Po Zhai Fan At Temple Street

The girlfriend is big on sweets, Chinese desserts and all. She met up with some friends and had desserts at 4 different places while they shopped the entire afternoon away at IFC mall and Causeway Bay. Those, totally, weren't my idea of fun. Woah.

I'm glad that we've friends in the city during this weekend. While the girlfriend and I share common views, we don't quite share the same interests when it comes to travelling. We could do alot of stuff if we're in New York or London. But in Asia, we've vastly different inclinations. She needs to fill her day with activities, I don't. So it's good that the girlfriend has others to accompany her out to the shops and do all the activities I'm not interested in.

Way after midnight, we wandered over to Hing Kee Restaurant at Temple Street (廟街) for supper. This place is known for late night dining and for its po zhai fan ( 煲仔飯 - claypot rice). I had dinner earlier and was only interested in a spoonful of the rice just for a taste. Very glad that I'm not swayed by food anymore. It's getting easier to say no. My diet is very peculiar and even to the friends, it can be very unfriendly at mealtimes. So it's also brilliant that on this trip, the girlfriend can share food with others because she's much more flexible and eats most things.

The table had a good spread of 3 varieties of claypot rice, fried oyster (tiny) pancake and vegetables. I was a little horrified at the oil that slicked across every dish, including the luscious green fresh vegetables, and ummm....of course the hygiene of the open-air eating area by the drains. I had what I wanted- 2 tiny spoonfuls of rice from one of the claypots. I sat back to enjoy a drink and the very hilarious conversation. I've half a mind to repeat it, but for the fact that I'll get clobbered. Heh.

The singular annoying thing about walking along the streets would be getting dunked by the dripdripdrip of the air-conditioning units perched outside the flats above us. Worse, when the eeky water droplets fly into the food. That's quite disgusting. I can't quite bring myself to knowingly sit down at these 'da pai dong' (大牌檔) for meals. No wonder everyone else sat under a makeshift canvas top while we 'clever' people took a table without a 'roof'.