Last Shebang

We are leaving fairly early tomorrow (Thanksgiving) so I am considering this to be the last day of our trip.  We didn't really do much of anything today except have a lavish lunch.  We spent the morning packing, trying to figure out whether all of the souvenirs we bought would fit in our luggage.  For the most part we were successful and only a couple bulky, odd-shaped things will have to be mailed back.  No, I didn't buy a rickshaw even though I would have liked to.

Around 12:00 Charlie and I had coffee across the street from the U.S. Consulate building.  My seemingly plastic cup claimed to be made of corn.


We then met Tony on his lunch break and walked to a nearby Peking restaurant where we met up with Mr. Lee, Tony and Charlie's Mandarin teacher from 20 years ago.

Just looking at it, one could tell that the restaurant was pretty upscale.  I was surprised when we were greeted by a hostess wearing a dress with two very high slits up the sides (a couple inches at most from showing her butt) and a fur shawl.

The view from our table:


Mr. Lee is a very sweet, friendly and talkative older gentleman who was very excited to see Charlie and Tony, and just as excited about introducing us to more exquisite Chinese foods.  Over the course of the meal he was kind enough to tell us about his flight from China following the Cultural Revolution.  It was an extremely interesting conversation.  He later won my affection completely when he leaned over to Tony to ask in a Mandarin whisper whether it was rude to tell me I looked like a movie star.  Then he addressed Charlie and I, asking us if we had seen Titanic.  He apparently thought I looked like Kate Winslet and, although I don't really see the resemblance, took it as a complement.

Now on to the meal, which was one of the best I have had here.  Mr. Lee did all of the ordering.  Tony has also done a lot of ordering for us since we have been here.  I like this because all the meals are family style so I get to try a lot of new things that I otherwise wouldn't think to select off the menu.

When we got to the table we were greeted by a lovely table setting and there were already some preliminary hors d'oeuvres of tofu, cucumber, garlic and what I think was some kind of sweet pepper.


Our first course were these tasty dumplings, the first containing greens and the second containing pork.  When I took a bite out of the pork, juice shot a good 6 inches from it and onto the table cloth just beyond my plate.  Luckily, no one noticed.


We also had jellyfish.  I have tried jellyfish at least 3 times now just to make sure that I'm not just hallucinating the fact that I do not like it.  After today, I am convinced that it's not for me.  It's not a taste thing, but rather a texture thing.  It reminds me of eating rubber bands with salt.  Also, it's one of those "weird" foods that I just feel uncomfortable about consuming.


Next the table was set with the accessories for the second course, Peking Duck.  We were provided with thin wheat-flour "tortillas", plum sauce, and a bowl of cucumbers and scallions.


Then the waiter brought out the actual duck.  The whole thing.


Mr. Lee asked them to slice it up, so they took it away and brought it back on this duck-shaped plate.  It kind of looked like the duck was offering you its guts... and I guess it kind of was.


Mr. Lee and Charlie instructed me on how to eat Peking Duck:  You take one of the "tortillas", smear a little plum sauce on it, then add a couple pieces each of cucumber and scallion, top it off with two to three slices of duck, then roll it up and eat it.  Let me tell you, this is one of the best things I have ever tasted!


By this time we were already getting full and I thought we were done.  But then three other dishes arrived.

Gigantic sweet and sour shrimp.  By the way, real Chinese sweet and sour is WAY better than what you can get in the States.


Breaded tofu topped with shrimp roe.  The texture was great but the roe was a little too fishy for me.


Pea vines with garlic.


Just when I thought we were done, Mr. Lee insisted on dessert.  So he ordered us this sort of sweet rice pudding in a rice wine with little dumplings containing red bean paste.  It was a rare treat.


By this time we were so full we could barely walk.  Here is a shots of the boys conversing and enjoying tea after the meal, as well as a nice photo that the waiter took.




We said our goodbyes and I dashed into the ladies room for a second time so that I could take a picture of the beautiful sinks.


After lunch we went to Oliver's to do some grocery shopping for Tony and Elena's upcoming Thanksgiving party.  We returned home and just loafed around and did a little more packing until both parents came home from work.  When we discovered we didn't have enough leftovers for everyone to eat at home, we opted to go out to eat yet again.

On the way to the restaurant, I saw the sign for this other restaurant that made me laugh out loud.  What was even funnier was that it was all chic-looking as if putting Canadian food on par with some haughty French gourmet.  What exactly is Canadian cuisine anyway?  Moose?


This time we elected a very classy Middle Eastern and Greek restaurant called Olive.  The presentation alone was impressive enough, and the flavors were even more so.  Sorry if this is turning into more of a food blog than anything, but Hong Kong is really a gastronomy Mecca for many types of cuisine, not just Chinese.  I wouldn't do the place justice if I didn't discuss that aspect of it at length.

This was an appetizer sampler of hummus, baba ghanouj, pita, olives and other nibbles, cucumbers and "Fatima fingers".


We also had this exquisitely grilled calamari on a garlic/almond mayonnaise paste.  Sorry, the picture is blurry.  I must have been shivering with anticip...


Then there was the melt-in-your-mouth spanikopita.


Onto the main courses:

Charlie had rib-eye steak on potatoes with a tomato-olive sauce and a dollop of aioli on top.


I had Moroccan spiced mushrooms in a goat cheese bath.


Tony had lamb on a bed of greens.


And Elena had the potato kibbeh.


We ate almost every last bite and then for some insane reason decided to order dessert.

Warm lemon semolina in a grapefruit sauce and topped with gelato.


Tiramisu to die for!


As you can imagine, this was the second meal of the day that needed walking off.  So we headed over to Charlie's favorite cigar shop and he treated Tony and I to a couple of nice smokes.  We were beckoned into the bar across the street by some friendly Filipina waitresses who teased Charlie about whether he was old enough.  We sat for a while, laughed at the bad music that was playing loudly, and in general had a really nice time.

Now it is time for bed and we fly out tomorrow.  Stay tuned for a final account of the trip tomorrow.