Eating (somewhat) like a local in Hong Kong

This is literally a taster. There are two reasons why I cannot do complete justice to food in Hong Kong. 

The first is because my visit was too short. Some days I was too far, or too hungry, to make my way to the recommended restaurants. The second is of course my quest for vegetarian food in a city that is perhaps best-known for its wide variety of seafood and meat-based street food. I have no regrets on the latter, and I hope to remedy the former by visiting again some day.

Till then, here are a few places worth checking out. Some are my own finds while others were recommended by a friend whose turf I has inadvertently stumbled upon.

1. Lan Fong Yuen  - tea and more

Probably one of the most popular cha chaan teng (tea restaurant) in all of Hong Kong. It has history going back to 1953 when it was a small roadside food stall. It is also supposedly the place where the famous Hong Kong milk tea was created. It is located on Gage Street in SoHo and accessible by Mid-Levels Escalators. This was the queue on a weekend morning in front of the stall which has maintained the same facade for 70 years. There is also an indoors area which is jam-packed but worth waiting for.

Tea is so subjective that it can rip families and friendships. It can be too strong, too light, too sweet, not sweet enough, with milk, without milk or with just a 'drop of milk'. Then there is the perfect temperature which I wrote about ages ago. Hot as opposed to iced tea - yet another dimension.

It is indeed rare to come across establishments that can make a satisfying hot milk tea. In fact, the best ones are probably found at roadside stalls or dhabas in India. To that very exclusive list, I will gladly add Lan Fong Yuen. True to its fame, my Hong Kong milk tea was silky smooth and smashing. They seem to use a secret mix of different tea leaves. There is a lot of gossip that the smooth taste comes from straining the tea through a silk stocking. This turns out to be an urban legend. It seems likely they use a silk-muslin type of cloth which would have taken on a honey-coloured hue after a few uses.

Along with the tea, I ordered the Traditional French toast with kaya. It was crispy and delicious in the way that only a high-calorie, bread-based meal can be. 

The view from inside. Be prepared to share seats and meet the minimum spend requirements (which are reasonable). They will serve you fast and expect you to depart promptly after you finish.

 2. Ding Dim

No doubt there are many authentic and out-of-the-ordinary dim sum places across Hong Kong. This one was recommended because it is a traditional place in close proximity to the Mid-Levels, and is reasonably priced. It had a couple of the clearly-marked vegetarian options. The restaurant interior is  fairly basic and it seems to be frequented by both regulars and visitors.  

I would call this a 'value for money' place. I opted to keep my meal bland with just a bit of soy sauce. In  retrospect, I should have used some chilli sauce/ chilli oil for improved flavour. It is definitely worth a visit, but my favourite dumplings are probably those at Ping Pong in London. Perhaps, it is the memory of having my first ever steamed and fried dumplings there, or the fact that making tasty vegetarian dumplings requires a bit more imagination.

3. Holy dessert at Po Lin Monastery- Lantau Island

The Po Lin Monastery is also the home of Tian Tian Buddha (Big Buddha) on Lantau Island. The monastery has a vegetarian kitchen that is open from 9 AM to 6 PM. I didn't fancy a main meal but the dessert section was pretty amazing. One could choose three desserts for just HKD 30. I would have ordered more but my capacity for sweet treats is at an all time low. The options I went for were a sago (sabudana) based pudding, a matcha dumpling filled with red beans and a white peanut-flavoured dumpling with black eye bean filling.

4. TamJai SamGor Mixian

I learnt that Mixian or 'Crossing the Bridge Noodles' are rice noodles that originated from the Yunnan Province in China. They have a distinctive medium thickness and a smooth feel. The version I had in Hong Kong had a savoury broth bursting with East Asian flavours. TamJai SamGor is a chain with several branches in Hong Kong. It is also present in Singapore and Japan.

As with many chain restaurants, opinions can be divided. I found it interesting that one can choose the broth by spice level and flavours. Of course, there is a caveat for vegetarians as only one type of soup base is available. This veggie option was quite palatable and filling, so I cannot complain.

5. Chi Lin Restaurant 

This is a Buddhist vegetarian restaurant hidden in a corner of the beautiful Nan Lian Gardens in Kowloon. It is just across the road from Chi Lin Nunnery. I had already planned a visit to the gardens and the monastery/ nunnery. It was time for lunch and this seemed like a convenient and an interesting option. 

Once there, the set menu seemed to be the most practical option. The place was very busy even in the middle of the week. I could not get a seat with the lovely waterfall view. This seemed to be reserved for pre-booked groups or perhaps tourists who looked like they would be big spenders (Buddhist principles notwithstanding).

Anyhow, my set menu had a good range of dishes. For some reason, not all of them worked for my palate. But I absolutely loved the soft tofu in peanut sauce. The soup was good and so was the stir-fry.  The mushroom dish was so-so. The meal felt a tad expensive but was certainly filling. I would probably skip a second visit, unless it was for that sublime tofu dish.

6. Take-aways etc.

Some days I just needed 'food to go'. As a promise to my friends who are looking for healthier and / or plant-based options, I list some handy spots here.

Nood Food: This has a couple of branches. I went to the one in SoHo just by Hollywood Road. Accessible by the Mid-levels Escalator. Easy to 'build your box' with several healthy vegan / vegetarian options. 

Chickpea Central: Again one of those days when I had been walking a lot and had just exited Central station. I was desperately hungry and needed to find a vegetarian-friendly place. As always falafel and humus in a pita wrap came to my rescue. Yippee! 

Marks & Spencer Food: I've mentioned M&S extensively in my previous post. There is nothing like an M&S bakery item, or a sandwich to pick up when in a rush. There are a couple of M&S outlets across Hong Kong. The biggest one is on Queen's Road, and there is a handy one in SoHo near Hollywood Road.  

Indian paranthas and more at TST: I wasn't particularly searching for desi food on this trip but got persuaded by some friends to join them for an Indian chai. That became a whole parantha-sharing session as we made our way though a few small plates of aloo parantha, gobhi parantha and paneer parantha. For the uninitiated, a parantha is a kind of Indian flat bread with often has different fillings. In this case we had versions with potato, cauliflower and cottage cheese. The venue you ask? None other than Chungking Mansions near Tsim She Tsui (TST) station. There are a couple of options. We went to Saravana on the first floor.

So that is all on the HK food trail, for now.

___