There are so many things which I love about weekends...
- Waking up early (NOT late), and actually feeling eager to wake up, so that I can start enjoying my weekend ASAP
- Working. (Whhhatttt???)...on something I love doing, such as cooking more intricate things, hand making goodies, and taking pictures with natural sunlight
- The ability to look outside my apartment window (the multimillion dollar view = a parking lot. Haha!)
- Wearing no make up at all or spending extra time (which I normally don't have) dolling myself up
...and so on, and so forth...but one of my all time favorite thing to enjoy on weekends is a pleasant and leisurely...
Hong Kong All Day Breakfast
Last weekend, I accidentally found this charming old cafe just beside the hideously renovated Western Market in Hong Kong's Sheung Wan district.
If you love anything old, this place will charm the heck outta you. It serves classic Hong Kong baked goods, such as cocktail buns (sweet buns with sugar and coconut filling), pineapple buns (sweet buns with crispy crumble-like topping), swiss rolls, and sponge cakes...
Hong Kong's classic beverages...such as bottled Kowloon Dairy milk, boxed vita soy milk and lemon tea.
If you love anything old, this place will charm the heck outta you. It serves classic Hong Kong baked goods, such as cocktail buns (sweet buns with sugar and coconut filling), pineapple buns (sweet buns with crispy crumble-like topping), swiss rolls, and sponge cakes...
Hong Kong's classic beverages...such as bottled Kowloon Dairy milk, boxed vita soy milk and lemon tea.
The metal doors are marked with the shop's name...full of chips and rust
The original floor tiles, warped and faded. The "car seats" are painted red, in a shape I've never seen before. It's like a blast from the past in the midst of Hong Kong's hustle and bustle.
The Good ol' Food
Sliced Beef Noodles topped with fried egg, plus a cup of milk tea.
I know...you might say, why having this outside if you can easily do this at home? Nononono. It's just not the same, I don't know why...but I bet the antique culteries made all the difference!
How charming! I was sooo tempted to steal (nono), ehm, ask to buy these babies off them. But, I don't want to be the person who turned this old place into one of those joints who serve plastic disposable cutleries.
...and for me the sugar tasted sweeter scooped by this lovely old tea spoon. Those are all feasts for my eyes!
Spicy pork noodles topped with fried egg.
The perfect combo of MSG laden noodle with canned spicy pork. My weekly junk food treat!
Hong Kong style French Toast with butter, topped with gloriously golden syrup
The new versions included peanut butter in between two slices of bread. This one consisted of just one thick slice of bread which was so fragrant and creamy from the milk marinate. Heaven! This must have like a gadzillion billion calories. (Did you see the way we pour the golden syrup from the top picture?)
I bet this uncle was the loner, seated separately from the other groups of uncles, fiercely concentrating on enjoying his food...and talk about enjoying....check out this uncle below...
His expression defined the word "orgasmic" to describe how good his pineapple bun + cup of hot milk were.
The original floor tiles, warped and faded. The "car seats" are painted red, in a shape I've never seen before. It's like a blast from the past in the midst of Hong Kong's hustle and bustle.
The Good ol' Food
Sliced Beef Noodles topped with fried egg, plus a cup of milk tea.
I know...you might say, why having this outside if you can easily do this at home? Nononono. It's just not the same, I don't know why...but I bet the antique culteries made all the difference!
How charming! I was sooo tempted to steal (nono), ehm, ask to buy these babies off them. But, I don't want to be the person who turned this old place into one of those joints who serve plastic disposable cutleries.
...and for me the sugar tasted sweeter scooped by this lovely old tea spoon. Those are all feasts for my eyes!
Spicy pork noodles topped with fried egg.
The perfect combo of MSG laden noodle with canned spicy pork. My weekly junk food treat!
Hong Kong style French Toast with butter, topped with gloriously golden syrup
The new versions included peanut butter in between two slices of bread. This one consisted of just one thick slice of bread which was so fragrant and creamy from the milk marinate. Heaven! This must have like a gadzillion billion calories. (Did you see the way we pour the golden syrup from the top picture?)
I bet such an old place should have a regular crowd of customers... where everybody know each other's names, chit chat about the golden olden days of Hong Kong, the brits, the economic crisis, their biggest mah jong win, the flat chested girls/skinny boys they went after/who went after them...
I bet this uncle was the loner, seated separately from the other groups of uncles, fiercely concentrating on enjoying his food...and talk about enjoying....check out this uncle below...
His expression defined the word "orgasmic" to describe how good his pineapple bun + cup of hot milk were.
love those Asian style buns...
ReplyDeleteI do love the noodles as well as the vintage style of cutleries.
hei hei, I sometimes buy vitasoy boxes from Superstore or Asian stores here :)))
ReplyDeleteooo nostalgic! i would certainly want to visit such place if i ever come to HK again :)
ReplyDeleteRit kowe moto engkong2 gitu ndak diliatin toh? opo malah do seneng?
ReplyDeleteSalivating big time here!
ReplyDeleteThis looks so good! Those bakery items are all things I like to eat :). I also like the glass bottles for the Kowloon Dairy Milk. I have to always get one everytime I go there.
ReplyDeleteI find the metal doors to be interesting as I have not been to a place in HK that has something like that, although I have been to Sheung Wan many times.
omg, i have always been fascinated by hong kong culture and especially the FOOD yummy! we have hong kong oriented places here in houston, texas but i am sure it isn't even close to the real thing.thanks for the insight,
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Oh yeah this is my kind of place for breakfast.
ReplyDeleteOh wow, i know where i'm going for breakfast on my next trip to Hong Kong. Looks fantastic! Can you dump your sous-chef for a couple hours and take me there Rita? :-P
ReplyDeleteAll of this food looks delicious, you sure know how to eat well!
ReplyDeletemmmm.... the way he bit into his breakfast made me really wonder how good can that be... this is a very interesting place... i better take note of this... till my next visit... :)
ReplyDeleteActually, it looks as if he were trying to play that pineapple bun as if it were an instrument!
ReplyDeleteI agree, I like waking up early on weekends too, gotta get up and relax! I need to work on my photography with my new DSLR, those pictures you took are incredible.
girl, you made me miss HK so much ... hope to visit HK on holiday soon hehe... I miss the instant noodles with egg & minced meat for breakfast! Your photos are lovely and artistic ... My fave is the one with drinks inside the chiller :D
ReplyDeleteWhat fantastic photos...I wish I had a place like this near me for breakfast. I mean, if I could wake up for breakfast.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog too!
very lucky of you to find a nook! i'm always on the look out for something unexpectedly pleasant too...
ReplyDeleteGreat pictures! Cafes like this seem to be disappearing in HK.
ReplyDeleteomigosh now you make me miss HK char charn teng's grubs. i miss the lai char and por lor yau bao!!! *sobs*
ReplyDeleteOoh, I love these breakfast places. And those instant noodles look so darn good! You're right: it's not the same. I order instant noodles with ham and egg and it doesn't taste like the ones I make at home.
ReplyDeletewhat a very cool post of photos. i luv how you captured the moment of being at the cafe....photos remind me of thumbing through *national geographic* and wishing i was right there!
ReplyDeletehope your having fantastic new year Rita ;-)
I LOVE this photo essay. HK cha chaan tengs are such great relics, not too well-known in the West. The photos of the french toast and ramen/milk tea are gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteSound delicious.
ReplyDelete