Lok Yeun Chiu Chau, Soy Street

I had such high hopes. 3 years back, every restaurant on this street churned out exceptionally good food.

Today however, many have changed hands and this area where there is a junction is a huge tourist trap, mostly known for Teo Chew cuisine and typhoon shelter style clams . Still I was not dettered and went ahead into this restaurant.

We sat right in the middle of the restaurant, ignored by the surly, unfriendly, worn out staff. 

All the empty seats are soon filled up because there is some kind of happy hour promotion which we cannot make out as it is all in chinese.

We don't know that yet and proceed to happily order because we think that we have found a nice place where locals come to for good food.

As I remembered, the beef noodles on this row were excellent. Wrong !

Either, I do not know how to appreciate Teo Chew food or this is crap.

The soup is clear, the noodles tastes like boric acid, the meat is hard and the fat is capital yuck !

While the meatballs are slightly better and quite tasty , the noodles are certainly no better. Like shitty threads floating in a toilet bowl .

Red bean iced drink is also crappy. Tastes rawish, smells " chow zhang ". Yuck yuck yuck. Not nice at all.

Regret is starting to fill my head at this point .

Milk Tea.

Something I want to forget.

Then, a guy joins our table. This is acceptable. He places an order and soon kicks up a fuss. Apparently he made Happy Hour on time but the staff have listed him as arriving later than that on the bill.

They change his bill for him but not before demonstrating their displeasure by throwing cutlery into the bins in a very loud manner.

I quickly turn to face this greasy,oily cluster of condiments.

This is Mongkok after all. Who knows if you are dining amongst a fraternity of gangsters.

When it comes to our turn to pay the bill and we point out that the server has forgotten one order, the cashier gets cross with us.

Que sera sera. I don't care if I get hacked by some parang wielding Ah Fei Chai, your food sucks. No. I didn't tell her that. What ? You want me to die ?

The place and cuisine I want to avoid at all costs.

Hui Lau Shan, Sai Yeong Choi Street South

Hong Kong people seem to have a love for everything mango and where better to start than at Hui Lau Shan.

The mango variety that they use is extremely fragrant. Reminds me of the apple mangoes that we have back home growing in our gardens . But I am sure they do not source it from us. I think they use either Philippines or Thai mangoes for this purpose.

This is one of the more popular outlets . Have seen other branches with bigger seating spaces, yet somehow they don't do so well nor attract or pack in the crowds like this one does.

If  you cannot read chinese, the mock ups right at the entrance would prove to be most helpful .

Get yourself a table first.

It's elbow room in this very cramped, tiny shoplot yet nobody seems to mind.

Go through the menu and see what you would like to try.

Signal to the waiter for assistance once you have a rough indication on what you want.

You will not regret ordering the gorgeous looking dish called Mango Fiesta.

There is a heavenly mango ice cream sitting on top of a bed of spiced caramalised cooked fresh fibrous fruit (either a pear or apple I think), hinged by a wall of chocolate wafer.

In the centre is a creamy cake sandwiched by layers of silky smooth mango slices with texture similar to canned peaches.

While the last combines large balls of sago,with cubed fruit and 2 different types of puree .

Goes so well with each other.

This drink, whatever the combination you choose, is to die for.

Inside are dollops of a melt in your mouth kind of jelly, meant to cool you down during the hot summer months.

Behind this is a plastic container where you can get your spoons. It's on every table

Lastly we ordered this too because we noticed all the locals having one on their table.

Only after ordering did we realise we should have told the waiter that we wanted the one with mango ice cream inside. But no worries, this mango overdose was good too !

Again, it consists of the awesomely fragrant puree and delicious mango cubes but the only difference this time is , it has small sago seeds like what we get in our bubur cha cha.

When you're done, take the order slip to the counter.

All these desserts cost us around RM$50 in total.

Worth every cent.

I heard that they have opened up a shop here in One Utama and Berjaya Times Square, but I haven't tried it yet.

Anyway, it is always best to try at the source so you know what the fuss is all about.