Cantonese
Cuisine
Food in Hong Kong
Mark Wiens
Cantonese
Cuisine
Food in Hong Kong
Mark Wiens
Copyright Š 2017 by Mark Wiens, LLC All rights reserved Printed in Hong Kong First edition, 2017 No part of this book may be reproduced stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author, except as provided by Hong Kong copyright law.
CONTENTS
01
Hong Kong Food 08
Sum 02 Dim 14 Mei 03 Sui 26 Chaan Teng 04 Cha 38
05
Hong Kong Street Food 50
Spring rolls
INTRODUCTION
Plain noodles
6 | Introduction
Home to one of the world’s most spectacular skylines with a natural harbor and lush green mountains, Hong Kong is a densely packed city where you’ll discover fresh wet markets slotted between skyscrapers and delicious food nearly everywhere you look. Hong Kong, the ”culinary capital of Asia” offers thousands of restaurants and some of the world’s best food. From roadside stalls to world-class restaurants, Hong Kong offers a wide variety of choices when it comes to food. In fact, some say that the food in Hong Kong alone is reason enough to visit the city.
Hong Kong’s cuisine is not only an exotic fusion of Eastern and Western flavors but is also a great variety of creative culinary delights with local characteristics, making the place a world-renowned Gourmet Paradise. Changing from simple stomach-filling food and drinks to gourmet enjoyment, from humble eateries to superb restaurants and from local Chinese tastes to exotic delicacies, Hong Kong’s food culture has actually reflected the economic, social and livelihood changes that Hong Kong has undergone over the past hundred and more years. The success or
otherwise of restaurants, the popularity of cuisines and the change of taste have not only marked the different expectations of food and drinks at different times but have also become a collective memory of Hong Kong people. The book will introduce different restaurants and different local food in Hong Kong that you must try.
7
01 Hong Kong Food
Dim sum
Cantonese cuisineÂÂ: rice noodle roll, fried pork dumplings, wonton, black bean and garlic steamed spare ribs, beef potsticker dumplings
10 | Hong Kong Food
Cantonese Food The majority of Hong Kong food is Cantonese in flavor and cooking style, which is one of the eight culinary traditions of Chinese food. Rice is the staple, but noodles, both in soup and fried, are also very common. Dishes make use of a huge variety of ingredients, and seasoning sauces include oyster sauce, soy sauce, vinegar, sweet and sour sauce, and hoisin sauce. In addition to Cantonese food, you’ll find restaurants serving Teochew, Hakka, Hokkien, Shanghainese, and a variety of other regional Chinese food variations.
Surrounded by water with access to the South China Sea, it is no surprise that seafood is very common in Hong Kong. Especially if you take a day trip outside of the city, to Lantau Island or smaller coastal villages, you will be able to see first hand how the sea is such an integral part of the traditional Hong Kong culture. What that means for you and I is that if you go to any Cantonese restaurant in Hong Kong, you will find plenty of seafood dishes on their menu. You might find it strange to show up to a Hong Kong street food stall and see French toast on the menu. But due to the Western influence in Hong Kong most notably the British colonial rule, things like French toast and egg tarts are popular and very Hong Kong style. There are plenty of Hong Kong dishes that have a noticeable western influence to them, yet have been perfectly adapted into the local cuisine.
11
The 1960s-1980s were a time of prosperity in Hong Kong which lead to an increase in international cuisine and ingredients making their way into Hong Kong and its cuisine. Hong Kong, being one of the richest economies in the world with a high standard of living, is a gourmet fine dining hub of the world. You will find world-class restaurants in Hong Kong serving every type of food. Meatball noodles
12 | Hong Kong Food
Kai Lan, Kung Pao chicken
13
What makes this tropical paradise an excellent heaven for foodies is the wealth of choices that fits a wide range of budget. It is known as the Gourmet Paradise and the World’s Fair of Food after all. You get delectable street food for an average of HK$10. Casual restaurants are found in every corner of the city, too. And if you’re into the fancy lifestyle, the choices of fine dining restaurants will surely give you a thrill. Dining in Hong Kong gives you the best of both Eastern and Western cuisines.
14 | Hong Kong Food
15
02 Dim Sum
Dim sum
Yum Cha “There is an ancient Chinese tradition of drinking tea, known as yum cha. Usually a brunch or lunch affair, it is a common form of family, co-worker, and other group get-togethers. With tea, it is common to eat little bite sizes dishes which are known as dim sum. That’s why dim sum is often served at teahouses and always goes with hot tea. Jiaozi
18 | Dim Sum
Steamed shrimp Dumplings
Dim sum as many as 150 items on a restaurant menu, and 2,000 in the entire range, it is a challenge to not find something you love. As Cantonese people tend to avoid fried foods early in the day, steamed dishes dominate most dim sum menus. There are also snack-sized portions of pan-fried, deep-fried, and baked foods served in bamboo containers. Custard Bun
19
Wanton noodles
“If you want to experience Hong Kong in the 1960s, you have to discover the cuisine because it was the only thing which has survived since that time and unchanged.
”
— Daisann McLane
21
Classic Dim Sum
Steamed shrimp dumpling
Shrimp wrapped in a thinly rolled piece of translucent wheat dough. Often, the dumpling will include a small amount of finely chopped bamboo shoots and pork.
22 | Dim Sum
Siu mai
A type of Chinese dumpling. The typical Cantonese dim sum variant consists of ground pork, whole or chopped shrimp, shiitake mushrooms, green onions and ginger, wrapped in thin wheat dough, seasoned with Chinese rice wine, soy sauce and sesame oil, and garnished with a dollop of crab roe.
23
Spring rolls
A variety of vegetable and sometimes meat ingredients are rolled inside a sheet of thin dough and deep fried.
24 | Dim Sum
Barbecued pork bun
Tender, sweet, slow-roasted pork tenderloin, usually seasoned in oyster sauce, and encased in a fine, soft bun.
25
Famous Tea House ÂLin Heung Teahouse Lin Heung Teahouse, recognized for holding true to its traditional style, and rated by CNN as having the best dim sum atmosphere, yet right within Hong Kong Central, Lin Heung Teahouse is one of the great experiences in Hong Kong.
Address: 162 Wellington St, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong
27
Cantonese Cuisine, Food in Hong Kong
03 Siu Mei
Dim Sum
25
Barbecued pork
Chinese Barbecue Known as siu mei, restaurants serving Chinese barbecued meats are your window into traditional Chinese roasts. It is impossible to miss this cuisine in Hong Kong because after the highly seasoned meats are roasted on spits over an open fire or in a rotisserie oven, they are hung inside the restaurant and visible from the street. You’ll see siu mei hanging in fast-food chains, high-end restaurants and supermarkets. It is a sight — and taste — that is ubiquitous wherever there are Chinese communities. Chinese barbecue restaurants usually have highly flexible menus that allow you to pair your roast meats with rice, noodles or rice noodles. Combo plates enable solo diners to sample several meats in one meal.
30 | Siu Mei
Roast goose
Roast pork
31
Types of Siu Mei In Chinese this is called char siu, which translates as ‘fork burned’. It refers to seasoned boneless pork, barbecued over an open fire or covered oven on forks. The pork is seasoned with honey, spices, fermented tofu and rice wine. Malt sugar provides its characteristic glaze. Barbecued pork
32 | Siu Mei
The Most Popular Siu Mei
01
03
char siu
roast goose
02
04
siu yuk
soy sauce chicken
33
Barbecued goose
Seasoned goose, roasted in a charcoal oven until the meat is tender and the skin crispy, then sliced and served with plum sauce. Roast goose prepared in travel-safe packaging, known as ‘airplane roast goose’.
34 | Siu Mei
Roast pork
Roast pork comes in two types. Siu yuk has its origins in village celebrations, when a whole pig would be slaughtered and cooked. This variety of roast usually involves cooking a 10 to 20 kg seasoned pig in a charcoal oven until the skin becomes crispy while the meat remains tender. A large fork is used to place the pig’s carcass in the oven, while hot water is applied to it to cause the skin to tighten. 35
Roast pork
Roast pork
The second type is a roast suckling pig. This is a two to six month-old pig, roasted at high temperature in a charcoal oven until meat is tender and skin is crispy. This is a banquet favourite and usually the first dish to be served. You can order it in restaurants too. Roast pork
37
Famous Restaurant Joy Hing Roasted Meat Joy Hing Roasted Meat has started the business since late Qing Dynasty. It’s been awarded a Bib Gourmand in the Hong Kong Michelin guide. The long queue outside the restaurant is its signature and it’s also popular among the superstars! Char siu (barbecued pork) is the must-eat dish.
Address: Block C, G/F, 265-267 Hennessy Road, Wan Chai
39
04 Cha Chaan Teng
Breakfast set
Tea Restaurant Plates are lifted off the kitchen window and slammed onto tight tables; hot drinks are swooshed around, overflowing onto white saucers; piles of still-damp chopsticks are rammed into their plastic holders. There is a rhythm and order to all this action as food is delivered swiftly and efficiently to hungry customers. This is rush hour in one of Hong Kong’s culinary institutions, the tea restaurant, most commonly known as a cha chaan teng. Cha chaan teng menu
42 | Cha Chaan Teng
To the untrained eye, it may not be clear where to look first. Hand-written menus line the walls, listing various specials of the days, promoting lunch sets and afternoon tea sets that often lack any translation into English. Despite its origins as a provider of Canto-Western cuisine, the tea restaurant’s target customer has never been the Westerner, but the city’s local population.
Breakfast set
43
Food You Must Try Chinese tea culture features strongly in Hong Kong but the local milk tea is a more recent concoction, having only come on the scene in the 1950s. Various blends of Sri Lankan black tea are infused with evaporated or condensed milk. It is called Stocking Milk Tea because it is percolated in a stocking-like filter. The brew is smooth and creamy in texture. Milk Tea
44 | Cha Chaan Teng
The local passion for this beverage cannot be understated: it drives the consumption of hundreds of millions cups of milk tea every year, has inspired competitions to find the best vendors and turned the beverage into an icon of Hong Kong’s food scene. Pour the tea through a fine-meshed strainer
45
Hong Kong has a long history of foreign influence, and French toast is one of those foods that became popularized at street food stalls and local cafes. But Hong Kong style French toast isn’t just a thin slice of bread dipped in egg and fried in a skillet: It’s more than that. Using white bread and a mound of butter, the bread is often layered in peanut butter before being deep fried (yes, deep fried), and then topped with syrup and more butter. Hong Kong French toast
46 | Cha Chaan Teng
Pineapple bun A pineapple bun will undoubtedly be listed as one of the must eat foods in Hong Kong. It does not only have they considered a part of the Hong Kong cultural heritage but as soon as you take your first bite of this legendary pastry, you’ll know why it’s so famous. Known locally as bor lor bao, a pineapple bun is fluffy and crusty with a crumbly crust at the same time, sweet but not overly so, and sometimes served with a tongue sized slice of
butter right in the warm middle. But where is the pineapple? There’s not actually pineapple in the recipe, but it got its name because the outside top of the bun looks kind of like a pineapple. Especially if you love sweets or baked goods, a pineapple bun is not to be skipped in Hong Kong.
47
Egg tarts
48 | Cha Chaan Teng
Originally invented at a monastery in Lisbon, Portugal, and known as pastĂŠis de BelĂŠm, egg tarts were adopted in Guangzhou and spread most notably to Hong Kong and Macau. Known as dan ta, they have slightly been altered from the original Portuguese egg tarts, but they remain a combination of an egg yolk based creamy custard in the center of little cups of pasty dough. Today, both Hong Kong and Macau are extremely well known for their egg tarts.
49
Famous Restaurant Mido CafĂŠ With its unpretentious booths and vintage tiled floor, Mido CafĂŠ is a wellknown cha chaan teng which has been featured in many television shows and music videos for its old school ambience. The toast which was generously spread with butter and served with condensed milk was amazing.
Address: 63 Temple Street, Jordan, Hong Kong
51
05 Hong Kong Street Food
Eggettes
Local Snacks Hong Kong’s street food scene is known the world over. Whether you’re in Causeway Bay or Mong Kok, Tsuen Wan or Sham Shui Po, you’re bound to find some delicious streetside snacks, be it curry fishballs on a stick or fluffy eggettes in various flavors. Best of all, these tasty tidbits are usually wallet-friendly and can easily fill up your belly for just a few bucks. While our city also boasts some of the world’s best restaurants, Michelin-starred dining and other delicious eats, no Hong Kong experience is complete without sampling some – or all – of these street food favorites.
54 | Hong Kong Street Food
The Best Street Food in Hong Kong 1. Curry fishballs
7. Eggettes
2. Siu mai
8. Deep-fried pig intestine
3. Stinky tofu
9. Imitation shark’s fin
4. Cheung fun
10. Bowl pudding
5. Soy-braised cuttlefish
11. Cow offal
6. Roasted sweet potato
12. Stuffed three treasures
and chestnuts
55
Curry fishballs are probably Hong Kong’s most iconic street snack – nearly every savoury street stall sells these. Though they’re mostly made from flour these days and contain almost no fish meat, this has had little effect on the snack’s popularity. Springy in texture, the bite-sized spheres bob about in a strong curry sauce before they’re skewered on a bamboo stick or ladled into a takeaway bowl for on-the-pavement enjoyment. Curry fishballs
56 | Hong Kong Street Food
Despite its pungent odour, stinky tofu is one of the most delicious snacks you can find on our streets. The beancurd gets its distinct funk from a lengthy process of fermentation, usually in a brine of milk, vegetables or even meat. It’s then deep-fried and usually served with chilli sauce. The outer layer is crisp and golden and gives way to a soft and creamy centre. If you can get past the smell, this stinky snack is sure to please. Stinky tofu
57
Cheung fun
Loved for its smooth texture and distinct al dente chew, cheung fun is made by rolling steamed rice noodle sheets into bundles, then chopping them into two-bite pieces. Unlike the type served at dim sum restaurants, the streetside variety usually comes without fillings. It’s relatively bland on its own, which is why it’s eaten with a healthy dousing of sauces and sesame seeds. Head to Hop Yik Tai for some of the tastiest and smoothest cheung fun in the city. 58 | Hong Kong Street Food
Stuffed three treasures
The ‘three treasures’ can refer to any number of things but the most popular trio is green bell pepper, aubergine and sliced red sausage (tofu is a much-loved option too). These are filled or smeared with carp paste and then fried until greasy and delicious.
59
Famous Egg Waffles Lee Keung Kee Lee Keung Kee started out as a single shop in North Point that was widely popular amongst the locals who lived there. It was only through word of mouth that it started popping up in locations around Hong Kong. A little more pricey than the usual suspects, these eggettes have a thin, crispy, wafer-like exterior and a sponge-cake-like interior.
Address: 492 King’s Road, North Point, Hong Kong
61
INDEX
B
F
P
Black bean and garlic steamed spare ribs, 10 Beef potsticker dumpling, 10 Barbecued pork bun, 23 Barbecued pork, 26 Breakfast set, 39 Bowl pudding, 53
Fried pork dumplings, 10
Plain noodles, 06
C Cantonese cuisine, 10 Custard Bun, 17 Char siu, 31 Cha Chaan Teng, 38 Curry fishballs, 53 Cheung fun, 53 Cow offal, 53
D Dim sum, 14 Deep-fried pig intestine, 53
E Eggettes, 46
H Hong Kong French toast, 44
I
Pineapple bun, 45
R Rice noodle roll, 10 Roast goose, 29 Roast pork, 29
Imitation shark’s fin
J Jiaozi, 16 Joy Hing Roasted Meat, 37
K Ka Lan, 13 Kung Pao Chicken, 13
L Lin Heung Teahouse, 25 Lee Keung Kee, 59
M Meatball noodles, 12 Milk Tea, 42 Mido CafĂŠ, 49
Roasted sweet potato and chestnuts, 53
S Spring rolls, 05 Steamed shrimp dumpling, 17 Siu mei, 21 Siu yuk, 31 Soy sauce chicken, 31 Stinky tofu, 53 Soy-braised cuttlefish, 53 Stuffed three treasures, 53
W Wonton, 10 Wonton noodles, 18
63
Cantonese Cuisine Food in Hong Kong
US $19.35
Mark WIens
ISBN 987-3-743-21927-90