Small Eats @ Zen

Zen
(Located inside Pacific Place mall - Lower Ground)
88 Queensway
Hong Kong Island
(852) 2845-4555

Since my week long stay in Hong Kong, I've been trying a lot of "small eats" or as we say in mandarin, "小吃" around HK island. Food stalls and finger food are prevalent and extremely popular in Asia. Thus, for the month of August (and for the remainder of my vacation days in HK), I will be blogging as a mini-guide to some notable small eats and food stalls around Hong Kong. Instead of reviewing an entire restaurant menu as a whole, I will be selecting one or two of my favorite dishes and reviewing it for you all instead. Hence, the category "HK small eats"!

My very first notable eat would be HK's Steamed Whole Papaya with South Almond Milk. This is absolutely one of my most favorite desserts ever. Surprisingly, it is not something that is offered in many restaurants and therefore, looking for this was like a scavenger hunt! Although not your typical food stall, I finally found this dish at the restaurant "Zen" located in Pacific Place. There's two ways of serving this dish, one with bird's nest mixed with almond milk and one without the bird's nest. It goes without saying that the one with bird's nest is much more expensive than the one without the bird's nest. For those who are unfamiliar with the term "bird's nest", it is where birds lay their eggs and hatch their young...........kidding! Bird's nest is a delicacy in Chinese cuisine. Edible bird's nest is one of the widely used health foods in Chinese communities. Edible bird's nest is rich in mineral salts, and contains high content of sodium and calcium. The source of edible bird's nest is derived from saliva. In other words, to put it bluntly, bird's nest = bird's spit. Yummy, right? But in all honesty, bird's nest tastes great in soup, sugared water, and is great for the skin!

The dish is usually served warm/hot. It is not the most refreshing dessert to eat on a hot humid day in HK, but very good nonetheless (also great for the skin - did I say that already?). The steamed papaya makes the skin and insides of the papaya very soft. The taste of the papaya also blends in very well with the stronger taste of the almond milk. Personally, I prefer the dish without bird's nest..plainly because I like the sweet and simple combination of papaya and almond milk.

Taste: 4.5/5

Another notable dish at Zen is the chicken drumstick stuffed with glutinous rice. A very delicious dish that is also great for kids because there's no bones in the chicken whatsoever! The taste is quite similar to "beggar's chicken", but the skin of the chicken drumstick is crunchier on the outside. The dish is a cross between beggar's chicken and Taiwanese "zong zi" (粽子). The glutinous rice is mixed with chinese mushrooms and chopped up chicken meat. This dish is served at many other local HK restaurants too, but incase you are ever shopping around Pacific Place, don't hesitate to try the chicken drumstick and papaya dishes at Zen! Taste: 3.5/5