Yee Shun Steamed Milk desert Archives - Escapes From The Little Red Dot

Transition day for us and so slept in late as usual while I had to wake up slightly earlier to pack. The transport that we booked was for 10am, giving us 3.5hrs to get from Seoul to Incheon Airport for the flight to Hong Kong scheduled at 135pm.

I had to dress K in this sleep and then turn on YouTube to automate the rest of the morning process. Soon he was already up and ready eating bread and having his milk.

We made it to the ground floor to find a black vehicle waiting downstairs but of a different vehicle number. Whatsapp the driver who helped with the booking and found that the vehicle was not the right one even though he thought that the vehicle had arrived. It wasn’t too long before our vehicle came.

This Chinese driver helped with the luggage as we all loaded up his vehicle, this time more spacious for us as my sister’s family had left on an earlier vehicle to Gimpo for their extension to Japan. The journey was a 1 hr drive to Incheon and it was spent with K chattering most of the time and playing with imaginative scenarios of ice cream making and trying to shoot some last photos of Seoul from the vehicle with my phone.

Leaving for the airport…many bridges around Seoul

We got off the vehicle, paid the 70k and as I wanted to whip out my phone to see if I could place some Pokémon at the Seoul gym, I found it missing. The transport! With all the contacts being made thru my phone, I was in a very difficult situation but thankfully I remembered that I got a name card from my first driver and was taking photo of it just in the morning in the vehicle with my camera. Found it in the bag and quickly called him. Though it was frustrating, he managed to call the driver who brought back the phone to me.

We carried out the check in at the self check in machine assisted by the staffs there and it was a breeze. They even helped with attaching the luggage stickers and we were off to dropping off the luggage at the counter. We were informed to stay back for 10mins to clear the luggage Xray in which we just visited the toilet and then left to queue to clear security and immigrations. It wasn’t too long before we were at the departures and granddad who was holding bags of goodies that we bought informed me that my strawberry jam from Pocheon strawberry farm was confiscated because it was not checked in!

Did some last minute shopping for mommy who wanted something from Nature Republic and then again to spend off some of the Korean Won, I bought more goodies to bring home while the rest of the family were having a small lunch of Udon at the Saboten outlet in the food court.

Airstar Avenue for last minute shopping needs

We walked towards the gate with 15mins left and upon reaching found that we were last passengers to get on. Made it to our seats and then the plane was seated there for almost 15mins before it took to the skies. But this was not a problem as K was thoroughly entertained by the entertainment games. This plane was a new one, different from the ones we took from Singapore, and the entertainment system was new too!

There was time for me to watch 2 movies which I caught Into the Spiderverse and King of Comedy. K just played his Mickey Mouse game throughout and a little bit of Angry Birds. He was even lamenting why the plane landed so quickly before I had to pull him away to disembark.

Clearing immigrations and customs was quick, even our luggage was out the moment we arrived at the belt. We met our Hong Kong relatives at the arrival hall who was there to pick up my aunt to return home. They then escorted us to the taxi stand where we separated and went on our way to Lanson Place hotel, the accommodation where mommy was staying for her business trip.

It was a one hour drive where we all slept and upon reaching, the kind bellboys just took over all the barang barang and we could just go to the 1st floor for check in. Did a check in for my parents since mommy already checked in for her room and as we requested for the same floor, there wasn’t one. They gave an upgrade to my parents which was twice the room size but when they looked at the place and found too many mirrors and felt uncomfortable, they were given a room at the much lower level instead.

We got out for dinner and visited a Wing Kee noodle store and joined a queue that already formed. The noodle store concept was like Yong Tau Foo and we ordered 2 bowls with 4 and 3 varieties and a bowl of vegetables. Shared mine with K who loved this place as he loved noodles and could take the Tau Pok, fish cake and even the vegetables while mommy gave him some pork. I found the soup base really good and that complimented the other food that had a good texture. Worth the queue that didn’t take too long and the affordable price of 114HKD.

Proceeded to Yee Shun Milk company to have some desserts and ordered the steamed milk with red bean for mommy and chocolate flavor for me while my parents had the original and lotus seed one. The staff had to confirm the order so many times that we wondered why she didn’t bother to just write it down. The dessert tasted good, the same that I remembered it to be the last time I tried, which explained the always fully occupied seats in the store. Paid 155HKD for 4 desserts.

Spent the night walking around the streets and taking photos. There were big movies displays for photos and we got some photos with the Avengers at Hysan place and another with Dumbo at Lane Crawford.

After this short walk around the streets that were still crowded with people brightly lit with colourful lights, we returned to the rooms for the night. Mommy had some time to catch up play time with K on his whack-a-mole before we all turn in for the night.

The day started at 4am for our Cathay flight to Hong Kong. As expected the drive to the airport was seamless but upon arrival, there was already a slow moving queue to check in. Had some hot drinks over at Wang’s, one of the few shops opened in the early morning.

The boarding was fast, although it was for a big airplane and soon we were in the air en-route to Hong Kong, dozing off just as quickly.

We were awaken for some omelette breakfast which was pretty filling, and then back to sleep. Before we knew it, we are landing in Hong Kong!

There wasn’t any immigration card on the flight and only got it from the stewardess upon landing. Proceeded to a very crowded immigrations, there were 7 rows of people waiting to get through. We had 15mins of perpetual walking in the lines before clearing immigrations, which was about 5mins, not too bad.

Immediately on the outside of the immigrations, there was a counter selling Airport Express train ticket. A lady at the front of the queue informed that we should get the Kowloon tickets since we were alighting at Jordan. As we proceeded to the belt, our luggage was already in sight and we quickly retrieved it before exiting. The train station was just another 20m away and we boarded the quite empty train that came in in a short 7mins – to Kowloon we went.

Once onboard, we noticed that it would be better to take to Hong Kong station and do a direct transfer to MTR that goes to Jordan. Oh well, already paid for the tickets. 24 mins and many views of super tall dense buildings later, we reached Kowloon.

After alighting the train, we entered a really spacious building where we got a drink from 7-11. Moving on to the 2nd floor, the signs pointed us to a free bus transfer for all airport express customers to major hotels. Checked with the staff and she advised us the bus number and the stop to get us. Boarded an almost empty mini bus and we were on the way to the hotel, city sights along the way. It was here that every advice along the way seemed to make sense. Getting off at Kowloon station is the right advice.

Checked in was pretty straight forward at Novotel. Situated along a small street off Nathan Road, it wasn’t easy looking for it. Luckily Google map is working without the data requirement and we easily navigated there from Eaton Hotel, one of the bus stop.

Check in at level 2 was quick and we were given 10th floor. The superior room was expected small, but the view was bad, blocked by the parallel buildings packing the sense streets of Hong Kong. What we saw were roofs filled with rubbish. Never mind, we were here for the shopping and the food anyways. If not for the better price offered from my company’s contract with then, I might have chosen another hotel.

We walked the 5mins walk to Jordan MTR station and bought single trip ticket to Admiralty and changed to the blue line going towards Wan Chai for our first stop – Wing Wah noodle shop. Easily accessible near the main road on the opposite side to the station, but not really recognizable if you don’t read Mandarin.

Entering the shop, we were called to the end of the shop where there were 2 seats from a table of 4 where the other 2 seats were already taken. Guessed this would be the way to eat around Hong Kong. The menu on the table had both English and Mandarin so it was easy. Ordered the original Wanton and one with Pig knuckles.

The noodles were really springy though the dumplings were just ok. I liked the pig trotters particularly, chewy but not tough, good taste and not fatty. Only problem was there were only two of them.

Pork knuckles noodles. — Pig knuckles noodles.

Everything was fast moving, ordered ate and paid in 20mins at most.

Left for our next destination, Ho Hung Kee at Hysan Place. Getting off at 1 station away at Causeway Bay, Hysan Place was immediately connected to it. The restaurant was located at the 12th level, but the elevator took years to arrive. We had to travel to basement first before getting to the 10th storey. From there, by elevator to the 12th floor.

Store front of Ho Hung Kee at Hysan Place

The restaurant had a modern decor but the sitting arrangements were similar to the previous ones, you share. We ordered congee, I had fish and tangerine peel congee and my wife had fish ball congee, thinking that this 1 star Michelin restaurant was popular for congee till we read it’s history on the paper on the table.

Congee was smooth. The fish ball was made of real fish meat, but tasted of ikan bilis. I liked the tangerine flavoured congee which was kinda different.

We ordered a small bowl of Wanton Mee to share. The noodles here were skinnier. I thought it was not as springy as the one I had just before. The dumpling was better here, though I thought there were more taste of fish.

Left satisfied in terms fullness but not in terms of expectations.

Causeway Bay had many various malls and a lot of people. I thought it was something like Orchard Road, people everywhere, lines everywhere. Spent some time at the huge Forever 21 before heading over to Times Square. Took a short break at the Agnes B cafe, shopped a bit more before going to Sheung Wan station and proceeding to Burd street for more congee, Sang Kee congee.

Batmobil on display outside Times Square

Multiple storey of luxury goods stores in Times Square

Sheung Wan was a place without the crowd. Googled map our way there and we were initially mistaken for another of their chain selling noodles. As we moved around the corner, we saw the little shop and entered the cosy little shop. Ordered fish ball congee and minced pork congee. It was really good, the porridge tasted soupy. The balls was tasty and bouncy with a good taste of the fish and pork. It was cheaper than the ones that we had before too. The only pity was that the more popular one with the fish stomach was already sold out. It must have been good.

Went back to our hotel tired and but feeling great. Surfed the web to find more food and I made one more attack on a popular steam egg pudding at Yee Shun Milk company. Daobao the original for HKD22 and back ate it back at the hotel. The store closes at midnight and it was still fairly busy at that time of the day.

The chilled pudding had taste of sweetened milk but the tofu softness of the end product made the chilly pudding a great desert to end the food trip for today. More research on the food trip tomorrow before going to bed. Some early waking up and queuing was anticipated.

Hong Kong 2019 Day 14 – Seoul to Hong Kong

Hong Kong 2014 Day 1 – Arrival, Eat and Shop