6 Tasty Bites of Hong Kong, Where It’s What’s on the Plate that Counts

Shrimp dumplings in Hong Kong
Steamed dumplings look good and taste even better--Photo by Wallace Immen

A Michelin-starred meal for less than $20? You can find it in Hong Kong, along with a vast array of other gourmet treats in the most unpretentious of settings.

Dining like the locals in Hong Kong requires going beyond the externals. On streets lined with hawkers’ stalls and walk-up apartment blocks, the aromas and sights of fresh food being prepared and cooked are pervasive.

Those who are willing to look beyond the often simple décor of tiny restaurants–and in some cases share a table with other diners–will be rewarded with some of the tastiest and most freshly made food available anywhere.

Noodle shop in Hong Kong
The food is simple and oh so good–Photo by Wallace Immen

On a post-cruise stay in this ever-changing city, we booked one of the daily foodie tours offered through the Hong Kong Tourism Board. Our starting point is Sham Shui Po, a working- class area of Kowloon near the Prince Edward MTR (subway) station.

The sidewalks here are cluttered with displays of clothes for sale and folding tables piled high with new and used electronics and housewares. There are also scores of unpretentious restaurants and bakeries cooking up food that gets sold to local residents in the know as soon as it’s made.

Let’s have a tour of local tastes:

Chef Mak of Tim Ho Wan restaurant
Chef Mak Kwai Pui outside of Tim Ho Wan restaurant–Photo by Wallace Immen

1) Tim Ho Wan

If not for the regular lines outside, you’d be hard pressed to find the doorway adorned with red labels on Fuk Wing Street (no guys… in Cantonese Fuk means good fortune). The stickers proclaim that the austere looking Tim Ho Wan dim sum restaurant has been awarded a star in the Michelin Guide.

It’s the home base of Chef Mak Kwai Pui, who used to work in the 3 Michelin star Lung King Hing of the Four Seasons Hotel. He says he wanted to make top-quality dim sum available to people who can’t afford to dine in luxury hotels.

The restaurant is sparsely decorated  and crowded and the menu is a paper place mat with photos of the dishes that look much like classic dim sum favorites. But the proof is in the tasting. They’re made with ultra-fresh ingredients and meticulous care and what Chef Mak calls “heart.”

It’s a common mistake to eat dim sum as soon as it arrives at the table, the chef advises. The secret to savoring the taste of dim sum is to let it cool a bit before you bite in.

Pork bun at Tim Ho Wan
It’s a pork bun with a big difference–Photo by Wallace Immen

What can they do to make a pork bun rise to gourmet levels? Bite into one here and you’ll find out. The exterior is crumbly and fluffy and the barbecued pork inside oozes with a sweet and salty sauce.

Each bite of a chiu chow style steamed dumpling or glue rice steamed in lotus leaf is an explosion of flavor. Other specialties are the  vermicelli roll stuffed with pig’s liver and pan fried carrot cake and the melt in your mouth steamed egg cake  Nothing on the menu costs more than the equivalent of about $4 U.S.

The concept is so popular there are now four other locations of the restaurant in Hong Kong and one in Singapore.

2) Pat Sin Bakery

Next is a walk to visit a bakery that’s become a local legend. It started as the bakery for a restaurant that closed a couple of decades ago and the family moved the equipment to Nam Cheong Street and set it up as an independent shop.

Now operated by a second generation, it’s become a tradition for its consistently top quality products including walnut cookies, sesame rolls and fried red bean dumplings and hand-made moon cakes. A gold plaque inside the restaurant bears the initials PS, for Pat Sin, which means “eight immortals.”

Chinese French toast
Afternoon snack on a well worn table–French toast with maple syrup–Photo by Wallace Immen

3) Chinese French Toast

Next a quick stop for what you won’t often find in Chinese restaurants in other parts of the world, but is a specialty in this neighborhood. A local snack is two slices of bread dipped in an egg sauce and fried and then served with a jam filling and drizzled with maple syrup. It would make an excellent breakfast with a mug of tea. It’s tasty, but filling and we’ve got a lot of eating left to do on our tour.

Bamboo noodles
Bamboo noodles at Lau Sam Kee–Photo by Wallace Immen

4) Lau Sam Kee Noodle Shop

The tiny Lau Sam Kee shop has been famous for its Cantonese bamboo noodles for 60 years. They still knead and roll the dough by hand with bamboo poles, a time-consuming process of repeated rolling that brings out flavor and resilience in the structure of the flour.

Unlike ordinary noodles that get flabby in cooking, these ultra-thin noodles keep their crunch and they never stick together. They’re served on simple plates with steamed vegetables and tea or soda.

Bean pudding in Hong Kong
Bean pudding at a street corner stand–Photo by Wallace Immen

 5) Put Chai Ko

Then, if you haven’t yet had your fill, there’s a final stop at a street-corner shop for a dessert, or just a taste of a Hong Kong street food specialty: bean pudding or put chai ko. The sweet, rich almost cake-like pudding became popular in the 1980s when it was sold  all over the city from pushcarts. Today, it’s less ubiquitous but still found in many local street food stands and served on tissue paper for eating on the go.

If you ask, you can get a small taste for free. After so many tastings this afternoon, that’s all I wanted. The sweet treat is a fitting way to top off a great street meal.

6) Snake soup anyone?

We could go on. For the brave, there’s snake soup emporium as well on Fuk Wa Street. I’ve tried snake soup in the past (tastes kind of like chicken), although it’s not my thing, I’m sure it their version is wonderful. But I’ve reached my limit for an afternoon of eating. You can also buy a belt made with the skins of the critters they cook, but they’re an acquired taste in fashion.

And all the restaurants with their well-worn tables and paper menus live up to the old saying that in Chinese cuisine it’s not the setting but what’s on the plate that counts.

That’s what makes Hong Kong such a fascinating food adventure.

About Wallace Immen 749 Articles
Wallace Immen is Executive Editor of The Cruisington Times, the Best in Cruising, Travel, Food and Fun. He's sailed on all of the world's seas to ports in over 100 countries and travelled on every continent.