Totally random but I spotted this pretty Body Shop Tram on our way there.

The moment we entered, we felt all eyes on us as we were the only odd ones out. At 7am, everyone there was a retiree clutching newspapers and Yum Cha-ing as part of their morning routine. You probably get the clubbers post-clubbing in the wee hours of the morning; but at daybreak, retirees rule at San Hing. It was packed to the brim but we managed to squeeze past the crowd into a corner of the back section and shared a table with an elderly man.

There was no menu so we just ordered the usuals and scanned the many media clippings on their wall for recommendations. Let’s start with the Liu Sha Bao that even Eason Chan recommends.

As its name dictates, the filling of the Liu Sha Baos at San Hing really gush out out, unlike the almost-solid ones we often get in Singapore. I quite liked it as it wasn’t overly oily, didn’t have too much salted egg, and had a fragrant coconut milk taste. A pity it wasn’t served piping hot so by the time I snapped a few photos it was already cold.

We also ordered the Shrimp Dumpling (Har Gao), Glutinous Rice Wrapped in Lotus Leaf (Luo Mai Gai) and Rice Roll with Prawns (Har Cheong Fan). All were pretty good! I especially liked the skins of the cheong fan and har gaos, they were thin, fresh and moist enough. The glutinous rice could have done with a bit more sauce/flavour. On hindsight I should have ordered the Quail Egg Siew Mai too but I completely blanked out as we rushed to order.

For “dessert”, I wanted the Osmanthus Jelly, but was told they only serve it in summer. So I ordered the Deep Fried Milk which is also one of their signature dishes and the waitress said they don’t have that either. But anyway it popped up on our table like 1 minute later, so I’m not complaining. I’ve not eaten this before so I didn’t know what to expect. Unfortunately this was served cold and hence felt very greasy :( But it was still semi-crispy on the outside, and the inside was basically a milk-flavoured custard. Not exactly salty or sweet, just milk-flavoured. Still I could imagine that served piping hot, it would have tasted 10 times better.

San Hing to me, felt like a neighbourhood Dim Sum place catering to the nearby residents and probably the clubbing/night shift crowd who want supper (given the weird opening hours). It isn’t exactly a place for refined Dim Sum, or to sit and linger as it has extremely uncomfortable surroundings. But that said, the retirees there seemed to have no qualms about zen-ing out and reading their newspapers over copious amount of tea. If you do enjoy a good Liu Sha Bao or are looking for a late night/early morning Dim Sum feast, it’s worth a trek.

Price: $ (<30 SGD for 2 pax)
Location: 10 Hau Wo St., Kennedy Town, Hong Kong Island (nearest MTR is Sheung Wan/Central, you can take a cab from there)
Open daily: 3 a.m. – 4 p.m.

My first review is on Tsim Chai Kee.

I opted for the Wanton Mee with Dace Fishballs. The thin noodles were springy and crunchy to the bite, and the wantons big and stuffed with a few prawns. Though the fishballs were weirdly shaped, they actually tasted much better than they looked. In addition to dace, it also contains minced pork and tangerine peel which gives it a tinge of zest (it’s a bit of an acquired taste). However, I found the soup far too alkaline for my liking (alkaline water is used to make the noodles to give it that much sought after “Q” quality), so we were a little disappointed in that aspect.

My second review is on Mak’s Noodles.

I had the Wanton Mee, which was served in a small bowl the size of a soup bowl. This is definitely not a place for a proper meal because of the serving size, maybe that’s why it’s empty at dinner time. We were told by a friend that the locals actually eat wanton mee as a snack. If you’re wondering where the wantons were, they were actually hidden under the pile of noodles. I read from other food blogs that Mak’s serve the noodles on the top so that it doesn’t get soggy. Smart move. The noodles were good too, but I’m not a fan of the small one-bite wantons. Overall, I preferred Mak’s Noodles simply because of the fact that the soup, which is made using powdered dried flounder, dried shrimp roe and pork bones was delicious. And it wasn’t masked by the taste of alkaline water.

[Edit: I was informed by my reader that best wantons in Hong Kong are supposed to be small and one bite, and they also test the skill of the wanton maker with its diminutive size. But I guess it's a matter of personal preference - I still prefer mine a bit larger and there are many other shops that cater to this.]

The waiters also recommended the Beef Brisket Noodles, claiming that they are actually famous for this. I must have missed the memo somewhere as the shop title says “wanton mee specialist”! Anyway we got a bowl to satisfy our curiosity. While the beef was tender and flavourful, the rich brown soup in this one was a bit too salty for my liking. I would go back to Kau Kee anytime for a more balanced soup.

So what’s my final verdict on this wanton mee taste off? If you’re looking for a proper meal and don’t like the authentic small wantons like me, go for Tsim Chai Kee. But I’ll go with Bourdain on this one, Mak’s Noodles is overall better because of its tasty soup but it’s size would only make for a good snack. I actually think you can find better/other good wanton mees elsewhere in Hong Kong. 正斗 which I wrote about is pretty good too, which you can thankfully find in HKIA. You can also read more about the Best Wanton Mee in Hong Kong by CNNGO here.

Price: $ (20-30 HKD per bowl)
Location: 77 (Mak’s) & 98 (Tsim Chai Kee) Wellington Street, Central

This is a photo from summer with the old interior – Chris Patten’s picture is proudly displayed. While I come strictly for the Egg Tarts, the hubs will always buy the Chicken Pies (displayed next to the egg tarts) and eat one on the spot. The pie uses the same pastry as the egg tart, and has a delicious and juicy chicken filling.

Tai Cheong’s Egg Tart has a rich egg custard flavour that has a silky smooth consistency and I adore the buttery pastry. Best consumed straight from the shop’s oven, but I’ve had them 1-2 days later while desperately trying to preserve the last vestiges of my Hong Kong holiday.

Price: $

Location: 35 Lyndhurst Terrace, Central. Many other outlets but this location is quite convenient for tourists.

This time we hopped over to the Prince’s Building branch after lunch at Man Wah so it was just next door. It’s mostly takeaway but they have a few tables for those who want to eat on the spot. Traffic was quite high at this branch  – customers bought cupcakes for takeaway non-stop, and things were running out fast.

I like the way Sift does its branding and presentation of their desserts. It’s elegant, simple but not too pretty until you don’t feel like eating them – that’s the feeling I get for many French/French-Japanese desserts – if you know what I mean. It also doesn’t try very hard to be a “French”/ “American” dessert place since its not, which I also like. Plus their selection is pretty awesome – I actually want to eat almost everything!

This was maybe less than half of their pastry selection. Gorgeous!

This was also about half of their cupcake selection. Ahh so confused – one stomach, too many choices!!

Since I was mad full from lunch, I started with something zesty – the Lemon Meringue Tart (30 HKD) made of Italian meringue, lemon cream and pate brisee. The lemon cream was just perfect in flavour and texture, and the meringue melted like a dream. The only thing was since we were eating with plastic fork, it was a bit hard to cut through the rather hard pastry. Loved this.

Next dessert was the Signature chocolate cake (40 HKD), which was made of praline crunch, Valrhona 40% cremeux, chocolate fudge cake.

This was surprisingly good too. The fudge cake was very moist and even though the creameux wasn’t dark chocolate, it wasn’t too sweet and in fact very delicious! With the praline crunch and the cornflake like topping, it was a great chocolate cake.

We got cupcakes for takeaway instead since I was MAD (with CAPS now) full after this. The Banana Foster (25 HKD) was a fresh banana cake with Madgascar bourbon vanilla infused cream cheese frosting, salty caramel filling and drizzle; and the Salted Caramel (25 HKD) was a Valrhona dark chocolate cake with salty caramel filling and drizzle. Sadly the Banana Foster didn’t quite survive the journey back and it was a mess when we ate it, but we hubs still loved the flavours. I liked the cake in the Salted Caramel one (pictured below) but the filling was a bit too sweet after a while.

On the whole, Sift gets a return trip in my book. I’ve also deduced that I’m more of a pastry than a cupcake/macaron person, and henceforth also prefer their pastries. The portions here are quite small so it may be considered pricey for some, but Hong Kong is not really a cheap place to eat anyway. Would love to try its dessert bar next trip!

Although you can’t see it (the sun was very bright and my photography skills are lacking – sorry about that!), Man Wah overlooks Victoria Harbour. The view is simply gorgeous! A postcard perfect view of Hong Kong, really.

And the decor is lovely too, very elegant and classic oriental without being too old fashioned and opulent.

I also liked the pretty tableware. We ordered Pu-Lei tea which was at the right intensity throughout the whole meal, not too bitter. We waited for our friend who was late for almost 40 mins before we ordered but not once did the staff hurry us to order or made us feel uncomfortable (though I personally did as it was quite a posh/old money place). In fact they were quite warm and friendly.

We were served a very generous portion of their awesome Signature X.O. Chilli Sauce, and during the meal they actually gave us a new serving and cleared our half eaten one (ahh what a waste!).

We were served an appetiser of Deep Fried Anchovies and Peanuts. The anchovies were lightly dusted with flour and deep fried. Quite yums.

The Beef Tenderloin Puff with Black Pepper Sauce 黑椒牛柳酥 (98 HKD) is one of the signature dim sum dishes. It was quite good, the beef was tender and I liked their black pepper sauce.

The Tiger Prawn with Bamboo Shoot Dumpling 筍尖蝦餃皇 (88 HKD) was different from other Har Gaos I’ve had because of the addition of bamboo shoots. And it works because the sweetness and crunchiness of the shoots complement the prawns quite well. Skin was also thin and moist, a must in my book for Har Gaos!

The Pork Siew Mai with Truffle 松露菌燒賣 (88 HKD) didn’t fare as well for me because the truffle didn’t taste as strong as it should have been. Still, it was an okay Siew Mai.

I can’t remember much about the Barbequed Pork Bun 蠔皇叉燒包 (68 HKD) so it must been okay. I guess nothing can beat the Baked Char Siew Baos of Tim Ho Wan!

We ordered the U.S. Pork Neck, Kuei Hua Flavoured Pear, Chin Kiang Vinegar 桂花梨黑醋脆豬柳 (198 HKD) as it seemed quite raved about (it was on the more pricey a la carte menu). Pork neck sounds potentially yucky but I can assure you its texture is like nice fatty pork, but without the big jiggly fatty bits that I usually tear away. The osmanthus flavour was infused into the pear and I guess you were supposed to eat the pork with bits of pear but I don’t think my dining companions bothered. I did like the tangy pork neck on its own though. Essentially, IMO it’s a very nuanced and classy take on 糖醋排骨 (Sugar and Vinegar Pork Ribs).

Another signature a la carte dish, this was the Double Boiled, Silk Hen, Pearl Clam, Wolfberry, Chinese Herbs 竹絲雞石斛杞子燉珍珠肉 (208 HKD/bowl). I admit I ordered it partially because of the words “Silk Hen” and “Pearl Clam”. It was super flavourful in the nourishing no-MSG way, and it better be with that price tag I guess :P Definitely not your average chicken soup.

We were surprised that we were served complimentary petit fours – Mango Coconut Custard Pudding and a Baked Walnut and Lotus Paste Pastry. Both were delicious, especially the walnut pastry! We all agreed on this one. The pastry was so buttery and had a nice, slightly burnt smell if you know what I mean. We didn’t order more dishes since we were saving stomach space for Sift Patisserie next door, but after this course I was really very full.

Even the toilet is gorgeous, I couldn’t resist a picture.

Overall all the dishes we ordered were quite good, and very sophisticated in quality – there was none of that greasiness/lard in a lot of the Dim Sum in Hong Kong which I really don’t like. Service was just excellent. But I guess to me it was a little pricey for the quality (especially dishes on the a la carte menu), since you can get similar quality dishes at a fraction of the price in Hong Kong and even Singapore. You are definitely paying for ambiance, service and location; since the lower end experiences in Hong Kong usually have none to speak of. Still, there were still other interesting sounding Dim Sum dishes like Roast Goose Puff in Yanmin Sauce and Minced Pigeon with Chinese Celery Dumplings that I would love to try next time…after I’ve tried Fook Lam Moon and Lung King Heen ;)

The signature cherubs that were all over the hotel

The Langham logo on the columns in the lobby

Colourful cherubs on the feature wall outside the lift

Our very very comfy bed, sheets were super soft too.

Loved the round glass table that could sit two (one chair is hidden). Something different from the usual hotel desks!

Complimentary VOSS sparkling and still water, chocolates and fruit platter because they were still undergoing renovations and there may be disturbances. In addition to that, they also threw in generous laundry and minibar credits! I did get disturbed in the morning but since they already preempted me and threw in all these freebies, I wasn’t bothered.

NESPRESSO machine. ‘Nuff said.

Fancy room control panel. I love to open the curtains and drapes in the morning without getting out of bed! Good morning world!

View of Xintiandi from our room. The hordes of tourists looked like the Sims! And the hotel was so convenient, it was literally like 20 steps to Xintiandi’s Starbucks.

Ahh…the comforts of TOTO bidet. I shall spare you the details, but if you haven’t tried it, please do!!

Chuan Spa toiletries. I don’t know what exact scent it was, but it smelt damn good!! I almost wanted to visit the spa because of that. And the soap was black which had charcoal in it. Cool!

Rain shower (the squarish thing on the top), shower head and bath tub all in one huge bath area.

Huge mirror and two sinks!! LOVE. No more taking turns to get ready!

During turn down service, they actually put this weather forecast for the next day in our room, as well as prepared a cup of chamomile tea. I thought both were lovely touches!

Even the stationery box was so lovely and in theme!

A copy of Alice In Wonderland, an edition specially produced for Langham hotels.

His and Hers bathroom slippers! This is amazingly thoughtful.

Like the cherub, I’m wistfully thinking about (my next stay)…

The bar is simply gorgeous! I love, love, love the floral and animal motif wallpaper on the ceiling, the gorgeous leather armchairs, the quirky paintings on the wall and even the water-coloured menus. The folks behind the branding/interior design of El Coctel and El Willy are geniuses.

We were just in time for the happy hour promotion (I think it’s from 5 to 730pm daily) – every two cocktails gets your a free sandwich. We picked the ham and emmenthal cheese sandwich, not expecting much at all, but boy was the sandwich delicious! The bread was so well-pressed that it couldn’t have been any crispier, the ham was actually good ham (a lot of the ham in China tastes weird from what we’re used to) and the emmenthal cheese was gorgeously melted. It was quite a generous portion too, probably sufficient for a light dinner. The complimentary bar snack tasted like deep fried popcorn that was both sweet and salty at the same time, it was sooo good.

They had an ongoing Gin & Tonic promotion and the hubs ordered the Lemongrass Gin & Tonic upon the waiter’s recommendation. While I thought it was a perfectly good G&T, there was hardly any lemongrass taste. This was quite a pity and though we gave our feedback, they didn’t take it back to try to infuse more lemongrass flavour.

My Sakura Caprioska, made with sakura (cherry blossom) liquor, gin, orange and lemon over crushed ice fared much better. The sakura liquor gave it an exotic Japanese twist, and was a perfumey and sweet complement to the citrus fruits. Well balanced and refreshing.

There are a lot of other delicious sounding cocktails on the main menu, and the place is just lovely. Till now, I still crave the amazing sandwiches, which I would pay to order even if it wasn’t happy hour. The service we encountered was quite good too. It’s probably my favourite bar out of the 3 I visited in Shanghai, and definitely bookmarked on my list!

Price: $-$$ (~78 RMB per cocktail)
Location: 2/F, 47 Yongfu Lu, near Fuxing Xi Lu

The bo luo you (pineapple bun with a slab butter) beckoned from behind the glass counter – holy smokes this was good! It was extremely fluffy on the inside, with a crusty base and a sugary crispy top. And it was served hot so the pad of butter melted into a delicious mess. The hubs and I shared one but we ended up buying more for takeaway. Note to self: never takeaway bo luo baos in the future as they don’t taste the same heated up (the texture completely changes).

Next was a set of fried chicken leg with fries (comes with a drink), since almost all the diners ordered this as well. While it was quite flavourful and had crispy bits of skin, the chicken was a bit too fatty for my liking. It made for a tasty greasy little snack though.

For drinks, we tried the iced milk tea and iced lemon tea. The iced milk tea was surprisingly good and smooth, and would have been almost good as the one from HK’s Lan Fong Yuen if it had more tea and less milk in it, I think. And finally I managed to find a decent cup of iced lemon tea in China at Cha’s.

Cha’s menu also has your other cha can ting offerings like instant noodles, curry beef brisket, breakfast sets and more substantial a la carte dishes like soya sauce chicken. From whatever we had, I must say it does fare pretty well for cha chaan tengs outside of Hong Kong, some of the ones I’ve tried in Singapore are gross in comparison. And the old school atmosphere is pretty cool too, without being tacky (somehow they just manage to pull it off). I would definitely come back for the bo luo you if I’m in town.

Price: $-$$ (~60 RMB for 2 pax, drinks and snacks only)
Location: 30 Sinan Road, 1F (by Huaihai Middle Road), there’s another branch at Lujiazui

As expected, service was surly and almost non-existent. The waiter refused to acknowledge our presence until after we repeated that we had reservations. This was definitely an authentic start. The dining area was split into two floors, with as many tables crammed as close together as possible. We had a corner to ourselves on the second floor.

Since it was only two of us this time round, we were more restricted in our choices. We ordered some dishes that we liked from our previous trip at Jesse – xin tai ruan (sugar glazed jujubes stuffed with mochi) and ji mao cai (literal translation chicken hair vegetables) that I suppose gets its name from its shape :) No hong shao rou this time round since we are both not big fans.

The salt cured chicken was very lean or some would say tough (the village chicken variety that had no fats at all), but I did like the salty flavour that permeated the meat beyond the skin. Beware of the flaky pieces of little bone fragments around, probably because of they way they chop the chicken up.

I was looking forward to the crab and tofu pot which came with a whole crab. The roe from the shell was emptied to flavour the sauce. The crab meat was surprisingly sweet and despite it being a small flower crab, had quite a bit of meat. A very comforting dish that would go awesome with rice in the thick of winter.

We decided to try the Shanghainese fried rice that every other table was ordering. The rice was fried with preserved vegetables, Chinese sausage and tasted sweet overall. I personally didn’t really like it, but it seemed like a lot of other customers did. Give me the usual Yangzhou fried rice anytime over this.

For soup, we ordered the egg drop soup with clams since we wanted something light and unfortunately it was really bad. The soup was basically tasteless and the clams had a weird plasticky taste :( Though this is probably not one of their popular dishes, we both felt that a restaurant of Jesse’s stature shouldn’t be serving something so bad on their menu. We drank like two spoonfuls and left it as that. Stick to the awesome chicken soup instead.

Not too sure if we made a few wrong choices in dishes, but I felt that our meal at Jesse was even better than Old Jesse. The weird soup definitely left a very bad aftertaste in more ways than one, plus service in New Jesse was also much better. I would say give Jesse a try for the experience and stick to the usual hong shao rou, river shrimp, chicken soup, crab/crab roe with tofu, xin tai ruan etc. but if you can’t get a reservation at the original branch, the new branches will do the trick too.

Price: $$ (~300 RMB for 2 pax, the crab dish was about half the price)
Location: 41 Tianping Lu at Huaihai Lu
Website: www.xinjishi.com

We chose to sit indoors, since sitting outdoors would mean be being gawked at by a gazillion tourists. We were lucky enough to snag an available table without waiting. They have a lovely bar counter on the second floor where you can watch the barista at work. Neat!

The serene and green view from my seat :) The huge window filled the room with a fresh breeze and for a moment I forgot I was in Shanghai.

I ordered the iced coffee (50 RMB??) that was served in the cutest glass with milk and sugar syrup on the side. Sorry I can’t describe it better as I’m not a big coffee conoisseur but it was good enough for me, with a smooth and rich flavour. The friendly Japanese owner personally roasts the coffee beans using the roaster in the first floor (we saw him doing it as we were leaving).

Interestingly, half the ice cubes were made of coffee so that your coffee won’t get diluted as the ice melts More coffee houses should bother doing this as it really makes a huge difference :)

The hubs got a special Ethiopian brew (70?? RMB) that tasted quite chocolate-y to me. Cafe Dan has an encyclopedic food and drink menu as well (not sure what’s with Shanghai establishments and uber long menus) and he was a bit confused over which coffee to order so I think this was just a random choice.

We were really full from lunch at Tenya but felt obliged to try something on the food menu. They place a strong emphasis on healthy food and hence use the “super steam” method on a lot of their food. Apparently they also make their own noodles and use many imported Japanese ingredients. We decided on the mentaiko pasta (50 RMB) which came with perilla leaves, nori and bonito flakes. While not everyone is a fan of the herbal tasting perilla, I personally liked it and thought its addition made the dish less cloyiing. The pasta also wasn’t dry (surprisingly) and was cooked al dente. Quite delicious! I’ve only tasted the creamy mentaiko pastas before and usually those are too rich for my liking. This was just nice.

We also got a salad which is probably complimentary with the pasta. Salad leaves were fresh and dressed in a sesame dressing. It was literally gone in 60 seconds.

The hubs chose a chocolate cointreau cake (50?? RMB) which was rich, moist, generously soaked with cointreau and very, very good. Apparently on the menu it says for adults only, and we could totally see why. A good end to our teatime at Cafe Dan!

While the coffees at Cafe Dan seemed a little pricey (especially compared to the food, since a cup of coffee could cost more than a main), you’re probably paying for the Tianzifang locale, the cafe’s dedication to quality and the license to chill. And whatever food we tried was pretty good too so you should consider having a meal there too.