Hong Kong Eats

Hong Kong Eats

Hong Kong is definitely one of Asia’s main hot spots for sumptuous and delectable cuisine. Food found in Hong Kong is a combination of Cantonese and regional Chinese food, in addition to having a variety of Western cuisine widely available.

I think one cannot travel to Hong Kong without experiencing ‘Dim Sum’, also known as ‘Yum Cha’ – it’s literal translation meaning ‘drinking tea’. Having grown up in Singapore, I was whisked away in the family car, usually on a Sunday at about 11 am, to a weekly session of Dim Sum with family and friends.

Dim Sum consists of everything from steamed vegetable dumplings, deep fried taro (purple yams), roasted pork wrapped in puffed pastry to steamed chicken feet and pan-fried carrot cake to name a few. Wash this all down with an endless supply of the finest pot of tea and you are good to go! (Etiquette tip: if you are hosting guests, their tea cup should never be empty and never pour yourself tea first). It’s a communal affair with everything designed to be shared, with a lazy susan in the middle of a round table, it’s accessible and might I add, incredibly tasty. 

Here are my top favourites: 

• ‘Steamed sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf’: a lovely parcel of goodness with layers of shredded chicken, mushroom and dried scallops. 
• ‘Pan-fried Carrot Cake’: not in fact carrot at all! But a white turnip pudding, speckled with smoked Chinese sausage. 
• ‘Har Kau’: my favourite – a steamed dumpling with fresh prawns, so simple, but so good!
• ‘Siu Mai’: steamed pork dumpling, with mince prawn topped with a scattering of caviar.
• ‘Char Siu Bao’: sweet roasted pork wrapped in a steam bun.
• ‘Custard Bun’ – more of a dessert, but a delicious pillow of steamed bread filled with mouth watering custard.

Hong Kong also boasts an amazing variety of fresh seafood. So fresh in fact, when you arrive at certain restaurants, you can pick your own fish, crab or lobster to have and have it cooked for you. There are four main areas for fresh seafood in Hong Kong which are all worth a visit; Sai Kung, Lei Yun Mun, islands of Lamma and Cheung Chau.

You, of course, cannot go to Hong Kong without tasting the mouth watering Chinese BBQ, this is what you would normally see in windows of Cantonese restaurants. It consists of roasted pork, chicken or duck and usually served with rice or noodles or as an accompanying dish. The meat is glazed with a sweet marinade of five spice and roasted to perfection - a favourite of mine growing up, especially the roasted pork with crackling!

All in all, Hong Kong offers an amazing assortment of cuisine, with such an array of influences, it is sure to satisfy most worldly taste buds. If you are a foodie, as much as I am, it is without fail a great stopover to please the hungry traveller.