Hong Kong: August 2025: Day 2: Hong Kong

Hong Kong

August 2025: Day 2: Hong Kong

Pre-arrival meal of chicken and shrimp congee (OG shrimp congee sans chicken is still better).

N38955 operating as UA 152, 13hr 24min actual flight time, 7,284 miles (IFE), 7,565 miles (Flightaware), 7,260 miles (great circle).

View of Hong Kong Harbor, walking from MTR Wan Chai to the hotel across the skybridge.

Dim sum pricing at Metropol.

Inside is massive.

No more push carts. Now stationary "carts".

Har gow pretty good, ditto for shu mai.

Shrimp on top of shu mai makes it fancy.

Ngau paak yip (tripe) was too chewy.

Right amount of folds, skins almost translucent.

Took til after 8:30am for the central cart to get the full menu.

Cheung fun (rice noodle rolls) cart.

Pai gut (pork spareribs) were solid.

Har cheung fun (shrimp rice noodle roll) were a miss, skins too thick.

Closing on 27 September 2025.

Waiting for the blue line at MTR Sheung Wan station.

Food Expo vendors outside the expo, selling on the pedestrian bridges.

Crossing the street in Wan Chai.

Jenny Bakery cookies.

Lobby of the St. Regis Hong Kong.

View from my room.

Spacious. Note rabbit scuplture at left, and welcome gift (fruit) at bottom right.

Bathroom.

Cabinet and bar.

Even in the rain, Fat J Char Siu has a line. Inside.

Inside.

Broth is rich.

Goose, fatty char siu, soy sauce chicken. Nom.

Soy sauce chicken was delicious.

Fatty char siu was good but too rich, could only eat half.

Like Fat J Char Siu, even in the rain, Bakehouse has a line.

Silk. is one of the hot milk tea places (they have a Ritz-Carlton collab).

Random workout club outside under one of the pedestrian bridges.

St. Regis Hong Kong.

Silk. smooth milk tea, Bakehouse dan tat.

Sourdough dan tat is fine.

St. Regis Hong Kong elevator lobby.

St. Regis Hong Kong driveway.

Wan Chai on a rainy night.

Hong Kong's famous double-decker buses.

Menu at Trusty Congee King.

Menu at Trusty Congee King is extensive (several other pages not shown).

Chicken congee quite rich, yeow teow good but meh being served cold, cucumber was very plain.

Close-up.

Inside was very brightly lit.

Wan Chai on a rainy night.

Pre-arrival meal of shrimp congee has changed to shrimp and chicken congee-- definitely a downgrade. Then the usual line to enter Hong Kong, and the equally usual (and very effiient) Airport Express train into Hong Kong proper.

Drop off luggage at hotel, then over to Metropol before they close permanently next month for dim sum. Supposedly one of Hong Kong's last OG dim sum cart places, in reality they've already stopped the carts. You instead walk up to some stationary carts in the middle with your paper stamp sheet and tell them what you want, you load your tray with what they give you, and they stamp your sheet, then you walk back to your table. I got there right when they opened around 8am to beat the crowd (since I had never been, did not know how busy they'd be), and while I had no trouble getting seated, they also didn't have any dim sum til 8:10am or 8:15am, and did not have the full spread til 8:30am. The dim sum was mostly good, with excellent har gow and shu mai, but some misses as well. The ngau paak yip (steamed ginger beef tripe) ended up chewy, and the har cheung fun (shrimp rice noodle roll) skins were too thick.

Jenny Bakery was the next stop-- even in the rain they have a line-- as well as accidentially walking by King's Tailor, which was closed (too early in the day) but recommended by a friend for suits, so maybe a future trip? Stopped back hotel to dry off and recharge for a bit, then off to Fat J Char Siu for lunch.

Like Jenny Bakery, they too have a line, even in the rain. And like Jenny Bakery, they are worth it. Excellent soy sauce chicken and fatty char siu, okay roast goose, and a rich broth. In the future I might stick to the lean char siu as the fatty one was too rich halfway through-- that or maybe bring friends with you to share? The combo sets with a fried egg (and BBQ) also looked very pretty, but sadly three meats and a fried egg looked like waaaaaay more stomach space than I had. Walked around a bunch more as my room as the rain wasn't too bad, ended up at Bakehouse and later at Silk., which is apparently a very popular milk tea place, to the point where they've got a partnership with the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong for milk tea (!).

Finally got into my room somewhere in there (yay for early arrivals meaning more fooding, boo for early arrivals meaning I was there before my room was ready)-- turns out the St. Regis Hong Kong has amazing and spacious rooms, although you have to luck out into a room with a view, as the location is a block or two back from the buildings with actual good views. While I was in my room, enjoyed the "smooth" milk tea from Silk, and found the sourdough dan tat from Bakehouse to be just okay. The Bakehouse egg tart is fancier than normal ones, but not so fancy you wouldn't recognize it. The sourdough crust enables a bit more flavor and density without being overwhelming, the top I think is blowtorched to be carmelized... the end result is above average but not something I found worth the hype.

Evening wandering hours later turned out to be more serious rain, then a comedy of translation errors at the brightly-lit Trusty Congee King. Turns our their English online ordering is only partially translated into English, and while I triple-checked everything in Google Translate, my pei dan sau yuk jook arrived sadly without any pei dan (century egg). Not sure if I screwed up ordering or if they screwed up? Either way, the congee was very creamy, the spicy cucumber was fresh but quite plain (drowned in chili crisp, not interesting at all), and the yeow teow was large but not hot. Overall was a so-so meal that had significant missed potential.