Eating Hong Kong China 吃閎空

Welcome to Hong Kong, a city 1/4 the size of New York with 7 million bustling people.  Luckily for this chef I have cousins who have called this East meets West city home for nearly 25 years.  Slipping away from Shanghai like a fish that doesn’t want to get caught for dinner I picked up an early morning flight and flew to Hong Kong.

Facts that travelers should know about Hong Kong before they get there. Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated cities in the world with an average of 6,250 people per square mile. This acorn size metropolis was under British rule for nearly 150 years.  And let me add the “Hong Kongers” are quite happy they have a sophisticated and unique place to call home.

My eyes turned around like a flounder once I stepped off the plane!  3 languages make up Hong Kong; English (thanks to the Brits), Mandarin, but the native tongue in the south is Cantonese.  Thank god I had my cousin “T” and bizarre foods eating partner to help out in the other two!

Hong Kong has a sophisticated system of public transportation and ways of doing basic day to day commerce with what they call the Octopus Card.  Swipe and go! We spent several days eating our way through Hong Kong and sadly we were only able to patron a small fraction of the bustling city’s food scene.  The day I arrived I was ready to EAT, so packed onto a boat like a sardine headed in on a food mission!  We went into one of Tammy’s favorite sit down joints where sampling shrimp sates, noodles, and other various dishes.  All were a huge hit and flavor profiles differed quite a bit from Mainland China food.

After we ordered 1/2 the menu at dinner my cousins took me around Hong Kong’s night markets and a variety of neighborhoods before heading home.  I found the entire city to be like the Las Vegas Strip but with hills and much better food!

Winding down and back in Discovery Bay it was time to drink some  Chinese tea and head off to bed.  I better get some sleep Tammy and I have some big bites to take tomorrow!  My rules for Eating Hong Kong are:  Street food, weird food, organs, brains, all okay, embrace me with all Hong Kong has to offer!  I sense the best street food stands in Hong Kong are in my future!

Please, no fermented tofu (stinky tofu)!

Stay tuned for Mission Food Scene, HONG KONG.

One Response to “Eating Hong Kong China 吃閎空”

1. David A says:

   January 24, 2011 at 3:56 pm

   I’d love to have that Octopus card. Do the food carts accept those? I’d figure cash is king.
   Some of those food pics look FANTASTIC

   Reply