SNAPSHOTS | MONTREAL 2019 | DAY 1

Going to Montreal in the middle of February was probably not the smartest decision I've ever made, but who knew this winter would be the year of the polar vortex? I guess I had this romantic notion in my head of exploring old architecture dusted with snowflakes. (Classic expectations vs. reality.) Despite the bone-chilling cold, I also don't regret my decision one bit. Montreal is an amazing vibrant city with an equally amazing food scene.

(Plus, we're Canadian. We can handle the cold.)

We flew early on a Saturday with a short hour layover in Ottawa. I was really nervous that we would miss our connection because so many other flights were delayed but we made it without a hitch. 

From the airport, we took an Uber to our home for the next week.

Our Airbnb was located directly across the street from the Montreal Convention Centre. It was a great location as you're within easy walking distance of the metro, Old Montreal, Chinatown, and downtown.

We settled in while waiting for MH to arrive from Toronto at Central Station. It was great that my week off coincided with reading week so she was able to join us on our trip! 

It wasn't too long after that we all headed out for dinner. Because it was our first night in Montreal, we didn't stray too far and walked over to Chinatown. What did we eat?

Tacos of course.

Yes, nestled in between the Chinese grocery stores and the Chinese restaurants one would expect to find in Chinatown, you have La Capital Tacos. It was packed on a Saturday night but we were able to get seats without too much of a wait.

I loved that they paid homage to their neighbourhood with a lucky cat, only, dressed in a luchador mask.

And can we talk about the Chinese plates? So kitschy, so cute.

We started with some guacamole ($4.00 for a small), served with house tortilla chips. The guacamole was still chunky with some fresh pico de gallo on top. A small is definitely small, but because we had so much other food to tackle, it was perfect enough for us to share and nibble on. 

MH got the vegan tinga tacos ($12.00) with tofu skin, tinga seasoning, cashew cream, coriander, and a side of beans. According to MH, the tacos were delicious -- and super filling! (Yes, vegan food can be filling.)

Because everything on the menu sounded delightful (coupled with the fact that we were starving and Air Canada no longer provides you with snacks!!!), I may have over-ordered. But what else is new?

The pirata quesadilla ($6.00) has a strip of grilled ribeye with melty cheese and coriander in a crispy griddled flour tortilla. The garlic and jalapeno sauce on the side was surprisingly fresh and light, which helped to cut the oiliness of the cheese. In terms of value though, I would probably skip the quesadilla next time and just go straight for the tacos!

All taco orders come three to a plate on corn tortillas. Our first tacos were the pastor ($10.00) with marinated pork, diced onions, coriander, grilled pineapple, and a side of avocado sauce. This was LT's favourite of the night. I found the pork to be a bit dry, but it was flavourful and had a lot of crispy bits from the grill that gave texture and smokiness to the tacos.

Our final item was the Rosarito ($12.50) with beer-battered shrimp, red cabbage, pico de gallo, chipotle mayo, and avocado sauce. It has all the makings of a classic fish taco, but with shrimp subbed in for protein. The batter was a little sweet, fried lightly to golden brown. It was a nice contrast in textures, especially paired with the creaminess of the chipotle mayo and avocado sauce.

 

We almost had to be rolled back home, but it was a good first impression of what Montreal had to offer.

Bonne nuit! Fin!

- CT

SNAPSHOTS | HONG KONG 2018 | DAY 10

And just like that (well ... 7 months later), we've come to the end of the Hong Kong 2018 series!

We arranged transportation to the airport with our hotel the night before, and left around 7:30 in the morning on a shuttle bus. Once we checked in and gone through security, we used up the remainder of the money on our Octopus cards buying last minute souvenirs.

The Hong Kong airport is enormous so it took us a while to find a place to eat breakfast.

We wanted to find a quieter area and came across Chee Kei, a restaurant company known for their wonton noodles. Looking back, we ate our fair share of wonton noodles in HK (including Good Hope Noodle and Mak's Noodle). This fell a bit average, but then again, it was more of a fast food type of setting.

Optimizing the food opportunities as much as possible, I knew I had to track down Lady M in the airport. Lady M is a New York-based bakery known for their signature mille crepe cakes. At the airport, you can even pre-order frozen whole cakes to take home with you!

I ordered a slice of their salted caramel mille crepe cake and a slice of their gâteau nuage.

Gâteau nuage (translation: cloud cake) is Lady M's version of a classic cheesecake. It has a graham cracker crust, whipped cheesecake base and a thin layer of sweetened sour cream. If you watch Buzzfeed Worth It, you'll recognize it as the priciest item on their cheesecake episode. And spoiler alert, it's worth it. Possibly the best cheesecake I've ever had. Creamy and rich, with the perfect balance of sweet to tangy. 

I didn't enjoy their mille crepe cake so much, but only because the salted caramel flavour has chocolate crepe layers and I'm not the biggest fan of chocolate. As someone who's made (or rather, attempted) mille crepe cakes at home though, I do commend and admire the precise construction of the cake.

It was actually my mom's birthday the day we flew home, so Hong Kong Airlines hooked it up and gave us free airport lounge access. It was a nice perk to have, especially before our long haul flight.

In hindsight, we should've skipped the wonton noodles and came straight to the lounge for the free food. We did come at a good time though because the buffet was slowly being switched over from breakfast to lunch and we were able to sample from both menus.

One really cool part of the buffet was the DIY congee station. Loads of different toppings to customize your own bowl. 

Dim sum! The buffet also had a cereal station, a bunch of pastries and baked goods, a salad bar, and during the lunch switch over, a large selection of appetizers and finger foods.

And that's that. I remember in the moment that I was really happy to be going back home. After 10 days, it was a lot of people, a lot of stimulation, and a lot of excitement for a little old homebody like me. But now as I finish writing the last post, I do miss my time there a lot. 

Thanks Hong Kong! Maybe we'll see each other again some time.

- CT

SNAPSHOTS | HONG KONG 2018 | DAY 9

Our last full day in Hong Kong! After going to Macau the day before, today was decidedly more low-key.

Since my parents wake up pretty early every morning, we had to have pre-breakfast as the dim sum restaurant wouldn't be open until 10:30am. My mom and I walked about a block to a nearby bakery to pick up some buns. It was difficult to choose as they had quite a selection but I always default to my childhood favourite -- the hot dog bun. Spam and scrambled egg bun for my dad and chicken salad bun for my mom. She also picked up some lou po beng (ie. wife cakes) to try.

The dim sum restaurant in question was One Dim Sum, located just north of Mong Kok in Prince Edward. It's a small restaurant, but popular among tourists and locals, having earned a Michelin star back in 2011 and 2012.

We arrived just as the restaurant opened. There was a small line out front but we were able to make the first seating. We shared our table with another group of three, which is pretty common in Hong Kong. Sharing a table with strangers isn't as awkward as you think; for the most part, people just mind their own business.

We always seem to over-order at dim sum restaurants. We got eight dishes, including:

• steamed shrimp dumplings ($27 HKD)
• steamed sui mai ($26 HKD)
• turnip cake ($17 HKD)
• steamed vermicelli roll w/ shrimp and leek sprouts ($26 HKD)
• steamed vermicelli roll w/ deep fried flour roll ($21  HKD)
• dried squids w/ curry sauce ($24 HKD)
• steamed chicken paws w/ chili ($17 HKD)
• steamed dumpling in chiu chow style ($16 HKD)

 

Couldn't pass on dessert! Deep fried sesame balls ($17 HKD) filled with black sesame paste. I loveeeee black sesame so these were a treat.

Overall, One Dim Sum was tasty, simple and cheap. I think I preferred it over our previous dim sum experience at Tim Ho Wan. The food isn't going to blow your mind, but if you're looking for a casual dim sum experience in Hong Kong, this is the one.

More street market hopping in Mong Kok.

I always get confused about which direction to look when crossing the streets since Hong Kong drives on the opposite side. Glad they have these small reminders for you on the road!

First bubble tea of the trip, courtesy of BaBo the Drink Shop! BaBo originated in Taiwan, and now has three locations in Hong Kong and one location in Tokyo. I got their brown sugar BaBo latte ($29 HKD). Brown sugar drinks seem to the biggest trend in the bubble tea world right now. The drink is a combination of fresh milk, brown sugar syrup, and tapioca pearls. After mixing, the brown sugar syrup supposedly gives the milk a sweet caramel flavour, but all I could taste was straight up milk.

My parents also wanted something sweet (or an excuse to find air-con) so we went into a Hui Lau Shan outlet. Hui Lau Shan could be found everywhere in Hong Kong. It's a dessert shop all about mangoes. This was mango sago with a layer of red bean on the bottom.


Fast forward a few hours later, we decided on Peking duck for our last dinner in Hong Kong. After some on-the-fly research, I found Empire City Roast Duck in the K11 mall in Tsim Sha Tsui. We got there a bit early before it opened so we browsed through the mall.

We ordered the tasting dinner meant for two people, but it was enough food to fill up the three of us.

A small dish of fruit (cherries and canteloupe) to start.

A couple bowls of hot and sour soup. I let my parents have them since I'm not a fan.

Cold appetizers including veggies and marinated dried gluten.

The steamed pork dumplings with supreme soup was surprisingly good for a restaurant that doesn't specialize in XLB. Wrapper was thin and soup was plenty.

Stir fried celery and dried beancurd (back) and stir-fried shrimp with black garlic (front). These weren't particularly memorable.

But this was! A half Peking duck. Condiments included purple radish, melon, cucumber, leeks, BBQ sauce, and sugar.

Dipping the Peking duck skin into sugar is new to me, but apparently it's pretty traditional. All I know is that it tasted good!

Sliced with a deft hand, the skin was certainly thin and crispy. We sure ended Hong Kong with a good one.

One last dessert (you know me). Paul Lafayet is a French patisserie with many locations in Hong Kong, including one in the K11 mall. I heard good things about their creme brulee ($50 HKD) and knew I had to try it. The bakery only had four stools to eat in, and they were all occupied so we ended up taking it back to the hotel. That was a mistake since the caramelized layer ended up just melting into a sugar puddle. Sad times. It was cool to take the ramekin home as a souvenir though.

Can't miss a night time view of the Hong Kong skyline (even if it means almost missing your bus)!

- CT

SNAPSHOTS | HONG KONG 2018 | DAY 8

Macau, dubbed the "Vegas of Asia," was the next stop on our itinerary. Like Hong Kong, Macau is a special administrative region in China. Until 1999, they were a former Portuguese colony.

To get to Macau from Hong Kong, it's only about an hour-long ferry ride. It's pretty quick and makes for a good day trip!

There are two ferry terminals in Hong Kong, but we went to the China Ferry Terminal in Tsim Sha Tsui as it was the closest one to us.

We decided to buy one-way tickets since we weren't sure what time we would end up returning to Hong Kong. It was a little less than $30 CAD for each adult. I ended up sleeping most of the way there which helped to alleviate the seasickness.

When we arrived in Macau, there were tons of people handing out flyers and freebies, trying to lure you over to their hotel/casino. The casinos offer free shuttle buses that will take you straight to their door. One blogger's tip I read was to take the bus going to the Grand Lisboa, as most of Macau's main tourist sites are within walking distance from there.  

Portuguese egg tarts are a MUST when coming here. You can find them pretty much everywhere in Macau but one of the most well-known bakeries is Margaret's Cafe e Nata. There's a whole backstory to it as Margaret is the ex-wife of Andrew Stow (of Lord Stow's Bakery), who is credited with making the Portuguese egg tart one of Macau's iconic foods.

The bakery is tucked away in an alley, but it's pretty easy to find as there's likely a long lineup of people outside the shop.   

My mom lined up for us and ended up buying a box of six. Ours were straight out of the oven and piping hot. Since it's such a popular place, it's not hard to catch a fresh batch as they're being baked throughout the day.

The crust is super buttery and flaky while the egg custard filling is creamy and not too sweet. My dad ate three of these egg tarts. That's how you know they're good.

While my mom was lining up for egg tarts, my dad went to a neighbouring store for some refreshments. Mango and orange juice. I only wish they were colder because it was such a hot day. 

From Margaret's, it was a short walk to Senado Square. The Portuguese influence is pretty strong here.

There are lots of little alleways in Macau with hidden gems to be discovered ...

... like Sei Kee Cafe, a little takeout spot well-known for another Macanese specialty. Pork chop bun! It's exactly what it sounds like. A seasoned fried pork chop in a bun. No other condiments or ingredients. It's basically a Macau hamburger if you will.

The pork chop is traditionally served bone-in. It's freshly fried and glistening with grease but the meat is tender and juicy. It's a bit plain because there's no other ingredients besides meat and bread, but I can see the appeal.

As you're walking through Macau, you'll notice a lot of food souvenir shops. Koi Kei Bakery is the most famous chain of stores, selling peanut brittle, almond cookies, egg roll biscuits, and jerky! The shops are almost like Costco. Samples everywhereee!

The most recognizable landmark in Macau -- Ruins of St. Paul's. It was originally the site of St. Paul's church, but after a fire in 1835, only the facade and front stairway remained.

View from the top of the steps. There are soooo many people during the summer.

Seeking refuge from the heat, we made a detour to find Lemoncello Gelato. It was recommended on the Michelin guide for the last few years. They have a good selection of flavours that you can sample before buying.

I got a scoop of mango and rainbow because I'm still a child.

Because we weren't interested in touring the casinos, we left Macau pretty early in the afternoon.

For dinner that evening, we went to Mak's Noodle in Jordan. They're famous for their wonton noodles and have outlets across Hong Kong, including a restaurant in Macau and a couple in Singapore.

The wonton noodles are good and cheap, but the portions are incredibly small. (Think of a rice bowl. It's smaller than that.) My dad was surprised and ended up ordering two more dishes for himself after his first bowl. Apparently the small bowls are to prevent the noodles from getting soggy.

We took a bus back to the hotel but popped into a nearby Japanese grocery store before the night was over. BBQ Pringles are my kryptonite, so I was intrigued by these two flavours -- ramune and butter soy sauce. The butter soy sauce was fine. Nothing offensive, nothing too out there. The ramune on the other hand ... ew. Don't get me wrong, it really had the flavour down pat, including the feeling of carbonation on your tongue. But on a chip, it was weird and wrong and disgusting. 0/10. Would not recommend.

- CT