Coffee on Cat Street

We slept in on Sunday after our first night at Clockenflap, both of us needed some beauty rest. A lot of store fronts are closed, weirdly, but we found a traditional little outfit with geese and ducks hanging in the window.  A hole in the wall literally with Chinese newspaper write-ups and pictures of famous people posing with the owner pasted on the walls. With only 2 tables in the joint we shared one with a man who luckily spoke English. We couldn't communicate with the owner so the man sitting with us translated, he asked if we wanted meat or intestine: MEAT please. Then arrived two bowls of grayish bean soup with indistinguishable bits of goose or pork in it. Not bad... then a huge plate of rice with pickled cabbage and thin slices of goose. It was super tender and super affordable. By far the cheapest meal we've had $64 for the two of us. Hong Kong has a huge food scene with restaurants catering to the mostly British/international Bankers. They like to wine and dine after work and we've seen a few shit shows of whitey drunkards out in the bar scene. Quite entertaining.
After digesting our breakfast of goose, we wandered to Cat Street. It's known for the art galleries and specialty shops. At Ex Libris we saw Australian artist, James McGrath latest work. Beautiful color palette inspired from his special access visit to a Baroque Monastic Library in Prague. It houses more than 125,000 centuries-old parchments & manuscripts. Next door was an ever more visually appealing exhibit. "Postcards from Las Vegas" from the artist duo Rob & Nick Carter. They juxtaposed large prints of vintage postcards from they've been collecting since the 70's with Neon Signs! They commissioned the neon from an eighty-something craftsman who hand bends each tube. Pretty cool.

On the walk back to the apartment we found Hong Kong street artist's storefront: Start from Zero. Then just as I was proudly saying, "I haven't had a coffee in three days!" Clare spots this super legit coffee bar. The barista was so interesting to watch, he brewed out of a coffee syphon smelling the roast and tasting each cup (like a bartender tasting a drink to insure its mixed to perfection) before he served it. I got a wee education about filters, beans from Africa vs. South America, and the flavor components in Coffee beating out wine 800 to 200. Unbelievable! The place was called knockout coffee. $30 Hong Kong dollars for a cup of joe. Down the next alley was this cute flower shop. Looked like they were doing a workshop... Around the corner Clare and I picked up a few charms for family/friends. We're thinking of you :)