The Pieces of a Better (and Cheaper) Fishy Breakfast

a photo by pintobean on Flickr.

My car was due for some new tires and the tire shop is right by a branch of the famous San Franciscan Boudin bakery. I decided to grab a baguette this morning and on the walk home I picked up some protein to go with the bread: smoked salmon sold by the pound at our local Russian deli, yum!

Baguette: 2.35 USD after tax
Smoked Salmon: 5.07 USD for .39 lbs (yup that is 13 dollars a pound, but who eats a pound of smoked salmon?)

My boyfriend and I made a fancy breakfast of lox and delicious bread that would have cost at least twice as much, for about half as much salmon, if we had gone out to a local brunch place. Plus, we still have half the baguette left. Who wants a Nutella and baguette snack this afternoon?

Make It Yourself: Polenta

In the rural south of the U.S.A, what the Italian's call "polenta" Americans call "cornmeal mush". Which one sounds more appetizing? I picked up a pack of Franch brand "Palenta", the most generic looking stuff I have ever seen, at the local Russian-owned market. For 2.29 USD, this box yields over two cups of dry cornmeal. I cooked it up and let it solidify so I could slice it like the polenta you get in the sausage-shaped packages. I have enough to last for dinner for two for an entire week, and I cooked up about 10 slices already!

One of those sausage shaped packages will set a hungry fellow around 3-4USD depending on the quality.

Was the 70 cents I saved worth the extra 5 minutes I had to stir the stuff and then the 40 minutes I had to wait to let it cool in the fridge? Considering I have at least twice the amount in one of those packages just in leftovers, I think so!

Franch "Palenta": 2.29 USD a box!

Fast Fowl: Quail or the Colonel?

Everyone loves good and FAST chicken, and on a lazy day some will turn to a bucket of the Colonel's Original Recipe. A healthier, but alas pricier, alternative is quail, which I can purchase at the local Russian-owned deli and market. One is about the size of a chicken thigh. I ended up eating two. The best part is that they are pre-marinated and cook up in less than 30 minutes in the oven! The worst part is that we bought 4 (two for me and two for my boyfriend), and that jacks up the price to 12 USD for a meal for two.





So here is a little Price and Health comparison:

Royal Market Quail: 2.99USD each
Guilt factor: not sure, I have no idea if they are organic or cage free
Health factor: high - they were baked, not fried!
Easy factor: high, these cook really quickly and are already marinated for maximum deliciousness

The unhealthier alternative:



Bucket of 6-piece KFC Original Recipe: 11USD
Guilt Factor: HIGH, they say these poor chickens have their beaks snipped off in the factory
Health factor: low, notice the first word of "fried chicken"
Easy factor: extremely high since it is fast food

Plain Congee

Plain Congee (with extra spring onions)

$5

On the corner of Jordan Road and Wai Shing Street, Jordan

After I had left house church one evening, while I was rambling through Jordan on my way to the MTR station, I stopped by a new congee shop and tried their "white," which, for $5, had to be a bargain no matter what my stomach would say.

Unfortunately, the congee was watery and the portion was so meager that, in a flash, I had emptied my bowl. In fact, in the end, I decided that the congee wasn't worth the $5 that I had spent -- beware!

My Sunday morning breakfast: plain congee (with extra spring onions); and peanut butter toast.

Plain Congee (with extra spring onions)

$8

On Des Voex Road Central, near Sheung Wan Exit B

I've been frequenting this place for over a year, and have made it a habit to have breakfast there every Sunday before the 10:00 service. The plain congee is the best in Hong Kong because not only is the portion significantly generous, the congee itself tastes good -- thick; the color of milk; no visible grains -- a product, undoubtedly, of slow cooking over several hours, if not days.

View Hong Kong Price Discrimination in a larger map

Magners Irish Cider: Miss Hatton Wins!

Pint of Magners Cider
Haight-Ashbury SF at Martin Macks Irish Pub
5 USD

Mr. Woo posted a while back that he imbibed in some Magners cider whilst gallivanting around Macau. Today is the day I rub it in his face that my pint o' deliciousness was 2.50 USD cheaper than his, well, after conversion. Apparently, 60 MOP is roughly 7.51 USD. Wow, that is a high price to pay for a bottle of cider. I was able to pay only 5 USD at a nearby Irish bar in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, called Martin Macks, for a full pint of the stuff (ice apparently not included this time). Ok ok ok, this really isn't fair, but I just love the running theme we have on this blog. Sarah posts expensive Asian dish, Karn/Mr. Woo/Wynnie posts expensive Western dish... do we need to just do a housing swap for a week so we can get our cravings in? I guess the prices would never make up the difference of an expensive plane ticket to the other's country.

The Price of Pho(od)

Pho, Vietnamese noodle soup, is a pretty popular dish around my neighborhood due the diverse population. My boyfriend and I stick to two places, Pho Clement II and Pho Garden, with the latter being the trendier and more expensive of the two. In this post I provide some ratings on the two places. It wouldn't be fare to compare two different dishes, so here I compare both shop's offering of the type of pho with everything. I like to just call it the number one, because usually the first item on the menu includes the style of pho that I like: rare steak, flank, brisket, tendon, beef balls, tripe, etc...

Your typical x-large order of everything (flank, rare steak, tripe, tendon, etc), called the Pho Garden or Xe Lua

Place: Pho Garden
Dish: the "#1", called Xe Lua here
Broth: translucent and fragrant
Meat to noodle ration: slightly lower than Pho Clement II
Quality of sides: High -- Thai basil is fresh, bean sprouts are crisp, limes are juicy
Atmosphere: 5 stars due to their eating contest called the Pho Challenge, the place is always packed and festive feeling full of families sitting at huge tables, it is painted bright green and it smells awesome
Aesthetic Rating: 5 stars, you gotta love their beautiful bowls
Price: 8.50 USD

The x-large at Pho Clement II is packed full of meat, but I feel their broth lacks the pearly translucence that makes Pho Garden's so appetizing

Place: Pho Clement II
Dish: the "#1", known as phở đặc biệt
Broth: foggy
Meat to noodle ration: tons of meat, sometimes I can't even finish the noodles
Quality of sides: Medium -- Thai basil is occasionally brown at edges, bean sprouts are crisp, limes are often lemons
Atmosphere: 3 stars, the place is often empty, the fluorescent lights are jarring, sometimes it smells a little off, the Russians love this place though, and sometimes Jackie Chan is on the TV
Aesthetic Rating: 2 stars, bowls are just white
Price: 7.50 USD

So with these ratings, you would think Adam and I would stick to Pho Garden, considering that for 1 USD more, we get higher quality. The problem with Pho Garden is that it is packed all the time, and sometimes the wait can be longer than an hour. These long waits stem from families coming in hoping that their best nephew can complete the Pho Challenge, or, eat an enormous 20 dollar bowl of Pho in under one hour and thus get the bowl of Pho for free. When we see tons of kids waiting outside, we assume the worst and run, fast, to Pho Clement II.

The Local Cucumber

English Cucumbers: .79 USD
Purchased At: El Grande Market, 2214 Clement Street, San Francisco, CA
Compared to: ~ 1.50 at Safeway Supermarket

My boyfriend and I eat a lot of cucumbers! We eat them by themselves, on a sandwich instead of lettuce, with hummus, in salad, or stirred in rice vinegar, fresh dill and sugar for a quick homemade pickle. We usually buy the kind that is wrapped in a plastic sheath (I would like to think of it as a cucumber condom). These are known as English cucumbers, and are usually the most expensive. We can get them at our local market for very inexpensive. Needless to say I was so appalled the other day when we were shopping at a Safeway in Daly City and I saw the same cucumber for sale for about $1.50.

When we do have to shop at Safeway or any major supermarket, to get various cereal and grain products especially the Oroweat Double Fiber products I do so crave, we make a conscious effort to refrain from buying produce, even though it would save time. The luxury of local produce markets is not prevalent all over the US, and thus Adam and I will continue to frequent El Grande, our local market, and appreciate the low priced produce.

El Grande Market, located in the Richmond District of San Francisco, family owned and run

Green Tea Lattes

Next to the Beanbins, to the shop's left, is a Lavazza coffee shop whose name, I believe, was Red Espresso. That's where Sunny and I met.

Sunny and I smile for the camera. We both had green tea lattes.

I was impressed by the high ceilings and glossy, red walls. The store, furthermore, had mood lighting, as we found out when the manager began turning the lights down...

The sign for the toilets -- apparently, these graphic depictions are catching on as I saw these types of humorous signs in the Beansbins shop in Myeongdong!

Green Tea Lattes

Lavazza Coffee Shop (Red Espresso?) (삼각지역 9출구, 서울)

The shop is quiet, and the sofa an seats are comfortable.  It's worth visiting, if only to immerse oneself in a sea of red.  Tip: in general, the tea lattes in Korea are more expensive than the coffee choices on the menu. 

Sbarro Pizza

Sbarro Pizza
Cheese slice - USD$3.69
Supreme slice - $4.59
Sbarro (Livingston, New Jersey)

Sbarro makes the worst pizza in America. Their slices are lukewarm, and overpriced to boot. I took this photo while still in shock at having paid so much for so little. I will never eat Sbarro pizza again, and will continue to remonstrate myself over my price inelasticity at the moment I purchased the pizza -- I really should look at the prices on the menu rather than expect that pizza should come cheaply in New Jersey since it is, after all, a commodity here.

Pokka Black Coffee

Biz Time Cafe Black
$12
Chinese snack shop (Mong Kok East MTR Station)

Wow, not only is Pokka, famous in Hong Kong for its Japanese-style cafes, actually a Japanese company, it bottles black coffee just like all the other big drink manufacturers in Japan (e.g. UCC; and Kirin). Inside the fridge of that (Chinese-name only; and no, it isn't Aji-Ichiban) snack shop inside the paid area of the Mong Kok East MTR station, I found this bottle of caffeinated treasure. What's more, at the shop, beside its bigger, blacker, more beautiful brother, there is another brand Pokka coffee, in a smaller, less-value sized container, available for purchase at the same $12 price point.

Da Dolce Gelato

Crunkies-flavor Gelato
$28 (single-flavor cup)
Da Dolce (Langham Place)

I had never seen many customers frequent that gelato shop in the basement of Langham place, whose decor was straight out of 2001: A Space Odyssey. In all of my visits, I had counted at most four or five patrons in the shop at the same time as I was stopping by.

Small wonder I went Oh-Jeui this evening at the sight of so many Honky people sitting comfortably at the gleaming white picnic benches, which had been split apart into smaller seating areas for this event. I looked around. The signs were different. There were many pictures of Ramen, interspersed with much Japanese print that I found unintelligible. The only thing I gleaned from the posters was the fact, the new reality that half of the gelato shop had without warning become a Ramen joint called Domon. This change is for the best, I believe, because now this merchant has the vehicle -- hot food -- necessary to drive traffic.

I'm sitting by myself in the austere, lonely corner of the shop devoted exclusively to the consumption of gelato, having just finished a crunkies-flavored cup of the stuff. I was thinking earlier, while looking at the exorbitant $28 sticker price for a single-flavor cup, how gelato is a relative substitute for "premium" coffees and "artisan" teas in Hong Kong. At the $28 price point, consumers can choose either from a single-flavor cup from a vendor such as Da Dolce or XTC on Ice, or a tall coffee drink from either Starbucks or Pacific Coffee. To be sure, $28 is the entrance fee in Hong Kong to occupy a small corner of this pseudo-public space, in order to do what I'm doing now: ruminating on food!

Fragrant Milk Green Tea

Fragrant milk green tea
$12 (includes an extra $2 for bucketful of black bubbles)
Gong Cha (Prince Edward)

Gong Cha opened a few weeks ago and it, like other bubble tea stands in the area, draws huge crowds, no matter the time of day. I dropped by this morning to treat myself to a post-race bubble green tea.

The Good:

• A sign of good customer service, the cashier smiled at me while she was idling; it always good to see happy employees. Furthermore, I was able to take photos of the store without anyone yelling at me.
  
• The lid is snazzy. Never before have I seen such a vibrant, ornately branded bubble tea plastic covering!
• The tea was good; and indeed, drinkers have the option to order it with less ice and less sugar.

The Bad:

1. I had to pay an extra two dollars for bubbles; and I ask myself, why do I have to do that when all the other stands throw those in at the $10 price point?
2. No chop card

Overall, I can see what the fuss is all about: a brand new shop with excellent branding-cum-aesthetic appeal; good customer service; and undoubtedly fine drinks!

Bottled Water

Bonaqua $5.2 

Cool $5.2

Vita $4.8 

Circle K (Across from Wanchai fire station)

View Hong Kong Price Discrimination in a larger map

Bonaqua $6.2

Cool $6.8

Circle K (Times Square UA Cinema)

I had always suspected that Circle K actively promulgated price discrimination at its stores and at last, I have definitive proof that it does.

This afternoon I stopped by the Circle K stand across from the Times Square UA cinema, the one that boasts twin refrigerators which stock an assortment of lukewarm beverages ripe for a muggy Hong Kong day.  One look at the pricing, however, and I quickly walked away, my tongue hanging out not in thirst but in disgust, for who would willingly pay $6.8 for a Cool, or $6.2 for Bonaqua when the going price for both is around five dollars?

Seeking a better deal, along the underpass I walked about one hundred meters, until I reached another Circle K, farther away from the maddening crowds and consequently, I suspected, less prone than its higher traffic cousin to ridiculous price points.  Indeed, I found both the Bonaqua and Cool priced at $5.2, savings of 1 dollar and $1.6 respectively in comparison to their Times Square prices.  In fact, this branch even stocked Vita, a choice which the Times Square branch didn't even offer, priced at $4.8, the least expensive of the three brands.  I chose the Vita, and felt somewhat smug in doing so.

For me, and for the impecunious at large, walking a hundred meters away from the throngs to find a colder, cheaper drink is well worth the effort -- support low prices; don't give into extortion!  

UCC Coffee

UCC coffee
$6.80
Great! (Admiralty)

$9
Cafe Balencia (Mong Kok East KCR station)

Further to my previous post on shopping around for canned coffee, while I was enthralled by the pricing of Nescafe at Great! I nevertheless failed not to notice the UCC coffee selection close by, marked prominently by fluttering orange signs. In fact, the price for the original milk coffee was about as low as it could possibly go, almost reaching the bottom, 3 for $20 steal at the HK Food Expo! Compare this with the $9 that Cafe Balencia charges and indeed, if you are a fan of UCC products, there is no excuse to not rush over to Great! to stock up and save!

Nescafe Coffee

Nescafe regular
$5.30 (originally $6.50)
Mannings (Mong Kok East KCR station)

$5.3 (creme white)

$5.5 (Nescafe regular)
Great! (Admiralty)

$6 (Nescafe regular)
CityU canteen


$7 (Nescafe regular)
Arome Bakery (Kowloon Tong KCR station)


Nescafe prices in Hong Kong fluctuate greatly as though listed on the Hang Seng Index. The winning vendors in this price war so far are Mannings, which has literally pushed this product to the front of the store where it is conspicuously displayed in a refrigerator, and surprisingly, Great! whose premium image belies its very humble pricing for this product. It only goes to show how important it is, particularly for those habitual consumers of coffee, to shop around!

Taiwan Drink House

 

White Snow Pearl Milk Tea
$9 (special price)
Taiwan Drink House (Prince Edward)

The third combatant in the Prince Edward Milk Tea Wars presented a formidable product, fitted with an aggressive price point and shielded by excellent customer service.  First of all, despite being deluged by orders, which seems to be the case at all these tea stands, the cashier asked me if I would not only prefer less syrup but also less ice - a new development in my milk tea- drinking experience to which I readily voiced my agreement.  Furthermore, undercutting all competitors in the area by at least $1, the Taiwan Drink House's bargain basement price of $9 for the snow white milk tea, still served in the standard 700cc container, guaranteed value for my money.  The accoutrement for the product was ideal, to be sure, and all that was left to determine in this contest was whether or not the taste would actually deliver the decisive blow to its competitors.

The outcome, a few sips later, had been determined.  The flavor of the milk tea was milder than the rest, and nowhere close to overwhelming.  The confluence of diminutive bits of ice and a generous heaping of white pearls, moreover, gave my molars quite a workout, dividing its attention between the tasks of crunching and chewing.  It was the pearls themselves which at last I found the most gratifying, so delectably sweet were they that they could power the drink, I believe, without the accompaniment of any syrup at all.  I had a winner in my hands, an ingratiating drink that did all it could - successfully - to please.

More Bubble Tea

Venti-class plastic cup

Menu-cum-chop card

Bubble tea
$12
Little Egg (Prince Edward)

I tried another bubble tea place in Prince Edward last night, this one being right behind exit B2, next to the Ireland Potato. A venti-class pearl milk tea costs two dollars more at this vendor, but I think the price increase is warranted as I found, compared to the $10 Tea place, less ice and more precious, ebony pearls in my drink. Besides, I could actually consume those big, globular pearls through my straw this time, whereas in my previous experience at that other stand, the pearls were left to rot at the bottom of my cup because there was too much ice, and I was given such a narrow straw. I'll see if there is any additional improvement in my drinking experience at the next stop on my bubble tea tour.

Hong Kong Food Expo 2009

My Pricing Notes
Aisle 1 - Colavita Spaghetti 1/$16; 4/$55

Aisle 2 - A) Deblenz instant coffee (8 sachets) 2/$42
B) Delverde pasta 1/$16; 2/$30; 3/$40

Aisle 3 - A) prince of peace American Wisconsin ginseng root tea with honey 2/$100
B) sunsweet pitted prunes (500g) 2/60

Aisle 4 - A) Kruger cappucino (10 sachets) 2@50
B) Mat Kimchi (1.2 kg) 1@65

Aisle 5 - A) G7 coffee (12 sachets) 2@50
B) UCC coffee (10 sachets) 2@38 3@20 (cans)

Aisle 7 - Super 3in1 coffee mix 3@40

Review
The Hong Kong food expo is a paradise for the palette, and certainly the place for succor if one is hungry.  Free food flowed like a buffet; such a prodigious selection of snacks, drinks and sweet meats abound that one could spend the entire day gorging on those delectable victuals, at no charge actually, save for the $25 entrance fee.  It's definitely not bad for the gourmand, whether impecunious or not, because the variety was there, and the pricing points, I believe, were quite competitive, as my notes attest.  My aim being to buy for quality and quantity, I at length settled on purchasing the kimchi, the prunes and the UCC coffee.

I must confess, however, that negotiating the narrow lanes, clogged with desultory, ambling locals, was terrible to say the least.  This, like so many other shopping "events" which combine conspicuous consumption with the local Chinese culture, was a rubber-necking hell.  So many bodies crashing into each other as though human waves breaking upon an unforgiving shore, it was a test of both my tenacity and patience.  To be sure, grunts, glares and "ai-ya's" whizzed around my head like bullets - it's best, I think, not to catch one!

Ah, the industrious Hong Kong people, they set up a red minibus stop right at the exit of the convention center, on the corner of the street, brazenly in front of all the taxis and buses queueing in traffic.  The driver of the lead mini bus acted as the tout, standing outside his vehicle and screaming for people to hop into his ride - for $15hkd from Wanchai to Mongkok, I too would be entreating passers by to get in, to savor the convenience and most importantly, to pay up!  He then eyed me and I willingly acquiesced to his unspoken command.  It was time at last to end a successful trip to the food expo!

토스트 (Toast)

The cart operator browns the bread before slapping an egg in between two slices, topping it with brown sugar (mustard, too, is an option) and spreading some buttery substance on it. She wraps the toast neatly in foil before putting it, along with a napkin, into a black plastic bag. Toast is breakfast on-the-go for a little over $1USD!

토스트 (Toast)
1,300W
Cart (홍대역 1번)

This toast-maker operates in the mornings just outside HongDae exit 1; and she charges 1,300W for the bare-bones toast, the process of making which is posted above. Surprisingly, however, that isn't even close to a deal because I found a diminutive stall in Myeongdong that sells a more substantial toast for a shocking 1,200W! That the HongDae cart operator, when compared to the stall operator, has reduced costs by skimping on ingredients and operating from a mobile platform leads me to believe that there is significant margin in each piece of toast that she sells.

넥타린 (복숭아)

넥타린들
4,000 원
트럭 (명동)

A basketful of nectarines costs 1,000 won less than a basketful of plums; or does that farmer, in whose truck I find all this delicious fruit, set the price by the swarthy visage of his customer?  If the latter is the case, then is it possible to bargain with the dude?

What lends credence to the bargaining idea is the lack of conspicuous price tags on the various items in his truck, as though the fruit in his truck were used cars in a parking lot just waiting for the right price-insensitive customer to walk by.  Indeed, I have seen price tags on other trucks in Seoul, so my suspicions have been raised.  I'm going to consult several of my friends tomorrow on this matter - the investigation continues!