Weekend Picnic at Inspiration Lake

Finally! We've found a patch of grass we can sit on in Hong Kong! We were so happy it didn't rain yesterday, we had our picnic with Joe, Athena and baby Alice at Inspiration Lake.


The place is beautiful and it's easy to get to. Simply take the MTR to Disney station, and take the R8 bus to the Inspiration Lake recreation area.

We settled ourselves on a clean patch of grass, under the shade of a tree. We brought some simple food...sandwiches, hot dogs, shrimp paste grilled chicken wings, marinated meat and fish balls and Chinese sausages, and fresh melons.

There's a 7-11 there, so actually you don't have to bring any drinks or food. We didn't know that ^_^'

I made roast duck sandwiches...


I used mini croissants, store bought roast duck, slices of fresh pear, and mayonaisse.


The hot dogs had cheese sausages, sliced cucumber, mayo, ketchup and spreadable cheese in them. I used cocktail buns, the inner part buttered and lightly toasted.


I also made apple caramel sandwiches. They're filled with slices of fuji apple, which were lightly salted to prevent them from browning, and slathered with some butter and toffee caramel spread.


The babies enjoyed their own food...and some of our buns...


And it was too hot, we decided to let baby Marcus try some popsicle.

He was shocked by how cold it was...at first.

Soon enough, he grew to love it...


...and kept asking for more.

So much for trying to not let him eat anything unhealthy until he's 10 ^_^'

It was so hot, we were pretty much melted, sun burnt, and bitten my mosquitoes/various insects, but we enjoyed it much, we're gonna go back when the weather is cooler.

The full set of pictures are posted on my Facebook Page. Like it if you haven't already ^_^

Da Dong Beijing Roast Duck at Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong's Man Wah Restaurant

Thanks to Mandarin Oriental for inviting me to this blogger's lunch, tasting the famous Da Dong Beijing Roast Duck. This has got to be the most elegant roast duck meal I've ever had. I am by no means a Chinese food or roast duck expert. Thus, I'll just share what we had that day, which are my favorites, and just enjoy the visuals. Each dish is gawkalicious.

The Chinese yam with preserved plum marmalade opens the meal with a sweet note.

I am not used to have something so sweet to open a meal, so I was a bit taken aback.

I love the second treat, the goose liver aspic with mango and caviar.

The creaminess and richness of the goose liver were balanced by the other tangy components.

The spiciness of the Sichuan style shredded duck wings was a pleasant surprise.

It gives my palate a bit of a kick, getting it ready for the next courses.

I was excited to try the soup, I remember my last fond memory of delicious soup from Man Wah.


And I wasn't disappointed. The duck tongue and morel mushroom soup was downright delicious.

I don't normally get excited by duck tongue, but these were bouncy yet still tender. Yummy!

I had to leave my soup mid-slurp as I wanted to catch some duck carving action from the chef...


Can't wait to taste the duckie.


Da Dong's roast duck is famous for being super lean, so I didn't hold back. Crispy skin, less fat, moist meat? Come to mama.

I think I took the last remaining few pieces ^_^'

I especially love the pancakes that were served with the duck.


They were wonderfully thin and chewy.


Normally, we get cucumber, chives and hoisin sauce to go with our roast duck, but we were served with  much more.

There were pieces of gorgeous pink radish (which I initially thought were pieces of watermelon - duh!- silly me), pickled vegetables, sugar and garlic puree. Interesting.  Couldn't wait to try.

I started with the normal combo of duck, hoisin sauce, cucumber and chives.


And then I just went crazy. I added everything onto my duck and pancake. Well, I held back on the garlic puree. I had a date that night, you see.

Obviously, avant garde food presentation isn't my thing. I should just leave it to the pros.

The next item isn't an alien. It's a super mega delicious braised sea cucumber.

While it's a delicacy for most people, I am not a big fan of sea cucumber. I think I've just tasted too many bad sea cucumber dishes, I kinda forgot how could they could be when done right. This one was a more than good one. I cured my sea cucumber phobia instantly. Tender with a bit of a bite, and deeply flavorful. Hmm, those leaves look familiar. It's the trendy thing to do in food presentation, isn't it? While they do make plates look gorgeous, I don't think they necessarily improved the flavors.

The duck gizzards and duck parts in the sauteed four delicacies were a bit too chewy, but I was blown away by the champagne and sour plum jelly. They added the bit of sweetness and tang that brightened up the whole dish.

I am not a big fan of garnishes that are not supposed to add value into the dish, apart from making it look pretty, so, I was a bit disappointed by the mint leaves and the wedge of lemon.

The braised cabbage and chestnut might look a tad humble, but don't be fooled.

The braised cabbage was rich, thick, almost creamy and satisfying. The chestnut was sweet and tender. Both are really good, I'm not sure about the pairing though. It was rich on rich. This dish filled me up instantly, but I couldn't help it and finished the whole thing. It was that good.

We were served more than 20 year old superior pu-erh tea!

It's nothing like the average pu-erh. Love it. I am not good at tea leaves reading. Did it say anything good?

The starch of the meal was this goose liver fried rice.

The bits of goose liver were inside this pile of deliciousness. Love the idea.

We were oohing and ahhhing when the next dish entered the room in a dramatic manner.


The dry ice gave the illusion that we were going to enjoy a cold dessert, so I was really surprised when I tasted something warm.

The coconut cream has glutinous rice dumplings filled with red bean in it. The flavors were subtle, not sickeningly sweet or creamy.

The petit four were sweet yellow bean cake, sweet rice dumpling, glutinous sesame roll and fresh milk rolls.

The fresh milk rolls look adorable, but my favorite was the sweet rice dumplings (top left), it has a mix of sweet and savory.

As expected, I had a major food coma after this decadent meal. It was great to meet fellow bloggers, some have posted their detailed reviews, click through to check out their posts: Edena of Ed Eats, Jason of Life as a Bon Vivant, Patricia of Su Yan Tian Shi, Amy from Yummy Mummy Asia and Wilson from WOM Guide

Man Wah
25/F Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong
5 Connaught Road
Central, Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2825 4003

Roast Duck Fried Rice

Got some leftover roast duck?

Too hard & dry to consume on its own?
Not enough for two?
Need a quick and tasty way out?
Make fried rice :D


Recipe
(serves two)
- 1.5 cup rice (I used leftover rice which had been in the fridge for one night)
- 2 cloves shallot, sliced thinly
- 1 sprig scallion, sliced thinly
- a few slices of roast duck, diced, remove excess fat, but leave some (I used leftover roast duck, but you can buy fresh)
- olive oil, fish sauce, white pepper

Saute shallot in a bit of hot olive oil, add diced duck, let cook a little to render some duck fat goodness, add rice, season with fish sauce and white pepper, mix well, add scallion, mix well, serve.

There's just no way it's not tasty :)