Had dinner with some HK peeps last night at what our host called “the most famous Chinese restaurant in the world.” (Don’t ask me) Their specialties are BBQ goose and a “Century Egg” which is a preserved duck egg appetizer. They use some secret Chinese preservation technique age it for a few months – it comes out gelatinous, oh and um black. They do include some excellent special ginger to put on top which makes it all ok somehow.
The goose was good although difficult to eat from a texture/presentation to our American point of view. These geese were special because they only this month rescinded the ban on imported foul due to the Asian bird flu. How’s that for a cultural differentiator – how long would an American wait before eating something coming off a government enforced import ban due to an exotic food-borne disease?
Off to a western-friendly bar in western-friendly lan qwai fung for some live music. The band members were pointed out as being Pilipino (I had no idea that’s how you spell someone from the Philippines ((I also see you can do Filipino too)) by our Chinese hosts. We heard Sixpence None the Richer – Kiss Me, Lionel Richey – Easy like Sunday Morning and some other Matchbox 20 genre tunes done faithfully to the original. If I ever have a wedding in Hong Kong, I’ve got a band.