Wineshark Go Hiking - Wilson Trail Section 8 衛奕信徑(第八段) 元墩下至九龍坑山

Difficulty: 4/5

Distance: 9.09 km

From: Yuen Tun Ha

To: Cloudy Hill

Transportation:

• Take Green Minibus 23K from Tai Po Market Station heading to San Uk Ka, alight at terminus.
• Return by walking for about 4.8 km to Hok Tau Wai Pavilion to take Green Minibus 52B to Fanling Station

Date: 31 Dec 2021

This section of Wilson Trail has the distance post from W089 to W105. Starting at Yuen Tun Ha, first walk downhill along Wun Yiu Road, passing by the houses in San Uk Ka.

At the junction turn left to Wun Yiu Kiln Site, and after a few houses, walk up the dirt trail following the signs and into the hills.

Soon the way becomes concrete and this part is an easy walk. You will see the houses in the Lai Chi Shan area, and the new buildings of The Paramount and The Regent in the distance.

Further on it is all concrete road, and there is an interesting temple with a rock that looks like it is being cleaved in half, thus the name 'Sword-testing Rock'.

Continue on, the concrete road leads to Shek Lin Road, turning right to go downhill.

There is an abandoned school along the way. 

Then you will see the beautiful temples of Pun Chun Yuen. But due to COVID, no visitor is not allowed at the moment.

Continue along Shek Lin Road to Yat Wing Garden.

Then cross Kam Wo Bridge and walk along the river. Right before Parc Versailles turning right to Tai Po Tau Shui Wan Road. 

Walk along the road and then cross Tai Po Road (Tai Wo), you will reach Tai Po Tau. 

Following the signs soon you will reach the steps leading uphill, and begin the ascend to Cloudy Hill. The way is very well-paved so despite the physical challenge, the condition of the trail is in fact easy. 

On the way you will see the houses of Hong Lok Yuen on the left.

There are a number of pavilions on the way, offering places to take rest. On the fourth one there is a sign showing the way to Cloudy Hill, with the trail becoming rough dirt trail. This is the most challenging part of the whole section. 

The ascend is not too difficult with a pair of hiking shoes, but coming down probably would be a bit scary. On the way there is a rock painted white and writing the name of the hill on top. 

The final ascend is quite steep.

After that you will reach the summit and see the trigonometrical station, indicating the height of 288m.

There are good views of Tai Po Industrial Estate in the distance, with Tolo Harbour, Ma On Shan and Sai Kung West in the background.

Here you can also see the transmitting station on the top of Cloudy Hill, which still looks like quite far away.

On the left you can see Lam Tsuen, Tai Wo Village and Yuen Leng in the distance.

Continue on, the dirt trail soon becomes concrete steps again. The whole journey is relatively easy walking along the ridge with the up and down of stone steps. 

Reaching the top of Cloudy Hill, the transmitting station is right in front. 

Following the wire fence you can go up a bit to discover the trigonometrical station, reaching 490m. Returning to the trail, the descend begins the next section of Wilson Trail.  

Wineshark Cooking Class - Duck Breast Stuffed a la Rouennaise with Green Noodle 法國釀鴨胸魯昂式伴青麵

Ingredients (for 4):

• Duck breast - 2 
• Salt - 1/2 tsp
• Black pepper finely - 1/4 tsp
• Pate de Foie - 1 can
• Flour - 1/2 oz
• Egg - 1
• Brown sauce - 5 oz
• Olive oil - 1 tbsp
• Green noodle - 1.5 lb
• Salt - 1/2 tsp
• White pepper finely - 1 pinch
• Green vegetables - 1 lb

Procedures:

1. Remove the skin of the duck breast.

2. Slice the duck breast in halves.

3. Season the duck breast with salt and black pepper finely.

4. Stuff the duck breast with pate de foie in the middle.

5. Coat the duck breast with flour, then dip in whisked egg.

6. Pan-fry the duck breast until both sides are golden. Keep warm.

7. Cook the pasta according to the package instruction.

8. Drain the pasta and then put in a pan with olive oil to stir fry. Season with salt and white pepper finely.

9. Put the pasta on the serving plate, and then put the duck breast on top. Pour some brown sauce on the side, paired together with some green vegetables.

Wineshark Cooking Class - Brown Sauce 黃汁

Ingredients (for 4):

• Raw bones - 1 lb
• Celery - 2 oz
• Onion - 3 oz
• Carrot - 3 oz
• Bay leaf - 3
• Thyme - 1 tsp
• Rosemary - 1 tsp
• Black peppercorn - 20 
• Cooking oil - 3 oz
• Flour - 2 oz
• Tomato paste - 1 oz
• Water - 2 lb
• Red wine - 2 oz
• Maggi - 1 tbsp

Procedures:

1. Put the raw bones in oven to roast until golden brown.

2. Cut the celery, onion and carrot into pieces. 

3. Heat the pot with oil, and then add in the vegetables to stir-fry until fragrant.

4. Add in bay leaves and black peppercorn. Then add in the herbs and tomato paste. Continue to stir-fry.

5. Add flour and continue to stir fry.

6. Add water and mix well. Then add red wine.

7. Add in the roasted bones and the residual jus. 

8. Continue to simmer for about 2 hours. Stir frequently to avoid sticking to the bottom.

9. Filter the sauce out.

10. Season with Maggi and salt. 

Wineshark HK Restaurant Review - Tim Ho Wan (Sham Shui Po) 添好運

This Cantonese dim sum restaurant was started by Chef Mak Kwai Pui, who was with Lung King Heen before. Along with Chef Leung Fai Keung, they started the 20-seater dim sum restaurant in Mongkok. A year later, they earned their first Michelin, and then opened more branches, offering good dim sum at affordable prices. They are so successful and now become an international group, with restaurants in 13 countries. 

We came to the branch in Sham Shui Po today, the one with Michelin 1-star in town. Fortunately, we came early on a weekday, so after waiting for a short while we got our table. The environment was no-frill, with packed tables. But you can see that nobody would mind that and you could see customers happily enjoying their food. 

We ordered a number of their signature dim sum, and frankly everything was very good. The first was Baked BBQ Pork Buns 酥皮焗叉燒包 ($23). The buns got a crusty skin similar to something I had in childhood called Mexico Buns. The buns were soft and the BBQ pork fillings was tasty. A must-try.

The Braised Chicken Feet in Abalone Sauce 鲍汁燜鳳爪 ($33) was another good one. The chicken feet had been braised such that the bones could easily detach and the abalone sauce was also delicious. 

The Pig Liver Rice Roll 黃沙豬潤腸粉 ($26) got a good bite with the rice roll not too thick. The pig liver was cut into small pieces, and had cooked just appropriately, not too old to make it rubbery. 

The Pan-fried Radish Cake 香煎蘿蔔糕 ($19) was good as the amount of flour added was not too much to make the cake hard, but it did not have sufficient dried shrimp and cured meats, and was a bit too thin in size.  

The Shrimp Dumplings 晶瑩鮮蝦餃 ($31) had a thin dumpling skin, with the shrimp crunchy on texture and tasty. I could easily finish the whole portion by myself.

The Chiu Chow Style Dumplings 潮州蒸粉果 ($18) had a translucent skin so you could see the fillings inside, and they were great in taste, with the peanut and bamboo shoot providing a wonderful crunchy texture in the fillings. 

The Steamed Sponge Cake 香滑馬拉糕 ($21) was truly amazing, with the cake very fluffy and one of the best I had ever tasted. The sweetness was also spot-on. Really good and my recommendation. 

The service was decent, with the staff remained helpful despite they were very busy. The bill was $179 and considering the food quality it was a great bargain. Definitely worth a visit.