Hong Kong Travelogue // Day 4

There's this little coffee place just round the corner of our apartment, near the MTR station and what I love about this place is that they place this black board outside, and change the wordings on it every single day. All of the wordings have relevance to coffee but they dare to write the funniest sayings on it. While we didn't actually enter the cafe to buy coffee, I really appreciate the humour in the messages.

For breakfast, we decided to try something different and instead of heading to a cafe or to the usual cha can tings, we decided to have breakfast at Sing Heung Yuen. I've never eaten at a dai pai dong, which basically means open-air food stall, so it was pretty cool to eat at some where so traditional.

Considering how famous Sing Hueng Yuen is, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself surrounded by more locals than tourists (like I was in Tim Ho Wan). They are well-known for their condensed milk bun and also their tomato soup noodles

Iced yuan yang (HK $13)

Tomato soup with instant noodles and luncheon meat (HK $15)

Tomato soup with instant noodles and pork chop (HK $18)

Crispy bun with pork chop (HK $17)

Toast with condensed milk and butter (HK $12)

I wasn't expecting much from the bowl of tomato soup because I'm not the biggest fan of tomato in general but I was really surprised that it actually tasted really delicious. I mean it tastes of tomato (duh) but it wasn't that bad. Coupled with the fact that we went there on a rather gloomy day and it was drizzling slightly, this warm bowl of soup noodles was really welcomed.

Sing Hueng Yuen is also pretty famous for their toast with condensed milk and butter but I felt that the toast was actually pretty normal and it wasn't that fantastic. In fact, I preferred the toast I had in the airport over this one which is saying a lot because I don't think airport food is the best food on most occasions. But definitely check this place out if you want really love tomatoes or if you simply want to give the traditional way of eating at dai pai dongs a shot. It was a pretty interesting experience to have our meal sitting shoulder to shoulder, by the road side with other people.

Sing Hueng Yuen

Address:

| 2 Mei Lun Street, Central, Hong Kong |

The main activity for our fourth day in Hong Kong was to hike the Dragon's Back trail. With beautiful coastal scenery and easy accessibility from the city, the Dragon's Back is a popular escape that gets regular mentions in travel guidebooks. A short hop from the bustle of Hong Kong East, the trail provides stunning views of Shek O, Tai Long Wan, Stanley, Ta Tam, and the South China Sea. (Credit: x)

First, take the MTR to Shau Kei Wan Station and take exit A3. Take the bus 9 from Shau Kei Wan Bus Terminus to To Tei Wan, Shek O Road. Cross over the road to the other side and the Dragon's Back trail starts from there. Although the views were amazing along the trail (which you will see soon enough), the views from the starting point were already spectacular.

The terrain for hiking the Dragon's Back was considerably more rugged than the one at Sai Wan because it was more of a dirt track than an actual path. There were times when we were walking on bare stone that was pretty uneven so be sure to wear proper footwear! Also, if it has been raining recently, be prepared for your shoes to get muddy and sandy.

There were quite a few times when the path was pretty slippery, especially when we were walking on bare rocks so make sure to take your time and not to rush because you may lose your footing.

But the views... The views were definitely worth the trek. Once we broke through the trees, we found ourselves surrounded by panoramic views at every single turn. We could see the sea, the neighbouring mountains, golf courses... The view is a lot more uninterrupted here as compared to Sai Wan because Sai Wan we were basically walking down the mountain to the beach below but for Dragon's Back, we did the exact opposite and climbed up to the top (or rather side of the mountain, not exactly the top) and the views were stunning.

After our hike, we decide to treat ourselves and splurge on some croissants so we headed to Urban Bakery Works at the Central because they were really famous for their croissants and they had so many unique ones. Sweet or savoury, it's really your choice but I have to say that I really liked almost all of the ones we had. We ordered 4 croissants to share between the 3 of us (we were that hungry, or maybe just greedy) and we really made a feast out of it.

The croissants here were to-die for. They were definitely crispy and flakey on the outside, but super soft and fluffy on the inside. And the fillings... If you've heard of the salted egg yolk croissant craze hitting Singapore's cafe scene, then you need to know that the craze started off with this little bakery. They were the ones who sold the original croissant before it hit Malaysia and subsequently, Singapore. It was really good and I have to say that my favourite was definitely the Molten Egg Yolk Custard Croissant because I love all things salted egg. My second favourite would have to be the Ball Law Cowssant which is a cross between a bo luo bao and a croissant and it tasted really good as well. 

The Peanut Butter and Milk Croissant was pretty good although funnily enough, I felt that there was too much peanut bits and it affected the texture of the croissant because it made the whole dish a tad too crunchy, and the peanut butter wasn't creamy enough for my liking. I didn't try the last croissant, the Langoustine Croissandwich with Curry Emulsion because it contained lobster and I don't eat seafood.

Molten egg yolk custard croissant (HK $22)

Ball law cowssant (HK $30)

Peanut butter and milk croissant (HK $22)

Langoustine croissandwich with curry emulsion (HK $52)

All in all I would really recommend stopping by Urban Bakery Works just to try their croissants because they are definitely some of the best I've eaten. They were also really creative in inventing new fillings to incorporate into their croissants so do check them out if you're ever in Hong Kong.

Urban Bakery Works

Address:

Room 322, 3/F The Landmark, 15 Des Voeux Road, Central, Hong Kong |

Since we were already in the Central area,, we decided to go to the "hipster" Starbucks where they did up part of the cafe to resemble a traditional cha can ting which I thought was a pretty unique concept. Certainly, most of the Starbucks outlets that I've visited all over the world all look pretty much the same and I thought it was interesting that this outlet tried to incorporate something more traditional into their design.

I've linked the vlog for our fourth day in Hong Kong below so feel free to click and watch it if you would to see what happened in video form instead of just pictures. Thank you for reading!