Saturday, September 26, 2009

Man Kee



my dear friend E made a whirlwind trip to hong kong the other day.
while showing E the sights hong kong has to offer i took her to one of my favorite streets in kowloon; shanghai street (上海街).

this bustling street sells all sorts of wares from traditional chinese tools to kitchen goods and machinery. it's a great place to pick up low cost kitchen goods if you don't mind searching through the dusty produce on offer.

i was on the hunt for a traditional hong kong made chopping board.
i know it sounds blimmin boring, but these chopping boards are special.
no, really, they are!
why?
well first of all they are big and chunky... not to mention heavy...
ok... maybe that's not that special.
but they are made out of a single block of wood.
the shop i was after is the last shop in hong kong to produce such chopping boards; so yeah, that's pretty special in my book.
aaaaand apparently many restaurants around the city swear by these chunky boards.

gotta be a good sign!







a word of warning.
if you are thinking of getting one, just be warned they require a bit of "effort" in keeping them in top notch condition.
i was told all the dos and don'ts after i had paid!!


i have to bathe it morning and night for the first week.
during this time i need to keep it moisturized with lots of water to avoid cracking.
no soapy baths for this baby! water only, even after cutting meat...
mmm, not to sure about that one!
i can give it a scrub down with coarse grain salt once in a while to remove any odour.

while i was jotting down all these dos and don'ts i spotted one of these and couldn't resit buying it.



a traditional mooncake mold.
i know i said i didn't like mooncakes in this previous post, but there's one thing i do like about mooncakes. i like the mooncake molds. (now here's your chance to call me crazy!)

i'm not planning to make any mooncakes in a hurry, but this mold has found a nice spot in my apartment.

all these goodies and more can be picked up at the 50+ year old establishment here:




shop info:
man kee chopping boards (萬記砧板)
342 shanghai street
yau ma tei, kowloon
hong kong

13 comments:

Luuworld said...

i want a round chopping board like that! right now i've got a crappy plastic one from ikea. i'll have to pick up a round one like that if i ever visit hk! lol. and it is kind of crazy getting a mooncake mold if you don't like mooncakes! ...but maybe you can use the mold to make your own kind of mooncakes? fill them with other things perhaps?

hiki said...

traditional hong kong made chopping board? wow it looks great!! i want to get one for myself!! i have a really good reason to go visit hong kong now!

pascale said...

you've got a good taste! a good chopping board really gives you a firm grasp on cutting (sounds life learning introduction).
I think the mooncake mold was a good buy too, it even works as a great home decoration during this season if you ask me :)

world of sekimachihato said...

* Luuworld
actually those "crappy plastic ones from ikea" (the white ones right?) are not too bad.
the guy at "man kee" told me that if i wasn't gonna take care of this baby i should better stick to crappy plastic ones!
i'm still bathing it morning and night...

mmm, chocolate chip cookies shaped like mooncakes!!
(don't know why but i have a craving for chocolate chip cookies now)

world of sekimachihato said...

* hiki
hong kong has a lot more to offer than a good chopping board!
just gotta know where to look *wink wink*

world of sekimachihato said...

* pascale
thanks. i had wanted to buy one of these for a while but always put it off because it's so heavy to carry around!
did you buy any "special" things this time in hong kong?

Luuworld said...

haha. instead of getting a dog, i should go to hong kong and get a chopping board to take care of! :-D

world of sekimachihato said...

* Luuworld
no, i think you should get a dog, less work!! :P
but you should still come to hong kong anyway! have a vino with me!

Khai L. said...

lol my grandma has that kinda chopping board with her even till now.. shes been using it for ages! hmm it got me thinking that maybe i should take some pics of those old kinda tools n furniture when im heading back to malaysia ;)

world of sekimachihato said...

* Ethan C.
when are you going back to malaysia?
i have a bit of a soft spot when it comes to old stuff, so yeah, i would love to see some old stuff at your grandmas'!

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

hey~ dei b!

use the mooncake mold to make beer jelly r!!!

Khai L. said...

im not pretty sure when im goin back yet... was initially bought the ticket back to msia on 28th dec but i might get a job n then might cancel the flight if i get the job... so its still in complicated stage lolx

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