Hong Kong - Day 1

It certainly takes some time do get from Boulder, CO to Hong Kong.  Like 24 hours door to door.  It is well worth the wait!
I flew in  on a dreary day (which could either be clouds or some seriously thick pollution - probably a combination) and touched down just after dawn.  After finding my way to the hotel, I hooked up with Josiah Citrin, chef and owner of Melisse Restaurant in LA.

We clambered our way through the streets of Hong Kong, trying to find our bearing.  We walked up what seemed like an infinite ascension of stairs to some really cool shops and alleyways serving dumplings, duck and many local offerings.

After cooling down with some cold beer we made our way to the Ferry Building and took a ride to Kowloon.  We checked in with Chef Jake and his crew at BLT Steak.  We got an idea of what we would need for the dinner the following night and how much prep would be involved.  Then it was back to Hong Kong to take a break and get ready for the evenings adventures.

We took a 20 minute cab ride to Lei Yue Mun, a crazy fish market on the Eastern Kowloon side.  It was basically a long row of fish purveyors packing aquariums and tanks with every type of sea creature you can imagine.  Each stall has a restaurant connected to it where they will slay and cook whatever critter you bring them.  After doing our best "bartering" and trying to get a feel for what kitchen would do the most justice, we settled in and chose our victims.  We ended up with a feast - way too much food for two people!  We ate:  snapper, prawns, clams, geoduck, cuttlefish, abalone, lobster, mussels, and one massive crab.

They put together a few different preperations and the food came out when it came out.  We also dove into some wonderful Chinese broccoli, noodles, rice and I forget what...  Oh, lots of beer...
Slowly and painfully we made our way back to the hotel to sleep and see what the next day would bring us...

Lobster, before and after

Geoduck, before and after

Cuttlefish

Abalone

Bass

Prawns

Crab