翠華餐廳 - Tsui Wah

it seems to be a habit of mine to eat unhealthily after exercise...
don't get me wrong, i don't do this every time... just every now and then.
i don't usually leave my yoga class until 9pm, then if i need to think about preparing something to eat at home i need to take the subway which means i get home at around 9:35pm.
too late to cook if you ask me!

my favorite healthy choice after yoga is this little japanese restaurant near by which serves very homely cuisine, but it's not cheap... they change you a fee just to eat there as it's a so-called "members only" establishment.

so last night i went to a local cha-chaan-teng (茶餐廳) or hong kong diner.
this one is a local favorite called "tsui wah restaurant" (翠華餐廳) and is open until the wee hours of the morning (4am), so it's common to find people here at any hour, especially those having a late night snack after clubbing.
gotta say the bright lights and loud waiting staff are sure to wake you up after a long night of parting!

i still remember the first time i set foot in this diner, it was all a bit too much for me.
opening the door and i was greeted by a young waiter yelling at me in chinese.
back then i didn't have a clue what he was saying, he could have been yelling "we have a foreigner on our hands!" for all i knew as i got many stares. (i now know he was just asking how many people i wanted a table for)
then i was whisked off to a booth that still had bones and what-not on the table from the last diners (you are allowed to spit these out directly onto the table here).
as i was looking at awe at these bones sucked so clean they were suddenly gone with i swift movement of a wet cloth.
then i was given a well-worn sticky menu and a plastic cup of hot tea.
but this hot tea is not for drinking, it's to plonk your utensils (or chopsticks) in to "disinfect" them.
after ordering it doesn't take long for your meal to arrive. don't be shocked if the waiter's thumb is in your drink or his sleeve is dipped in your noodles, this is all part of the fun of a hong kong diner.
my advise, sit back and enjoy it. believe me you will eventually begin to like this laid back attitude.

so check-out my meal. (excuse the photo quality, i only had my mobile phone with me...)



i ordered hong kong favorites:
instant noodles with spam topped off with a fried egg.
this was washed down with a silk stocking milk tea (read my older post about this hong kong invention).
and for dessert, a crispy bun drizzled in butter and condensed milk.
how much? HK$41

tsui wah has 13 branches in hong kong and 1 in shanghai.
details here.