Literal Delight Express

Most Hong Kongers do not take advantage of crossing the border to Shen Zhen. Crossing over into China is a transition that most do not enjoy or appreciate...but who can blame them? The crowds, pushing, strange people trying to lure you to their store. It's a sight that I tried to avoid at all costs myself. This summer however, I figured out how much SZ offers and crossed over by MTR 5-6 times. Last summer I went once to get a winter coat made, and I was so pleased with the result that I couldn't wait to go back! This time around I got: 3 male dress shirts, a dress, shirt, pants, skirt, and a cheung sam made. Spending hours picking out material and attempting to communicate with my tailor who spoke no english, resulted in a famished group. I must explain first that I do not venture very far past the exit of the MTR. A few feet away is a huge mall. The very top floor holds a market that only sells material, and the surrounding stores outside of this market are numerous tailors. The floors below sell everything your heart desires. Back to being famished, the famous restaurant chain in Hong Kong called Loreal has a place right next to the huge material market. If you ask me that was absolutely genius. They have bilingual menus to attract tourists (and of course people like me) and the food they serve caters to the Hong Kong crowd. After eating here once I was hooked, and ended up eating here

every subsequent time I visited.

Like any place, I can't say that everything they serve is great. An example being, their siu long bao. Served in traditional bamboo baskets used for steaming, each individual dumpling was steamed in a mini aluminum cupcake holder. I thought it was adorable when it came out, and actually brilliant for people who aren't used to or capable of picking up their dumpling without bursting its insides. THEY WERE THE BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT EVER. The dumplings were completely stuck to their aluminum counterparts and there was slim to none soup.

Thankfully, the meal only got better! My favorite dish tried here consisted of seafood stir-fried in sweet and sour sauce. They infused this popular dish with the well known dim sum dish 'cheung fan.' So, there was a mixture of stir fried seafood, and fried chinese donuts stuffed with delicious shrimp!

Other side dishes we ordered were ma ma dei but this place is a must just for their sweet and sour seafood dish!

man man sik,

Elyssa Yuen

King of seafood

On my way out of Guang Zhou, I was ready to venture out of my tourist bubble and into some local-foreigner middle ground. On the outskirts of the city sits the largest seafood restaurant in the entire world (yes you heard it, and of course it would be in china...). In addition to it's mass, there is an inclusive seafood market smack in the middle of the restaurant. So, from bartering for live fish to dining on lobster, this restaurant caters to all.

We were on a time crunch so there was no time for messing. We sat down and ordered: a local fish served in black bean sauce, pan fried seafood noodles (chou min), scallops in a chinese garlic butter sauce, and like all traditional chinese meals we started with a soup.

Chinese soup to a chinese person is like grass to a cow (okay maybe not quite, but you get the picture), and we will drink it if you put it in front of us, without loking at whatactually has been boiling in our soup for a good half a day.

The soup that was brought to us was a broth made of pork, bitter melon, fish, and scorpions. It was a little on the thick side as the oil had not yet been skimmed (and i reminded myself i was in china not at home), but the flavor was still delicious. When boiled, the bitterness from the melon becomes mild, and when mixed with the other soup ingredients becomes a slight aftertaste. The overpowering flavor was of course the pork, and quite frankly the scorpions didn't trigger a single one of my taste buds.

The pan fried noodles that came were a hugeeee disappointment. The size and texture of the noodle was one similar to that of a bloated spaghetti noodle...now everyone who's had pan fried noodles knows that is unacceptable. My father threw a fit, called the managers, and threatened to email their boss as he 'says' he is a close friend. The shrimp were miniscule, and the noodles too oily. All in all, not worth valuable calories or chewing energy.

The fish was mediocre, nothing you wouldn't be able to find at the dinner table of a typical Asian home so I feel no need to elaborate.

The scallops were still attached to their shells, sitting in a bed of garlic butter, and garnished with vermicelli glass noodles. The presentation was clever, the sauce was nice, the noodles were delightful, but the scallops were a failure! Biting into one I had to ask myself if it was dried or cooked (the obvious answer is cooked) and someone obviously overcooked them! Cooked scallops should be served at a soft succulent texture, and ours were nothing close to being prepared correctly. Overall, this dish has the potential to be fabulous, but if you order, demand that your scallops are unde

rcooked rather than over.

Overall rating: A must have experience to a traveler in the area purely for the experience. Their food however was nothing other than mediocre. Bill was 311 RMB (but this could have resulted in part to the yelling of my father).

man man sik,

Elyssa Yuen

Calling all Americans, Chinese, and ABC's

This past week us Americans celebrated July 4th.

Hong Kongers celebrated the turnover.

And as an added bonus, it was also the 30th anniversary of Chinese-U.S. relations.

To celebrate these events, my family took the train to Guang Zhou (a nightmare to anybody who had the luxury of growing up in Hong Kong) and stayed at an ecological resort called Chong Mine. I will most probably never learn to appreciate mainland China as much as I should, but Chong Mine surprisingly has tons to offer. Connected to the resort is (as standing) the number one water park in the world, a zoo that includes a safari, an amusement park, and a circus (with such lax safety regulations) that would never be permitted in a first world nation.

In celebration of July 4th, the U.S. Consulate in Guang Zhou

hosted a standing picnic at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. The concept was genius, and one you'd never expect to be pulled off or be found in the mainland. There were no tables or chairs, forcing guests to mix and

mingle, or at least bop to some American classics being played in the background. Around the perimeter of the room were a variety of food stations guests could pick from. There was: a NY styled cold cut meats station, a hot dog stand, buffalo wings, a dessert table, and a make your own ice cream sundae table. There was also servers serving hamburgers off of wooden trays.

I went straight to the hot dogs. Living in Asia, the closest exposure to a real hot dog was the hot dogs sold at Ikea. As seen, these hot dogs were cooked in a large rice cooker which I found overly amusing, and resulted in them being a tad overcooked, but the choices of toppings made up for the slightly chewy dog. I topped mine with chili, cheddar, and there was actually a hot dog relish made with mustard that added an extra kick.

I always look forward to desserts at these functions. I pretty much sampled everything except the cheesecake (because i hate it), and was utterly disappointed. The apple pie was however, the best I have ever had in Asia, and the cherry was decent enough to be noted. The cookies were dry and tasteless, but the brownies had a fudgy texture that was interesting enough to eat. Overall these desserts confirmed the notion that Chinese people should stick to traditional treats, but I appreciated the effort.

The experience of this event was more worth while than the actual eating, but then again, what would food be without its presentation?

man man sik,

Elyssa Yuen