Our second day in Hong Kong was much less crazy than our first. Partly because we needed to be at the pier to board the cruise ship by around 2pm.
9am
After the adventures of the previous day, we were pretty beat up and slept in a bit. One of Ry’s college classmates (and old coworker in NYC) is now living in Hong Kong, so we met up for breakfast.
He took us to a classic Hong Kong family style spot, Kai Kee Restaurant just a few blocks from where we were staying (mentioned it in the Eating in Hong Kong post). I kind of wanted to try the instant ramen dishes, mostly because noodles are my favorite thing, but we opted for sweets instead. Toast with sweetened condensed milk, egg tarts, a melon bun and coffee. Note: saying you just want coffee will give you coffee with milk already mixed in. Kai Kee Restaurant, Hong Kong
Everything was amazing, and while there’s a small part of me that wants to DIY that sweetened condensed milk toast business at home, I also feel like it’d be such a waste since I wouldn’t use up the whole can – and then what do you do with it? Hahaha.
1030am
From there we walked around and talked story until we ended up at a small grocery store near our place. We wanted to pick up some cruise ship necessities to carry on (a case of diet soda, 2 bottles of wine and random snacks – details in our cruise packing post).
We went back to our AirBnb and filled one of our empty bags with all our new goods then relaxed a bit before heading back out in search of (you guessed it) more food.
1130am
We had read online about a cute coffee shop down the street from us – that was supposedly tucked away in the back of a clothing store. When we got there, however, it was actually just a clothing store. Whoops! On our way to the next coffee shop, we walked by the Ya Kun Family Cafe and decided to check it out.
They specialized in Kaya toast, a snack from Singapore/Malaysia. It’s essentially a toasted sandwich that’s made with kaya (spread made from coconut milk, eggs, sugar and pandan) and butter. They sell a set with soft boiled eggs, so naturally we got that then proceeded to google how the heck you’re supposed to actually eat it. That’s where it got interesting.
Apparently you mix up the eggs, add in some dark soy sauce and white pepper, then dip your sandwich into it. In all honesty, it sounded kind of disgusting. Sweet + butter + eggs + shoyu?! Can’t knock it till you try it though, so we gave it a go and it was actually pretty good. The sweet + salty + savory combo worked well! This place is actually a franchise and there are a ton of locations across Asia. Ya Kun Family Cafe / Website
After that long detour, we went to check out N1 Coffee, which based on the Internets is a popular and very instagram-ey coffee shop. The shop was cute, but a little crowded, so we swung in to take a few pics but didn’t order anything. N1 Coffee & Co.
When we were leaving, the signage for Owl’s Choux next door caught our eye. Mentions of Michelin street food guides and cross sections of the little custard puffs drew us in. Lunch? Who needs lunch?
These were DELISH. Crunchy and soft at the same time, with a light and fluffy filling. I kind of wish we tried the ice cream sandwich versions – but we decided to just try the two small choux and keep moving. After all, we only had a few more hours left! Owl’s Choux Gelato & Coffee
12:30pm
One of the last places that we had bookmarked to check out was Wah Kee Snack Food Shop. It was a little spot on a busy corner filled with all the street food you could ever want. We opted for some cheese sausage in spicy sauce, and ate it while we walked back to our AirBnb to pack up and head to the Cruise terminal. Wah Kee Snack Food Shop
130pm
Protip: if you don’t have pocket WiFi and you’ve been using your AirBnb or Hotel’s internet for everything, remember to order your Uber BEFORE you leave. We forgot this gem, and while T-Mobile does provide some service in Hong Kong, the signal wasn’t strong enough to get us an Uber.
Luckily we were just down the Street (we had gone down with our bags to get to a less busy corner so a car could pull over), so I trekked it back up and then sprinted back down when the car was on its way.
We got to the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal a bit early and had some time to kill before we needed to board, so we walked around the roof deck / garden. Having just opened in 2013, it still seems shiny and new. There were a handful of restaurants, but most weren’t open, so we decided to just board early.
…and away we go!
We checked in, got our “Seapass” cards (your form of identification / how you pay for everything on board the ship) and toasted to a fun couple of days in Hong Kong. Next up on the blog: Day 1 at sea!
