I seldom spend money for food when traveling, but I'd been wanting to rid of that habit of holding back in trying out local cuisines of places I go to, since its also a part of the over-all travel experience. That is why, one of the things I was looking forward on my trip to Hong Kong last month was to satisfy my tongue's desire to commit mass gluttony.
Hong Kong is amass with a long list of iconic foods that occupies the top of the list of world class food connoisseur. Being a pantheon of galaxy away from being a food expert, I was all dressed the part of a chef coming to town and envisioning taste tests from one HK eatery to another. So while I was ready to taste the popular ones such as the chicken feet, the stinky tofu, ginger milk curd, Cantonese sausage, dimsum, beef brisket, pot roast, egg tart, Hong Kong burgers, fried ducks, snake soup, egg noodles, congee, tonkatsu and a lot more, I found out that it takes genuine effort to try these different foods at one go.
First, It's hard to order or choose from a menu written in Chinese characters. I've to rely on English translations, of which only a few restaurants have, sometimes I choose from the picture menu and fortunately, a few times the server was able to describe each even in broken English. Second, most of the servings are aplenty, coming from the "Jolli-jeep" world of Makati where I work and have most of my lunch, a single order of food fits right into my stomach like a volkswagen does in a four car garage, while in Hong Kong one bowl of egg noodles comes with tons of toppings that requires extra skill of consuming it all in a continuous motion without sacrificing my appetite's momentum.
Third, there's so much to choose from that I ended up walking more and trying to decide where to eat, I found myself just about to settle at one place only to be distracted by another food stop, deciding to go to the next one instead and then the next one and so on. It's like going to a single's club and spotting that hot girl from afar, you're on your way to approach her, with the pick up line you memorized earlier about to be recited with the swagger of George Clooney, but then you see this Diane (of Trainspotting) look-alike nearby, you drop your original plans and then go after Diane and end up talking to her in a cool, druggie infused Mark Renton voice. It was like that in Hong Kong, the places to eat are so abundant you'd go crazy choosing where to finally take a seat and commit gluttony at a large scale.
But it's a good problem. I'm sure Hugh Hefner in his heyday feels the same about food and Playboy Playmates. So, there I was in Hong Kong walking around like crazy getting hungry after an hour, forgetting about it until I skip lunch and will make up for it by ordering a massive plate of roast pork, egg tart and some dimsum in the afternoon then will cap it off with a large bowl of noodles adorned by seafood and beef toppings.
I even tried eating using chopsticks. I ended up looking like Kimbo Slice mimicking Bruce Lee's jeet kune do wherein all I ever know was a dirty kind of street fighting. I'm no master with chopstick but I know how to easily chug foods down my throat and in a few minutes I was like burping like a madman. Uttered the word "Solb" (expression of having hearty meal) many times during my food tripping around Hong Kong.
The first morning I was there I ended up in a noodle house where the food server asked me my nationality, I told her I'm a Filipino and her face showed a sincere smile and told me I look a bit Chinese, told her my late father was of Chinese descent. She told me Filipinos are cool when it comes to food, they're the types who orders a lot and speaks good English too. I'm glad that the issue or the anger that some Hong Kong citizens felt towards Filipinos in the aftermath of the infamous hostage situation in Quirino has seemingly been forgotten already which is a great thing.
I also went around Kowloon Food District located along Carpenter Road and Nam Kok Road which is also beside the Kowloon Walled City. The closest MTR station to this place was the Lok Fu station. Kowloon Food District comprises a row of 10 streets, where you can find more than 200 cheap and family-owned and run restaurants that serves favorite local and other Southeast Asian cuisines.
A normal meal for me is about a meal that might make someone puke for over-food consumption, but with that kind of meal, it costs about $30-$50 HK or approximately (150-250 pesos) but ordinary street foods found on little stalls are cheaper and costs from $5-15 good for a snack to bridge you from being starved to feeling alright. A bit expensive, lets say compared to local eateries here, but part of what you pay for is the new food experiences that Hong Kong brings.
A confession I had to make though, with the robust eating places in Hong Kong I still opted to western fast foods a couple of times. I ordered Chicken nuggets at Mcdonalds, but a misunderstanding occurred between me and the "order-taker slash cashier", so I was served with Hot and Spicy Chicken Fillet instead. I had breakfast on my second day at KFC where they also serve corn to go along with a soup and chicken fillet.
However, what stands out to me was the local cuisines and other Asian foods that I was able to taste. Looking back and thinking about it again just makes me starve right now. How I wish, I was back walking the streets of Kowloon or Mongkok once again. Burrrrp!
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What are you waiting for? the world offers a varying list of cuisines that will make one's appetite lit up in fervor. Contact your nearest travel agency to get a chance to avail deals on cheap package holidays. Food tripping on a holiday brings an awesome experience.
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What are you waiting for? the world offers a varying list of cuisines that will make one's appetite lit up in fervor. Contact your nearest travel agency to get a chance to avail deals on cheap package holidays. Food tripping on a holiday brings an awesome experience.
