Sham Shui Po Eats

Kaya toast and French toast with Hong Kong-style drinks at Wai Kee

A good friend of mine from California is here visiting with her teenage son and all I've been doing all week is eating every day!

Thank goodness today I was finally able to hit the gym and burn off some calories, only to put more on later in the afternoon.

Shrimp roe egg noodles with braised beef tendon

I met them again, this time in Sham Shui Po for some local eats, and another friend who lives in the neighbourhood took us around.

Sham Shui Po is one of those places I am hardly familiar with, and feel like a tourist when I'm there. But actually the places we went to were very close to each other and we saw a lot within two hours.

One of the first places we hit was Wai Kee Noodle Cafe (62 & 66 Fuk Wing Street), where it is well known for several food items, one of which is pork liver vermicelli in soup.

We didn't order that, but instead had French toast with kaya spread in between the bread slices, as well as kaya toast, washed down with cold milk tea, hot Horlicks, and hot milk tea with sweetened condensed milk.

Black tripe with shrimp roe noodles at Lau Sum Kee

The cold milk tea hit the spot on a very hot and humid day, though the hot milk tea with condensed milk was so smooth. Meanwhile the French toast was better than toast, but it was good to try both to compare.

Lau Sum Kee (48 Kweilin Street) is famed for its bamboo noodles, where they use a bamboo pole to knead the dough. We tried the famed shrimp roe lo mein -- one with braised beef tendon, the other with black coloured tripe garnished with green onions and ginger.

Both were delicious -- the tendon full of flavour and had a soft texture, while the tripe was crunchy and spiced up by the chilli soy sauce. The egg noodles were very thin and didn't have much alkaline taste.

Finally we went to a shop that sells curry fish balls and boiled octopus on skewers in the late afternoon on the street. The fish balls had a slow burn -- eating them after a while could leave your mouth on fire! The chopped octopus was so tender and nicely seasoned.

Curry fish balls and octopus skewers in Sham Shui Po

It's a pity another Sham Shui Po institution, Kung Wo Dou Bun Chong (118 Pei Ho Street), which sells tofu products, including fermented tofu, soy bean milk, and tofu dessert is currently being renovated, but it gives me an excuse to go back after it reopens in August.