Hong Kong: January 2024: Day 4: Hong Kong

Hong Kong

January 2024: Day 4: Hong Kong

Breakfast buffet at the lounge of the Renaissance Harbour View.

Not the nicest, but it'll do. Carbs.

Carbs.

Jook was very decent.

Hello bacon.

Hot food and salads.

The last vestiges of sunrise.

Tried to be reasonable.

Looking directly across the harbor.

Shrimp and ikura dumplings. Petula approved.

Har gow were very, very decent.

Petula looks happy.

Shu mai assortment.

Cheung fun in a satay sauce that was actually kind of spicy.

Cheese-filled pineapple buns were good, but I wasn't expecting cheese.

Pai gut were nice and meaty.

Corn and something in the blue dumplings.

Huge dividers between tables probably popped up during COVID-19.

Some of the skyscrapers here have impressive little details.

Street art.

Street markets in Central.

Not sure if these are legit Duck Shing Ho egg rolls or not.

Menu inside Jenny Bakery.

Inside Jenny Bakery. They don't waste space.

~40 minute line at 1pm on a Monday?

Skyscrapers.

Elevated walkways all over Hong Kong.

Classic buses.

Potion Tea House.

Menu at Potion House.

Brown Sugar grass jelly milk.

McDonald's menu. Did not actually stop here.

Kam's Roast Goose, Michelin 1*.

Big fat geese.

Roast pork and char shu (BBQ pork).

Crossing Lockhart Road.

Inside Hong Kong International Airport.

Had to get won ton noodle soup before leaving at Ho Hung Kee.

Refreshhh by Aerotel's showers are not cheap, HKD 220, but they do the job.

Plaza Premium Lounge not that nice anymore. Meh.

Meh.

Uhhhhh no thanks.

More of the Plaza Premium Lounge.

Looking from the lounge areas at Gate 60 towards Gate 1.

Buffet at Chase Sapphire Lounge, aka the former Plaza Premium Lounge location.

Also not great.

This used to be the Plaza Premium Lounge's awesome noodle bar, sadly no noodle bar anymore here at the Chase Sapphire Lounge.

Also meh.

Drinks.

Feels just like the old Plaza Premium Lounge. But it's a nice space so I can see why Chase took over this space.

Soba was okay.

Did not need another meal. Oops.

Selfie at the gate.

Yay for upgrades going through. Menu.

Menu.

Wine list.

I thought I had steak, why did I get this so-so fish?

Garnish for the congee.

Chicken congee was gross. And where was the garnish they just showed me?

Flight time 12hr 22min, 7,550 miles actual per Flightaware (7,257 miles great circle).

Got up way too early so decided to enjoy the hotel lounge for breakfast. The top floor views were good, the food was very adequate for a nice hotel in Asia, although clearly the Renaissance brand is not as high end as say the JW Marriott or Ritz-Carlton.

Caught up with Petula for a proper brunch at Lung Dim Sum, a creative enough little place not far from the hotel. Most of the menu was executed nicely, including the har gow and their creative shu mai assortment. Sadly the final item, blue dumplings, were forgettable.

Thus well fed, said farewell to Petula and proceeded to do the rest of my tourist thing in Hong Kong. Leisurely walk to Jenny Bakery in Sheung Wan, then a 40 minute wait for their outstanding butter cookies. Decided to walk back to Wan Chai, where Potion House did tasty job with their milk tea. Bakehouse was right there, and Mother Pearl was just a few shops down as well, but a second milk tea in a day seemed excessive...

Kam's Roast Goose was a short walk away, but their almost exactly one hour long wait gave ample time to digest brunch. Roast goose is why they got their Michelin star, but I stuck to the roast pork and BBQ pork (char siu). The roast pork skin was great but the bits were more bone than meat, however the char siu was pretty damned good. I might skip the char siu pork belly cut the next time and just get the regular char siu, and maybe get the roast goose too?

Ran back to the hotel after Kam's Roast Goose to pack and check out. Flight timing for the return to LAX was not ideal, even with a late check-out, but since I had no particular plans except to enjoy the view, hanging out in the lobby for a bit wasn't the worst way to spend some time. The MTR was efficient as ever, although the 5pm-ish departure of the Airport Express was actually pretty busy; there was a bus from Wan Chai that supposedly took the same amount of time and honestly was kind of tempting, maybe next time?

Even hanging out at the hotel for an hour left tons of time at the airport. Grabbed a proper bowl of won ton noodle soup at Ho Hung Kee at the airport (something about won ton noodle soup just does the trick for me in Hong Kong), then checked out both the Plaza Premium Lounge and the Chase Sapphire Lounge. I forget what lounge space the Plaza Premium Lounge had moved to (possibly the old United lounge? I honestly can't remember), but it was a huge step down from before, especially with the food. The Chase Sapphire Lounge, by comparison, was in the Plaza Premium Lounge's old location, and felt like a much nicer lounge. They were still a big step down from what the Plaza Premium Lounge used to be, especially without their precedessor's noodle bar, but not the worst place to kill some time. Sadly no free showers at either lounge, HKD 220 for a shower at the rather indifferent Aerotel facilities right across from the lounges felt like a rip-off, but having wandered Hong Kong all day it was worth it.

Compared to the flight over, the return was not nearly as good. The purser, David, was superb, and his crew enthusastic... but their execution was not good. They completely got my meal order wrong (asked for flat iron steak, got served the fish), and the chicken congee pre-arrival meal was not only awful but they completely forgot the garnish. Which ordinarily I might let slide, except for the fact that I was chatting with David and several of his team members in the galley while they had trays of the pre-packaged garnish out. *sigh* Still, given how low expectations are on United, the 12 hour 22 minute return journey wasn't too bad. And it's always good to go back to Hong Kong.