Hong Kong Dining

Ozdane and I were lucky enough to have some wonderful dining experiences during our time in Hong Kong. In my Day 2 post I shared our incredible Michelin-starred dim sum experience at Tim Ho Wan. There are a couple others I’d like to share with you as well. Maybe this will come in handy when you’re visiting the buzzing city of Hong Kong one day. With that, let’s begin our culinary journey shall we?

Lily & Bloom
Located in SoHo, LKF Tower
This was a recommendation from a friend of ours, thanks Miss A.K! We decided to try it out on Saturday night and we weren’t disappointed. The design inspiration of Lily & Bloom comes from the dining and drinking scene in the early 1900s Paris, London and New York. Lily & Bloom is two levels. The upstairs is the bar which is Lily and the restaurant Bloom is located downstairs.  The interior is darker but still very well-lit with unique chandeliers and funky lights hanging from the ceiling. The ceiling opens up to the bar Lily on the above floor which creates a nice flow between the bar and restaurant. The restaurant has been referred to as a New York supper club and bar with a Western menu. Mellow jazz tunes fill the air and are a nice touch to the ambiance. Ozdane and I started with 1/2 dozen oysters from various parts of the world. Delicious! If you like oysters that is. I moved on to a tuna tartar starter and Ozdane enjoyed the prosciutto and melon dish. Both were exquisite.

Ozdane’s prosciutto & melon starter

My tuna tartare

We couldn’t decide on our mains and were overwhelmed with choices. Is anyone else out there as indecisive with choosing from a menu as I am? The more choices there are, the more frazzled I become. The worst thing that could happen to me during a dining experience is that other green-eyed monster called food envy! Ozdane decided to go with the lemongrass fettuccine special and after much hemming and hawing I went with the lobster bake. Now, a question to my readers. When you see “lobster bake” on a menu, what do you think it will be? Take a minute and ponder that, get the image in your mind and then continue reading. Ozdane and I both thought it would be some type of casserole/bake type thing in a baking dish with the lobster, corn and veggies mixed in. Are we the only ones who thought that?! Well when my order arrived this is what was before me:

Lobster bake – why hello Mr. Lobster!

Yep that’s right. The whole lobster, eyeballs and all, in a cute, little bucket in broth with mini potatoes, clams and celery. I don’t know about you but I have a tough time eating something when it’s staring at me! On the side were two very yummy corn muffins, corn on the cob and more veggies. I wasn’t in any way disappointed my meal. Trust me it was scrumptious. It was more just our initial shock when it arrived. We both looked at each other probably thinking the same thing. Clearly it wasn’t what either of us thought the lobster bake would be. The women at the table next to us looked over as did the group on the other side and my lobster in a bucket was suddenly the spectacle of our section. One of the women thought the lobster presentation was so beautiful she needed to take a picture! We had a laugh and I dove in to tackle this lobster with a vengeance. Ozdane knows I’m not a person who likes to work for my food so he kindly assisted with the cracking and digging for lobster meat. I think I was one claw in and looked up and he had finished his entire bowl of fettuccine already. Poor guy would be watching me work through my meal for awhile. Another menu item worth mentioning is the 1 kilogram/2.2 pound steak! Yes that’s right, it was really on the menu. Of course they recommended it for 2 people to share. Apparently they had one customer who ate it all himself. My guess is he was American or Aussie.

We both really enjoyed the food and liked the atmosphere. The service was great when we first arrived but we did notice it declined a bit towards the end of our time there. Nothing major really though. After dinner we headed upstairs to Lily for a drink. Lily has that old school lounge feeling to it with dark leather couches and vintage chairs. The cocktail list has classics and some with a twist. We enjoyed both Lily &  Bloom and would return on another trip to HK. Definitely a Chamorro Chica thumbs up!

Lily & Bloom is in this building in SoHo

Hutong
Tsim Sha Tsui, HK
The Hong Kong city skyline is very impressive at night. Twinkling lights across the city skyscrapers light up the dark sky and reflect onto the water. We took the ferry across to another part of the city  to have dinner at a restaurant called Hutong which is on one of the top floors of the tall buildings. This is a prime viewing spot to admire the spectacular skyline at night and see the laser show from a higher vantage point.

To start the evening Ozdane and I went to another restaurant/bar called Aqua for a drink before dinner which is one floor above Hutong. Since we had an 8:30 booking this worked perfectly to chill out with a gorgeous view and watch the light show.

Happy me with my cucumber infused vodka cocktai

Cocktail hour with a gorgeous view

Our dinner at Hutong proved to rival the sensational view. Ozdane had been to Hutong once before but obviously this would be much more special with his fiancé! We decided to go for the tasting menu to give us the opportunity to taste a wide variety of dishes. This also worked out well with my indecisiveness of choosing what to order on a divine menu. Perfect!

Tasting menu we enjoyed

Starters – squid slices, baby abalone salad & pork belly

All of the food was delicious! There wasn’t a bad or mediocre dish. Ozdane and I had another bit of humor at this dinner also. One of the main dishes was Crispy soft shell crabs with Sichuan red pepper. When they brought out the dish the red peppers were the highlight. They were large peppers and a gorgeous bright color. The soft shell crab was beneath the peppers. At first it looked like a massive amount of food and we had no idea how we were going to finish it. Thankfully there were only a few crabs buried beneath the sea of Sichuan peppers. Ozdane decided he’d be adventurous and eat 1/2 a Sichuan pepper. Not sure if anyone out there has done the same but I wouldn’t recommend it. Next thing I knew he had a look of pain on his face as he realized just how hot the pepper was. I kept telling him to ask for milk or something to ease the pain but he wanted to “tough it out.” Oh men are funny sometimes aren’t they?! So he pushed through and was finally able to eat again. Just eating the crabs alone you could taste a good amount of kick from the peppers so I can only imagine his mouth on fire.

Sichuan peppers galore & soft shell crab

Spiced minced pork with green beans, yum!

My favorite of the three main courses was the Scallops & prawn in “Kung Po style” sauce. Funny thing is that I somehow missed a picture of that one. I’m a big shellfish fan so there isn’t a big suprise there. The sauce was sensational and the right amount of flavor with the scallops and prawns. I also greatly enjoyed the three starter dishes with the pork belly being my absolute favorite.

After all the excitement of the red pepper fiasco we were very happy when dessert came and ice cream was included. Perfect for Ozdane’s mouth of fire! The dessert was one of the best I’ve had…in my humble, personal opinion. Mashed winter pastries & Shaoxing wine ice cream! Wow, wow, wow! I normally don’t get very excited about ice cream for dessert but this was different. I ate every last bite.

Delightful dessert

The view we had during dinner was incredible. It really complemented the wonderful dining experience we had at Hutong. I highly recommend going to Hutong for dinner on a visit to Hong Kong. Or you can go upstairs to Aqua for a drink or try one of those restaurants also. You will get the gorgeous view from either one. Another Chamorro Chica thumbs up for Hutong!

After our fabulous dinner at Hutong