malling with the parents

What were we doing at K11 Art Mall on 15 August 2011 in the first place? Well, we had a reservation for lunch at Pak Loh Chiu Chow Restaurant.

Actually, for Pop and me, our day started at Wong Tai Sin Temple. My father has been going to this place since I was a small DB, but always via taxi, so he couldn't tell me where it was exactly. The taxi ride took over 30 minutes with gnarly traffic and cost us 120 Hong Kong dollars.

He spent less than 20 minutes in the temple, and when we stepped out, lo and behold, there was an MTR station (the Wong Tai Sin Station, in fact) right in front of us.

So we took the train back to Tsim Sha Tsui-- price HK$7 per person, only 10 minutes-- and emerged in the basement of K11. Et voilà!

After an hour or so, Ma joined us.

We rode the escalator up to the third floor. I always find it amusing that in HK, the first floor is the ground floor, which makes the third floor really the fourth floor. So veddy veddy British.

Our mission was to eat the famous Pak Loh cold crab. It cost a mind-blowing HK$1,840 (US$235) but it was excellent. Super fresh and sweet.

The fried chicken with chinjew sauce recommended by shootfirsteatlater was just so-so.

They cook vegetables so well in HK. So lively, green and crisp-- like they were just pulled out of the ground, tossed in a wok, and served to us all within the span of a few minutes. I could eat this everyday.

After lunch, the folks went shopping. Ma gamely posed beside a tokidoki poster.

Pop provided this tailor's family's meals for the entire week.

At tea time, we had coffee and cake at agnes b. Café L.P.G. The letters stand for "Le Pain Grillé". I find the name silly and pretentious, but the pastries were surprisingly tasty. The chocolate one is "Melanie" and the strawberry one is "Paris".

Besides the tokidoki stuff, there were other sculptures and installations scattered throughout the mall. My favorite was this huge Mona Lisa on the wall...

Made of sliced bread!

For dinner, we ate at a cheapy noodle shop outside K11. I've forgotten the name now, but I've yet to meet a noodle shop in Hong Kong or Kowloon that I didn't like. The wonton noodle soup was simply divine.

Verdict: Pak Loh Chiu Chow Restaurant was very good, but quite expensive. If you have a hankering for cold crab, this is the place to go. Oh, and the service was exemplary. I would definitely go back to try the dimsum and maybe a few more Chiu Chow specialties. I booked a table through their website and they emailed me right away-- in Chinese. An English translation followed a day later.

agnes b. Café L.P.G. was actually my second choice for afternoon tea, but we couldn't find a place to sit at Paul Lafayet. We had a nice time there, but if you're a coffee connoisseur, you're better off at esspressamente illy. All three are on the first ground floor.

And the winner of the day? Anonymous Noodle Shop!

Happy 40th wedding anniversary, parents!