Hong Kong Food - Top Hong Kong Cuisine
Hong Kong, as the crossroads of eastern and western cultures, has developed a blend of eating habits incorporating Chinese, notably Cantonese, and western cuisines.
Tea Dessert
Hong Kong People are particular about tea in their daily life and it is needful either in quiet tea café or in busy restaurants. Tea dessert is different from the dessert we usually think in that it not only refers to the sweet cakes but also refers to the daily snacks like fresh shrimp dumplings, steamed bum with roast pork, pearl chicken with scallop, salty dumpling, fresh shrimp rolls, steamed turnip cake, rolled beef with mangosteen, dumplings stuffed with sharp fin, fresh shrimp rice roll, fried bum with meat and vegetable, steamed bean curd sheet roll with oyster sauce, steamed chicken feet with black bean sauce, sago paste, mini egg tart, mango pudding and so on. They are various, tasty and cheap.
You can find these delicious tea desserts almost everywhere, including restaurants, shopping centers, busy streets, and Canton food restaurants in a residential area. Usually, at the gate of the restaurants have words like “tea fair” , “morning tea” and“lunch-tea”. And the normal serving time for tea dessert is 12：00-14：00.
Porridge and Noodles of Local Styles
On both sides of the streets, there are lots of cafes serving porridge, noodles, and wanton and featured dishes. Porridge in Hong Kong is specially cooked. Normally, first material like chicken and cow hells are boiled into a thick soup, then rice is put into the soup and stewed into a paste and then added with different contents, like beef, pork, chicken, fish egg, sliced fish, and preserved egg. Besides, white pepper and soy sauce will also be mixed in the porridge when it is ready to eat. Porridge cook in this way is adequate in nutrition and Hong Kong people like to eat them at breakfast.
As to noodles, the common ones are noodles with beef, noodles with rolled meat, wonton noodles, noodles with dumplings, noodles with pig’s foot, noodles with rolled cutter fish, and noodles with soybean pastes. Besides, other main foods in store for porridge and noodles include rice noodles, steamed rice roll, and so on. A steamed rice roll is a kind of noodles made of milled rice, which is really tasty.
Wherever you are, in the business area or residential area, you will find eateries for porridge and noodles everywhere. Generally speaking, these eateries are small only with several collapsible tables, and some are in the open air. But they are operated for a long time, some from 6:00 in the morning till midnight.
Hong Kong Soup
Soup is a needful part of Hong Kong People's daily diet. Every family cooks tonic soup three or four times a week. The material includes Chinese herbs, meat, bone, vegetable, seafood, and so on, and the control of time is very important for good soup. Normally, the bone and meat are stewed with Chinese herbs for a long time. Soup made in this way is thick and contains much nutrition.
As the pace of modern life becomes quicker and quicker, lots of people have no time to cook. Those smart businessmen have sieved the chance to open soup restaurants to serve this need.
Sea Food
Your visit to Hong Kong won't complete without a taste of seafood. Hong Kong is surrounded by the sea and seafood has become a vital part of Hong Kong's culinary art. You can eat fresh and delicious seafood either at large restaurants or at small sidewalk stalls. Seafood served in the region includes greasy back shrimp, lobster, green crab, red crab, shellfish, live snake, geoduck, stonefish, and those expensive ones like sharp fin, rudd, and sea ear.
Hakka Food
Hakka food also called Dongjiang food is a traditional food brought by Hakka who emigrated from the central plains of China. Its characteristics are salty, oily, and fragrant, similar to food in the northern area. Hakka food looks simple and the price is relatively cheap. Recommended dishes: Bean curd stuffed with minced pork, steamed pork belly with preserved greens, Hakka rolled meat to pot.
Asian Food
Hong Kong has Japanese food, South Korean food, Thai food, Vietnam food, Malaysia food, Singapore food, Philippians Food, and so on. Among them, Japanese food is delicate and has a fine appearance and it is famous for its fresh Sashimi, Rice and Vegetable Roll, Tappasaki, Sushi, and Rice Wine.
South Korea's gourmet specialties are various roasted meat (including pork, beef, chicken, fish, and sleeve-fish), pickle, and cold noodles. South Korean food is spiced and sour which is helpful to give one appetite. Famous dishes are Tung Yum Gung (shrimp soup), chicken in pandan leaves, fried rice with pineapple, fried rice, and so on.
As a new upsurge, Vietnam food is fresh and its ingredients come from botanical plants. The food is mainly of sweet and sour flavor and the specialties are sugar prawn, seven courses of beef, stewed eel with curry, beer crab, noodle with live beef, seafood sour soup.
As to Indonesian and Malaysian diets, with curry, vanilla, and coconut milk as their major ingredients, their food is spicy with a slight smell of coconut and the warmly welcomed dishes are Sumatra spicy beef, Indonesia fried rice, Gado salad, cake with coconut juice. And delicately cook and being particular over the freshness of material, Indian food is sour and sweet and often accompanied with various species, curry, and crispbread, and Indian fried rice is the featured main food.
Western Food
As an international metropolis, Hong Kong has a prominent number of foreign residents, so western food restaurant has a long history in Hong Kong. Many hotels have high-ranking kitchens and foreign cooks to serve authentic western food. The typical ones are French food, Italian food, Swiss food, British food, Spanish food, and American food. And among them, French food is well-known for its delicate material, strong taste and fresh content, British food for salty sweetness, fresh and light flavor, Spanish food for seafood and garlic favor, while Italian food for noodles and strong flavor.