Sushi Bar Yasuda

I watch a lot of food documentaries and TV shows and I came across Anthony Bourdain's recommendation of a famous Japanese sushi chef who came to the USA but then eventually moved back to Japan who believed that in order to be considered one of the best sushi chefs in the world, it must come from within Japan. I was lucky enough to have gotten a spot during the Christmas break because initially when I emailed to make a reservation, it was all FULL! Some people cancelled their reservation so I got in. It was a pretty neat experience seeing someone in person for the first time that you saw through a TV documentary. Chef Yasuda's English was pretty fluent so it was nice to be able to get a nice story about each sushi that was served and where it came from. He goes to the Tsukiji market daily to get his seafood and usually doesn't look for the most expensive or freshest items but rather the most unique items and fish/seafood that he feels would be great tasting during a particular season. Interestingly enough, he admits that so far most of his customers are non-Japanese. I guess it doesn't help when he made his name in the USA so not many Japanese know of him. I guess that's a reason why he felt something was missing and decided to come back to Japan. His menu was surprisingly not as expensive as initially thought.

At the time he offered 3 options:

• 10 piece sushi assortment (priced at 3600 YEN or ~$36 USD dollars)
• 12 piece sushi assortment (priced at 4200 YEN or ~$42 USD dollars)
• 12 custom sushi assortment (priced at 5800 YEN or ~$58  USD dolars)

I was kind of glad that for the most part, it was just my group eating at his establishment due to many people cancelling last minute so we got him to share his wisdom on sushi creations and what inspires him. I actually enjoyed my sushi here. Although my only complaint was the soy sauce/mixture he used to spread on the seafood was a little too tart for my taste. I prefer my soy sauce to be more on the sweeter side but aside from that minor complaint I was pretty content with my experience at the Sushi Bar Yasuda. If you've never heard of this guy, it may not be worth the trip to only come here to eat at his place but for me personally, I was curious to see how his sushi would taste since Anthony Bourdain is really close with him. I probably won't be a second time visitor as there are many other sushi places that I have bookmarked that I would like to try in Japan. It's simply too competitive here for sushi to go to the same place twice. I wish him good luck on his goal as trying to be one of the best in Japan!

Name: Sushi Bar Yasuda
Website: http://www.sushibaryasuda.com/
Address: 4 chome 2-6 Minamiaoyama Bldg 426, B1, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Google Maps: Click Here!

Front Entrance

Chef Yasuda!

White Fish

Salmon

Sea Eel

Sea Scallop

Squid

Tuna

Sweet Shrimp - Amaebi

Scallion Sprout

Sweet Egg / Omelet

Sea Urchin

Sweeter Sea Urchin

Blue Skin Fish

Thanks Chef Yasuda!