Wallace and Idy

Wallace and Idy are the owners of China Home Fashions and we met them while we were in Shanghai on our tours. Their children live in Hong Kong and they often have business meetings here so they let us know when they were coming in town for two days. Luckily it worked out and we were able to meet up with them after their full day of meetings for some dinner and the catch up! We met them at Causeway Bay, Times Square MTR exit. (Wallace in his blazer jacket and Nike sneakers) None of us have been to Times Square yet (ridiculous I know) so we were mesmerized by the market section we walked through. This is one of the main markets that housewives come to for their weekly supply from barbecued meat shops, butchers, fresh produce stands, etc. Wallace decided he wanted to take us to a really local seafood place that was quite popular. We walked up, Wallace waving the amount we had in our group as we got closer, and they had the table ready for us, covered in plastic (this could be interesting). We sat down long enough to clean our silverware and bowls and get a cup of tea poured, then Wallace ushered across the street to large thermos type boxes with tons of different types of LIVE seafood in them. Here is where we got to pick exactly what we wanted to eat for dinner. He picked a large creepy type shrimp, regular shrimps, a pomfrit (or something? kind of fish), clams, oysters, and conch. We told him we would try anything once, although secretly I was kind of nervous. The guys helping us were really funny and were using the nets to pull up the seafood to show us the quality and type. We sat back down and waited for them to cook our choices. They started bringing dishes out... and they just kept coming (as always when eating with Wallace and Idy). The final dishes included fried oysters (Dad I actually ate them and liked them) with bean curd inside, cooked fish, steamed shrimp, garlic creepy large shrimp, clams with a delicious sauce, conch that you pulled out with a little toothpick type thing and pulled off the "nail", cooked lettuce, meat and vegetable soup, broccoli, chicken, and pork ribs. Basically enough food for 8 people, but we actually did pretty good on it! Everything, even the clams and conch, was really good!! I love going to meals with locals because they know the right stuff to order and it encourages you to try so much more! I should also note that the restaurant was outdoors, as in tables set up in the middle of the street with cars driving by that were about 2 feet from Debbie's chair.

Notice the amount of food

After this we walked to try and find a dessert spot and bought a local waffle on the way. Delicious. We eat way too much food when we are with these two!! The dessert place they were thinking of had moved so we walked back through Times Square to the other location, again not there so we resorted to yet a third option. This place called "Healthy Dessert" was right next to Wallace's other option for dinner that specialized in snake soup, but he didn't want to scare us he said. The Healthy Dessert place had SO many choices so we all got different things. Andrew's dessert literally had sparrow spit (still not sure how they collected this) and the fat of a frog that lives in cold weather. Wallace and Idy said it was very good for you, helps your skin maybe? Andrew said it actually tasted pretty good. I got mango pudding and mango ice cream with fresh fruit and Debbie got a Cantaloupe medley of items.

Yummy Dessert

We thought, it is kind of late, they have already spent a lot of their time with us so they will probably want to head home. Wrong. Wallace said, ok now we were thinking of going to the rooftop bar at Excelsior Hotel around the corner, okay? Um yes please. We got up to the very nicely lit lobby of TOTT's bar at the Excelsior and headed to the bar. The view from here was fabulous and for one of the few times we could see the Kowloon night skyline. Depending on where you walked in the bar you could see about 180 degrees around HK. Wallace, Andrew, and I split a bottle of red wine, Idy got her standard hot tea, and Wallace forced Debbie into getting a "hot tottie" with whiskey, lemon, and honey for her sickness. There was an excellent live band with maybe 5 out of 7 of the black people in all of Hong Kong. Andrew made friends with the guitar player and learned that they are from all over the world and were signed on to work at the Excelsior for 4 months, have now been there 1 year, and extended their contract for 6 more months. Again, they were really great! Idy had to go home after a bit to pack for their 8am flight the next day, but Wallace stayed. A bit later Wallace said he had to go meet his brother, but to stay as long as we liked and order whatever we wanted, they had his card, and he would be back after while. We sat and enjoyed the scene for quite a while, each ordering one more cocktail (Patron with splash of orange, passionfruit martini, dirty martini). When Wallace came back up he took us out the rooftop part of the bar that was closed for service so no one was out there and it was almost perfectly quiet looking down on the bright, busy city. From here he showed us the place he used to go to to think and relax (he grew up in HK and knows every little nook he said). The spot was out on a pier at the yacht club where he had to jump a fence to get out there, but then you sit on the pier and look out and it feels like you are the only person in the world. I want to try and get here one evening, but I am worried I will get arrested... I think I will try and brave it though.

At the bar for drinks

The entire evening was just lovely. We asked some questions about business, politics (regarding HK reverting back to China rule), etc., but for the most part we just enjoyed each other's company and talked about life and normal things. I told Wallace, and it was true, that he is literally one of the nicest and most caring people I have ever met. You are walking down the street and he will put his hand out so you don;t walk into the street, he keeps checking to make sure your dinner is okay and you don't need anything, he asks you questions and is interested in the answer.