Wok Star Eleanor Hoh

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Hong Kong

Peking Duck, two ways (Updated)

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Here’s a short video of the fastest carver in Hong Kong!

Peking Duck is one of my favorite dishes of all time and for many reasons. My husband and I joke that if we ever win the lottery, we’d jet to Hong Kong and take my mom out for a bang up Peking Duck. So, on my recent trip to Hong Kong, I made sure I squeezed this in to satisfy my craving. I’ve not had the traditional Peking Duck since my last trip there 15 yrs. ago when my dad took the whole family out for a HUGE feast, complete with a fruit compote extravaganza in a dry ice display. We’ll never forget that meal, the dishes kept coming.

The traditional way of serving Peking Duck is to bring it whole to your table and carve it infront of you. I videotaped her carving, I was so impressed.
The crispy skin with a little of the meat is laid out for you to roll in very thin pancakes, slathered with hoisin sauce, scallions and fresh cucumber strips.

They’ll take the duck away and bring back a dish of the duck meat fried with some veggies. Last, they bring the soup made from the carcass, delish. I love this whole ritual, nothing goes to waste. It’s what I do with a roast chicken.

Because it’s quite expensive to eat it at a restaurant, I searched on the internet for an easy Peking Duck recipe to cook at home. There are many different marinades and techniques used to get that crispy skin which is what makes a good Peking Duck.

These recipes sound easy until you start doing it yourself, the process is grueling. I’ve been there, done it and I swore I’d never attempt it again. When I lived in Key West, my sisters and I tried a few times to master the technique of getting the skin crispy by using a bicycle pump to separate the skin from the flesh! We took turns to pump as well as hang infront of a fan to get the skin dry! After spending 2 days prepping and finally roasting it and then to find the ducks were tough, old and chewy really made us mad.

Well, I found a fabulous solution from a very smart blogger, Hungry Kittens in Australia for making Peking Duck at home! Wow, the best lightbulb moment I’ve had in a while. This reflects my whole philosophy of not spending time to make complicated dishes, I’ve even posted this topic, keep cooking simple and tasty.

Or better yet, you can now edit a “Peking Duck” post and also see more recipes on Foodista, a online cooking encyclopedia that everyone can edit.

Well, another food blogger, The Good Sandwich decided to make Peking Duck for New Year’s Eve, here’s her amazing first attempt, I wish I lived a bit closer to her.

If you REALLY want to make Peking Duck from scratch, Andrea Nguyen’s Peking Duck Meal at Home gives a fantastic step-by-step. Not for the timid.

I had to add this hilarious story about an opera singer’s wife who cooked Peking Duck after each performance no matter which country or rental apartment as long as it has knobs, find out what I mean!

Anyhow, I wanted to share the rest of the dishes we had with the Peking Duck at this very good restaurant, Festive China. This was some classy restaurant, I wish we had some in Miami, it’s kind of embarrassing that we either have very upscale or lowend and nothing in between! I loved everything about this restaurant.

Here’s their beautiful menu design – front and back:
They put a cover over your chair if you have a jacket on it to prevent food splatters.

And while you’re eating, as if it’s not occupying all of your senses, they even have a flat screen TV so you can follow your favorite soap opera, ha, ha!
We were invited by my mother’s friend who told me I could order anything I wanted. I only wanted Peking Duck and didn’t realize he was going to order all these other dishes, I felt guilty for ordering such an expensive dish. We had a ton of leftovers to take home and had another full meal (I’ll post separately).

We started with this lovely appetizer of crunchy peanuts, endamame and toufu.
Notice the beautiful porcelain serving platters, our teacups had gold plated lids!

Appetizer 2: Shanghainese soup dumplings which squirt when you bite into them, delish.

Appetizer 3: bean curd skin rolls filled with turnip, carrots and vegetarian fare.

Appetizer 4: fish made to look like roast pork (Chinese char siu), not my favorite but interesting texture.

Next, very tender stewed Chinese cabbage with cured ham.
A platter of plain steamed shrimp, very sweet tasting.

Ending with a dessert of crepes filled with red bean paste.
The Peking Duck was totally memorable and now I can have it at home for about $20!
I’ll let you know if I’m successful, don’t forget to read about Hungry Kittens’ great idea.

Festive China is in Festival Walk which is practically across the street from my mother’s apartment,
so it was very convenient.

We also had dinner at a lovely Vietnamese Restaurant, Rice Paper which I’ll share in another post. The mall was designed by Architectonica, a Miami firm that my husband and I had as guests on our TV show we produced over 15 years ago on Miami Beach.

My niece, Melissa and my mom.

A wonderful bookstore and cafe, PageOne right next to Festive China. I wish we had more stores like this here.

They already had their Christmas decorations and tree up when I was there!


Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone! I made a goal to post this by Christmas and I did it, yay.

Tell us your Peking Duck story.

If you like travel and food, you’ll also enjoy:
Hong Kong Fast Food

Hong Kong Gifts for Wok Star Wannabes

Penang Food Stalls

Penang, Yin and Yang (Updated)

Peking Duck on FoodistaPeking Duck

Hong Kong Gifts for Wok Star Wannabes

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One of the best things about visiting Hong Kong apart from seeing my mom of course is picking up great gifts for Wok Star Wannabes and friends.

While I want street vendors to make money since their merchandize are so cheap already, I didn’t appreciate them treating me like a ‘tourist’! I know my Chinese vocabulary and accent is not up to par (I took French and also left Hong Kong when I was 13 and went to boarding school in England) but jacking prices up 6 times just doesn’t sit well with me.

Children especially love eating with chopsticks. It makes eating Asian food so much more fun, exotic and enjoyable. I think these colorful chopsticks with brocade holders are a bit over the top with too much design but everyone loves getting them.

These cute baby Chinese New Year calendars were so adorable, I just had to grab a few.
Both chopsticks and calendars will make great door prizes in my Wok Star classes.

Here are a variety of beautiful Chinese New Year “red packets” handed out by banks and businesses. I wrote about this ritual in two Chinese New Year of Ox and Rat posts. As kids, we never got to keep our red packets with money cause my parents used to take ours to “regift”!
When you open my Wok Star Kit, you’re greeted with this lovely red packet holding a little buddha inside. Giving it’s tummy a rub a day will bring you luck!

I didn’t have success finding materials for my wok mitts this time but hopefully can pick them up locally.

HK Gifts for friends etc.
I can never resist getting these covers which can transform your generic tissue box into a gorgeous Asian one in a jiffy. I am so dying to “market” these on my website, I know you’ll love them as much as I do. It’s such a great gift idea for any occasion.


These little brocade bags are great for your makeup or just about any little knick knack. I’m not sure I want to part with any of them.

This lovely evening bag goes really well with my padded lightweight coat I got on my last trip.

More unusual bag and glass case or cell phone holder.

Tiny samplers of Chinese teas are also great gifts. I separate these out and only give one tin
out at a time.

My husband loves to snack on Sunflower seeds in their shells (I hate them messing up the car.) I got this because the packaging was so intriguing, umm, wonder what kind of “spiced”.

The ultimate, luxurious brocade toothpick holder with mirror. It was so cute, I had to have one.

Bet Louis Vuitton will want this monogrammed like they did with the rosewood chopsticks and holder for something like $499. They looked exactly like the same ones I got in Penang (well, without the monogram but at a price, I can do it, ha, ha)!

Take a look at this beautiful blog all about Chinoiserie Chic to see the LV box with chopsticks, not to be missed.

Do check back for lots more from my Hong Kong trip, next one Peking Duck, my all time favorite dish!

Hong Kong Fast Food (Updated)

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This is the first in a series of food journeys from my Hong Kong trip, so hope you’ll keep coming back for more. If you’ve been to Hong Kong, I’d love to hear about your experiences.

I found it very amusing how American fast food companies adapt their food to suit the Chinese culture. Here’s Circle K featuring a Chinese menu:

Big bamboo steamers full of dim sum were constantly replenished. She’s scooping noodles for a lunch order, notice her wearing a mask. Hygiene is quite strict in some places especially public transport. Broadcasts warning people to wear a mask and not touch your eyes. I even saw a few women’s masks with bows and designs to make them more personal and interesting?

The Lunch Menu is in the left corner of the window.

Always wondered why food courts don’t offer dim sum as an option. It’s perfect portions for snacking and come in small bites. Many buns have meat and veggies in them so it’s a meal. I’ve noticed their one dish meals have a lot more rice with very little protein. It’s not proportioned like before. Guess economy has something to do with it.

Lotus Leaf with steamed rice is a favorite of my husband’s, good ones have Chinese mushrooms, very fatty pork, Chinese sausage and yellow soy beans (HK $15 is about US $2.20!).

They even offer fish and meat balls.

Right next door, the stall offered Meatballs in sauce in two large stainless steel vats

and Low Mein (fried noodles) over a steamer of hot water.


This is the closest thing to Fast Food. Most often, at food courts, the food is cooked fresh when you order it! Since it’s fried in a big wok over very high heat, it only takes a few minutes. So, it just shows that once you have your food prepped, it’s a matter of minutes for the fry and your meal is ready!

We can accomplish the same thing in our home with a smaller, lightweight, cast iron wok over a 12,000 (previously had mistakenly said it was 20,000!, must have been jetlag, sorry) btu portable butane gas stove which can sit on top of your electric glass or coil top. Easy, convenient and practical. This is my personal setup at home.

Love to hear any stories of your food experiences in Hong Kong!