Brandon ate China pt2: Hong Kong

"It's a good thing we were able to find you in the airport.  I just called all of your uncles and aunts and we're getting dim sum.  Right now." - Mr. Li

Before going to the mainland, I spent a small amount of time in Hong Kong and Macau.  Sadly, I have very few pictures of them both because I was just dying from jet lag.  There was little time for pictures anyway though; we had a lot of things to see and a lot of family members to meet in just 2 days.

Carilyn's father, Mr. Li, was an incredibly gracious host.  He covered boarding for 2/3 of my trip and did not hesitate at all to show me the some of the best rooms each of the cities had to offer.  It was thanks to him that I could experience some of the more upscale dining experiences later on in my trip. I tried to take some photos of our amazing view from the hotel but the weather was crappy and my phone struggles with night time photos:

Bad nighttime photos is going to be a trend, btw.

Despite poor planning from my side before the trip, Mr. Li was also able to arrange for me to meet my uncles and aunt from my father's side and most importantly, my grandma, who I thought I'd never get to see before it was too late.  I am far from a sentimental person but that was a moment that really touched me.  I owe Mr. Li a lot.

Our first major meal in Hong Kong was dinner on the first night; a typical mid-level Cantonese dinner in a restaurant called Dragon Court.  I already got to learn a few things about Chinese food: suckling pig (of a smaller variety) is quite common, and swan is the preferred waterfowl over duck.

Clockwise: Roast swan, mushroom plate, fried silken tofu, suckling pig, Western style beef

Abalone on top of quinoa.  Tastes like a bit like sea urchin.

So, what does swan taste like compared to duck?  I can definitely see why one would prefer it.  It's somewhat less game-y, much less greasy, and a bit meatier than duck is.  The skin is still amazing and the meat is very soft, when cooked right.  The roast pork here was amazing too, with the typically delicious skin of the pork and some plum sauce for the meat.  I'm convinced that nobody cooks pork or especially waterfowl as well as the Cantonese do.  

Funny thing is, as the foreigner at the table, I was blown away by how good the food was.  Nobody else seemed impressed.  Maybe it was because my uncle ordered too much meat, knowing that I don't like seafood.  Oh well,  I got a lot of hype knowing that my standards were too low, because that meant there would be even more amazing food to come!