Novotel Century Hotel Hong Kong

Hotels in Hong Kong are expensive FULL STOP. We were just lucky to get a good deal as it was tied to the Toy & Stationery Fair that we registered for.

The best deals are online. Never do a walk in. It's suicide.

From our observations, it seems that hotels in Hong Kong do not follow peak/low peak seasons as indicated in tavel guides, etc. They seem to have a life of their own. As long as there's customers coming in, they will chop your head off, politely. So be forewarned.

This is Novotel Century, the hotel where we put up in Hong Kong.

It's located in Wan Chai where it's accessible to a lot of things just by walking.

We were just a little bit below the Expo Centre which was by the harbour. The location of the hotel is marked red in the map below. It's quite a convenient location as there's a 7-Eleven & a fruit stall just outside. And no, please, that's not all we ate.

If I remember correctly, this should be a four star hotel.

Well, it looks four star and it certainly feels like it. Got a lot of angmo in and out.

You can actually buy Disneyland tickets from the girl at the counter at bottom left. I don't know what else she does besides that. She's just sitting there all the time.


Hong Kong hotels are not like hotels in Malaysia. There's no complimentary breakfast, nor free drinks, nor mineral water in your room, nor fruit basket.


You pay for a room, you get a room. You pay, you stay. FULL STOP.

Hong Kong in a Day

Hong Kong is an ultra-vibrant city, if that word exists. Within one day, we saw so many things. And whatever we saw, we ate. Come to think of it, I hope we weren't acting too much like primates.

There were many street stalls like this which sell fried, lok-lok kinda stuff ~ fishballs and curry fishballs being the most popular and commonly seen. We tried some. Not bad for street food,

Now looking back, I wish we had eaten more of this.

The problem was we were always so focused on looking for the famous shops (our hitlist) that we tend to bypass these stalls. And when we do come across these stalls, it's already after a heavy meal with no room to spare. I am in deep regrets now. If you visit HK, please do try lots of these. Not exactly the super healthy and hygenic thingy but that is best way to try the local way of lifes.

These are called Little Eggs (Kei Tan Chai). Very good. Must try. Not too sweet. Crispy outside and soft inside. A little like our Egg cup cakes (kei nun ko).

Nee is having pig's intestine. I almost puked when I tried it. Nevertheless, I have been trained well, and I can tell that for people who know how to take this, it is d*mn good. Nee is nodding. NEE: Die hard kiasuness! Everything must try!

You can easily tell that Hong Kong is a very old city. We were mainly on the Hong Kong Islands with some evenings spent at Kowloon. We did also took one whole saturday to walk from Mongkok ~ where the flower market, bird garden and Women street are, to Temple street around the You Ma Tei area and reaching Tsim Sa Tsui. Photos were those we see in both Hongkong Island and Kowloon. Of course, we did not visit to super rich residential areas.

Most of the old buildings look like it's a blast from the past, with 60s/70s design.

In Kuching, you don't get to see these type of buildings anymore. The closest one that I can think of has to be the Seven Storey Flats (Cheet Ian Lao) at Padungan.

Most of the old buildings consist of living flats above with shops below.

I can't help but imagine the millions of Hong Kong kids who grew up living in a place like this - Jackie Chan included. His parents being too poor, signed him off to a Chinese Opera troupe. It was on one of the floors of a building similar to this that he trained everyday, ate, slept & lived his life.

Hong Kong is a small place. Land is scarce. You built your house wherever you can.

Our First Grand Opening Ceremony

If there's one way to sum up our trip, it would be what the title of this book says.

The ultimate guide to the secret gastronomical pleasures of Hong Kong.
Special thanks to Josephine for lending it to us, on the night before our departure the next day!!!

Food was our top priority. Honestly, we practically ate our way into & out of Hong Kong. If The Amazing Race was about the race for food, we would have won.

Allan Wu would have been impressed with us. He would have said we've got guts! Gastronomical guts, that is!

The first stop on our checklist was a place called Keung Kee which was famous for having one of the best roasted meats in Wan Chai.

As a guy, I'm not very good at writing food reviews. Therefore, I usually write from a man's perspective.

The shop was quite easy to find. It reminded me of a car accessory shop where the spare parts are on display at the window.

As you walk in, you could see all sorts of other internal parts.

This is one of the few shops with a better interior. Everything looks newer inside.

We were just glad there weren't a lot of people then. This meant that the food would come out fast.
I was surprised to find those two paintings in a place like this. Don't look no up. Somebody has actually got taste. The artwork seemed quite contemporary, with a line of multi-national chefs.

Most famous old shops have old waiters to match. I imagined them to be loyal workers from a long time ago, who worked their way up to become business partners.

This uncle could probably tell you the whole history of the shop. And while he's at it, he could also tell you the story of your mother & your father.

You get a sense of satisfaction, a sense of security that you are being served by someone who knows what he's doing, someone who's as old as the shop itself. And he was fast. Wham-BAm! and 3 cups of Chinese tea were already on the table.

This lady had a face which can scold a thousand ships. But Hong Kong has come a long way. In the days of old, they would scold you out of the slightest irritation, even though you were the customer. Tourists would tremble in fear at their mercy. Today, it's a new Hong Kong. Lots of kind words, warm welcome, smiles & thank yous. We quickly took advantage of that hospitality by taking photos of everything. We milked the cow dry.

We wanted to order the special Glutinous Rice, which were supposed to be available during winter (Dec-Mar) but unfortunately out of all the months the Chief Chef could have picked for his holiday, he chose January. So we ordered the next 4 things this shop was famous for.

Goosey goosey gander.
This was the first goose ever we had in Hong Kong. It was excellent. The meat is much much more tender than ducks.


The sauce that comes with the goose.


Kai lan. Every shop has this. It is as common as water.


The coconut, white fungus & red date soup. Imagine sweetness with a hint of coconut.

The roasted twice juicylicious char siew & siew yuk.
After coming back to Kuching, I am always reminded of this when I see a fat kid.

And that was our first meal ever in Hong Kong- our grand opening ceremony.