A Week in Hong Kong: Vegetarian feast @ Veggie Palace (貴德宮)

(See closest Auckland equivalents)

There are many great meals to be had in Hong Kong, but one unexpectedly amazing dinner, or rather banquet, which we had was when a local took us to try out a Buddhist vegetarian place.  Veggie Palace (貴德宮) is actually a private kitchen in a random apartment block in Wan Chai.  You have to book ahead, and ring a doorbell to be let in, before taking the steps or the lift to the upper ground floor.

The entrance to Veggie Palace just looks like any apartment block.  Usually Security would be minding it too.

You are then confronted with a "Members Only" sign, which had us all asking "Member of what?"  Whatever it is, we were not challenged about it (perhaps it means only that you need to have made a booking?), and we found ourselves seated at a tastefully decorated dining area with high ceilings, separated from other tables by bamboo dividers.

A warm welcome behind a scary looking door.

Serene dining room decorated with paintings, calligraphy, lanterns and plants, soft music in the background.

You'd better have come hungry, because there is just the set meal here, which comes with a whopping 10 courses, plus nibbles and dessert, for only 200-and-something HKD, about 40 New Zealand Dollars.  If only someone had warned us to pace ourselves before we started eating!

Everything is vegetarian (you can also ask for a vegan meal), which is hugely liberating for the vegetarians out there.  What is more astounding than the variety of dishes is that they are so delicious, while not having been prepared with onion, garlic, or any of the "fetid vegetables", in adherence to su (素) vegetarianism.

Here's a rundown of what we had to eat, beginning with lavender tea and coated peanuts while we waited for our dinner.

Coated peanuts, tea and hot water

First course was a cold appetiser platter with Japanese influences.  There were century egg and tomato wedges, mock ham and luncheon meat slices, sushi rolls filled with egg and imitation crab sticks, served with wasabi and pickled ginger, and a seaweed and sesame salad topped with fen pi (wide mung bean noodles).

First course: cold appetiser

Next up we had a delicate dumpling soup, which we were surprised to learn had a pumpkin base.  I couldn't really detect much pumpkin flavour in the savoury broth.

Second course: dumpling soup

For a crunchy texture, we then had deep fried morsels of wontons and eggplant slices.

Third course: wontons and deep fried eggplant slices served on cabbage and carrot slices

This was followed by a sweet and sour pork dish, which came with multiple types of mock meat, from bites that still closely resembled wheat gluten, to something that looked like bacon, complete with a translucent fatty layer.  I don't normally go for mock meat dishes, which are often served at Asian vegetarian places to cater for part time vegetarians, but I have to say they were very well done here. One of the party even preferred this dish to real sweet and sour pork.

Fourth course: sweet and sour pork dish with mock meat

The next dish was a Western-inspired bake, which led us to debate whether they were eggs or potatoes.  They turned out to be filled eggs.

Fifth course: stuffed eggs topped with choose, served on a square of nori

Then came another dish with filling, this time eggplant slices stuffed with a fake fish paste.

Sixth course: fried stuffed eggplant

As if out of compassion for our bulging stomachs, we were then served a delicious soup made with strips of Coco de Mer (similar taste to coconut), fake meat, sweetcorn cobs and carrot chunks, again with a pumpkin base that didn't really make one think of pumpkin, a beautiful blend of sweet and savoury flavours.

Seventh course: sea coconut soup with pumpkin, sweetcorn and carrots

We breathed a sigh of relief when we were told that the next course would be the last.  It was a filling curry dish, to ensure even those with large appetites would be satisfied.  While no one really felt like eating anymore, we felt obliged to taste everything.  The beef balls were unbelievably realistic, and we all agreed that we would not be able to tell them apart from the real thing.  How can they do this without actually using meat?  The fish balls also tasted just right, though the texture was perhaps a little too soft.  I enjoyed the runny curry with fried potatoes and cauliflower, though I could only have a tiny bit of the rice, lightly fragranced with what might be barley, black rice and Job's tears.

Eight course: curry with beef ball and fish ball analogues, tofu, tomatoes, potato and cauliflower, served with rice and toasted baguette slices

It turns out there was actually more to come, with stuffed fuzzy melon next on the menu.  I love Chinese melons, both in and out of soup, so I forced this down, ignoring the pain that was growing in my full stomach.

Ninth course: fuzzy melon stuffed with fake pork, garnished with snow pea sprouts

Then another dish appeared!  This time it was emperor vegetable (皇帝菜), which had a pungent flavour like tongho (茼蒿), but apparently looks different.

Tenth course: emperor vegetable, with shiitake mushrooms

Finally, we were onto dessert.  The jellies with osmanthus flowers and goji berries (桂花糕) were beautifully presented, though very subtle in flavour.

First dessert course: osmanthus jelly

The real final course was a walnut paste dessert (核桃餬).  As I have a weakness for all things nutty, I had to somehow fit this in too.

Second dessert course: sweet walnut soup

As you may have guessed, there was simply far too much food, so it was difficult to enjoy all of it, even though everything was well cooked.  I would have loved to have had all this over several meals.  The staff were very good about not taking dishes away until they were eaten, and offered to pack the leftovers into boxes for us (we had heaps of the curry left in particular), so I did manage to have that for another couple of breakfasts.

I was excited to be able to taste vegetables that I have not had before, like the sea coconut and the emperor vegetable, though I was also impressed by how close the meat substitutes were to the real thing, particularly the beef balls.  I would dearly love to know how they produced that meaty flavour without actually using some form of meat.  The use of a pumpkin base for several dishes was also a novelty, because it just seemed to provide a neutral savouriness without tasting of pumpkin.  This meal was a feast for the eyes as well as the taste buds, not to mention great value for money, and I would happily return to Veggie Palace, fully prepared next time for the number of dishes which would be served.

Closest Auckland Equivalents

* Loving Hut (formerly known as the Golden Age Vegan Restaurant)
61 Victoria Street West, Auckland Central
(09) 303 2531

You won't get a banquet-style set menu at this eatery, located diagonally opposite the Sky Tower, but you can get your mock meat in a wide variety of delicious Asian vegetarian delights, from Chinese roast duck to Malaysian laksas and curry puffs. [Added 29 November 2013: Unfortunately, this eatery has now closed.]

* Water Drop Vege Cafe at Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Temple (佛光山滴水坊)
16 Stancombe Road, Flat Bush, Manukau
(09) 274 4880

The sleekly decorated Water Drop Vege Cafe is inside the impressive Buddhist temple out by East Tamaki, and proceeds go towards the maintenance of the temple.  With plenty of parking and open to the public, you will have to walk through a mini souvenir shop before getting to the food, which includes Asian favourites as well as such dishes as "vegie patty with chips and salad".  Also a good spot for a cake and a coffee.

Restaurant Details

Veggie Palace (貴德宮)
UG3, Block B, Kwong Sang Hong Building, 6 Heard Street, Wan Chai, Hong Kong (香港灣仔克街6號廣生行大廈B座閣樓3室)
+852 2838 6506

Opening hours:
Mondays to Sundays 12 - 3pm, 6 - 10pm 

You would never guess that there was Buddhist vegetarian dining in here

Money Matters: An Evaluation of the Air New Zealand OneSmart Card

[Added 8 May 2013: Note that the OneSmart fees schedule is changing from 21 May.  The calculations in this post were based on the original fees schedule. I have made some new comparisons in a more recent post.]

Okay, so this post is not strictly about food, but it's about how you can save money when you need foreign currency, and that has an indirect impact on how much money you have for food, right?

A few days before I travelled to Hong Kong, I received my OneSmart card.  This is the new Air New Zealand Airpoints card which is combined with a Mastercard debit card and it earns you Airpoints when you make purchases on it.  The selling point of the new card is that you can store up to four foreign currencies on it and there are no commission fees and no ATM withdrawal fees (unless charged by the ATM operator).  I had spent far too much money on fees for withdrawing cash from ATMs on my last trip overseas, so I was keen to try this new product out.

Activation

If you don't activate your OneSmart card, you can basically just use it as an Airpoints card.  It's still got your FlyBuys number on it, as well as the Mastercard debit card number.  However, I wanted to use it as a travel wallet!  Plus, they put you in the draw to win $100,000 worth of flights if you activate by 11 January 2012.
[Added 16 Jan 2012: This date has now been pushed out to 29 February 2012, so if you've just got your card, it's not too late!]

You can simply activate online if you have sufficient proof of your identity (e.g. drivers licence) and address (i.e. you are listed in the White Pages).  Unfortunately, I was not listed in the White Pages, so I had to fill in a form, and have my proof of address (in this case a valid credit card) witnessed at a BNZ branch or Air NZ Holidays store.  [Added 12 May 2012: I've been told that just having a valid drivers licence is enough now.]  I had to wait about a day after that before I could see my currency wallets after logging in to OneSmart.  It took another day before I received the email informing me I could complete my activation (which I assume I had already done).

As part of the activation step, you need to provide two security questions with answers, and you will need to answer one each time you log in, after entering your login and password.  This is gets to be tedious after a while, and somewhat redundant given I don't have to do this for my internet banking at ASB, but hey, it's a small price to pay.

Loading money

Once you are an activated member, you can load money into your OneSmart account by transferring money from your normal bank account to the OneSmart account (being careful to include your details).  It can take a business day for this to go through, after which you will see the money in your NZD wallet, less the $1 loading fee.

Exchanging money for a foreign currency

To exchange NZD for a forign currency or vice versa, you go to the "Manage Wallets" tab within your OneSmart account.  You can drag the eight available currencies to and from your Active Wallets list, then click "Wallet Exchange" to transfer money between the currencies in your Active Wallets list.

Selecting the currencies you wish to include in your Active Wallets

Exchanging money between your Active Wallets

Using money overseas

Once loaded with money, you can use your OneSmart card just like any debit card, in stores, restaurants, etc.  However, it is not recommended that you use it to “pre-authorise” payment for hotel stays or car hire (see relevant help page).  If there is not enough money in the wallet of the local currency, an amount will be deducted from the next currency wallet using the corresponding exchange rate, or the transaction will be declined if there is not enough money overall.

You can also withdraw cash from ATMs overseas for free, unless there is a fee charged by an ATM operator.  I tried withdrawing cash at the ATMs of Hang Seng Bank and the Shanghai Commercial Bank while in Hong Kong, and in each instance the transaction was free.

Checking your balance

You will want to check your balance online, as there is a 1 NZD fee for a balance enquiry at an ATM, either in New Zealand, or overseas.

As with your credit card, it can take a day or two before a transaction appears in your Transaction History.  However, the amount shown in the "Overview" tab on your home page appears to be an accurate representation of how much you have in your wallet.  Pending Transactions are shown in your Account "History" tab, above your Transaction History.

The amounts shown in the home page appears to take pending transactions into account

You can view previous transactions monthly or quarterly, although I am not sure how far back the history goes... presumably 6 months, but maybe only 3?
[Added 10 Nov 2012: I can still see my transactions from last December, so at least 12 months, it seems.]

Transaction history

The transaction display is not very user friendly.  Here is a list of "features" that I would like to see improved:

• The exchange rate is not shown when moving money between currency wallets.  You can work it out to a degree, but you wouldn't get an exact rate due to rounding.  Showing the rate will make it more transparent for comparison with other exchange options.  In the image below, it shows 344.77 HKD converted to 56.11 NZD.  The rate could have been 6.1445 or 6.1446
• The inverse of the conversion rate is given for unsupported currencies.  In the image below, it shows 348 MOP @ 0.1612 resulted in 56.11 NZD.  But 348 * 0.1612 = 56.0976, which should have rounded to 56.10 NZD.  The actual exchange rate used would have been between 6.2016 and 6.2026, not 1/0.1612 = 6.2135.  The actual rate used should be shown in the Transaction History.
• The currency conversion fee (supposedly 2.50%) for making purchase in an unsupported currency does not get shown.  You may not be aware you are being charged a fee if you did not read the Terms and Conditions, and even if you know about the fee, it is hard to see how much it was.  Again, this should really be included in the display.  [Added 10 January 2012: According to the CSR I spoke with, the exchange rate already includes the 2.5% currency conversion fee, which is why I did not see the fee in my transaction history.] [Added 8 May 2013: According to the new fees schedule which will take effect from 21 May, this fee was not charged previously, but will be from then on.]
• Your balance is not shown with each transaction.  You have no idea how much money you had in your account when you withdrew money or made a purchase.  Nor is it shown anywhere in the Transaction History.  You need to go back to your home page to see how much you have in each wallet.  Having a balance by each transaction would be ideal, though a balance at the top of the page would also be better than nothing at all (clicking "View other currency balances" in the top right corner will show your current balance, but then your transactions have disappeared from view, and it is not relevant when you are looking at transactions from a previous month).

Transactions which appear for one purchase made in an unsupported currency

In the Pending Transactions section, prices in the original currency is not shown.  In the example below, I have made a purchase in NZ, but only had money in my HKD wallet.  The price of my groceries in NZD is not displayed.

Pending transaction section

Comparison with exchanging money for foreign currency cash at banks

The exchange rate offered by OneSmart is competitive compared to exchanging money at the major banks in New Zealand. [Added 10 Apr 2013: A couple of readers have pointed out that the OneSmart exchange rate is now significantly poorer than when I first reviewed this.  Please make your own comparisons before use.] Sometimes it's better and sometimes it's worse, possibly because it is refreshed more often than the banking websites, or due to the fact that I wasn't checking at exactly the same time. For instance, right now, 1 NZD gets you 5.9193 HKD on OneSmart.  At ASB, the sell rate is 5.9030 and at Westpac, it is 5.8988.  Four days ago, they were 5.8500, 5.8642 and 5.8872 respectively. You could say the difference is negligible unless you are changing large sums of money, but on top of this the banks charge a 1% commission.

Example 1
Suppose we take the Hong Kong rates from last Thursday, which were more favourable at the banks.  Let's say we start with 1000 NZD.

With OneSmart, you would need to have loaded up your $1000 first, which could take a business day.  You would then see $999 in your NZD wallet (loading fee of $1 deducted).  At a rate of 5.8500, this converts to $999 x 5.8500 = 5844.15 HKD.

At Westpac, which had a better rate than ASB, you might think you would get $1000 x 5.8872 = 5887.20 HKD.  But wait, you forgot to take into the 1% commission, which is $10 if you convert $1000. If you take this into account, you could be converting $990.10 and paying $9.90 in commission, which means you would take away $990.10 x 5.8872 = 5828.92 HKD (though the bank will normally work the other way round so it comes to a nice round number).

Example 2
Looking at it from the other way, how much would it cost to get 5000 HKD in cash?  Again, using the conservative rates favouring the banks, we have:

Method	Exchange rate	Converted amount	Fees	Foreign amount	Total cost
OneSmart	5.8500	854.70 NZD	1 NZD	5000 HKD	855.70 NZD
Exchange at bank	5.8872	849.30 NZD	8.49 NZD	5000 HKD	857.79 NZD

When you take the commission into account, you are better off with OneSmart, though the difference may be greater or lesser depending on the exchange rates.  There are of course merchants that say they not charge commission.  I am not sure what their exchange rates are like, but for instance looking at Travelex online, you would need to order your money a minimum of 3 business days in advance, before collecting it instore.  Although you may find better deals elsewhere, with OneSmart at least you don't need to carry wads of cash around.

Comparison with using your credit card to get cash at overseas ATMs

Using your credit card is great in that you don't need to plan ahead (except for maybe letting your bank know you are travelling, so that transactions do not get declined).  However, you do pay a price for the convenience.  I don't know what other banks charge, but with my ASB Visa card, I end up paying $5 per overseas ATM withdrawal, in addition to paying an offshore service margin of 2.1% on top of loss from currency conversion.  This is particularly problematic if the ATM operator restricts the amount you get out to a low level (when I was in Buenos Aires, this was a maximum of 800 pesos a day, which is around 240 NZD, and you needed cash for store purchases because credit card surcharges were 3-10%).

Apart from paying $5 per withdrawal, which starts to hurt after a while, interest is charged on this immediately, so you want to pay off your debt immediately, or even better, start by putting money into your credit card account, so you owe a negative amount, as it were.

In contrast, once you've loaded money onto your OneSmart, getting money out overseas is free.  There is no overseas ATM withdrawal fee, no offshore service margin.  [Added 8 May 2013: Note this is changing in the new fees schedule effective from 21 May. Only 3 withdrawals per month will be free, and a currency conversion fee will now be charged for unsupported currencies.] You cannot withdraw money in person at a bank, but I have never found the need to do that.

Example
With OneSmart, you are getting money out of the appropriate wallet.  A withdrawal of 2800 HKD (so you get a nice distribution rather than all big notes) results in exactly that amount coming out of your HKD wallet.  If you had forgotten to put money into your HKD wallet, but had money in your NZD wallet, I believe a conversion would be done on the spot.

A withdrawal of 2800 HKD using an ASB Visa card, using a conversion rate of 5.8800 would require 2800/5.8800 = 476.19 NZD.  On top of this you would pay 2.1% offshore service margin, i.e. 0.021*476.19 = $10.00, as well as a $5 fee for an overseas withdrawal.  That's a total of $15.00 in fees, and presumably you would be getting money out several times during your trip.

Method	Exchange rate	Converted amount	Fees	Foreign amount	Total cost
OneSmart	N/A	N/A	0 NZD	2800 HKD	2800 HKD / 478.63 NZD (assuming rate of 5.8500 when money transferred into HKD wallet)
Credit card at overseas ATM	5.8800	476.19 NZD	15.00 NZD	2800 HKD	491.19 NZD

OneSmart is undoubtedly superior for getting money out at overseas ATMs, even if it does mean you need to do a little forward planning to transfer money over from your bank account.  This is especially true if you managed to lock in a good exchange rate when you moved money into the appropriate currency wallet.

Comparison with using your credit card to make a purchase overseas

So getting money out at an overseas ATM using your credit card is costly.  What if you are purchasing something from a store that will accept credit cards?  With ASB you can earn 1 True Rewards Dollar for every NZ$100-$150 you spend, depending on whether you just have the normal credit card, or a Gold or Platinum card.  With OneSmart, you earn 1 Airpoints Dollar for every NZ$100 you spend overseas.

Example 1 - making a purchase in a supported currency
With a credit card, you would need to pay an offshore service margin (2.1% at ASB), which does not apply to OneSmart.  Although you can earn reward points, the Airpoints you can earn with OneSmart would be as good or better.  Suppose you are purchasing an item worth 500 HKD, and that you have a Platinum credit card for the most reward points.

Method	Exchange rate	Converted amount	Fees	Foreign amount	Total cost	Reward earnt
OneSmart	N/A	N/A	0 NZD	500 HKD	500 HKD / 85.47 NZD (assuming rate of 5.8500 when money transferred into HKD wallet)	0.85 Airpoints Dollars
Visa Platinum	5.8800	85.03 NZD	1.79 NZD	500 HKD	86.82 NZD	0.85 True Rewards Dollars

Example 2 - making a purchase in an unsupported currency
We took a day trip to Macau, and I was able to try using my OneSmart card there.  The Macanese pataca is not one of the currencies supported by OneSmart.  In this case, OneSmart charges a 2.50% currency conversion fee (higher than the 2.1% offshore service margin on your credit card) and you would have effectively converted your currency twice, if the money is coming from a foreign currency wallet.

Suppose you are making a purchase worth 500 MOP.  Using your OneSmart, it would always convert this to NZD first, since MOP is not a supported currency.  When I was there, 1 MOP = 0.1612 NZD, from which I assume 1 NZD = 6.2022 MOP, which is a better rate than the one used for a credit card purchase on the same day.
[Added 10 Jan 2012: According to the CSR I spoke with, the exchange rate already includes the 2.5% currency conversion fee, which is why I did not see the fee in my transaction history.]

Method	Exchange rate	Original amount	Fees	Purchased amount	Total cost	Reward earnt
OneSmart (no money in NZD wallet)	6.2022 [MOP] 6.1445 [HKD]	80.62 NZD 495.37 HKD	2.02 NZD 0 NZD	500 MOP 80.62 NZD	80.62 NZD 495.37 HKD / 84.68 NZD assuming rate of 5.8500 when money transferred into HKD wallet	0.81 Airpoints Dollars
Visa Platinum	6.1790	80.92 NZD	1.70 NZD	500 MOP	82.62 NZD	0.81 True Rewards Dollars

In general, I would say it is better to use your OneSmart card for making purchases in a supported currency, but stick with your credit card in an unsupported currency, unless you have some money in your NZD wallet to avoid a double currency conversion.

Comparison with transferring money to a foreign bank account

Maybe you visit your destination so often that you actually managed to set up a bank account there.  OneSmart (with its $1 loading fee, maximum transfer value of 10,000 NZD) would be cheaper than making a telegraphic transfer to your overseas bank account (which has a $20-$25 charge at major banks).  Note there are limits on how much you can withdraw daily (1,000 NZD or local equivalent per 24 hours).  And you can't put money into your bank account (where it can earn interest) from OneSmart.  We are only talking about spending money here, right?

At the end of your trip

You've now finished your holiday, and you've spent less than you budgeted for on your OneSmart (well, you can't spend more than you've loaded, and it's pretty hard to have it bang on).  Do you take out as much cash as you can from the nearest ATM while still overseas and bring the cash back to New Zealand to exchange? Or do you leave the money there to deal with later, knowing you will be charged a $1.95 Account Inactivity Fee after three months?

Since you never go into a negative balance with OneSmart, you can avoid fees simply by having no money available for fees to be deducted.  However, that can be difficult to achieve, since ATMs only allow you to get out discrete amounts.  ATMs in Hong Kong let you get out multiples of 100 HKD; ATMs in New Zealand won't give you anything smaller than a $20 dollar note.  So you will always be left with a little bit, unless you have planned your purchases very well.

If you are someone that travels often, you could use the money for your next trip.  All you need to do to avoid the Account Inactivity Fee is to make a transaction on your OneSmart at least once every three months (and make sure you don't leave money in your NZD wallet, or you will be charged a Monthly Account Fee unless you load 500 NZD or more per month).  This lets you watch the exchange rates and move sums of money around your Wallets when they are favourable too.

But maybe you are not planning to travel again in the near future.  Or perhaps you would rather have the money earning interest at a bank.  Or maybe you just know you will forget to make a transaction.  You can't transfer the money back to your bank account, so if you don't want to use it up by paying for your groceries or buying things online, you will want to take the money out in cash.  Withdrawing cash at an ATM in New Zealand incurs a $1.50 fee, so let's look at how the exchange rates compare.  Right now, ASB will buy HKD in notes at 6.5493, Westpac at 6.5388. OneSmart shows the inverse of the rate as 0.1599, which I take to be a rate of 6.2539.

Example
Suppose you had 900 HKD left at the end of your trip.  You could get all of this out at a Hong Kong ATM just before you leave, and exchange it back at New Zealand without paying a commission (we'll use the better rate from Westpac below).  Alternatively, you can just try to use your OneSmart at an ATM back at New Zealand, which would incur you a $1.50 fee.  Make sure you have checked your balance online first, as checking it at the ATM will cost another $1.00.

Method	Exchange rate	Converted amount	Fees	Final amount	Net amount
Use OneSmart at ATM in NZ	6.2539	900 HKD	1.50 NZD	143.91 NZD	142.41 NZD
Exchange at bank after getting cash at overseas ATM	6.5388	900 HKD	0 NZD	137.64 NZD	137.64 NZD

Although there is a fee associated with withdrawing money at a local ATM using OneSmart, its better exchange rate means you would end up with more money than exchanging money at the bank.  Due to the limitation of ATMs, you would only be able to withdraw 140 NZD, leaving a small amount left on your card, which you could use on a very small purchase at the supermarket, or simply let it get taken in fees, happy that you have already saved a lot getting cash out overseas.

I would probably not bother trying to get the money out in cash, but simply leave it there for the next trip.  Just remember to make a transaction on your OneSmart card at least once every three months, to avoid the Account Inactivity Fee, and don't leave money in your NZD wallet, to avoid the Monthly Account Fee.
[Added 31 May 2012: Apparently, a transaction does not have to be a purchase.  You could also load more money or simply do a small currency conversion.]

Other features

I mainly wanted to use my OneSmart card as a travel wallet.  It comes with other features which I have not tried out yet, including:

• text and email alerts for every transaction
• ability to top up your Airpoints Dollars
• check-in for domestic flights using ePass
• ability to transfer funds to other OneSmart accounts using your mobile

Conclusion

Although bringing cash and credit cards with you on holiday will always be useful, OneSmart can save you a lot of money, as long as you are aware of all the fees that could be charged and take steps to avoid those situations. It is particularly good for withdrawing cash at overseas ATMs, though I would also use it for making purchases while on holiday.  You do need to plan ahead and load your money before you need it, and the display of your Transaction History online could be improved, but these disadvantages are more than offset by the cost savings.

[Added 14 Nov 2012: I've now written a post on what to watch out for when using your OneSmart card.]
[Added 8 May 2013: The new fees schedule effective from 21 May 2013 is less attractive, as are the exchange rates from OneSmart these days.  Please see my more recent comparison.]
[Added 21 May 2013: Did you know about the new fees and terms before they took effect?]

A Week in Hong Kong: Stereotypes that don't apply here

We've just returned from a week in Hong Kong, a nice holiday mainly filled with eating and shopping, with the odd sprinkling of sightseeing.  The food landscape is definitely a different beast there, with a greater range in prices for dining out (you can get a filling meal for the equivalent of $4 NZD, to a high end dining experience for hundreds of dollars), and lots of smaller eateries specialising in one particular type of food (for instance roast goose or milk pudding).

The rules of thumb we've adopted in New Zealand don't seem to apply either.  Here are some ideas that have been well and truly crushed.

Western fast food franchises should be a last resort

You've got an excuse if you need to refuel quickly or have an inexplicable craving for fast food, but otherwise, there are just so many better (healthier, tastier and probably cheaper) choices out there, right?  You've travelled half way up the globe, so surely you should be trying out the local food instead.  Well, fast food outlets have a particularly useful function in Hong Kong, as a supplier of... erm, toilets.  Never mind that they are usually really dirty and you have to queue for ages to use them, when you've walked up and down several blocks looking for a bathroom, you are just grateful that there is one available at all.

Fast food outlets are also interesting in terms of offering items not in your home country.  We were particularly excited to see taro pie and gingerbread lattes for sale at McDonald's.

Sweet taro pie

Gingerbread latte and mint mocha

Avoid food courts in shopping malls

In Auckland, places like Food Alley = good.  Stalls at your local Westfield mall = bad, especially if there are warming drawers involved.  We realised this might not be true in Asian countries, when we found our best meal in Malaysia in the basement of the Lot 10 shopping complex. We can't say the same of a Hong Kong shopping centre, but there are perfectly acceptable meals to be had in them, from dumplings to mini burgers.

Restaurant chains will have poorer quality

There aren't actually too many restaurant chains in Auckland.  But when I see them, unless I hear otherwise, I assume that the original chef has been distracted by all the branches and the standard of cooking will be lower across the board as a result.

Hong Kong provides a counterexample to this theory in the form of Lei Garden.  Its Mong Kok branch has two Michelin stars, and a number of other branches have one.  In fact, the first time we ate at one of these places was when we saw the huge queue for Lei Bistro at the bottom of Times Square.  This was before we had purchased a Michelin guide so we didn't know what to expect, and we were blown away by the food.  This was dim sum that was delicate and light, familiar dishes that had been improved upon.

Unexpectedly good preserved vegetables, deep fried pumpkin and taro balls.

The egg tarts and bo lo bao (not pictured) were smaller than at bakeries, but very light and delicate, fresh and crispy at the edges.

Another chain that sells consistently amazing food is the Yee Shun Milk Company, which originally came from Macau, I believe.  Their steamed milk is silky smooth, and rich and delicious, and we have confirmed this at both of their Hong Kong branches.

Half eaten bowl of steamed milk, which has the smoth texture of tofu jelly but a strong milky taste.

Yet another favourite is the Ocean Empire (海皇粥店) chain, which serves great congee, freshly fried bread sticks ("twisted doughnut") and steamed ricesheet rolls.  The fact that they provide a good range of table condiments, so you can drizzle over your plate as much peanut sauce and sweet sauce as you like, or sprinkle over a dusting of toasted sesame seeds, just makes it that much better.

You can watch the fried bread sticks being made through the front window.

Congee, fried turnip cake with XO sauce, and zhaliang (fried bread stick wrapped in ricesheet roll).  We went a bit overboard with the sauce, and also added chilli sauce by mistake.

To be honest, delicious and inexpensive food is available just about everywhere in Hong Kong.  If you are happy to eat anything, you will not have trouble, though if you had a particular item in mind, you might want to do your research first.

Review: Industry Zen

Industry Zen - what a great name.  If you are thinking a factory floor sort of space, a large room with rough wooden beams and metal piping, you'd be right.  If you are thinking precision and perfection, dim lights and dark colours, you would also be right.  But if the name brings to you a picture of calm and peacefulness, inner reflection and understated beauty, nothing could be further from the truth.

The interior decor matches the restaurant's name

This restaurant serves food as art, for sure.  But it is a bustling, busy venue, not one you would head to for a quiet meal.  The dishes, in particular the lunch sets, are nothing short of spectacular, in a showy over-the-top way.  Some might call it kitsch; others, a pleasant surprise.  In any case, you are getting your value for money.

In most places, a Japanese lunch box consists of a tray, partitioned into many rectangular containers of food. Industry Zen takes it to a whole new level, with boxes stacked on top of each other in a rickshaw, for instance.  My photos below don't begin to do justice to these sources of wonderment.

Lunch Box - vegetarian tempura-ju.  The shigi-ju (teriyaki chicken lunch box) came with three layers in the rickshaw.

Chef's Special Sashimi & Teriyaki Chicken Set

Sashimi Boat Set

Rikka Combo - Sushi & Teriyaki Chicken - comes with circular shelving that almost hides you from the person sitting opposite

You could easily be mistaken, from seeing all those tiny plates above, that they comprise the whole lunch set.  In fact, before those main trays came out, we also received miso soup and appetisers, including lotus root chips and little salads.  And at the end of the meal, we were served a thankfully small and barely sweetened portion of dessert.

Miso soup and appetisers included in the lunch sets

Although I would recommend the lunch sets when they are available, you can also order off the main menu at any time.  With certain dishes, you are offered a selection of Himalayan rock salts (pink, black or crystal), the difference between which my palate is too unrefined to tell. At lunchtime, you are just given a tray with the salts in granule form, while at dinner, someone would actually grate the salt over your meal from a large salt ball.

But let me tell you about my one dinner experience from the beginning...  We had made a booking for 8:30pm during the Rugby World Cup.  Fortunately, we decided we were too hungry and turned up half an hour early, because at 8:15pm someone started banging on the drums and a waitress came over to ask the name of the birthday boy (yes, it was a special occasion).  The chefs stood in a row behind a pane of glass in the show kitchen (as opposed to the hidden one out the back where most of the work gets done) and were formally introduced.  More drums, then all the birthday celebrants were announced (there were four that night).  You get the idea.

Formal introduction of our chefs

I thought the main dishes were less jaw-dropping than the lunch sets, but that didn't stop the oysters from being served in what looked like a toolbox, with a bonsai tree.  There was also a lot more staff involvement, in the form of waiters grating salt for some dishes, blowtorching others, cooking items on hot plates in front of you, and even (as happened at the next table) chanting and clapping around you while the birthday girl downed a giant bowl of what may or may not have been sake.  Either she was drinking slowly, or there was a serious amount of liquid in there too, because that encouraging noise they were making seemed to go on forever.

Sushi , one of the more minimally presented dishes

Overall, I would say the food is tasty, but not outstanding in its own right.  There are plenty of fantastic Japanese restaurants out there.  Together with the presentation of the dishes and the atmosphere of the establishment, though, Industry Zen will make your meal a fun and delightful experience.  Sit back and enjoy.

Panda Recommends

Mains: the lunch sets ($19-$24). Sounds expensive, but worth it for the experience of seeing your friends' eyes bulge. You get a good amount of delicious food too.

Vegie Pandas
You can get a vegetarian tempura lunch box, or order off the bigger selection in the main menu.

Lunch menu

Main menu - page 1

Main menu - page 2

Restaurant Details

Industry Zen
104D Customs Street West, Auckland Central
(09) 3070936

Opening hours:
Mondays to Sundays 12pm - 11pm

Industry Zen is just behind the Tepid Baths which are currently under redevelopment

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Avondale Sunday Market

The weather may be all up and down these days, but it's been feeling more and more like summer. I've discovered all sorts of interesting produce for sale too. At Tai Ping on Dominion Road the other day, they had cherimoyas and passionfruit on display. It's not every day that you see these fruits around, but I have enjoyed them in Auckland before. No, what I was really excited by was what we have been searching for for years: an authentic Vietnamese phở, with a mountain of leaves served on the side, or failing that, then at least the right herbs, so we could make our own.

I've already given up on the former.  I have never found a Vietnamese eatery here which provides the requisite quantities of the more commonly available bean sprouts, coriander, mint and lime wedges, not to mention the delicious garnish of fried shallots and of fresh red chilli slices.  I've seen Thai basil for sale at garden centres, but the more exotic herbs like sawtooth coriander (also called culantro, distinct from cilantro/coriander)?  I didn't have a clue where to begin.  That is, until a search for galangal (which I have still yet to find in Auckland) led me to the Avondale Sunday Market.  There, amongst the young bitter melon and snake bean plants, next to the holy basil, I came across the perilla with its distinctive purple underside, as well as the long spiky leaves of the sawtooth coriander.  Hooray!

Vietnamese herbs like sawtooth coriander (a.k.a. culantro) and red perilla were available

Actually, I had walked right past this stall the previous week, and only paid attention to it at the Otara Market on Saturday because there were fewer things competing for my attention.  Seriously, for sheer variety and market atmosphere (read: crowds), nothing beats the Avondale Sunday Market.

It's not one of those markets where you go to eat, not unless you are into deep fried hot dogs and the like, though you can certainly choose to sample pre-made Asian food like taro sticky rice rolls wrapped in banana leaf, if you are not worried about moist food stored at room temperature.  You also need to shuffle your way past the stands selling Korean socks, cheap underwear and second hand goods, before you reach the vegetable section.  But once you get there, what a reward!  Here are some things that piqued my interest.

Banana trunks and artichokes

Three kinds of eggplant

Green papaya

Fresh longans

Not sure, black sugarcane and burdock root

Relatively cheap tomatoes (to think they were briefly sold for $12.99/kg at Countdown earlier this year!)

Possibly arrowroot and Jerusalem artichoke

Goose and duck eggs

Gorgeous flowers

Try to get there early, for the best selection of produce and to avoid the worst of the crowds, and don't forget to bring cash!

Market Details

Avondale Sunday Market
Avondale Racecourse, Ash Street, Avondale

Market hours:
Sundays 6am - 12pm

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Cats in the Kitchen

I met my grandmother's tiny white kitten for the first time today.  Seven weeks new to the world, two days new to that house, and what energy!  Such a bundle of bounces compared to our two friendly giants, who are now quietly watching the rugby with us on TV.  (Go the All Blacks!)

From Cat by B. Kliban, Eyre Methuen 1979

Cats are only related to food in that they go crazy when they smell fish or chicken in the kitchen, or so I thought.  Imagine my astonishment when I opened a bilingual recipe book I'd brought back from Hong Kong several years ago, and every single page mentioned "catties" and "taels"!

Here, for instance, are the surprising list of ingredients for Shanghainese Sesame Seed Dumplings in Kitty Choi's Foundation Dim Sum Making (Food Paradise Publishing Company, sixth print 2008).  These black and white balls are my token nod to our national team:
    1/2 catty glutinous rice flour
    4 Tbsp rice flour
    12 oz. water
    1 1/2 taels sesame icing sugar
    1 1/2 taels white sugar
    2 taels pork fat

Quite apart from the fact that I had always assumed desserts would be vegetarian, I had never come across "catties" and "taels" before.  Wikipedia to the rescue: they are Chinese units of measurement.  In Hong Kong, 1 catty = 604.78982g and 1 tael = 37.79936375 g.

This knowledge doesn't solve all the problems with the recipe though.  Throughout the book, a catty is also given as 640g, which contradicts the Weights and Measures Ordinance of Hong Kong.  The author also assumes the reader is familiar with the cuisine: I can easily imagine someone being confused at seeing the black centres of these dumplings in the colour photographs, when the filling is made only from the last three ingredients.  (I still remember the time we made muesli bars at intermediate school.  I was tasked with bringing sesame to sprinkle on top, and we only had black sesame at home.  Everyone thought I'd burnt the tops of the otherwise perfect bars!)  Then there are the odd translations, that even the mighty Google could not help me with (what, for instance, is Lein wine, which appears in another recipe)?

I guess that's why I love buying books like this.  They have an authentic feel, they entertain you, they make you think, and in the worst case, well, you can get someone to translate it for you afresh from the Chinese.  Not to mention they generally cost a fraction of the price of the books written purely in English for the Western market.  And they help me learn Chinese.

By the way, if you like cats, you can get a fully Asian dose of them at the Anzac Street branch of Hulucat.  This bubble milk tea vendor is often full of students, who hang out playing games with their friends while giving their stomachs time to digest the giant cups of flavoured drinks.

You will find cats on every wall at Hulucat

A not-so-related but equally novel "catty" eatery is Kati Grill on K'Rd.  There you can buy what you might call Indian-style kebabs.  The Achari Paneer Kati Roll I tried months ago was delicious, though I found that it felt heavy, because of the cooked vegetables in place of a raw salad, so maybe I should have compared it to a burrito instead.

And that's the end of this tale, if you'll excuse the terrible puns.

Review: The Mulberry *CLOSED*, and loosely related musings

[Added 10 July 2012: I am sorry to report that this restaurant is closed.  I had assumed it was closed for Christmas holidays at the beginning of the year, but it just never opened and now there is a sign for yet another branch of Mozaik Cafe there.  Does anyone know what happened?]

The other day, a vegan workmate received a huge box of goodies she'd ordered from the States.  I'm sorry to say this, but I've found that vegan food is generally a poor imitation of what you would really like to eat, the chocolate cake I attempted to bake for her being a case in point.  Although I don't eat all that much milk, cheese and eggs, they are things I would find very hard to give up.  No matter how many varieties of tofu there are in the world, you get a bit bored with it after a while.  So I was surprised when this person produced not one, but two things, which I had not only not tried before, but could imagine myself wanting to eat again.  They also promised to be very healthy and natural, unlike the (what I imagine to be) highly processed fake meats, soy milks and margarines with scary trans fats.

I had never even heard of Essene bread before, and the moist brown lump did not look very appetising.  Made only of sprouted wheat and purified water (according to the ingredient list, though I am sure I spotted some raisins), and baked at a low temperature, this local product was actually unexpectedly sweet and nutty.  It didn't hold together very well, but it tasted good with peanut butter and jam.  I briefly considered toasting it before deciding that a) it would probably crumble to bits, and b) it seemed wrong to grill something that had deliberately been barely heated.  I enjoyed it as it was anyway.

The other food I was introduced to was chewy, sweet and easy to eat.  I have never seen mulberries for sale before, and these dried white ones imported from Turkey, looking like elongated raspberries but pale yellow in colour, were definitely a new fruit I'd like to have more of.  The white variety is supposed to be milder than the darker mulberry varieties, but I found it to be very flavourful, probably because the taste is concentrated in dried fruit.  Hopefully I'll get to try it in fresh form in the not too distant future.

Which brings me to The Mulberry, a "gastro style bar, bistro and fine dining restaurant" in Mount Eden, at the site of what I once knew as the Berlin Restaurant (upstairs) and Swiss Konditorei Telle (downstairs).  I'm not sure why these previous businesses closed, since the German restaurant was mentioned as a local favourite in the Footprint travel guide to New Zealand in 2003, and the Swiss cafe always seemed to be full, but they were replaced briefly by a sports bar called The Mount (I never ventured in, not really being a sports bar kind of person, their neon green sign disagreed with me, and the place always looked empty anyway), before transforming into the venue we have now.  The historic lift in the corner doesn't exist anymore, sadly, but the place is clean and inviting, though rather dark.

We've tried out the tapas from their Tastes menu in the casual bar area (they were indeed tasty), but what you might not realise is that you can have a proper, formal, three-course meal upstairs in the dining room.  We still remember the bouillabaisse entree we had there last year!

Seafood bouillabaisse, saffron bisque, garlic ciabatta

The rotolo pasta entree we ordered more recently was delicious and actually very filling, no doubt from all the cheese and oil in it.  It must be among the best vegetarian dishes I have eaten, almost up there with the panfried gnocchi I had at Tabou (which unfortunately no longer exists in Kingsland, though some of its wallpaper shows through at Arthur Avenue) and the mushroom and truffle pappardelle I had at Molten (my enjoyment of which may have been swayed by my excitement at tasting cavalo nero for the first time).

Rotolo pasta with three cheeses, artichoke, pine nut, sultana, aromatic tomato

The desserts are also worth saving room for, judging by the way we ended up scraping the crusts out of the ramekin which held the dark chocolate souffle.

Dark chocolate souffle with macadamia toffee and black doris sorbet

The Mulberry may not be the best restaurant around, but it is certainly well worthy of your attention.

Panda Recommends

We haven't really tried enough of their current menu to make recommendations yet, so go for what you fancy.

Vegie Pandas
The rotolo pasta ($19) was great, as was the side of seasonal vegetables ($9), which turned out to be green beans and broccolini with lots of delicious butter.

A la carte menu - page 1

A la carte menu - page 2

Restaurant Details

The Mulberry
425 Mount Eden Road, Mount Eden, Auckland
(09) 630 1588

Opening Hours:
Mondays to Sundays 11am till late

The Mulberry is on the corner of Mount Eden Rd and Essex Rd

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