Hong Kong: the food

A week in Hong Kong (including a day in China) was enough time to get quite a good sampling of dishes, although the trip’s first meal was quite a surprise. I was taken for Mexican food. As I said at the time, it had been hours since my last Mexican meal… in San Francisco. The next day at lunch I think it got mildly better, as they took us to the nearby Outback Steakhouse. Things got a little more interesting after that was out of the way…

In general, had some excellent foods on the trip, typically featuring dim sum and other Chinese foods. I might be unaware, but I don’t think HK is particularly known for a specific food, although the overall quality was very good. I’m sure more time and more exploration would’ve led to some very interesting finds, but I did have some standout meals.

On my day-trip into China (yes, clever one, that means I left Hong Kong and this doesn’t technically fit in, but it’s my trip report, so I can handle it as I’d like) I was taken out for a great lunch. First, we were welcome to walk to the back of the restaurant to see the various fish they had available. Only thing is, we were picking out live fish to eat for the meal. I had done this once before in China, but had a bit of trouble getting video footage. This time, it’s on YouTube!

The food was, if I may use the term, crazy delicious. We had options for two soups (I had both) – hot and sour (great) as well as a Chinese chicken soup (tasted like chicken broth mixed with dishwater). The main courses included steamed clams (good, but nothing special), a wonderful tofu dish (pictured on the right), pea shoot leaves (always good), a beef and noodles dish that I had never tasted before (also great), sauteed beef, eggplant, and more. Also included was a fried tube squid thing that they call Chinese french fries because they are so awesomely addictive (and don’t even need ketchup). The only dish I really didn’t enjoy was the mix of chicken and questionable items, which were apparently made to use the soup.

The other extra-special meal to recall was a buffet lunch at a place called “Kool” in the Kowloon Shangri-La. Best buffet. Ever. Chinese. Sushi. Indian. Grills (yes, plural). Salad. Dessert. Everything, all in one place. And, to capture it? Another video on YouTube!

Overall, dining in Hong Kong was quite enjoyable. I didn’t try anything out on the streets or in the markets (stinky tofu smells signficantly worse than it sounds). I had a decent, although not unbelievable Xiao Lim Bao at a Shanghai-style dim sum place. In the ex-pat region we went for Russian a few doors down from the aforementioned Mexican meal. No borscht, but I think the live musicians were playing the Tetris theme the whole time. I also had a very enjoyable Thai lunch, although they didn’t seem to have my favorite dish (Pad See Ew) but they almost made up for it with a steamed eggplant with peanut sauce, something I’ve never had quite the same before.