One last thing

Before I get to Athens I'd like to recap the last day in HK because it is very worthy. We sleep in on day 5 to get ourselves well rested before the second leg of our journey, the second half of the globe basically. So rest was slightly needed. Casual stroll down the streets of Happy Valley, same casual stroll we had on our first night there, kind of back where we started and no complaints about it. We hit up B's favorite Dim Sum spot(3rd time she had eaten there that week) per our request due to proximity and how much we enjoyed the first Dim Sum place on day 1. This one was a bit more authentic but not quite as good as the one in Stanley, probably the American in me shining here but I'm just being honest. 

After lunch we head to B's favorite shopping mall that had a public restroom that looked like something out of Asian version of Star Trek, I wanted to take a photo but I figured that might make me look like a total A-hole so I opted to refrain. Spent about 2+ hours shopping here. Back to B's for a little down time before dinner. 

Dinner rezzo's on the last night at a "must do" in HK according to B, Mel, and Ryan, who also would be joining us for dinner, at American Restaurant Peking. After the experience we would call this a must do as well. This is like a Chophouse '47 but the Chinese version, except it was extremely bright as opposed to extremely dark. Pretty much a zero for ambience. Not a single piece of artwork, no music, and blaring bright lights. But after we got settled in I didn't care. We let the locals do the ordering and we were just along for the ride. This place has been in Wan Chai HK for over 60 years and was very popular with sailors coming to port and surrounded on all sides by the Red Light district of HK. Which goes arm and arm with the sailor/port deal. The name is also very indicative of drawing in American sailors. 


Ok. Now on to the food. When we are seated the lazy Susan in the middle round table, that could easily accommodate 8, had a dish of salted peanuts, fresh sliced cucumber and red pepper dressed with a citrus vin, and a large bottle of local beer. The average age of the waiters is about 45 and they appear to be walking around like they've got an inside joke and your not invited to the punchline. Nice and attentive just...different. One waiter had a fairly long white hair growing out of a mole on his cheek. When I say fairly long, I mean like 4 inches. I noticed it within 3 minutes of being there and could not bring myself to look away from it. Wowsers. Ok. Food.

The specialty here is whole cooked Peking duck. The whole bird brought and showcased at you table after it is cooked and then sliced table side. This is why you come to this place, although EVERYthing else that landed on our lazy Susan was superb. I know I use that word a lot but I mean it when I do. This meal is in a 2-way tie for numero uno with the Portuguese meal in Macao. Duck was cooked throughout on all parts but was still juicy and succulent. A good bit of fat content on each bite and....yeah. Omg. Omg. Omg. Yes yes yes yes yes. I like duck, I like duck a lot. So. You take these delicious slices of succulent duck and place them on a very thin hot tortilla shell, along with a few slices of white scallion and cucumber(I left the cukes off cause it overpowered it a bit for me), a quick smear of a sweet reduced plum sauce, roll in the tortilla and enjoy. I mean, really enjoy. Tortilla so thin and light, only real purpose is to hold this delicious mixture together for you. So effing incredible, yet simple. Other dishes were sizzling shrimps(everywhere in Eurasia says shrimps for the plural of shrimp) which were breaded prawns(huge) served on a hot metal skillet and finished on the table with a generous sweet and sour type sauce poured over. Splendid. Meal was rounded out with steamed pork dumplings, best we had all week, fried rice and tofu.

An absolute feast of epic proportions and more than we could finish. It broke my heart that this could not go home with me for a late night duck sandwich, would have made the best snack after a few more beers. Instead B boxed it up for a homeless lady she always passes by in Wan Chai and gave it to her. At least it did not go to waste and was for a good cause. I would only recommend American Restaurant for groups of 5 or more. Everyone there that night was in large groups and all round tables throughout, I saw one with a family of twelve doing it up big. Very nice establishment. We will return to this restaurant on our next visit, and I hope the waitor with the extremely long mole hair is still there:D

I am writing this from the plane en route to Paris and I can't even begin to explain how stoked we are about that. Transit from Athens to airport was easy as easy gets. Airport to Athens....not so much. I will tell you all about it on the next post, which I hope to finish before we land!

Cheers 

A