Sun Heung Yuen 新香園 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★☆☆☆

With all the recent disappointments I had with my breakfast spots in Sham Shui Po, I decided to turn my attention to Sun Heung Yuen (新香園), a more “tried-and-tested” option. It was just a few shops from where I had my misfortunes over the past few weeks. 

As usual, I started things off with a glass of iced milk tea. This was usually the strength here as their tea was often touted as one of smoothest and richest in the area but it wasn’t the case this morning. I had a chit-chat with a neighboring customer and we both agreed that the balance (of milk and tea) was slightly off today resulting in some unexpected bitterness in the tea.

For my breakfast dish, I went off an unusual choice of instant noodles served with pork liver (豬膶). This took a while to be ready (perhaps not many customers asking for pork liver this morning) but it eventually did.

I thought the broth was a little bland and the pork liver was pretty rubbery. Not a good combination. Perhaps I should have stuck with the restaurant’s signature dishes in the first place.  

This neighborhood is getting a little tired. Maybe I should go a little further for my breakfast next week.

Food Rating: 3.5/10

Price: $$$

Address: G/F, 186 Yu Chau Street, Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Sham Shui Po

Tel: +852 2728-7118

Opening Hours: 6:30am - 11:45pm daily

Fan Lou Huaqiang North 蘩樓 华強北店 (Shenzhen, CHINA) ★★★★☆

I didn't expect this but I got a memo from Jelloman early in the week that we would be spending a day in Shenzhen while our son spends a big chunk of his time at school this coming Saturday. Instead of going to the same old places again, I decided to draw up an itinerary that covers new destinations we have never visited before. Our first stop would be Huaqiang North (华強北站).

We aimed to grab an early brunch near Huaqiang North at 10am-ish and after a 3-minute walk from the subway station, we finally arrived in front of this popular Cantonese dim sum institution – Fan Lou (蘩樓).

Fan Lou is a hugely successful dim sum restaurant with a number of locations in Shenzhen but this is probably their only branch that is situated near the heart of Futian/Shenzhen close to a subway station. Not surprisingly, the place was already buzzing with about 50 parties in front of us waiting to get in. Rather than sitting around in the lobby for an expectedly long wait, we decided to take a ticket and walked over to AVIC City Junshang Shopping Center (中航城君尚购物中心) killing some time off the clock.

45 minutes later.....the 50+ guests in front of us were already seated. In fact, we were 5 numbers late but the hostess was kind enough to arrange a table for us regardless...

I love the retro interior of Fan Lou. These mahogany furniture never goes out of style!

As usual, a server came over quickly and got us started with the tea pot while I took a deep dive into the food menu.

Steamed red rice rolls with crispy prawns (香脆明蝦紅米腸) – A signature dim sum here along with a few others including their chicken feet (鳳爪) and beef tripe. This tasted almost like a spring roll but with a silky smooth skin made with red rice hugging around a layer of crispy puff rice and stringy prawn. A pretty solid start. 

Steamed shrimp dumpling with asparagus (蘆筍蝦餃皇) – A little smaller than the jumbo-sized har gow from Tao Tao Ju (陶陶居) but still twice as big as the normal ones served in Hong Kong. This was pretty delicate though no sign of asparagus as advertised.

Honey glazed barbecued pork (麻香蜜汁叉燒酥) – The pastry was a little thick but it was buttery and flaky enough for a nice match with the BBQ pork filling.

Steamed cuttlefish dumpling with sea urchin (鳳眼海膽墨魚餃) – I thought one of the best find here this afternoon. 

The cuttlefish mousse and prawn in the middle were nicely matched with the sea urchin and salmon roes on top. A real treat for any seafood lover. Love the oceanic touch from the blue wrapper too.

Handmade youtiao (傳統手工炸油條) – After having the paper-thin youtiao from TTJ last month, I thought no Chinese crullers would come close to beating it with its extraordinary texture. And I was right! This one from Fan Lou wasn't bad but it was noticeably thicker and texture-wise, not nearly crispy and chewy enough.

Multi-grain rice cake (杂粮糕) – It looks like that all guests here are served with a complimentary basket of rice cakes. Not a fan.

I could see why people were so crazy about this place that even a 2-hour wait could be tolerable. While I personally won't wait for two hours on a dim sum lunch, the lineup of hearty dim sum and nostalgic vibe were understandably the winning formula here.

Food Rating: 6.1/10

Price: ¥¥¥

Address: 1/F, Huali Decorations Building, 118 Zhenhua Road, Futian, Guangzhou, China

深圳市福田区振华路118号华丽装饰大厦1楼

Closest Metro Station: Huaqiang North (华强北)

Tel: +86 (755) 8320-6939

Opening Hours: 9:00am - 4:00pm, 5:00pm - 9:30pm daily

Map: https://j.map.baidu.com/2e/Ekf

Kuyu AVIC City 榴域 中航城店 (Shenzhen, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

Kuyu (榴域) is a durian dessert specialist who has outlets across Shenzhen. They are usually found in basement levels of mid-end shopping malls. This morning, Jelloman and I happened to run into their Huaqiang outpost inside AVIC City Junshang Shopping Centre (中航城君尚购物中心) where we were looking for a snack or two.

What first caught my eyes at Kuyu were their crepes cakes that were priced at an eye-popping ¥9.9 a piece. It certainly got my attention (I don’t think we could buy much with $10 these days). I was particularly interested in their avocado crepe cakes. I don’t think I have seen avocado crepe cakes anywhere before. But I was reluctant to carry it around for the entire day so I decided to pass.

However, Jelloman and I didn’t pass up on their ice-cream.

These were beautifully decorated and conveniently served on a stick. 

My avocado ice-cream 🥑 (¥14.9) is so cute! It’s almost too pretty to eat. As expected, it wasn’t as creamy as those from the top brands nor was it rich enough in flavors but it was totally worth the Instagram moment.

I still couldn’t believe that my ice-cream bar cost a few bucks more than a slice of crepe cake. I guess I had to return some time just for the avocado crepe cake. 

Food Rating: 4.5/10

Price: ¥¥

Address: Shop B197, Level 1 AVIC City Junshang Shopping Centre, 1 Zhonghangyi Street, Futian, Guangzhou, China

深圳市华强北街道华航社区中航路1号中航城君尚购物中心-1层B197

Closest Metro Station: Huaquiangbei (华强北)

Map: https://j.map.baidu.com/eb/R-ni