Help us plan our (culinary) excursion to Asia
6 Comments
Karen Hamilton
September 1, 2008
Photo courtesy of The HouseKeeper (Creative Commons)
Fall is just around the corner, which means that we are finally working out the details of our long-awaited winter getaway to the Philippines. Although I was born in Manila, I was primarily raised in Vancouver, and it’s been over 20 years since I’ve been back to visit the homeland. Can’t wait to introduce my husband to a tropical experience and to rediscover my heritage!
My husband has been doing most of the travel planning thus far. I’ve been more focussed on teaching him rudimentary Filipino than figuring out how to pass the time (since my fall-back response would be “eating”). However, we have gotten this far with our travel agenda:
- Christmas – Dec 29: Family quality time in Metro Manila
- Dec 30 – Jan 4: Hiking about in Northern Luzon
- Jan 5 – 12: Splashing about in the Visayas
- Jan 12 – 13: Gambling about in Macau
- Jan 14 – 18: Touring about in Hong Kong
Throughout all this, of course, we expect to be indulging in as much of the local cuisine as we can possibly digest. There are culinary tours and food festivals in some of the regions that we’ll be visiting, but we’ll probably peruse the tour packages as a guideline and rely upon our eyes, our noses, and your recommendations instead.
What should we see and eat?
We’ll be booking our round trip flights this week but are still in the process of cementing just what we’ll do in the Philippines and Hong Kong. If you have any recommendations for accommodations, places to eat, and places to see that are off the beaten path, please leave me a comment!
As we figure out these logistics with your help, I’ll leave you with a taste of Asia from my last trip to Hong Kong and Macau.
Rice Paper
The Hong Kong Thai fusion restaurant that ruined me for Thai food in Vancouver. It’s a beautifully laid out venue with an entire wall face of glass that looked out over the harbour. My culinary planner for the week had arranged a 7:30pm reservation so that we could catch the breathtaking light show during our meal.
The food was one of the most memorable of that week. My colleagues had favourite dishes so they ordered plate after plate of Thai food that I had never before encountered (at home, we usually don’t veer far from the pad thai and curries that one normally sees on North American menus). Faves: a crab noodle dish that came highly recommended; the pomelo salad; the beef with red rice; the experience of rolling up my own rice paper roll of roasted duck and guava.
EOD Cafe
Small Makanese restaurant near my relative’s flat in Macau. Simple, homestyle stuff, but I’d take my husband here in a heartbeat.
Tin Hau
Food stalls along Electric Road wink at you from every corner. The best vegetarian dim sum and congee I’ve ever had to date was found in this vibrant Hong Kong neighbourhood.
More about this trip:
- Hong Kong travel diary: Day 1
- Hong Kong travel diary: Day 2
- Hong Kong travel diary: Day 3
- Hong Kong travel diary: Day 4
- Hong Kong travel diary: Day 5
- Hong Kong travel diary: Day 6
- Hong Kong travel diary: Day 7
Categories: Asia, Beyond Vancouver, Food, Hong Kong, Macau, Philippines, Travel
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6 Responses to “Help us plan our (culinary) excursion to Asia”
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Does one need to do anything on holiday except eat?
My sentiments exactly =)
But I’m quite excited for the non-food activities we have planned: visiting the Chocolate Hills of Bohol (pictured in the post); hiking around the rice terraces of Northern Luzon; checking out a volcanic island and an underwater cemetery; cheering on my poker-playing husband at the new Venetian in Macau.
And if he gives me a travel allowance…going on insane shopping sprees in Hong Kong!
It’s been a year or so since I was in HK (which means it’s probably changed entirely again), but here’s a few picks:
(i) as cheesy as Lan Kwai might be, the lounge at the top of Hotel LKF (http://www.hotel-lkf.com.hk/Azure.php) has an amazing view of Central and the harbour that can’t be beat;
(ii) the Ye Shanghai at Pacific Place in Admiralty might not be as good as the one in Shanghai, but it’s still worth the visit;
(iii) if you haven’t gone to Fernando’s for Portuguese food in Macau, check it out;
(iv) if you get the chance, go to the Gold Coast on the Kowloon side, where you can go to the fish market and have them cook it up at any of the open air restaurants.
Balik kampung (malay language for “back to the hometown or village”). Have a safe trip back to Tagalog land.
Don’t know any specific places in HK and Macau—but may want to consider the local fresh food markets, i.e., street food (hawker styled) dishes.
After all if one were to enjoy street-food, one could say that you’re savoring a bit of history and culture that goes behind it.
Clutterer: I didn’t enjoy the Portuguese food at Dumbo Restaurante so we’ll definitely check out Fernando’s when we’re in Macau. Thanks for all the tips.
Andrew: Malay looks quite similar to Tagalog. I think the equivalent phrase is “balik bayan”. Definitely going to introduce my husband to balut and other street food…that is the stuff I remember fondly.
[...] already shared my favourite Hong Kong eateries when I wrote about it a few months ago, so I’ll keep this post focussed more along the [...]