In the last blog post, I described about how I tried to find out whether a TVB location is real or not. It turns out to be very real indeed.
When I reached there on my first day, tears nearly reached my eyes (okie.. drama, emotional, pathetic..). But the joy of looking at an actual TVB location bring tears to my eyes. More importantly, I am amazed and shocked (like when I finally saw Statue of Liberty in New York or the White House in Washington DC.. kidding).
It is a real 大排当 ! In the serial, the place is called 胜芳园. In real life, it is called 胜香园大排当.
TVB:
Real Life:
And boy it is a VERY POPULAR place. We could not get a seat at all. People queue along the road side to wait for their turn. People even queue at the back of the store for the seats at the back (near a slope of stairs). Unlike in the TVB serial where it is very open air, the real store is more covered up with the tentage covers.
Pictures of the place on the very first day I was in Hong Kong:
Notice how HALO store is slightly different from the show as compared to now. At the time of filming, it is in WHITE but now it is in BLACK:
TVB Serial:
Real Life:
So why did I kept saying on my first day to the place ? Cause there is a 2nd day I went back again. I did not eat anything there on the first day and decided I must come back another day. No way am I going to miss eating at this place since it is so popular with Hong Kong people.
So on a Saturday morning, I went. I figured out that since it is in Central area, it must be popular with office workers and hence on a Saturday, it should be quite free right ? Er.. no.. still a long queue:
But luckily I got a place after ten minutes.
If you see the menu, you will have a surprise. Besides the usual bread, coffee, tea, there is a WHOLE LIST OF TOMATO RELATED FOOD ! Tomato with Noodles, with Eggs, with Beef.. you name it, there are all kinds of dishes with Tomato !
Apparently the TOMATO NOODLES (like Maggi mee cooked with Tomato sauce) is amazingly popular. I saw a lot of people ordering, eating and the kitchen kept serving bowls and bowls of the TOMATO NOODLES
Here’s how it looks:
I tasted it and it is not really my cup of tea. Everyone else seemed to be enjoy it… maybe I am just weird… but it does look a bit scary to me 🙂
I still prefer my usual Hong Kong style coffee/tea and bread. And eating by the roadside.
And tears still flow down to be eating at a popular Hong Kong 大排当 and TVB filming location. Kidding 🙂
I am just happy to be in Hong Kong so much 🙂
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Update in March 2017: Some new photos from this visit to update this post… These photos are much clearer and taken with iPhone 7
From front:
From back:
But some things never change.. I still like this:
Menu in March 2017:
Still glad to be back ! 🙂
Really very good food and beautiful pictures. Have a nice day.