Four Peaks Race

23rd to 24th January 2010

The couple of people who read this even remotely regularly may have worked out that I enjoy the odd jog. Running up Lantau Peak at midnight may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it was a part of one of the most enjoyable weekends of my life. I've no idea how the Aberdeen Boat Club's annual Four Peaks Race fits into a blog about food and wine, but I suppose I did eat a home cooked stew Saturday afternoon and drunk quite a bit of rum early Sunday morning. I'll let the video do the talking

Delicious Seafood Restaurant

San Hing Praya St, Cheung Chau
Visited 1st October 2008
Chung Chau is becoming a favourite place to take visitors. The mix of tranquil forest paths, decent beaches, temples, an old town and busy fishing port makes for a good day out. I've had pretty good luck with the seafood restaurants along San Hing Praya St and while nothing outstanding this strip of alfresco eateries seems to dish up pretty decent Cantonese seafood. This time I picked Delicious Seafood Restaurant because of the mass of locals filling the place - all I might add who looked more like pirates than fisherman. We plonked ourselves on the plastic outdoor tables; the perfect place for observing harbour life on a busy spring afternoon.

The menu at Delicious Seafood Restaurant has all the expected Cantonese dishes with a leaning towards seafood; fresh tanks of which decorate the front of the restaurant. We ordered fried rice, a roast pigeon, some fried beef with onions and the mandatory salt and pepper squid. The food was pretty good. The rice and pigeon were OK, the beef a little too sweet, but tender and the crispy fried calamari deliciously fresh. A couple of big bottles of Tsingtao for $25 each were definitely a bit of winner.

Delicious Seafood Restaurant is a decent enough place to stop for a feed. The staff were friendly, though like all the restaurants along this strip they did tend to have a bit of hustle about them; there’s plenty of menu holding employees touting to innocent out for a stroll. The food was pretty good, and fair value at about $80 each including a couple of beers. There was nothing really wrong with Delicious Seafood Restaurant, but I'm not sure if there was anything about it special enough to draw me back.

Hing Lok Restaurant

11D Pak She Praya RD, Cheung Chau
Visited 12th January 2008 An unusually clear and sunny Saturday inspired a trip from Central Ferry Pier 5 to visit the little island of Cheung Chau. Naomi and I enjoyed exploring the village's winding backstreets, visiting Pak Tai Temple and walking around the southern headlands for spectacular vistas of Lantau, Hong Kong and Lamma Islands. Cheung Chau is famous for seafood and we tucked into lunch at the busy restaurant strip on Praya Rd. We picked Hing Lok Restaurant at random and like its competition it makes the most of the great views with alfresco seating by the harbour. Lunch at a seafood restaurant with someone who doesn't eat seafood can be a bit tricky, but Naomi and I made the most of it and picked a few 'Australian favourites'. We shared 'sweet and sour chicken' and 'beef fried rice'; I also had a cheeky serve of 'pepper and salt squid' on the side. I really enjoyed the fried rice that was simple and satisfying with finally diced beef, spring onion and egg. Naomi was more than happy with the chicken which wasn't overly gluggy or sweet. The lightly battered fried squid was fresh, succulently tender and well seasoned with just enough 'pepper and salt' to compliment a big cold bottle of Tsing Tao.

Eating outside on such a pleasant day was fantastic, as were the views of fisher folk going about life in harbour and the peaks of Lantau sparkling in the sun. The food at Hing Lok Restaurant was basic, but good and excellent value at just over $100 for the three dishes. Big bottles beers for $20 are bargain and ideally suited for a long lunch. The alfresco atmosphere on Praya Rd is great, though I'm not sure if there'd be a bit of an aroma from the harbour at low tide. A visit to Cheung Chau is always recommended and Hing Lok Restaurant certainly isn't a bad spot for lunch.

Lunch on Kat O

Kat O Seafood Restaurant
Kat O Main St, Kat O Island School Picnic Day in Hong Kong is usually an unruly exercise. Bus loads of students trundle out to a crowded country park to burn a few fish balls and chicken wings on a BBQ before boredom and delinquency takes over. Thankfully the Form Four students at my school had a very different plan this year. We bussed to Ma On Shan from where we left on a day's nautical excursion. The boat we chartered took us out to Double Haven or Yan Chau Tong; the land of fisherman and pirates. We walked around tiny Ap Chau, visited Tin Hau Temple, explored the Yan Chau Tong Mangrove forest and wandered the deserted streets of Lai Chi Wo.

Kat O or Crooked Island is an island in the far north-east of the New Territories, much closer to Shenzhen than Sha Tin. A traditional home of the Hakka it is now relatively quiet, but a few residents scrap together a living through fishing, tourism and fish farming. Lunch was served at the Island's only restaurant, a place right near the ferry pier. The teachers were banished outside by the hungry hordes and we had a pleasant lunch under the trees. The fixed menu is all there is and we got plates piled with fried prawns, sautéed squid, chicken, green vegetable, a whole steamed fish, broccoli with pork, baked egg, pork short ribs and congee. The chicken was good, the prawns had a great meaty flavour and the squid tender and succulent; just what you expect from a restaurant run by fisher folk.
While it was certainly wasn't fancy lunch on Kat O was superb. The food was classic Chinese fare served in an absolutely cracker of a location. Kat O and Yan Chau Tong are a long way from Yuen Long, but well, well worth the trek. Exploring this area by sea is a great way to enjoy this beautiful, isolated and relatively untouched part of Hong Kong. Who knew school picnic could be such fun?