Hong Kong is my home. If I had to make a list of the luckiest things that have happened to me, one of them would be being born in Hong Kong. Food has always been an important part of Chinese culture, we catch up with friends over a meal, celebrate special occasions with a banquet, we even have iconic food items for traditional festivals (e.g. Mooncake for Mid-Autumn Festival), any excuse to eat really...
There are seven million people living in this small city, nearly half of them live on Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, and the other half live in New Territories. Many people have to work long hours, so sometimes cooking at home is considered to be a hassle, or there is simply not enough time to cook after a long day at work, so eating out has become a big part of daily life for the locals. Because of the rich food culture, and given the history of Hong Kong, it is not surprising to find cuisine from all over the world, along side regional Chinese eateries.
I have been to Hong Kong twice this year (August and September) since I started this blog, as it is so easy (and cheap!) to eat out, I hardly had a home cooked dinner when I was there. I am going to introduce you some of my local favourite cheap eats, snacks and cake shops in this post, mainly form my home town Yuen Long. There will be more restaurants in central Hong Kong featured in upcoming posts.
Lo Poh Beng (Wife Cake)
There are different versions of the story of where the name ‘wife cake’ came from, the most common one tells of a man who dedicated the cakes he made to his wife, because she sold herself as a slave in order to get medicine to heal his father’s illness.
Hang Heung cake shop is well known for their traditional wife cakes, it has been in business for more than ninety years! The bakery produces over twenty thousand wife cakes daily to cope with the demand from locals and tourists. The pastry is puff and flaky, and is filled with mild winter melon paste, best served hot.
恒香老餅家 Hang Heung Cake Shop, 64 Castle Peak Road, Yuen Long
Daan Tart (Egg Tart)
You can find egg tarts everywhere in Hong Kong - Chinese restaurants (as a dim sum item), traditional and modern bakeries - this shows how popular these little baked egg tarts are. Apparently (and not surprisingly) it was adapted from the English custard tart, which has now evolved to become one of the must-eat treats in Hong Kong.
Tai Cheong Bakery’s egg tart was described as ‘The Best’ by Chris Patten, the last British Governor of Hong Kong. The custard filling is light and creamy, together with the crumbly shortcrust pastry made this the best selling daan tart in Hong Kong.
泰昌餅家 Tai Chong Bakery, 35 Lyndhurst Terrace, Central
Mango drinks and desserts
Hui Lau Shan is a dessert franchise specialising in mango desserts. It is nothing spectacular, but you cannot beat a glass of fresh mango drink layered with mango jelly, mango puree, chunks of fresh mango and then topped with coconut milk when you are tired and thirsty, especially after shopping :) They also do a wide range of fresh fruit drinks and desserts, such as mango mochi which is equally satisfying.
許留山 Hui Lau Shan, 2 Yee Wo Street, Causeway Bay
Siu Mei (Roast meat)
Siu Mei is a classic Cantonese cuisine in its own right, which involves a great deal of preparation. Each restaurant has its own secret recipe for preparing the meat. The common meats - chicken, goose, duck and pork - are roasted in an open wood fire, and then hung to enhance the flavour. They are normally served on the bone, with a dedicated sauce for each. You can order them as an individual dish, or on top of rice/noodles for a quick meal.
Kam Gei is a local siu mei restaurant in my home town Yuen Long. We always order roast whole suckling pig from there, when there is a big traditional celebration in our local village. I highly recommend their ‘half fat half lean’ char siu, which melts in your mouth in no time!
金記 Kam Gei, 66 Shui Che Kwun Street, Yuen Long
Chea Jai Min (Trolley noodles)
As you might have guessed from the name, trolley noodles used to served by hawkers on the street, but since the hygiene standards came into force in recent years, most of the hawkers have vanished - although some have started their own trolley noodle style cafes in permanent venues. The basic idea is to choose your own type of noodle and toppings. A typical cafe would serve around five different type of noodle, and at least twenty toppings, including the exotic ones like lo sui pig’s intestine, deep fried pig’s skin, and cubes of solidified pig’s blood.
My favourite trolley noodles come from a very basic noodle cafe near my old secondary school. I remember the queue was long back then, but now the average queuing time can be over thirty minutes! Their success is due to three killer ingredients: the first is the braised Chinese radish, slow cooked in a light and sweet soy sauce based broth. Second is the lo sui pig’s intestine, so bouncy and rich that I have to order double portions every time I visit. The last one is the aromatic spicy sauce - it is a bit like satay sauce but a lot thicker. It is a highly spiced sauce, I could not tell what is in it apart from Chinese five spice... you just need a little to blow your head off!
永年士多 Wing Nin, 6 Fung Lok Lane, Yuen Long
This is just a small collection of my favourite snacks in Hong Kong, I tried to fit in as much as I could, but it was impossible to cover it all in two trips. Stay tuned for upcoming posts featuring more Chinese, as well as Sichuan and Japanese restaurants in Hong Kong!
There are seven million people living in this small city, nearly half of them live on Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, and the other half live in New Territories. Many people have to work long hours, so sometimes cooking at home is considered to be a hassle, or there is simply not enough time to cook after a long day at work, so eating out has become a big part of daily life for the locals. Because of the rich food culture, and given the history of Hong Kong, it is not surprising to find cuisine from all over the world, along side regional Chinese eateries.
I have been to Hong Kong twice this year (August and September) since I started this blog, as it is so easy (and cheap!) to eat out, I hardly had a home cooked dinner when I was there. I am going to introduce you some of my local favourite cheap eats, snacks and cake shops in this post, mainly form my home town Yuen Long. There will be more restaurants in central Hong Kong featured in upcoming posts.
Lo Poh Beng (Wife Cake)
There are different versions of the story of where the name ‘wife cake’ came from, the most common one tells of a man who dedicated the cakes he made to his wife, because she sold herself as a slave in order to get medicine to heal his father’s illness.
Hang Heung cake shop is well known for their traditional wife cakes, it has been in business for more than ninety years! The bakery produces over twenty thousand wife cakes daily to cope with the demand from locals and tourists. The pastry is puff and flaky, and is filled with mild winter melon paste, best served hot.
Daan Tart (Egg Tart)
You can find egg tarts everywhere in Hong Kong - Chinese restaurants (as a dim sum item), traditional and modern bakeries - this shows how popular these little baked egg tarts are. Apparently (and not surprisingly) it was adapted from the English custard tart, which has now evolved to become one of the must-eat treats in Hong Kong.
Tai Cheong Bakery’s egg tart was described as ‘The Best’ by Chris Patten, the last British Governor of Hong Kong. The custard filling is light and creamy, together with the crumbly shortcrust pastry made this the best selling daan tart in Hong Kong.
Mango drinks and desserts
Hui Lau Shan is a dessert franchise specialising in mango desserts. It is nothing spectacular, but you cannot beat a glass of fresh mango drink layered with mango jelly, mango puree, chunks of fresh mango and then topped with coconut milk when you are tired and thirsty, especially after shopping :) They also do a wide range of fresh fruit drinks and desserts, such as mango mochi which is equally satisfying.
Siu Mei (Roast meat)
Siu Mei is a classic Cantonese cuisine in its own right, which involves a great deal of preparation. Each restaurant has its own secret recipe for preparing the meat. The common meats - chicken, goose, duck and pork - are roasted in an open wood fire, and then hung to enhance the flavour. They are normally served on the bone, with a dedicated sauce for each. You can order them as an individual dish, or on top of rice/noodles for a quick meal.
Kam Gei is a local siu mei restaurant in my home town Yuen Long. We always order roast whole suckling pig from there, when there is a big traditional celebration in our local village. I highly recommend their ‘half fat half lean’ char siu, which melts in your mouth in no time!
Chea Jai Min (Trolley noodles)
As you might have guessed from the name, trolley noodles used to served by hawkers on the street, but since the hygiene standards came into force in recent years, most of the hawkers have vanished - although some have started their own trolley noodle style cafes in permanent venues. The basic idea is to choose your own type of noodle and toppings. A typical cafe would serve around five different type of noodle, and at least twenty toppings, including the exotic ones like lo sui pig’s intestine, deep fried pig’s skin, and cubes of solidified pig’s blood.
My favourite trolley noodles come from a very basic noodle cafe near my old secondary school. I remember the queue was long back then, but now the average queuing time can be over thirty minutes! Their success is due to three killer ingredients: the first is the braised Chinese radish, slow cooked in a light and sweet soy sauce based broth. Second is the lo sui pig’s intestine, so bouncy and rich that I have to order double portions every time I visit. The last one is the aromatic spicy sauce - it is a bit like satay sauce but a lot thicker. It is a highly spiced sauce, I could not tell what is in it apart from Chinese five spice... you just need a little to blow your head off!
This is just a small collection of my favourite snacks in Hong Kong, I tried to fit in as much as I could, but it was impossible to cover it all in two trips. Stay tuned for upcoming posts featuring more Chinese, as well as Sichuan and Japanese restaurants in Hong Kong!
When it comes to bakery, my faves are bolo bao (pineapple bun) and cocktail bun (gai mei bao) and cha siu chan bao. But I can't believe you didn't include 'stuff' on sticks, esp. fishballs!
ReplyDeleteBTW - looking forward to more HK posts.
Thanks Mr Noodles! I love gai mei bao too, I did have some in HK, but I ate it too fast that I forgot to take a photo >.<
ReplyDeleteNot a big fan of fish balls on stick, I like 'chuen siu'(串燒) more! I had too much to eat so didn't have space for them... I'll definitely include them in my next trip! There is a 'King of Skewer'(串皇) in my hometown Yuen Long!!!