Dinner @ 99 Cafe

My friend and I ate at 99 Cafe last night. Cafe 99 is located at the Boulevard Commercial Centre intersection here in Miri.

I always see a lot of people eating there, but I have never eaten there before.

There were a number of stalls there, selling many types of food like economy rice, chicken rice, porridge, dim sum, and others.

Having never eaten there before, I did not really know what to order. I did not know what is the specialty there. And for me, the menu displays were not very clear. I see people eating laksa and lalapan, but I could not locate the stalls that sold them. At the end of my meal, I saw satay being served, yet I had earlier failed to even notice that there was a satay man at a corner.

Having walked from stall to stall for a few times, I settled on the yong tau foo and glass noodle soup. It was quite ordinary, something you will be able to order from any other stalls at any other cafe. It was RM4.50 a bowl.

Yong tau foo & glass noodle soup

My friend also did not know what to order. She ended up ordering mee sua with red wine chicken soup, a Foochow specialty, also RM4.50 a bowl. I had a spoonful of the soup, and it was sweet with the taste of red wine evident.

Mee sua with red wine

We also ordered some snacks from a stall outside the shop. The deep-fried seafood tofu was RM3.00 for four pieces. We both did not like them as they tasted like fishballs. Nothing special. The deep-fried siu mai was superb, however. 4 pieces sold for RM4.50. The famous Kuching Sim Kwang Heng siu mai were deep-fried till they were crispy on the outside. Best eaten hot, dipped in chilli sauce.

Deep-fried siew mai and seafood tofu

B.B. Cream

Somehow, cosmetics were cheaper in Hong Kong. One of the things I wanted to buy was B.B. cream.

B.B. cream stands for blemish balm and it is really popular nowadays. It works as a foundation to regulate uneven skin tone, and to give it a natural glow.

My cousin, who recommended me SK II, also recommended Skin79, a Korean brand which is quite renowned for its range of B.B. cream.

At Bonjour, a popular cosmetics chain in Hong Kong, I found the product I wanted. It was only HKD82, so that was about RM41.00.

B.B. Cream

At the same time, I saw that they sold the Skin79 miniature set too! The little bottles were too cute to resist. And so I bought a set too. It was HKD55 per set.

Skin79 miniature B.B. cream set

After using it for a week, I found that although the B.B. cream covered blemishes, it did not give me any glow. Lol.

SK II Treatment Essence

(Source : http://www.sk-ii.com.sg/global_gateway.php)

They call the SK II Treatment Essence a miracle water. But I have never had the urge to try it.

Last Chinese New Year, I was catching up with my cousin, and she recommended me this brand. She said for her, the effect was immediate!

Wow, I thought. I know various international artistes have endorsed this product. But the impact is much greater when it comes from someone you know very well.

If my cousin said the SK II Treatment Essence was good, I just had to try it! However, it was pricy, and I had put off the notion to buy it time and again.

When I went to Hong Kong, I decided to buy a 250 ml bottle for HKD748. It was slightly cheaper than that in Malaysia.

For the past week that I've been using it, I've been very impressed with the result. It keeps the skin moisturised, making it softer and more supple, and lightening the freckles. Wow.

And I've only been using it for a week! If I continue to use it, I am confident it will improve the quality of my skin. Yay to healthy-looking skin!

Food in Hong Kong

So much has been said about the good food in Hong Kong, and I had intended to sample at least some of the must-try delicacies, such as 糖水 desserts, dim sum and others.

Unfortunately for us, we did not have much time to eat in Hong Kong. We were too busy visiting the places of interest in our list. And so, much of the food that we ate were those that we came across, in the midst of our sightseeing adventure.

At the Hong Kong - Macau Ferry Terminal, we had our lunch at Florinda Cafe, an outlet operated by Macau Restaurant. In a hurry, we just ordered set lunches. Each set lunch came with a hot drink and a Portuguese egg Tart. Each set cost HKD43.

Pork chop rice

Soy chicken rice

Barbecued pork rice

Coffee

Portuguese egg tart

I liked the barbecued pork and the soy chicken, which were both very yum. The coffee was good too - smooth and thick. The egg tart of course, was not as nice as Choi Heong Yuen's.

At The Peak, us girls decided to go for Burger King. My Whoppper Junior meal came to HKD37.00. A Whopper meal was HKD47.00. Expensive, eh?

My Whopper Junior set

At a roadside stall before Ladies' Street in Mongkok, we bought some snacks from the roadside stalls.

Grilled octopus

Deep-fried Yong Tau Foo

I found the Yong Tau Foo too greasy. Besides that, there were no sweet sauce provided. Only chilli sauce was available.

We found a small little outlet to have our breakfast, just round the corner from our hotel.

The kitchen from where the food is prepared

We ordered Chee Cheong Fun 豬腸粉. There were just plain rice rolls served in a savoury sauce. It was actually quite tasty when eaten with ground chilli. But none of my friends liked it.

Chee Cheong Fun

Siew Mai was another item we tried here. None of us liked the siew mai either. They were not like the siew mai we have here, where the siew mai wrappers arefilled with minced pork, shrimps or seafood. The siew mai that we had the texture of a fishball. Yuck!

Siew Mai

The char siew bao was ordered to share. The steamed bun shaped like a flower. Cute!

Steamed char siew buns

The char siew filling

The filling was rather dry, and so it was another no-no.

I ordered the beef noodles.

My bowl of beef noodles

Flat egg noodles were used, and they were blanched till soft. The broth was plain cabbage soup, and pieces of stewed beef were ladled onto the noodle soup. My friend ordered the same beef noodles, but with the addition of white radish.

Beef noodles with white radish

At another outlet just down the road from our hotel, we had breakfast on the second day. The shop is called Super Restaurant Kitchen. As usual, we could not read the menu in Chinese. But here, the waitress auntie was kind enough to produce an English version. So kind of her. I ordered Set A for HKD22.00. Set A had a buttered toast, ham omelette, vermicelli soup with preserved vegetables and pork slices, and a cup of hot drink.

Toast & ham omelette

Vermicelli soup with preserved vegetables and pork slices

I liked the omelette and the toast, but I'm not so used to the vermicelli soup. It was alright, I suppose.

My friend ordered Set C, also for HKD22.00. It had toast, a sunny side up, a macaroni soup with ham, and a hot drink.

Maraconi soup with ham

But I liked my hot drink a lot. I ordered a yuen yong 鴛鴦, which is a mixture of coffee and tea. It was hot and smooth and rich and creamy. Yum.

My cup of yuen yong

My last meal in Hong Kong was again at the ferry terminal, before we boarded our ferry back to Macau. We ate at the Maxim (美心MX) outlet. It was real packed with diners at about 2.30 p.m. in the afternoon.

I ordered the 六宝饭, translated to be Six Treasures Rice. It was HKD29.90. The rice came topped with 6 items. There was half a salted egg, char siew, roast duck, roast chicken, sausage slices, cuttlefish slices, and a strip of choy sum. Lol. Though it said six treasures, I counted seven items, including the vegetable.

Six treasures rice

Turn the plate around ..

I had to be really hungry, I supposed, as I walked the whole morning! I found my rice and all its roasted items to be yum! I did not like the sausage nor the cuttlefish, though.

After lunch, it was bye-bye to Hong Kong, as we made our way back to Macau.I guess our I will have to wait for another time to sample some other gastronomic delights in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong Disneyland

Two of my aunts went to Hong Kong Disneyland on two different occasions. They came back and told me how much they had enjoyed themselves there. "You must take all the rides," Fifth Aunt said.

It has always been my dream to visit Disneyland, and the Hong Kong theme park seemed to be the nearest. And so while my friends and I were planning for our trip, we promptly included the theme park in our itinerary.

Tickets could be purchased online or at the entrance, but we bought ours at the Hong Kong Disneyland Ticket Booth at The Peak Tower a day earlier. The One-Day Pass cost HKD350.00 per adult. Each of us got a free gift with our ticket. You can choose between a Disney photo frame and an umbrella.

The next morning, we took the MTR there. It's quite convenient. At Sunny Bay, we needed to change trains. It was quite amusing to see the Disney-themed train, complete with Mickey Mouse windows and Mickey Mouse overhead strap hanger.

Mickey window

Mickey overhead hand strap

It only took a few minutes to arrive at the Disneyland Resort Station.

Disneyland Resort Station

From the MTR station, it was then a short walk to the entrance, where you will enter into another realm - a world full of wonderful dreams and fantasy, happiness and happily-ever-afters.

The sign perched high up on the entrance

Hong Kong Disneyland is quite small. There's the Main Street U.S.A., Adventureland, Fantasyland, and Tomorrowland.

Of the three, my favourite has to be Fantasyland, the entrance through Sleeping Beauty's castle. The buildings were quaint and colourful in there, a fantasy land in the real sense.

Here, I enjoy Philharmagic and It's a small small world. Of course, we also rode the carousel. We took photographs at the Snow White Grotto, rode the Cinderella Carousel and Mad Hatter Tea Cups, watched Merlin performed Sword in Storm, watched Mickey's PhilharMagic and It's a Small World. Real fun!

It's a Small World is a boat-ride through a tunnel. It takes you through various galleries, where you can watch colourful costumed dolls dancing to the theme song "It's a Small World". I loved it lots!

Hula dancers, swaying to the tune

At Adventureland, we only took the Jungle River Cruise, while at Tomorrowland, we rode Space Mountain, Orbitron, and the Buzz Lightyear Astro Busters.

We also managed to take photographs with a few Disney characters, like Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Pluto, Pooh and Stitch. They posed in real fun ways!! So cute!!

The performances were good too. I enjoyed the High School Musical Live and the parade. But the most spectacular of all would be the fireworks.

High School Musical Live!

The fireworks is not to be missed!!

However, it was a hot and sunny day when we went. It was quite hot to walk about, so if you are not so fond of the sun, do get ready a hat or an umbrella.

Hong Kong

In Hong Kong, my friends and I checked into Metropark Hotel Wanchai. It is a few blocks away from the MTR Wanchai station, so that makes travelling around Hong Kong easy.

2 days in Hong Kong was not enough at all. As a result, there were many places of interest that we had to skip.

We went to Causeway Bay, and made our way to Sogo. We were not shopping, but rather, just to soak up that busy atmosphere at this part of Hong Kong.

Times Square

In the evening, we made our way up to The Peak by tram. A return tram ticket & entrance to The Sky Terrace was HKD56.00.

It was one interesting ride, climbing at a 45 degrees gradient at a stretch. The view of Hong Kong from The Peak was really breathtaking! For me, watching Hong Kong light up as dusk approached was just wonderful.

Hong Kong

Admiring the scenery aside, souvenirs and trinkets were plentiful up there. We took our time buying some magnets, keychains, postcards, colourful bangles and some decorative items.

Madame Tussaud's is located at The Peak. Entrance was HKD160.00. I did not go in, having been to Madame Tussaud's in London. There were a few wax statues outside the museum, and one of them was Jackie Chan's.

Hong Kong's most famous import, Jackie Chan

We went to Ladies Street at Mongkok too. It is a night market, and not only are there merchandise for ladies, there are plenty for men and children too. It is much like Petaling Street, except that it's much bigger.

Along the street, there were people peddling imitation branded watches and bags by the catalogue. One could buy LV or Gucci or Prada or Rolex here. Curious, I stopped by and asked if they had Tag Heuer for ladies. The girl flipped the catalogue and pointed to one, which she offered me for HKD320! When I did not want to buy it, she scolded profanities. Heck, I did not care, I just walked away. Lol.

We visited the Golden Bauhinia Square outside the Hong Kong Convention Centre. I loved the view from the promenade too.

Golden Bauhinia symbolises the handover of Hong Kong to China

One whole day was spent at the Hong Kong Disneyland. The visit transported me back to my childhood. I had a fun day there. Entrance however, was a whopping HKD350.00. Phew!!

Entrance to Hong Kong Disneyland

Though we were tired after Disneyland, we made our way to the Avenue of Stars at Tsim Sha Tsui. The night view of Hong Kong from the waterfront promenade was superb. I loved it lots.

Statue of Bruce Lee @ Avenue of Stars

On our final day, we took a cable ride up to Ngong Ping Village, Lantau Island. The return cable car ride cost HKD106 for a normal cabin, and HKD156 for a crystal cabin. The crystal cabin had a glass bottom, so you can actually look at the view directly beneath your feet!

Splendid view from the cable car

At Ngong Ping, we visited the majestic Tian Tan Buddha, one of the biggest Buddha statue in the world. It was sure a long and strenuous climb up!

268 steps to climb atop

After Ngong Ping, we left for Macau International Airport, where we caught our flight back to Malaysia.

The Bestest Portuguese Egg Tarts

For me, the best Portuguese Egg Tarts came from this shop. Choi Heong Yuen Bakery has been in the confectionery business for 75 years already! There are 10 outlets throughout Macau.

Signage

The shop that we went to was at Avenida de Almeida Riberio, opposite Senado Square. The shop was brightly lit, clean, and staffed with many helpful employees. Free samples were offered to tempt customers to buy more! And there were plenty to sample!!

Inside the shop

The Portuguese Egg Tarts sat in display case in front of the shop and sold for MPO6.00 per piece. We just happened to try it. And then we fell in love with it. So we returned daily to buy. ;p

Tempting egg tarts

The crust was light, flaky and crispy, the surface perfectly browned.

Yum...

The custard was in a perfect consistency, really smooth, rich, creamy and not too sweet.

To die for . . .

Eat it bit by bit to savour the custard filling. It literally transports you to cloud nine. ;))

In fact, it was so good that I bought half a dozen back to Malaysia!

Yummilicious ...

I bought this Portuguese Egg Tart from Mr. Siew Bao @ Hutong Lot 10, for RM1.80.

Mr. Siew Bao's Portuguese Egg Tart

See the difference? You haven't eaten egg tarts till you have eaten those from Choi Heong Yuen. A must-eat in Macau!