Sunday, January 03, 2010

Eat & Shop Hong Kong 买东西,吃东西

There’s a first time for everything and United Airlines was it. Most American airlines do not have individual TVs in front of you and due to cost-cutting, full meals are rarely served for short haul flights (2 buns and a fruit cup).

Straight to lunch
Having booked this trip with a travel agency, airport transfer was provided for as part of the package. After chucking in our luggage at Eaton Hotel, Jordan 佐敦 , we headed straight to Tsim Sha Tsui 尖沙咀 via MTR for lunch. The food at Sweet Dynasty 糖朝 is still as good as ever.


Gallivanting in the streets of HK

Shopping in HK
HK is famous for its range of shops which caters to everyone. If you are a shopaholic and intend to hit all the major stores in HK, then you need a plan ;)

  • Gateway Arcade 海港城 - in the heart of TST with Uniqlo, agnès b Delices, City Super
  • Silvercord 新港中心 - also in the heart of TST with visvim, H&M, merci beaucoup, Fred Perry
  • Granville Road 加連威老道 – supposedly lots to purchase here in TST but I’m just not so sure
  • Langham Place 朗豪坊 - in Mongkok and primarily check out H&M here
  • Argyle Centre 旺角中心 - carries mostly streetwear for teens at affordable prices. Note: jewellery here are supposedly imported from Korea so you're better off just buying from Gmarket
  • King Wah Centre - much like Argyle Centre and houses street wear and toys
  • Sino Centre 信和中心 582-592 Nathan Road in Mong Kok and CTMA Centre 兆萬廣場- Toy hunting. Sino Centre houses electronics, games, manga and porno magazine shops. Patience is required when shopping in Sino Centre as its very cramped, hot and dusty. People smoke in the building too. CTMA Centre was hard to find but is directly behind Sino Centre along Sai Yeung Choi South Street 西洋菜南街. Little more air-condition and space here, you can find bearbricks and other collectibles
  • APM Mall - If you want to get away from the madness of Mongkok 旺角, APM Mall @ Kwan Tung 觀塘 (20mins MTR ride from Mongkok) may be a quieter reprise. Notables in APM includes agnès b, Jeanasis, Lowry's Farm, DHC, Muji etc. Tourists hardly come to APM as the shops are all available in TST or Mongkok
  • Central 中環 - Bathing Ape Store G/F, 10 Queen's Road Central 皇后大道 (Open 11:00-Close 20:00). BAPE is the penultimate store for sneakers
  • H&M @ Queen's Road Central – H&M’s flagship in HK. 4 storeys of women’s, men’s and children clothing
  • Comme des Garçons - 10 Ice House Street 雪廠街, Shop B2. Full collection of cdg is sold here; mens, womens, perfume, casual, leather goods
  • Chrome Hearts @ Prince's Building 太子大廈 – biker insignia and quality silverware
  • IFC Mall - The main draw of IFC Mall @ Hong Kong 香港 Station would be agnès b La Loggia This flagship store is named after her summer home and houses the full collection of femme, homme, voyage, a florist, grill, patissierie and chocolate shop. Other notables in IFC include Juicy Couture, Evisu, 7 for all Mankind and Lane Crawford if you've got the dough
  • Citygate Outlet Mall 东荟城名店仓 – is on the last stop of the Tung Chung line 東涌綫. Some can see/not must buy @ Citygate are the Adidas, Puma, Nike, I.T., Quicksilver, Bathing Ape Pirate Store, Levi's, Timberland and Ralph Lauren outlet store. The City Chain store here carries designs from 2004 so it's not very updated. Do not miss out on the Pedder Red Outlet store. You can get Louboutins here for S$600+ and even YSL flats at pretty knocked down prices
  • Miramar Shopping Centre 美麗華商場 – at 132 Nathan Road, TST , Miramar houses Uniqlo, I.T., Vivienne Westwood, Moussy, D-Mop, Y-3, agnès b voyage, Lowry's Farm, b+ab


Inside La Loggia


Bathing Ape Pirate Store @ Citygate

Food
Besides shopping, HK serves up quality Chinese dim sum and an assortment of other cuisines.
  • Breakfasts are usually settled at the local 茶餐厅 where toast, coffee, eggs, noodles etc start your day on the right note
  • Modern Toilet Restaurant 便所主题餐厅 - located at Portland Street 砵蘭街 (MPM Building 3rd floor) and opposite Langham Place and a few doors down from Bonjour and Hui Lau Shan 许留山. This restaurant is unique in the sense that their toilet theme is a pretty novel idea. Seats are actual toilet bowls and sinks double up as tables. Cutlery come in the form of toilet bowls and lamp shades are poop-shaped
  • Yung Kee Restaurant 鏞記酒家 - at Wellington Street, Central is famous with both locals and tourists alike. Yung Kee serves up roasted duck and goose meat. Beware of the long queues or go early for lunch/dinner
  • Tsui Wah Restaurant 翠華餐廳 – is across the street from Yung Kee and serves mid-priced western and Chinese food
  • The Spaghetti House - this is a chain spaghetti store that is much like pizza hut. Delicious angel hair pasta and squid ink pasta
  • Tai Cheong Bakery 泰昌餅家 egg tarts – can be found at Grand Century Place 新世紀廣場and are considered the best egg tarts in HK. Egg tarts cost SG$0.90 and this was a favourite of Hong Kong's last governor Chris Patten. Tai Cheong sells other tidbits and biscuits so stock up


The tables and seats, poop-shaped lamp shades from Modern Toilet Restaurant

**IMPT TO NOTE** UA does not allow you to hand carry egg tarts onboard as they deem egg tarts to be viscous and may potentially hide bomb parts. So, don't buy egg tarts unless you intend to pack them in your suitcase and check them in.

Hotel: Eaton Hotel
Hotel Review: Clean and spacious but with bad flushing system. The old style flushing involves a 5-8mins wait for the water in the tank to be filled up again before the next flush. Comfy beds and pillows. Staff are courteous and all speak English. Distance is a 10min walk to Jordan MTR, which can be a dread when tired.
Weather: 12-19c


Room at Eaton Hotel
Posted by fongie on 1/03/2010 10:48:00 AM in , , ,

1 comments:

Lisa Resnick said...

I'm personally a big fan of fromtwopassports blog. Thanks for sharing this post.
clipping path
clipping path service