Hong Kong is justifiably famous for its restaurants and its cuisine.
Hong Kong is also known both for its fast-paced lifestyle, and its incredible variety of street food. Nothing better represents those two things than these ubiquitous and scrumptious meat sticks: Grab one and go.
Here are a selection of top Hong Kong food items that make us rather not live than live without:
Five-layer roast pork
A great piece of siu yuk should have a top layer of crackling skin, then alternating slivers of fat with moist meat, and a final salty-spiced layer at the bottom. Euphemised as five-layer meat, the morsels are served with sharp yellow mustard to cap off an overwhelming experience of textures and flavors all rendered from a humble slice of pork belly.
See website for location details http://www.leigarden.hk/eng/location/hongkong.asp
'Pineapple' bun
The boh loh baau (literally meaning "pineapple bun") is the holy grail of what may generously be termed the Hong Kong school of baking. It's firm on the outside, soft on the inside and topped by crunchy, sugary pastry.
- Kam Wah, 47 Bute Street, Mongkok, tel +852 2392 6830
- Hong Lin, 143 Tung Choi Street, Mongkok, tel +852 2391 8398.
Sweet tofu soup
Sweet tofu soup is one of those deceptively simple dishes whose potential for satisfaction far outweighs the complexity of its ingredients. One of the best places to try it is Kin Hing, a lean-to stall in the countryside of Lamma Island that is run by an elderly couple who serves nothing but ‘dau fu faa’. It’s smooth and soft, doused in a lightly sweet syrup and sprinkled with yellow sugar; the sharp sweetness of the sugar complements the musty soya flavour of the tofu.
To get there, walk from Yung Shue Wan towards Hung Shing Yeh "Powerplant" Beach.
Stinky tofu
No doubt you will have heard or read about the stench emanating from one of the strangest foods to come out of this part of the world.
But nothing can really prepare you for the stink. Smelly tofu, like durian, is one of Asia's most iconic "weird foods."
The stench is a result of fermentation of the tofu and it is such an overpowering smell you'll be hard-pressed to shake it off for months to come. But Hong Kongers really love that stink. Well, most Hong Kongers.
Follow your nose to Delicious Food, shop 10, G/F, 30-32 Nullah Road, Prince Edward, Tel +852 2142 7468.
Hong Kong-style French toast
Unlike its more restrained Sunday brunch counterpart, Hong Kong-style French toast is for when you're stressed out and looking for a warm, deep-fried hug.
It's two pieces of toast slathered with peanut butter or kaya jam, soaked in egg batter, fried in butter and served with still more butter and lots of syrup. Too much of this will send you to an early grave, but it's the perfect comfort-food combination of simple flavours and textures: sweet and savoury, soft and crispy.
Lan Fong Yuen's takeaway stall,中環結志街2號, 2 Gage Street, Central, tel +852 2544 3895
Pork neck instant noodles with cheese sauce at Sun Kee
This neighbourhood cha chaan teng (tea restaurant) is so famous for its fried pork neck instant noodle topped with a giant dollop of cheese sauce, that once you step into either the Wan Chai or TST branch and utter something that even sounds remotely like "cheese" or "ramen", the servers will know what you're trying to order. The bowl of instant noodles arrives quickly, topped with thick slices of fried pork neck and oozing with a creamy cheese sauce. Both of Sun Kee's locations are frequented by Hong Kong celebrities, as evidenced by the numerous pictures plastered on the windows.
Address :
- Shop G11-G14, New Century Plaza, 151-163 Wan Chai Road, Wan Chai, Telp : +852 2574 3988
- 3-14 Champagne Court, 16-20 Kimberley Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Telp : +852 2722 4555
Snake soup
Snake soup is said to cure any number of ailments. The real reason to indulge in this Cantonese delicacy is because it's the perfect dish for cool weather.
There's something about the broth mix of snake meat, mushrooms, ginger and pork that does an even better job of warming you up than chicken noodle soup.
The soup is usually served with fried bits of dough, slivers of kaffir lime leaf and chrysanthemum petals for aroma.
Address : Se Wong Yan, 80A, Woosung Street, Jordan
Kau Kee Beef Brisket
The brisket is a much maligned part of the cow in Western cooking, but you'll find huge chunks of it being slowly stewed in giant pots of sauce in noodle shop windows all over Hong Kong until they're tender and soaked with juicy goodness.
Kau Kee, G/F, 21 Gough Street, Sheung Wan, Tel +852 2850 5967.
Yung Kee's roast goose
Yung Kee has been around since the 1940s when it was a mere food stall near the ferry pier and has since grown to be the authority on Hong Kong roast goose.
Today, nine out of 10 people will recommend friends visiting Hong Kong to have a meal at Yung Kee for their 'siu ngoh.' The restaurant will even specially pack their goose as carry-on luggage for departing travelers. It isn't the cheapest by a long way and some may say that the most authentic roast duck is still to be found deep in the New Territories, but its an institution not to be missed.
If you're inclined, try the equally famous thousand-year egg with ginger, which is so reputable, other restaurants buy from Yung Kee to serve to their own customers.
Yung Kee Restaurant, 32 Wellington Street, Central, Tel +852 2522 1624
website : www.yungkee.com.hk
Roast pigeon Shui Wah Restaurant 萃華酒家
The highlight at Shui Wah Restaurant was Roast Pigeon so how can we not order this dish. It has a very crispy skin and tender meat. It tasted somehow like duck but has a stronger taste. The pigeon is about twenty plus centimetres in length, not very big.
Shui Wah Restaurant 萃華酒家
51 Tsuen Nam Road, Tai Wai
大圍村南道51號
Tel: +852 2606 7117
Opening Hour : Daily 11:00 to 23:00
Getting There: by MTR to Tai Wai (Exit A)
Ho To Tai Egg noodles
A quality egg noodle depends on its egg flavor and al dente texture. Egg noodles don't get much better than at Ho To Tai Noodle Shop, which has been in business for over six decades. One of the favorite menu is the shrimp roe-covered noodles served with a bowl of fish soup. Salty shrimp roe is generously sprinkled all over strips of noodles that have just the right amount of elasticity and egginess. Ho To Tai's wontons are also reputable and made to the size of a dollar-coin, as is the tradition.
Ho To Tai Noodle Shop, 元朗阜財街67號No.67, Fau Tsoi St, Yuen Long; Tel +852 2476 2495, website : www.htt.com.hk
Milk tea
It's colonialism in a cup.
You could argue that afternoon tea is the single most pervasive legacy of British rule, enjoyed as it is by Hong Kongers from all walks of life, and milk tea is the most potent symbol of English traditions fused with Chinese sensibilities. Top-notch milk tea is made with a special blend of black Ceylon tea that is strained through silk stockings and mixed with evaporated milk. A good cup is bitter, full-bodied and velvety smooth.
MTR : Wanchai, exit a3
North Point mini egg cakes
Crackly on the outside and spongy on the inside, this street-side joint’s mini toasted egg cakes -- called 'gai daan tsai' -- is a clear winner in a city where the snack is just as ubiquitous as potato chips in a convenience store. At North Point Mini Egg Cakes, the eggy batter is toasted to golden-brown perfection and everyone from office workers to housewives crowd around each night for a delicious morsel.
North Point Mini Egg Cakes, 492 King's Road, North Point, Telp : +852 2590 9726.
Kwan Kee Claypot Rice
With 18 years of experience and more than 30 choices, Kwan Kee is the master of claypot rice. The restaurant is located between Sheung Wan and Central districts, a neighborhood that is rich in the colors of Old Hong Kong. There is usually a long queue at the entrance after 7 p.m., when the office drones get off work.
The trick is to place your order first, so that it can be prepared as you wait for a table, sometimes up to an hour. The rice is crispy on the bottom as it should be and doesn’t stick to the pot.
The preserved sausage is quite famous here. It's meaty and glistens in fat, without being greasy. Another popular dish at Kwan Kee's is the pork bone hot pot, a great alternative for cold winter nights.
Open daily, 6-11 p.m.
Kwan Kee Claypot Rice, Shop 1, Wo Yick Mansion, 263 Queen's Road West, Western District, Tel +852 2803 7209
Congee Sang Kee Congee Shop – 生记粥品
This 40 year-old congee specialist has combined three shop spaces into one. Its Fish Congee, Fresh Crab Congee and Congee with Pig Giblet are all delicious. For the Fish Congee, they use only tench, a river fish which does not have a fishy or muddy odour. The fresh crab congee has a light taste, and it’s recommended that your stir in the crab roe to let the flavour infuse the congee. Also good choices are the hor fun, noodles and stewed beef brisket, which are available only after 11am. Do try the Pan-fried Fish Cake which has a lovely, springy texture.
It’s the Hong Kong food we crave when we’re sick, cold or missing home. And the deciding factor is texture over flavor. Known for its assortment of fresh fish congee, Sang Kee Congee Shop has customers lining up everyday for its fleecy rice porridge boiled from 2am every morning. Portions are large enough to keep an average, middle-aged man satisfied.
Sang Kee Congee Shop, G/F, 7-9 Burd Street, Sheung Wan, Tel +852 2541 1099.
DIRECTIONS: Sheung Wan MTR Station, Exit A2
Open: 6.30am-9pm (closed on Sundays ) Bowl pudding
For those who miss the 1980s when palm-sized puddings steamed in porcelain bowls (buut tsai goh) were widely sold by street hawkers, Kwan Kee Store gives us that taste of childhood we’re craving for. Since 1965, the Fu family from Shunde has been grinding glutinous rice flour by hand to make their signature bowl puddings with white or brown sugar and sometimes red beans. Even chief executive Donald Tsang had to make a special visit for a taste.
Kwan Kee Store 坤記糕品
Shop 10, 115-117 Fuk Wah Street, Sham Shui Po, tel +852 2360 0328.
深水埗福華街115-117號北河商場地下10號舖
Mango pudding in mango sauce with extra mango
There's really only one ingredient that matters at Hui Lau Shan: mango. The sweet, ripe fruit, imported from Thailand, finds its way into just about every dish at this dessert chain, which has conquered Hong Kong and spread as far afield as San Francisco. The shop's most representative dish combines a milky mango pudding with thick mango purée, mango ice and generous chunks of mango. Extra sugar is left aside in favour of the fruit's naturally robust sweetness.
Hui Lau Shan, multiple locations, see website for details www.hkhls.com.
Fishballs
According to Wikipedia, which sourced from Apple Daily's 2002 report, Hong Kongers eat about 37.5 million fishballs per day. A simple Google Maps search reveals that for every two 7-Elevens you pass by, you’ll find a shop that specializes in this beloved snack. And if you’re really desperate, even 7-Eleven will sell you some. Everyone has their own favorite fishball joint that they swear by, and our's is Tung Tat for their firmness and intense curry flavor.
Tung Tat Restaurant, G/F, 48 Pitt Street, Yau Ma Tei, Tel +852 2332 8376.
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