HONG KONG EATS (What TEAM YAP grubbed day 3 and 4)

We are celebrating the kids' birthdays in Hong Kong 2 months AFTER their real birthdays (see my weird but rational explanation HERE !!!) and we are on day 3 and 4 of our HK foodfest!!! 

(Jaz - "Like our previous WHAT WE GRUBBED series, there would be no sight seeing shots here.... okay just a little bit then. But mostly food!")

We woke up extra early because we will be going to DISNEYLAND!! Wohoo!!!

Yey!!! Here we are in the HAPPIEST PLACE on earth!!! Excited that we are finally here with the kids!!!

Mati LOVED the cotton candy in Disneyland and he really wanted to have one as soon as we stepped inside. 

Check out  3 year old Mati enjoying his first cotton candy in DISNEYLAND Los Angeles.

And it was the start of a beautiful friendship.

Which he gets to celebrate once or twice in 2 years... he he he he!

My little Andrei, the monkey see monkey do boy, immediately followed suit and insisted to have his own cotton candy. He dare not get a taste from Kuya Mati. He has to have his own ASAP!

I would normally tell him to try out Kuya Mati's cotton candy first since he is known not to finish anything his whole life but he begged and begged. I thought then, "Okay fine, we are ON vacation."

And I was glad I did because how could you resist this cute little face??? HOW???!!!!

BUT unlike Kuya Mati, who could finish his cotton candy in a jiffy, Andrei was taking a bit of a longer time and his cotton candy seemed so sweet, fruity, and fluffy. So we decided to help him out.

Oh he cried so HARD after this picture was taken. HA HA HA HA!!!

While waiting our turn for the WINNIE THE POOH  ride, we had a bit of popcorn!

For lunch we had some topped rice.... 

And bowls of hot noodles!!!

Mati was a choosy eater this time...

Because he CHOSE to eat the noodles AND the topped rice!!! He he he he!

As for me, I only want to eat this one thing in DISNEYLAND...

My ever favorite DISNEYLAND Mickey waffle!

OH THIS WAS SOOOOOO GOOD!!! If I was not watching my 33 inch waistline, I will eat 3 more of this!!!! 

So since I was on a diet but wanted to indulge, I did not offer a bite to my sons. They tried but I didn't. A small bite would just ruin my computation!!

OH. I. AM. KIDDING.

I offered a bite. To Andrei. And he declined. 

(Whew)

I know we said that we will let Mati and Andrei eat the specials of Hong Kong grub only for the whole trip but they begged to have some Mcdonalds in their system. Since they were good boys in Disneyland, we agreed. 

We thought as well that we SHOULD eat in MCDONALD'S branches in other countries because they do serve different food from the next. It is an experience too to compare the MCDONALD'S from different countries :)

In MCDONALDS Hong Kong we remember they have chili wings and no rice!!! He he he he he!

While the kiddies happily ate and gobbled everything up Yub and I were excited to eat Hong Kong street food for dinner!!!!

I got for meself a bowl of Schezuan noodles. I know I have a high tolerance for spicy food (i eat siling labuyo with my rice and meat!!!) so when the nice noodle guy asked if I wanted spicy, I eagerly answered "YES!"

But wow... his noodles were SO spicy!!! After 3 chopstickfuls of the noodles, my mouth and tongue were all flaring up!!!

The nice noodle guy offered to "wash down" the chili with a new serving of soup. Though it is more edible now, it still burned my insides.

Great noodles but SO hot!!!

And I don't mean the Paris Hilton kinda way!

My yub helped himself to some balls! As if he didn't have some already.

I WAS REFERRING to the earlier balls he ordered! What do you think of me? Thinking of you???

Tee hee!!!

I was impressed that my hub, a very finicky eater, loved the spicy curry sauce that the balls were swimming in. 

Everything was so hot and rich!!! Perfect for the chilly weather!

While we ate, the little lords waited for us and played PSP to their heart's content. They dared not taste the streetfood as they were still full and happy from MCDONALDS.

Okay! They were on vacation anyways!

Dessert time!

It was certainly love at first bite for us and these mini-waffles!

I think we had about 2 orders of egg and 2 orders of chocolate to cap off the night!!!

For our last day, we checked out what we could have for breakfast in the hotel....

Our last brekky at ROYAL PLAZA!!! We will miss you!

After a morning of shopping, we had some of Mati's favorite noodles for the last time in our trip!

Good bye delicious ramen!!! Till next time!

Mati was saying good bye so hungrily!!!

Our sizzling beef bulgogi!!! This was so good too!!!

This was the way towards the mall food court. I thought of taking a picture of it so I would not forget the memorable times we would yell there and create echoes in the long hall!!

TIME TO GO!!!

The boys played some KARATEY in the airport!

Before our flight we had some dimsum!!

The airport restaurant offered dimsums similar to what we have in CAUSEWAY or GLORIAMARIS but we were getting a bit sentimental here... 

... so we ate with mucho gusto as we bid sayonara to Hong Kong.

Wait that's in Japanese.

Anywho..

THANKS Hong Kong!!! Hope to see you soon again! We had fun eating with you!!!

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Check out our other WHAT WE GRUBBED series!!!

HONG KONG EATS - day 1 and 2 (click ZHELI !!)

USA EATS  (click HERE !!!)

ITALY EATS (click ECCO !!! )

SINGAPORE EATS  (click I-DON'T-KNOW-WHAT'S-HERE-IN-SINGAPOREAN !!!!)

HONG KONG EATS (What TEAM YAP grubbed day 1 and 2)

It is that time of the year again where we are going to celebrate the birthdays of our 2 little lords by going somewhere that required a plane ride (as demanded by Andrei... he he he). However, like what happened the previous year, instead of doing the deed on their ACTUAL birthdays (which was on December-January and impossible to book), we will be doing it again on February. And again, like last year, since the nature of my work only allows me to have an extended leave of absence during my birthday, we will be having it on my birthday weekend as well.

Don't worry... We still surprised the kids and sang to them on midnight in the hotel room and nobody EVER mentioned that it was MY birthday during the whole trip. 

Oh except during the game in Cebu Pacific so I could win a birthday prize and have a picture with the pilot! Tee hee!

So once more, we are truly excited for this trip because we were eager to show our little lords the sights we enjoyed as teen-agers...

(Yes. Teenagers... They did not have budget travels yet then. :P)

But of course, I was also rarin' to have this Asian trip because I wanted the kids to taste a different kind of cuisine from what they are used to in Manila. They may wail, violently object, and/or be overall traumatized with our food choices but we hope that they will appreciate in the future how these were all learning experiences and memories which will be instilled in their hearts and minds forever. Like what Calvin's Dad would always say "It builds character!"

Naaah... We just wanted to have some mean Hong Kong street foods and we'll make any excuse to have it. 

Har de har har!

Happy Birthday Mati and Andrei!

(Jaz - "Like our previous WHAT WE GRUBBED series, there would be no sight seeing shots here.... okay just a little bit then. But mostly food!")

(February 25, 2013) 

At the airport, we had a mini-snack of hotdogs and soda for our last taste of Filipino food.

Yup Filipino food since it WAS in a Filipino Airport Food Stop!

As Andrei would always say : "We are going to the Hong Kong!"

... and now we ARE at the Hong Kong!

After we got settled in our hotel, we really planned to go somewhere locals would go to for our first Hong Kong meal, but we were just too darn tired. Instead, we visited the food court of the mall connected to our hotel and saw there were many food choices!

This was Mati's big bowl of Japanese Ramen! It was so heaping with noodles and toppings that you would think we were in a Japanese restaurant in Hong Kong! We all loved this and the ramen truly warmed our hungry tummies!

Check out Mati's face...

Mati - "That is one HUGE bowl of noodles!"

Since Andrei was in the mood for his usual "chicken and rice" we ordered a Teriyaki bowl  with all the trimmings. 

By trimmings, they meant fried noodles atop the steamed rice. Though this may look weird, it did work in giving our dish a playful crunch. The teriyaki chicken was very strong in flavors and these carbs helped tone it down. I think we ordered an extra cup of rice for this. Truly yum!

We also ordered the sizzling beef which we forgot to take a picture of. Yub said the meat was succulent and tender that after getting a small bite, Andrei deserted his "chicken and rice" and teamed up with his daddy for the beef!

Wohoo! More for me!

After the kids' relaxing nap, we changed clothes for our Hong Kong City tour!

By the way, it was the kids' idea to wear the Superman capes! They brought it themselves. As for the whistles and flashlights, that was their OC mom's idea! 

I think they would rather wear it themselves than have mommy screaming and blowing hard on the whistle when they get lost! 

For dinner we decided to try out everyone's recommendation, CAFE CORAL!

My friend said they change their menus regularly so we were pretty excited to what's in store for us today.

I can't say the same for Andrei because he was getting mighty cranky!

Yub ordered their Roast Pork with rice. I am not really a "roast pork" kinda gal but this was utterly delicious! My husband need not use a knife to slice it for Andrei. We just used our fork and spoon since it was so tender. Andrei loved this and almost OWNED it if not for my warning that if he "owned" it, he should finish all of it!

Little Mati ordered the sizzling chicken and we had the gravy on the side because we were not sure if it was the gravy we were used to. 

True enough the CAFE CORAL gravy had this tomato stew taste which did not appeal to us. Good thing their grilled chicken was very flavorful to begin that we were able to wipe this out with their rice and soup! YUM!

We don't usually allow little Andrei to have soda but what the heck, the little lord was on vacation so he could have all the cherry cokes that he wants.

Plus "I" am on vacation and I did not feel like being screamed at by the little monster... este... lord.

Kidding! Ha ha ha!

Let's EAT!!!

Me and Mati!

Yub and Andrei!

This was the very nice waitress from CAFE CORAL who fussed over Andrei and told me he was so cute! 

She was so nice that when we asked where's the restroom, she gave us keys to what the employees use because it would be "cleaner". 

Thank you kind lady! We will never forget you!

"Please be considerate and responsible, please do not excrete on the floor."

Like what nice waitress said, the restroom was very clean and passed my standards as an OC mom.

Sorry I know that this is a silly little foodie blog, but this sign just cracked me up!

Makes me wonder what their ordinary, dirty restroom is like! 

It was mighty cold around the city but we were able to get a lot of great pictures with the help of our good ol' tripey! Here's our favorite!

Back at the hotel, the kids dressed into their super hero pajamas and drank their milks. Little Andrei requested for a very "healthy" "goodnight" snack of Nova.

Again the little lord is on vacation...

Goodnight sleepyheads!

The next morning we were up and early for breakfast then to Ocean Park!

When I say breakfast, I meant A WHOLE LOTTA breakfast!

This is my first plate of smoked salmon and salad... because you could never be too weird when you're on vacation!

Second plate is of noodles, toast, and an egg!

3rd plate is another serving of smoked salmon and vegetables but this time with rice because I CAN.

Kids were still sulking at such a beautiful morning!

LET'S EAT!

OCEAN PARK!

After a whole day of walking at OCEAN PARK, we were famished! We settled down to one of their food tents and ordered what seems edible for us. 

What looked good on picture was nasty in taste! Yub had the very expensive Pork Chop rice! I think this was about 70hkd! 

Mati had the better tasting spaghetti at 60hkd!

I was hungry so I just tried as I might to enjoy this. Come to think of it, everything tastes better after a day of walking as long as it is served piping hot with an ice cold drink!

I was happy for Mati that he discovered his new favorite!

RICE ON A STICK! He had about 3 of these babies in Ocean Park! 

His favorite was the mushroom flavor!

After OCEAN PARK we wanted to have a different experience for dinner!

Welcome to Hong Kong!!

Our nose then pointed us to this direction!

The noodle house  was packed with customers and I was enticed at the sight of diners slurping their very hot noodles on this cold Hong Kong night.

It was a good thing that some of the people did not understand english as Mati and Andrei kept saying "This place smells bad!"

If they thought the restaurant stank, my husband and I took in several whiffs of foodie heaven. We loved that we are what we consider an authentic noodle house in Hong Kong where greasy, unhealthy food was prepared right before our very eyes...

Just the way we liked it!

We noticed though that even if this may be considered as a street side eatery in the Philippines, this noodle house was still very clean and sanitary. We got so excited to start eating!

The soup bubbling at a counter! If you think the soup of Ma Mon Luk or Masuki ( see HERE) are stinky, be prepared for this one. It's like boiling a sock used for 4 weeks playing soccer then dipping it in spoiled stew! Yes it is SO stinky! 

But believe me, it the smell of noodle victory!!!! I can't wait to slurp this!

Along with our noodles, Yub ordered some pork innards with the same stinky soup!

OH YEAH! Where was a cup of plain rice with soy sauce and chili when you needed it????

Me getting ready to dig in!!!

SLURP!

Oh this was so good! It was meaty and oily just as I imagined it would be! The soup was very flavorful and tasted as if they had been boiling it with pork fat forever while the noodles were slurp perfect. 

THIS was my favorite grub in Hong Kong during our trip!!!

After I slurped in a mouthful of the greasy noodles, I would take a bite of the fried dimsum dipped in soy sauce. Then chugged it all down with the almost below zero cold iced tea!

SO PERFECT!!!

Such a great dinner!!!!

The kids did hate the smell of place but they loved the fish ball noodles and hoped that we eat here again the next day!

There was only 1 english speaking waitress and she was very nice to us! She found the kids so cute (well she said so!) and gave us extra attention. I LOVE HONGKONG!! The food and the people were so cool!!!!

I guess, Mati and Andrei will be travelling with us everywhere then because people are nicer when they are with us! Ha ha ha!

By the way, I may sound like a stage mom but there are only 2 kinds of people to me who matter... The ones who love my kids and the ones who adore my kids! I am very nice to both! Ha ha ha! 

Now, which one will you be? :)

After our delicious dinner, Yub wanted some DESSERT! And by dessert we meant Hong Kong street food!

Hmmm... Yub got his fish balls. As for me, I was so full!!! Should I just eat now or go back here tomorrow?

Hope you'll find out and see in the next edition! 

LET'S EAT!!!! 

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Check out our other WHAT WE GRUBBED series!!!

USA EATS  (click HERE )

ITALY EATS (click ECCO )

SINGAPORE EATS  (click I-don't-know-what's-"HERE"-in-Singaporean)