When the MTR is finally completed, Kennedy Town will loose the 'beyond nowhere' ambiance. At present, the best way to get there is by the double decker trams (香港電車，西行 'heung gong din che') that run along Catchick Street to Davis, which is the last stop but one on the westward leg. One block north is the New Praya along the water, one block south is Kennedy Mansion at Belcher Street; classic crowd-housing. In between is Hau Wo Street, which stretches for only one block between Davis and the parking structure on Smithfield. Small eateries, laundromats, and shops selling items for daily use.
[Trams: 香港電車 ('heung gong din che'; incense harbour electric vehicle). The Hong Kong tram company (香港電車有限公司 'heung gong din che yau haan gung si'; 有限公司 = "have limits public manage", LTD) started service in 1904. Riding a double-decker tram is probably the best way to see the island, and during the day service is regular and frequent. Western District Trams (西環電車 'sei waan din che')) run along Catchick, then loop on Cadogan.]
My prediction is that someone will eventually want to turn Hau Wo into a destination restaurant alley. If by now that hasn't already happened; there's plenty to eat there already.
Sun Hing Restaurant, where drunken expats go for early morning eaties, is at number eight Smithfield Road where Hau Wo ends. They open early, but by a more reasonable hour (like, say, seven or eight A.M.), the clientele consists primarily of aunties and uncles scarfing down runny custard buns, siumai, and hargau.
HKU students flock here later in the day.
Do not go there at three A.M.; that one trip to Lan Kwai Fong exposed you to enough Smashed Aussies and Hamsap Englishmen to last a lifetime, you don't need anymore.
There's only so much 'Oy-mate' ruckus a grown man can take.
Beyond that it becomes dreary and repetitive.
And English perverts are jejeune.
As well as dirt-common.
[Honestly why DO so many Englishmen (and Dutchmen, Germans, etc.) display their worst side when abroad? Thailand, apparently, now assumes that every white visitor is there only to engage in degeneracy, and Malaysia justifiably employs the rotan on misbehaving white backsides. European cities standardly call out the riot squads when soccer fans flock in from neighbouring countries. Americans, I concede, are certainly not known for classy behaviour, but Euries get smashed everywhere they go, and then start waving their privates around.
Or vomiting. It's quite incomprehensible.]
新興食家
西環堅尼地城，士美菲路，8號，地下，C號舖。
SUN HING RESTAURANT ('SAN-HING SIK-GAA')
Shop C, Ground floor, 8 Smithfield Road, Kennedy Town.
Trust me, everything is 太好食，舊式點心風味。
You will love it.
It isn't a large place, and may feel a bit crowded. But the food is great, the ambiance vibrant and bustling, and the staff friendly and helpful.
If communication becomes an issue, just point.
And please don't act drunk or hamsap.
Enjoy your meal.
香港大學出版社
HONG KONG UNIVERSITY PRESS
One other major reason to head west is books. A university bookstore is, naturally, a major magnet. The Hong Kong University Press does a few dozen titles a year (the best dictionary for students of Cantonese is one of theirs, BTW), and many of their publications are worth acquiring.
See this link: HKU PRESS
香港大學出版社書店
香港，薄扶林道，香港大學，百周年校園，逸夫苑，地下。
HKUP Bookshop
Ground floor, Run Run Shaw Heritage House, Centennial Campus, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong.
Open five days a week, holidays excepted.
Ten till tea time.
GLOSSARY
Kennedy Town: 堅尼地城 ('kin nei dei seng'; solid nun ground city). Catchick Street: 吉席街 ('gat jik gaai'; propitious seat street). Davis Street: 爹核士街 ('de wat si gaai'; daddy kernel scholar street). New Praya: 堅彌地城新海旁 ('kin nei dei seng san hoi pong'; solid complete earth city new sea-beside). Kennedy Mansion: 堅尼地大廈 ('kin nei dei daai haa'; solid nun great multistory). Belcher Street: 卑路乍街 ('pei lou jaa gaai'; inferior road primary street). Hau Wo Street: 厚和街; 'haau wo gaai'; generous harmonize street). Cadogan Street: 加多近街 ('gaa do gan gaai'; add much nearby street). Sun Hing: 新興 ('san hing'; new prosperity, up-and-coming). Smithfield Road: 士美菲路 ('si mei fei lou'; official beauty luxuriant road).
Drunken: 醉 ('jeui'), 醉醺醺 ('jeui fan fan'; quite plastered), 飽醉 ('baau jeui'; filled up), or 爛醉 ('laan jeui'; stinko, rotten drunk); people from the British Isles are frequently 醉到啤啤 ('jeui dou pei-pei': lacquered beyond the point of being a spectacle).
Hamsap: 鹹濕 "salty - greasy"; perverted, lecherous.
Runny custard buns: 流沙包 ('lau saa baau'; flowing sand bun; 流沙 = quicksand). Apparently it's delicious. Siumai: 燒賣 (roasted vends; pork and sometimes shrimp in a pasta envelope; rarely beef).
Hargau: 蝦餃 (shrimp bonnet).
I have never had a runny custard bun, in case you were wondering.
Never even knew that there was such a thing.
And yet, I am drooling.
A few dimsums that one must try:
Haahm seui gok: 鹹水角 ("salt water cornet"), deep fried pork dumpling. Fan gwo: 粉果 ("starch fruit"), a Teochow pasta bonnet with diverse filling. Wu gok: 芋角 ("colocasia cornet"), fried taro pouf around a meaty filling, extremely good to eat with hot sauce. Yu chi gaau: 魚翅餃 ("fish fin dumpling"), shark fin dumpling; a mixed filling item so named because of the cunning way the dough skin is folded along the top.
There are, of course, very many others.
For a complete listing of dimsum, see this essay:
Dim Sum: Kinds, Names, Pronunciation (March 28, 2012)
Lan Kwai Fong: 蘭桂坊 ('laan gwai fong'; orchid laurel lane), a bar district in Central (中環 'jung waan') filled with clubs, misbehaving Westerners, and hip dives. A place to avoid. Smashed Aussies: 醉酒佬 ('jeui jau lou').
Hamsap Englishmen: 鹹濕英紅 ('haam sap ying-hong').
Euries: 歐垃圾 ('ngau laap saap').
ADDENDUM
Pok Fu Lam: 薄扶林 ("indifferent protection forest"), a village in Hong Kong (薄扶林村 'pok fu lam chuen') and the valley of the same name, on the other side of the hill from Kennedy Town. This is where the first dairy farms were established, so that Englishmen could have a proper tea, such a beverage being theretofore utterly unknown in China.
夢裡仙女
The settlement was founded in the sixteen hundreds or before. A local shrine, the Li Ling Fairy Tower (李靈仙姐塔 'lei ling sin je taap'; Li spiritual immortal elder-sister pagoda) is probably the only place where the spirit Lee Ling is venerated. According to local lore, centuries ago the village was tormented by ghosts. One night miss Lee appeared in a dream to a resident and promised to drive away the spirits. Since then the village has been under her protection.
The tower honouring her was built in 1916. Though many of the villagers are now Christian, there is still a modest yearly festival associated with the two-storey monument.
Presently modern housing development threatens the village.
It is likely that it will make way for apartment blocks.
Trampled under the hooves of progress.
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
Showing posts with label Kennedy Town. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kennedy Town. Show all posts
Thursday, April 23, 2015
Sunday, April 19, 2015
BEYOND CENTRAL, NORTH OF POK FU LAM
One might want porkchop soup noodles, fried porky dumplings.
Perhaps even a side of red-cooked eggplant.
Breakfast of champions!
Especially with hot hot tea.
[Respectively: 豬扒麵 ('chyu paa min'), 生煎包 ('saang jin baau'), 紅燒茄子 ('hong-siu ke ji'). The tea, of course, is gong sik naai cha. But you knew that.]
Alas, one must be disappointed.
NORTH AND SOUTH, WHATEVER...
Perhaps the most telling customer comment is "食物普通service差", which means that the food is by no means stellar and the service is both haphazard and apathetic. One might expect more from a restaurant on Holland Street. Holland Street, verdomme! As a Dutch speaker, I think it would be utterly lovely if indeed it were better.
I like cheap Shanghai eaties.
小籠包?
Mmm.
What's amazing is that there is (was) another place on Holland Street for such things: the "Shanghai good-good short-rib noodle" (上海好好排骨麵 'seung hoi hou hou pai gwat min'). Unfortunately, it's closed. Holland Street just isn't a winning location. And I cannot figure out why. Surely the locals haven't wigged on to the fact that people like me are notoriously cheap and bitchy?
And if they have, why on earth should that make a difference?
Most of us have better manners than mainlanders!
We speak the nicest language: Dutch.
[Nicer than Shanghainese in any case, except perhaps to a Shanghailander. Sure, horking up rough Germanic hairballs may sound nasty, but that hissy sodawater syphon speech from the Whangpoo fair turns the kidneys.]
Holland Street stretches from the Sai Waan Kai Fong Fuk Lei Wui to the Praya. Just one block. The bus stops there. That, in a nutshell, is the most exciting thing. There are NO windmills or tulips there. Apartment towers, twenty-plus floors of tight dwelling spaces, but still better than the old-fashioned lodgements in the decrepit seven or eight storey apartment buildings along Sands Street, where it crosses Belcher.
Worse buildings. Peeling paint. Rusty louvers.
Those typical semi-barred windows.
But such better food.
Remember that. Kennedy Town, Belcher Street.
A bit seedy, old, and falling apart.
It's a nice place.
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
Perhaps even a side of red-cooked eggplant.
Breakfast of champions!
Especially with hot hot tea.
[Respectively: 豬扒麵 ('chyu paa min'), 生煎包 ('saang jin baau'), 紅燒茄子 ('hong-siu ke ji'). The tea, of course, is gong sik naai cha. But you knew that.]
Alas, one must be disappointed.
NORTH AND SOUTH, WHATEVER...
Perhaps the most telling customer comment is "食物普通service差", which means that the food is by no means stellar and the service is both haphazard and apathetic. One might expect more from a restaurant on Holland Street. Holland Street, verdomme! As a Dutch speaker, I think it would be utterly lovely if indeed it were better.
I like cheap Shanghai eaties.
小籠包?
Mmm.
What's amazing is that there is (was) another place on Holland Street for such things: the "Shanghai good-good short-rib noodle" (上海好好排骨麵 'seung hoi hou hou pai gwat min'). Unfortunately, it's closed. Holland Street just isn't a winning location. And I cannot figure out why. Surely the locals haven't wigged on to the fact that people like me are notoriously cheap and bitchy?
And if they have, why on earth should that make a difference?
Most of us have better manners than mainlanders!
We speak the nicest language: Dutch.
[Nicer than Shanghainese in any case, except perhaps to a Shanghailander. Sure, horking up rough Germanic hairballs may sound nasty, but that hissy sodawater syphon speech from the Whangpoo fair turns the kidneys.]
Holland Street stretches from the Sai Waan Kai Fong Fuk Lei Wui to the Praya. Just one block. The bus stops there. That, in a nutshell, is the most exciting thing. There are NO windmills or tulips there. Apartment towers, twenty-plus floors of tight dwelling spaces, but still better than the old-fashioned lodgements in the decrepit seven or eight storey apartment buildings along Sands Street, where it crosses Belcher.
Worse buildings. Peeling paint. Rusty louvers.
Those typical semi-barred windows.
But such better food.
Remember that. Kennedy Town, Belcher Street.
A bit seedy, old, and falling apart.
It's a nice place.
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
RUNNY CUSTARD BUN 流沙包
One friend disparages Hong Kong style snackies as naught more than low-grade ingredients dolled-up. Naturally I would disagree, especially as he is also convinced that the spices in Indian food hide spoiled meat, and even one tiny clove of garlic alone can ruin your sex drive.
I haven't asked how he knows that about garlic.
Nor am I interested in his sex drive.
Actually, the sexual urges and activities of my friends seldom interest me, and it is preferred that they do not make a public habit of those things. Kissing, cuddling, and further activities should be done in private, not spoken of, and never detailed to friends or family.
Be discreet, people.
Thank you.
Your gustatory indulgences, however, can be fascinating. Especially if you like what I like. Which is Cantonese food, dim sum, Hong Kong style snackies, Indonesian food, and weird Dutch deep-fried objects.
Oh plus lots of other stuff, I just mentioned the highlights.
I am a sucker for fattening stuff.
A different friend mentioned the runny custard buns at Sun Hing in Kennedy town, which, naturally, made my ears drool.
Seeing as I am in San Francisco, nowhere near Kennedy Town.
[I've mentioned Kennedy Town in a previous post: Eat well and smell good.]
We have great eaties. But we aren't Hong Kong.
Often that is rather a pity.
新興食家
西環堅尼地城士美菲路8號地下C號舖
Sun Hing Restaurant
Western District (Sai Wan), Kennedy Town, Smithfield Street No. 8, Ground Floor, Shop C.
It's two blocks south of the waterline, in case you are interested.
Not too far from the China Merchants Wharf.
Near Gatchik Street.
They also do a number of other dim sum type items, all very nicely, and are a beloved establishment among the locals.
They open at three A.M.
All day food.
流沙包 LAU SAA BAU
I never tried the runny custard bun.
Didn't even know it existed.
A grievous oversight.
It is a thin-skinned steamed object filled with oozing goodness.
I know of no place in San Francisco that does anything like it.
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
I haven't asked how he knows that about garlic.
Nor am I interested in his sex drive.
Actually, the sexual urges and activities of my friends seldom interest me, and it is preferred that they do not make a public habit of those things. Kissing, cuddling, and further activities should be done in private, not spoken of, and never detailed to friends or family.
Be discreet, people.
Thank you.
Your gustatory indulgences, however, can be fascinating. Especially if you like what I like. Which is Cantonese food, dim sum, Hong Kong style snackies, Indonesian food, and weird Dutch deep-fried objects.
Oh plus lots of other stuff, I just mentioned the highlights.
I am a sucker for fattening stuff.
A different friend mentioned the runny custard buns at Sun Hing in Kennedy town, which, naturally, made my ears drool.
Seeing as I am in San Francisco, nowhere near Kennedy Town.
[I've mentioned Kennedy Town in a previous post: Eat well and smell good.]
We have great eaties. But we aren't Hong Kong.
Often that is rather a pity.
新興食家
西環堅尼地城士美菲路8號地下C號舖
Sun Hing Restaurant
Western District (Sai Wan), Kennedy Town, Smithfield Street No. 8, Ground Floor, Shop C.
It's two blocks south of the waterline, in case you are interested.
Not too far from the China Merchants Wharf.
Near Gatchik Street.
They also do a number of other dim sum type items, all very nicely, and are a beloved establishment among the locals.
They open at three A.M.
All day food.
流沙包 LAU SAA BAU
I never tried the runny custard bun.
Didn't even know it existed.
A grievous oversight.
It is a thin-skinned steamed object filled with oozing goodness.
I know of no place in San Francisco that does anything like it.
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
Tuesday, November 04, 2014
EAT WELL AND SMELL GOOD
Please note: the following is not only a suggestion for an early morning jaunt along the lower level on Hong Kong Island, it is also an illustration (between parentheses) of the Chinese language's difficulty making any sense at all of English-language toponyms.
As well as our problems when we try to translate Chinese.
西遊記 JOURNEY TO THE WEST
['sai yau gei']
It's a two hour stroll at least from the Admiralty in Central to Belcher Street in Kennedy Town (堅彌地城 'gin nei dei seng'; "resolute fulfilled earth town"). But you can also take the double decker tram. Far less time. Never the less walk at least part of the way, as otherwise you will miss some rather interesting stuff.
Kennedy Town (堅彌地城) is part of the western district (西環 'sai waan':"west ring"), which also includes Sai Ying Pun (西營盤 "western military basin"), Shek Tong Tsui (石塘嘴 "stone pond beak"), and Belcher Bay (卑路乍灣 'pei lou jaa waan'; "vulgar road previously bay").
A long time ago Shek Tong Tsui was filled with restaurants, music halls, and bordellos (花樓 'faa lou'), of which alas (or perhaps 'fortunately') very little remains. The 1987 film Rouge (胭脂扣 'yin ji kou') with Anita Mui (梅艷芳 'mui yim fong') and Leslie Cheung (張國榮 'cheung gwok wing') was set there.
Like that era, these two stellar movie actors are now also part of the fabled past; both of them left this world in 2003.
That wasn't a good year.
Belcher's Street (卑路乍街 'bei lou ja kaai') is one of the main streets in Kennedy Town. The Kwong Sang Tea Company (established in 1936) used to be at number 24.
[廣生茶行有限公司；香港，堅尼地城，卑路乍街24號。
Current address: 香港西環卑路乍街38號天成工業大厦5/F。
Tea packers and exporters, 成立于1936.]
參茸藥區 HERBAL PRODUCTS DISTRICT
['sam yung yuek keui']
From the Admiralty (金鐘 'kam jung'; "gold bell") take Chater road (遮打道 'je daa dou'; "protect hit r.") to Central (中環 'jung waan'), where it becomes Des Voeux Road (德輔道 'dak fu dou'; "virtue assist r."). Follow Des Voeux to Wing Lok Street (永樂街 'wing lok kaai'; "forever glad s."), which splits off at Wing Wo Street (永和街 'wing wo kaai', "perpetual harmony s." where there are a large number of places selling swallows nest (燕窩 'yin wo'). At the intersection of Morrison Street (摩利臣街 'mo lei san kaai': "rub profitable minister s.") turn left, less than twenty yards to Bonham Strand (文咸街 'man haam kaai'; "literature alltogether s."), take Bonham Strand around the corner left to where Wing Lok continues. At the end of Wing Lok, around the curve of Des Voeux West (德輔道西) at Queen Street, there are hoi mei stores (海味 "sea flavour"; dried ocean products), sharkfin (魚翅 'yü chi') shops, and raw rice (米 'mai') dealers.
Continue along Des Voeux.
There's an incense company of antique provenance on the right hand side, surrounded by herbalists and dried seafood shops. They're a century-old brand (百年老字號 'baak nin lou ji hou'; "hundred year old word mark").
梁永馨香廠 (香港) 有限公司
"Leung's Eternal Fragrance (HK) Co.,Ltd."
['leung wing hing heung chong (heung kong) yau haan gung si']
梁永馨名香
Leung Wing Hing Joss Sticks
101 Des Voeux Road West, ground floor.
香港，德輔道西，101號，地下。
Informational interstice: The complex character 馨 is seldom used in modern speech. Originally it represented a dialect variation on 香 meaning what the nose took note of, later its connotations expanded to include the faintest trace of perfume, a lingering smell that prompts memories, aroma-echoes that make one recollect, and similar shades of meaning. It's a twenty stroke character found in the dictionary under 香 with a score of other characters under that radical. But twenty strokes means that it is harder to write correctly in the same size as your other words, and like many such logoglyphs, merely the great chance of leaving an illegible blob in the column made it fade from use. A pity, because it's very elegant .
Two other words with fragrant meanings are 芬 ('fan'; "fragrance, aromatic substance") and 芳 ('fong'; "fragrant, virtuous, lovely"). Both terms might have applied to the lovely plumes or fresh green boughs offered in the altar vessel which forms the bottom of 豐 ('fung'; "abundant, lush, fertile"), which at nineteen strokes remarkably shows up far more often than 馨。
Perhaps it's just more useful.
熏香品類 INCENSE TYPES:
['fan heung pan leui']
西澳洲檀香 ('sai ou jau taan heung'): West Australia sandal wood
百福塔香正宗柏香2H座 ('baak fuk taap heung jeng-jung baak heung leung-go jungtau jo'): Hundred Lucky Pagoda authentic cypress/cedar two hour coils.
天然老山檀香 ('tin yin lou saan taan heung'): Heavenly ('natural') Old Mountain sandalwood incense.
天然特級老山檀香 ('tin yin tak kap lou saan taan heung'): Heavenly Superior Quality sandalwood incense.
沉香 ('cham heung'): Agar wood incense.
Et autres.
Phone numbers: (852) 2548 2340 / (852) 2547 9277
Fax. :(852) 2559 5634
Internet: www.yp.com.hk/leungwinghing and www.leungwinghing.com.hk
Email: info@leungwinghing.com.hk
You can also get there by double-decker tram. If you don't want to walk a lot on a warm day.
The road bends at Wing Wah Mansion apartment building (永華大廈 'wing waa taai haa'; "eternal China big edifice"). When it goes around the corner further on, follow it to Queens Road West (皇后大道西 'wong hau daai dou sai'), up about thirty yards, turn right onto Belcher Street.
This is a heavily populated neighborhood, and you shouldn't expect too many English signs, despite the overwhelming surfeit of international brandnames and Seven Elevens.
冇乜特別，香脆，味都幾好。
NOTHING SPECIAL, FRAGRANT AND CRISPY, TASTES PRETTY GOOD
['mou ye dak bit, heung cheui, mei dou gei ho']
Convenience stores, small shops, and places where you can eat congee (粥 'juk') or roast duck rice (燒鴨飯 'siu ngaap faan'). Fishballs and dumplings too. The Fresh Fragrance Tea Restaurant (鮮香茶餐廳 'sin heung chaa chanteng') and Fish Ball King & Genuine Teochow Rice-sticks (港仔君豪魚蛋王 -- 正宗潮州粉面 'gong jai gwan hou yü daan wong jeng jung chiu jau fan min'), Kuen Gei Wonton Noodle (權記雲吞麵 "authority notation cloud gulp noodle")
You could also have the stirfried augmented kangkong (炒通菜 'chaau tung choi') and the mixed balls clay pot (什丸煲 'sap yuen pou'), with a nice glass of hot lemon tea (熱檸茶 'yit ning chaa').
Breakfast of champions.
Not expensive.
牛脷酥, 炸兩 ('ngau lei sou'. 'jaa leung') space alien cheap snack: "Cow tongue flaky", an oval semi-sweet fried puff bread (good with congee) and "fry two" (a fried dough stick steamed in a rice noodle sheet, drizzled with soy sauce, hoisin jeung, chive or scallion garnished, cut into chunks you can eat with a toothpick. Sometimes jaa leung is also served with a squirt of ketchup and yellow mustard, which is also good.
茶餐廳 ('chaa chan teng') tea-restaurants: Old-fashioned HK western style breakfast lunch and late afternoon foods. Fried eggs, noodle dishes, chicken soup macaroni with ham. Convenient easy food. Sate beef noodles (沙爹牛肉麵 'saa de ngau yiuk min'). Famous milk-tea (奶茶 'naai chaa') and kai mei bao (雞尾包"chicken arse bun").
Places filled with old geezers.
潮州菜 ('chiu jau choi') Chaozhou food: There are only two real reasons to seek out a Chaozhou style eatery: roast goose, and shellfish. The roast goose is brined before cooking, the shellfish (clams and oysters) are generously apportioned, nicely cooked.
Especially try oyster omelette.
潮州名食 CHAOZHOU'S FAMOUS FOODS:
['chiu jau ming sik']
脆皮糯米釀大腸 ('cheui pei no mai yeung daai cheung'): Crispy skinned glutinous rice ferments pork sausage. Fried a golden brown, then sliced across for chopstickable ease.
蟹粥 ('haai juk'): Crab congee (whole grains, unlike Cantonese style).
墨魚卷 ('mak yü kuen'): Cuttle fish nuggets.
墨魚片 ('mak yu pin'): Cuttle fish slices.
滷水鵝片 ('lou seui ngo pin'): Brine-cured (savoury sauced) goose slices.
豉椒炒蜆 ('si jiu chaau hin'): Bellpepper and black bean clams.
避風塘炒蜆 ('bei fung tong chaau hin'): Typhoon shelter stirfry clams with crispy-fried garlic and chilies.
鵝肝 ('ngo gon'): Goose liver.
香酥芋鴨 ('heung sou wu ngaap'): Taro batter crispy duck.
韭菜炒鹹肉 ('gau choi chaau haam yiuk'): Chives stirfried with Chinese bacon.
胡椒豬肚湯 ('wu jiu chyu tou tong'): Pepper pork stomach soup. Everyone raves about this; I don't.
闊面蠔餅, 炸蠔仔餅 ('fut min hou bing', 'jaa hou-chai bing'): The oyster omelette. Chiu chow style is thicker and denser than Hokkien, more like an egg-batter fritata.
糖醋麵 ('tong chou min'): Sweet and sour ("sugar - vinegar") noodles, panfried to a crispy cake.
魚湯浸豆苗 ('yü tong jam dau miu'): Fish-broth poached pea shoots.
Now that Hong Kong is so densely populated, sandalwood is no longer shipped out from the jetty over in Tsimshatsui, and the raw material for incense is imported from places like Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Australia. But 'fragrance' (incense) gave the place its name, and it still seems a very apt appellation.
Food. Tea. Commerce.
Warm.
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
As well as our problems when we try to translate Chinese.
西遊記 JOURNEY TO THE WEST
['sai yau gei']
It's a two hour stroll at least from the Admiralty in Central to Belcher Street in Kennedy Town (堅彌地城 'gin nei dei seng'; "resolute fulfilled earth town"). But you can also take the double decker tram. Far less time. Never the less walk at least part of the way, as otherwise you will miss some rather interesting stuff.
Kennedy Town (堅彌地城) is part of the western district (西環 'sai waan':"west ring"), which also includes Sai Ying Pun (西營盤 "western military basin"), Shek Tong Tsui (石塘嘴 "stone pond beak"), and Belcher Bay (卑路乍灣 'pei lou jaa waan'; "vulgar road previously bay").
A long time ago Shek Tong Tsui was filled with restaurants, music halls, and bordellos (花樓 'faa lou'), of which alas (or perhaps 'fortunately') very little remains. The 1987 film Rouge (胭脂扣 'yin ji kou') with Anita Mui (梅艷芳 'mui yim fong') and Leslie Cheung (張國榮 'cheung gwok wing') was set there.
Like that era, these two stellar movie actors are now also part of the fabled past; both of them left this world in 2003.
That wasn't a good year.
Belcher's Street (卑路乍街 'bei lou ja kaai') is one of the main streets in Kennedy Town. The Kwong Sang Tea Company (established in 1936) used to be at number 24.
[廣生茶行有限公司；香港，堅尼地城，卑路乍街24號。
Current address: 香港西環卑路乍街38號天成工業大厦5/F。
Tea packers and exporters, 成立于1936.]
參茸藥區 HERBAL PRODUCTS DISTRICT
['sam yung yuek keui']
From the Admiralty (金鐘 'kam jung'; "gold bell") take Chater road (遮打道 'je daa dou'; "protect hit r.") to Central (中環 'jung waan'), where it becomes Des Voeux Road (德輔道 'dak fu dou'; "virtue assist r."). Follow Des Voeux to Wing Lok Street (永樂街 'wing lok kaai'; "forever glad s."), which splits off at Wing Wo Street (永和街 'wing wo kaai', "perpetual harmony s." where there are a large number of places selling swallows nest (燕窩 'yin wo'). At the intersection of Morrison Street (摩利臣街 'mo lei san kaai': "rub profitable minister s.") turn left, less than twenty yards to Bonham Strand (文咸街 'man haam kaai'; "literature alltogether s."), take Bonham Strand around the corner left to where Wing Lok continues. At the end of Wing Lok, around the curve of Des Voeux West (德輔道西) at Queen Street, there are hoi mei stores (海味 "sea flavour"; dried ocean products), sharkfin (魚翅 'yü chi') shops, and raw rice (米 'mai') dealers.
Continue along Des Voeux.
There's an incense company of antique provenance on the right hand side, surrounded by herbalists and dried seafood shops. They're a century-old brand (百年老字號 'baak nin lou ji hou'; "hundred year old word mark").
梁永馨香廠 (香港) 有限公司
"Leung's Eternal Fragrance (HK) Co.,Ltd."
['leung wing hing heung chong (heung kong) yau haan gung si']
梁永馨名香
Leung Wing Hing Joss Sticks
101 Des Voeux Road West, ground floor.
香港，德輔道西，101號，地下。
Informational interstice: The complex character 馨 is seldom used in modern speech. Originally it represented a dialect variation on 香 meaning what the nose took note of, later its connotations expanded to include the faintest trace of perfume, a lingering smell that prompts memories, aroma-echoes that make one recollect, and similar shades of meaning. It's a twenty stroke character found in the dictionary under 香 with a score of other characters under that radical. But twenty strokes means that it is harder to write correctly in the same size as your other words, and like many such logoglyphs, merely the great chance of leaving an illegible blob in the column made it fade from use. A pity, because it's very elegant .
Two other words with fragrant meanings are 芬 ('fan'; "fragrance, aromatic substance") and 芳 ('fong'; "fragrant, virtuous, lovely"). Both terms might have applied to the lovely plumes or fresh green boughs offered in the altar vessel which forms the bottom of 豐 ('fung'; "abundant, lush, fertile"), which at nineteen strokes remarkably shows up far more often than 馨。
Perhaps it's just more useful.
熏香品類 INCENSE TYPES:
['fan heung pan leui']
西澳洲檀香 ('sai ou jau taan heung'): West Australia sandal wood
百福塔香正宗柏香2H座 ('baak fuk taap heung jeng-jung baak heung leung-go jungtau jo'): Hundred Lucky Pagoda authentic cypress/cedar two hour coils.
天然老山檀香 ('tin yin lou saan taan heung'): Heavenly ('natural') Old Mountain sandalwood incense.
天然特級老山檀香 ('tin yin tak kap lou saan taan heung'): Heavenly Superior Quality sandalwood incense.
沉香 ('cham heung'): Agar wood incense.
Et autres.
Phone numbers: (852) 2548 2340 / (852) 2547 9277
Fax. :(852) 2559 5634
Internet: www.yp.com.hk/leungwinghing and www.leungwinghing.com.hk
Email: info@leungwinghing.com.hk
You can also get there by double-decker tram. If you don't want to walk a lot on a warm day.
The road bends at Wing Wah Mansion apartment building (永華大廈 'wing waa taai haa'; "eternal China big edifice"). When it goes around the corner further on, follow it to Queens Road West (皇后大道西 'wong hau daai dou sai'), up about thirty yards, turn right onto Belcher Street.
This is a heavily populated neighborhood, and you shouldn't expect too many English signs, despite the overwhelming surfeit of international brandnames and Seven Elevens.
冇乜特別，香脆，味都幾好。
NOTHING SPECIAL, FRAGRANT AND CRISPY, TASTES PRETTY GOOD
['mou ye dak bit, heung cheui, mei dou gei ho']
Convenience stores, small shops, and places where you can eat congee (粥 'juk') or roast duck rice (燒鴨飯 'siu ngaap faan'). Fishballs and dumplings too. The Fresh Fragrance Tea Restaurant (鮮香茶餐廳 'sin heung chaa chanteng') and Fish Ball King & Genuine Teochow Rice-sticks (港仔君豪魚蛋王 -- 正宗潮州粉面 'gong jai gwan hou yü daan wong jeng jung chiu jau fan min'), Kuen Gei Wonton Noodle (權記雲吞麵 "authority notation cloud gulp noodle")
You could also have the stirfried augmented kangkong (炒通菜 'chaau tung choi') and the mixed balls clay pot (什丸煲 'sap yuen pou'), with a nice glass of hot lemon tea (熱檸茶 'yit ning chaa').
Breakfast of champions.
Not expensive.
牛脷酥, 炸兩 ('ngau lei sou'. 'jaa leung') space alien cheap snack: "Cow tongue flaky", an oval semi-sweet fried puff bread (good with congee) and "fry two" (a fried dough stick steamed in a rice noodle sheet, drizzled with soy sauce, hoisin jeung, chive or scallion garnished, cut into chunks you can eat with a toothpick. Sometimes jaa leung is also served with a squirt of ketchup and yellow mustard, which is also good.
茶餐廳 ('chaa chan teng') tea-restaurants: Old-fashioned HK western style breakfast lunch and late afternoon foods. Fried eggs, noodle dishes, chicken soup macaroni with ham. Convenient easy food. Sate beef noodles (沙爹牛肉麵 'saa de ngau yiuk min'). Famous milk-tea (奶茶 'naai chaa') and kai mei bao (雞尾包"chicken arse bun").
Places filled with old geezers.
潮州菜 ('chiu jau choi') Chaozhou food: There are only two real reasons to seek out a Chaozhou style eatery: roast goose, and shellfish. The roast goose is brined before cooking, the shellfish (clams and oysters) are generously apportioned, nicely cooked.
Especially try oyster omelette.
潮州名食 CHAOZHOU'S FAMOUS FOODS:
['chiu jau ming sik']
脆皮糯米釀大腸 ('cheui pei no mai yeung daai cheung'): Crispy skinned glutinous rice ferments pork sausage. Fried a golden brown, then sliced across for chopstickable ease.
蟹粥 ('haai juk'): Crab congee (whole grains, unlike Cantonese style).
墨魚卷 ('mak yü kuen'): Cuttle fish nuggets.
墨魚片 ('mak yu pin'): Cuttle fish slices.
滷水鵝片 ('lou seui ngo pin'): Brine-cured (savoury sauced) goose slices.
豉椒炒蜆 ('si jiu chaau hin'): Bellpepper and black bean clams.
避風塘炒蜆 ('bei fung tong chaau hin'): Typhoon shelter stirfry clams with crispy-fried garlic and chilies.
鵝肝 ('ngo gon'): Goose liver.
香酥芋鴨 ('heung sou wu ngaap'): Taro batter crispy duck.
韭菜炒鹹肉 ('gau choi chaau haam yiuk'): Chives stirfried with Chinese bacon.
胡椒豬肚湯 ('wu jiu chyu tou tong'): Pepper pork stomach soup. Everyone raves about this; I don't.
闊面蠔餅, 炸蠔仔餅 ('fut min hou bing', 'jaa hou-chai bing'): The oyster omelette. Chiu chow style is thicker and denser than Hokkien, more like an egg-batter fritata.
糖醋麵 ('tong chou min'): Sweet and sour ("sugar - vinegar") noodles, panfried to a crispy cake.
魚湯浸豆苗 ('yü tong jam dau miu'): Fish-broth poached pea shoots.
Now that Hong Kong is so densely populated, sandalwood is no longer shipped out from the jetty over in Tsimshatsui, and the raw material for incense is imported from places like Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Australia. But 'fragrance' (incense) gave the place its name, and it still seems a very apt appellation.
Food. Tea. Commerce.
Warm.
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
TALL FLAKY BUILDINGS?
A very long time ago I knew someone who lived in Kennedy Town, which is on Hong Kong Island, and not named after an American President who was a notorious sex fiend, OR his brother.
Kennedy Town is a residential area along the water named after the seventh governor of Hong Kong, who also at various times administered parts of Africa, Australia, and Canada.
He was a typical English colonialist, whose personal life was, apparently, unexceptional. No eccentric peccadilloes to mention.
He lived in HK from 1872 till 1877.
The main reason for naming a housing district after him is that under his directions a strip of land along the harbour, looking out toward the mainland, was reclaimed.
Now, you can understand that as a Dutchman, land reclamation fascinates me. Eventually we'll have so much of the North Sea dyked off that we'll be able to invade England by paddling for a few minutes.
I am looking avariciously at Norfolk.
Estuarine swamps!
Kennedy Town is not an architecturally or culturally exciting place. Foodwise it is fun, but it is rather a way off. Middling folk live there.
Street vendors are few.
Mostly bedroom.
My friend moved out years ago.
His sister spent a year in Valkenswaard before moving to Deurne. Neither of those towns are very exciting either. Her aunt in Eindhoven had a chubby son who was the cantaloupe of his mom's eye.
Eindhoven can be exciting, at times.
It's sort of middling.
The only other thing that ties geographic location A (Kennedy Town, Hong Kong) and geographic location B (The Kempen Region, in North Brabant) together, other than the familial ties of friends, is multi-storied housing complexes, some in vibrant pink, with flaking exterior paint.
Not much to run an essay on.
The territory of the Kempen is too far inland for land reclamation to be in any way a significant factor, in case you were wondering. We're high above those Northerners, by at least a foot or two.
It's the veritable lap of security.
Kennedy Town is a residential area along the water named after the seventh governor of Hong Kong, who also at various times administered parts of Africa, Australia, and Canada.
He was a typical English colonialist, whose personal life was, apparently, unexceptional. No eccentric peccadilloes to mention.
He lived in HK from 1872 till 1877.
The main reason for naming a housing district after him is that under his directions a strip of land along the harbour, looking out toward the mainland, was reclaimed.
Now, you can understand that as a Dutchman, land reclamation fascinates me. Eventually we'll have so much of the North Sea dyked off that we'll be able to invade England by paddling for a few minutes.
I am looking avariciously at Norfolk.
Estuarine swamps!
Kennedy Town is not an architecturally or culturally exciting place. Foodwise it is fun, but it is rather a way off. Middling folk live there.
Street vendors are few.
Mostly bedroom.
My friend moved out years ago.
His sister spent a year in Valkenswaard before moving to Deurne. Neither of those towns are very exciting either. Her aunt in Eindhoven had a chubby son who was the cantaloupe of his mom's eye.
Eindhoven can be exciting, at times.
It's sort of middling.
The only other thing that ties geographic location A (Kennedy Town, Hong Kong) and geographic location B (The Kempen Region, in North Brabant) together, other than the familial ties of friends, is multi-storied housing complexes, some in vibrant pink, with flaking exterior paint.
Not much to run an essay on.
The territory of the Kempen is too far inland for land reclamation to be in any way a significant factor, in case you were wondering. We're high above those Northerners, by at least a foot or two.
It's the veritable lap of security.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
FIRE IN THE MONKEY HOUSE
The day started with counting fentanyl addicts on Van Ness while waiting for the Golden Gate Transit bus. And their dogs. It ended chasing e...
