Hong Kong’s tasty treats

One thing you don’t need to worry about here in Hong Kong is starving. Food is everywhere, from the fresh food markets to the local street stalls, from the amazing variety of restaurants to endless fast food chains. There is literally food everywhere you go.

While you can literally find any type of cuisine here in Hong Kong, the local style of cooking is Cantonese. The Cantonese influence is the result of Hong Kong’s geographical location near the Chinese Guangzhou province (Canton) and the fact that the majority of Hong Kong Chinese are immigrants or descendants of immigrants from Cantonese speaking parts of China.

One of the most well known dishes of Cantonese cuisine is dim sum. Dim sum refers to the dozen of types of small dumplings - whether boiled, fried or steamed - stuffed with vegetables, meat or seafood. Going for dim sum is sometimes also known as yum cha, which literally means going to “drink tea” (飲茶). Dim sum is particularly popular around lunchtime on weekends when families come out to eat and you’ll find long lines in front of the dim sum restaurants.

I recently went for my first real dim sum meal at Maxim’s Palace at city Hall and both the food and atmosphere were amazing. The restaurant was a huge lively and noisy room with waiters pushing trolleys with steaming bamboo baskets around the room. You simply point to what you want and they’ll put it on the table and on the bill. We tried steamed buns, rice noodle rolls, pork dumplings, spring rolls and some other dishes that I couldn’t identify. I can highly recommend the restaurant so if you’re ever here in Hong Kong make sure you include it in your itinerary (and to invite me!).

The large dining hall at the dim sum restaurant

My other new favorite dish is Peking duck, one of the most iconic dishes in China famous for its crisp skin and succulent fles. To achieve this the duck is air-dried, then coated with a syrupy sauce before roasting in an oven. The dish is eaten by wrapping slivers of the skin in thin steamed pancakes with spring onions, sliced cucumber and a variety of delicious sauces.

Traditional Peking duck

I had my first experience of eating Peking Duck in a local Chinese restaurant just over the Hong Kong border in Shenzhen. As tradition holds it, the chef sliced the duck at our table (see picture below) and we feasted on a table full of duck, pancakes and accompanying dishes. A single can be sliced in up to 120 slices so can therefore imagine that this dish is usually eaten by a group not by just two people as was the case with us! But the food was so delicious we actually managed to eat most of it!

The chef carves the duck at your table

Doesn't it look amazing!

There are still so many other dishes and cuisines to try here and I’m sure this won’t be the last time I’ll be writing about my culinary experiences here.

Bon appétit!