My Little HK Food Guide - Part 2

A Carnivore's Paradise

Above: RM 17 for the above, FRESH. Where to get in Malaysia??

HK is a carnivore's paradise, if you are a vegetarian, stray far far away from this meat loving city. Believe it or not, the dim sum in HK does little to move me. It is the meat dishes that actually get me craving for more. While a typical dim sum meal cost quite a bit, the dishes that I am going to blog about below are mostly averagely priced. Forget about the pricing, because everything you see here is worth paying the price for. Some are incredibly cheap compared to what we have to pay for the equivalent dish in Malaysia.

    Besides dim sum, HK is of course famous for its roasts. Char siew (barbecued pork), siew yoke (roast pork) and roast duck. Of course, all these dishes are duplicated all over Malaysia in stores claiming to serve "HONG KONG" style this and that. To be fair, some local restaurants do serve quite good roast pork and char siew, in fact I prefer some of the char siew here to what you can get in HK. However, among all these well known dishes, there is a lesser known one. One that you can hardly find in Malaysia and that can get you hooked to the taste of it and give up duck altogether. It is none other than roast goose. *salivating*

Above: Roast Gooooooooooooose!!

    As most people would have guessed, goose actually taste a lot like duck. However, some people tend to dislike the strong, sometimes livery taste of certain ducks. To me, a goose is like a duck with double the amount of meat, more tender and juicy and with a less gamy, livery flavour. Goose is easy to find in HK but not every store selling roast products serves goose. One of the favourite spots for locals is Sham Tseng Chan Kee Restaurant in Kowloon that is famous for their roast goose. The restaurant is quite easy to find, take a subway to Mong Kok station in Kowloon or go to Langham Place shopping mall, and then ask around =.=. The locals should know. Incredibly juicy and tender and so delicious. Goose is one of the more expensively priced meat in HK. Prepare to pay at least 60 HKD, which to me, is actually quite, in fact VERY cheap. Besides their famous roast goose, they also serve great steamed chicken, decent char siew and siew yoke. Steamed chicken in HK is also rather good, in my opinion better than any Ipoh steamed chicken. Dipped in a salty shallot dip, incredibly smooth skin and tender meat, yum.

Above: Sham Tseng Chan Kee Restaurant.

Above: Steamed chicken, otherwise known as "white cut" chicken. Amazing.

    Besides the poultry, HK is also famous for the beef dishes. Especially beef brisket. Please! Please do not misinterpret the word "brisket" as an organ. Beef brisket is actually the meat from the breast/chest of a cow, which is incredibly soft and tender, much like the mammary glands of the human female. People tend to shy away from brisket dishes when the word comes up.

Above: Curry brisket. Carb and meat lover's heaven.

Above: An in-store specialty. Beef brisket cooked with "secret" soup.

    Beef brisket is INCREDIBLY popular in HK. Everywhere you go, you can find a shop specialising in brisket dishes. Curry, soup, dry. Anything. Most restaurants will have their own special brisket dish. I particularly like brisket curry. Braised brisket is also incredibly good. As I mentioned, every store has a specialty brisket dish, its good to try their specialties. If you've missed every single store or is too lazy to look for one, fear not for there is actually a little food store in HK International Airport that serves good braised brisket. Called Lost City of Snacks, it is located in terminal 1 beside the staircase leading up to some steak house and a dim sum restaurant. They also serve famous HK snacks like curry cuttlefish and fishballs. Brisket really is sold everywhere in HK.

Above: A restaurant specialising in brisket in Kowloon.

Above: Good food is everywhere in HK, even the airport, and it's not overpriced like food served in our airports.

    Besides all the above mentioned, there are thousands of meat dishes to be savoured in HK. From the streets you can grab roast meats and also less common poultry like pigeon. From specialty stores you can grab incredibly fresh sashimi for reasonable prices. HK = carnivore's paradise.

Above: Braised pigeon, not my type of bird.