TRAVEL BLOG
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Street Eating in Hong Kong
Boiling Offal Pots
Eating in Hong Kong is hard work if you don't eat meat. I'm not a vegetarian but I'm not a fan of offal, which is what most of what the street food in Hong Kong seems to be.
Pots of boiling offal
For a city that was once a jewel of the British Empire it is surprising how little English is spoken on the the street. This makes for ordering food a challenge.
I found a place serving some sort of meat product skewered on a stick, which was most tasty. I then moved on to the next tray, and pointed to these frying balls of something. The lady said "spicy"! I nodded. She said again "spicy"!! I said "OK, I like spicy", then she repeated again "SPICY"!!!
"OK OK give me spicy".
She gave me a container with 10 of them. They were excruciatingly spicy, and I like spicy. I forced the third one down before surrendering and running off to the nearest 7/11 to put out the fire.
Know where your food comes from
Eating in Asia you get a better sense of where your food comes from. In the west we only have to see our meat as prime cuts neatly packaged in a styrofoam container at the supermarket. You can walk around markets and see live chickens waiting to be slaughtered and live fish carved up before your eyes, still gasping for breath.
Live Chickens
Live crabs can be bought in shops on the street as well. These crabs aren't in a water tank though. They are bound with bamboo and stacked neatly on top of each other as if they were boxes.
Live Crabs
Eating Vegetarian
Eating for vegetarians can be hard going here, even if you go to a "vegetarian restaurant". I looked at some menus of vegetarian restaurants and found that every item had meat in it.
Pretend Vegetarian Restaurant
Sometimes vegetarian options at restaurants include prawns and bits of pork.
The safest option for a vegetarian is to go to an Indian restaurant. If they say it is vegetarian you know that it will be. When in Hong Kong I like to visit Branto on Lock Road, which my vegetarian sister put me onto.
There are plenty of other vegetarian restaurants in Hong Kong as well.
Branto Indian Restaurant - Lock Road
Masala Dosa - Branto Window View
Sweet Things
The Hong Kong egg tart is a cheap and tasty snack that can be found all over Hong Kong.
Hong Kong Egg Tart
Also on Lock Road I frequent this juice bar daily. They have a variety of fresh juices, as well as a sweet mango or coconut drink with tapioca balls, which I struggle to limit myself to two a day.
Juice Bar
Eating in Hong Kong is hard work if you don't eat meat. I'm not a vegetarian but I'm not a fan of offal, which is what most of what the street food in Hong Kong seems to be.
Pots of boiling offal
For a city that was once a jewel of the British Empire it is surprising how little English is spoken on the the street. This makes for ordering food a challenge.
I found a place serving some sort of meat product skewered on a stick, which was most tasty. I then moved on to the next tray, and pointed to these frying balls of something. The lady said "spicy"! I nodded. She said again "spicy"!! I said "OK, I like spicy", then she repeated again "SPICY"!!!
"OK OK give me spicy".
She gave me a container with 10 of them. They were excruciatingly spicy, and I like spicy. I forced the third one down before surrendering and running off to the nearest 7/11 to put out the fire.
Know where your food comes from
Eating in Asia you get a better sense of where your food comes from. In the west we only have to see our meat as prime cuts neatly packaged in a styrofoam container at the supermarket. You can walk around markets and see live chickens waiting to be slaughtered and live fish carved up before your eyes, still gasping for breath.
Live Chickens
Live crabs can be bought in shops on the street as well. These crabs aren't in a water tank though. They are bound with bamboo and stacked neatly on top of each other as if they were boxes.
Live Crabs
Eating Vegetarian
Eating for vegetarians can be hard going here, even if you go to a "vegetarian restaurant". I looked at some menus of vegetarian restaurants and found that every item had meat in it.
Pretend Vegetarian Restaurant
Sometimes vegetarian options at restaurants include prawns and bits of pork.
The safest option for a vegetarian is to go to an Indian restaurant. If they say it is vegetarian you know that it will be. When in Hong Kong I like to visit Branto on Lock Road, which my vegetarian sister put me onto.
There are plenty of other vegetarian restaurants in Hong Kong as well.
Branto Indian Restaurant - Lock Road
Masala Dosa - Branto Window View
Sweet Things
The Hong Kong egg tart is a cheap and tasty snack that can be found all over Hong Kong.
Hong Kong Egg Tart
Also on Lock Road I frequent this juice bar daily. They have a variety of fresh juices, as well as a sweet mango or coconut drink with tapioca balls, which I struggle to limit myself to two a day.
Juice Bar
Labels: china, food, hong-kong
Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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