21 May 2010

Hong Kong Street Food Tour ~ Day 2 – Mong Kok & Temple Street Markets



A day at the Romance Highclass Hotel...



Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

Our first day in Hong Kong in the Romance Highclass Hotel, it's a classy joint with very reasonable hourly rates, though getting out of bed to pay every hour is a pain. Actually we stayed at the four star Eaton Hotel which is highly recommended but not so good for our backpacker street cred.

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

We wander Mong Kok in search of food. Miss Chicken stops for snackage at Bee Cheng Hiang.

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

Flat pieces of cured, sweet, shiny bbq pork, yum. Also available in chili flavour, lovey heart shapes and chicken medallions. Apparently this stuff originated in Singapore. Folks were buying this stuff by the boxload. "Wah, you only want four pieces?' the shop lady asked us in shock. You can also get this stuff in Chinatown in Sydney at Singapore Famous BBQ Pork.

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

Fruit & veggie market amidst apartment blocks and high rises, Mong Kok. Wikipedia says that the Guinness Book of Records says that Mong Kok has the highest population density in the world.

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

Further snackage, this little punter looks very happy.

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

Gizzards on a stick.

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

I read somewhere that these are pork intestines. Who knows, who cares, they taste great.

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

The offal party continues, the tripe-on-a-stick is delicious, Miss Chicken is raving about the stuff all day.

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

Ah, grilled squid on a stick, the little knobby bits pop in the mouth like Rice Bubbles. Finally a chance to use the words 'squid' and 'Rice Bubbles' in one sentence.

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

These lunch-on-a-stick joints were everywhere, very popular.

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

Also everywhere are tea shops, milk tea appears to be a staple.

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

Tea shops also serve tea eggs.

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

Tea eggs are boiled like regular googies. Then the shell is cracked but not removed and the egg is simmered again in spiced liquid, traditionally black tea leaves with soy sauce and spices.

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

Sweet smokey spicey delicious googiness.

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

We stop for a bev at one of the zillion Hong Kong style coffee shops. These usually have a little bakery or roast place out the front so they also get takeway business, clever use of limited space. These cafes serve Chinese food and wonderfully weird Chinese versions of western food. Cheap and cheerful.

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

It's lunchtime and packed but this is Hong Kong, a table can always be found.

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

An iced milk tea with coffee, a double caffeine hit. We weren't fans of the coffee in Hongkers but it's better than nothing eh?

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

We only stop for coffee but the waitress talks us into a swiss roll. These are very popular in Chinese bakeries in Hong Kong and also in Sydney I have noticed. Bring it on.

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

The owner also insists we have a pineapple bun, 'very famous in Hong Kong'. It's a white bread bun with a sweet crispy coating which reminds me of meringue, which reminds me of Barry Manilow, as Lola the showgirl from the Copocobana would would merengue and do the cha-cha at the Copocabana. The bun comes with optional pork chop which is a little cured, a little bacon-esque. The pork chop tastes great but the whole ensemble has that Chinese bakery sweet\savoury thing that happening that is yet to grow on me, I should have tried the bun just with butter.

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

Obligatory Chinese bicycle shot. I should have made it black and white to be even more wanky.

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

More great snackage but we are too full to indulge dangnabbit.

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

The stuffed capscicum and eggplant looks divine. There was a stall in the wonderful Eating World food court in Sydney that did similar stuffed eggplant and capsicum many years ago, it was about $1.80 a piece and a fine treat for a gent who was unemployed at the time. The stall disappeared years ago, I still miss it.

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

Mr Oof Oof politely informs us that there is a fine roast pork establishment just around the corner, "turn left at the fire hydrant".

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

There are roast shops galore in Hong Kong. My favourite food. Heaven.

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

Drool.

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

Not so drool.

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

We grab some crispy skin roast pork. Divine swine for only about $2.50. Tender, lardy, crispy crackling. Food porn.

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

Char sui, bbq pork, the only Chinese words I know.

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

I take a photo of this dumpling place and I get yelled at by a lady....

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

...who wants to pose for the shot. This egg cake looked delicious and stodgey, we saw some locals washing it down with soy milk, yum. Alas there was no room in my belly... We tried to find this nice cake lady's shop the next day to try egg cake but we got lost... Sorry nice cake lady!

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

Hungry punters at a hawker centre in Mong Kok. There's a few of these 'cooked food markets' around. The premises appear government owned, we get the impression these food courts were opened to accommodate hawkers who were kicked off the streets for health reasons. It's getting harder and harder to find food on the streets these days.

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

Hawker stall.

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

A gorgeous old fruit market with the skyscrapers looming in the background, sadly there are very few old buildings left.

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

Random noodle shop in Mong Kok.

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

It's a slow night for Spicy Mama.

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

Temple Street markets, the only place we could find to chow down outdoors. It was packed with locals and a hit with tourists too.

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

Seafood porn outside a Temple Street restaurant.

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

Mud crabs acting nonchalont.

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

We choose a place outside the main Temple Street hullabaloo, only the classy joints for us.

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

Tsingtao Beer. It tastes so much nicer in this part of the world, it must be fresher.

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

Razor clams with black bean. Oh my god.

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

Congee with frog.

Hong Kong Street Food - Kowloon and Mong Kok

Fried frog. Yes, we have a frog obsession. Divine. Eating outside is one of the finest parts of travelling.

9 comments:

  1. Yep, those were pig intestines, and the pineapple bun is traditionally eaten with butter, although i prefer them warm from the over on its own =). Those roasted chicken heads etc are for making soups and congee with, i don't think i've ever seen anyone eat one! and razor claw clams in blackbean sauce are the best! i have never been tempted totry frog tho..

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  2. Re. "Actually we stayed at the four star Eaton Hotel which is highly recommended but not so good for our backpacker street cred."

    Eaton Hotel ---> http://hongkong.eatonhotels.com/

    What a couple of woosies !!!

    I can just hear Shawn; "Jeeves, can you please spray some airfresh inside the Rolls before we go to dinner tonight."
    Jeeves; "Yes master, your wish is my command."

    Why not stay at Chungking Mansions??
    See: http://www.chungking-mansions.hk/

    So much for your quote; "Dodginess is next to godliness."

    Had you stayed at Chungking Mansions I would worship and honour you.

    Staying at the "Eaton Hotel" you sound like a couple of spoilt brats who have yet to extract the silver spoons that were placed in your mouths at birth.

    Where are the real super heroes of street food and streel life?

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  3. Dang, our street cred is blown...

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  4. We've got Chunking Mansions on our list for next time we are there in January - anything to restore our super hero status!

    My only silver spoon came from Vinnies for 50cents...

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  5. Come to think of it the food on the ground floor of Chunking Mansions looked awesome.

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  6. I recon that Street Food is a scam !!!

    Shawn & Alison fly first class to Hong Kong, Thailand, Japan, etc and stay in 5 star ***** hotels like the Eaton Hotel and eat at all the 5 star restaurants.

    For kicks they visit hawker stalls, steet food vendors, etc. They buy the food, use it as photographic props and take lots of photos. Once they have finished taking photos they throw the food away once it has served it main purpose (as a photographic subject).

    You never actually see Shawn or Alison eating the stuff.

    Bear Grylls (from Man vs. Wild) does a similar deception. You always see him in the wild braving all the worst that nature has to offer. In reality when he is producing his docummentary in the wild he is also staying in 5 star hotels.

    You never actually see Alison or Shawn eating street food, they just take photos of the stuff.

    It's a scam!

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  7. You have never lived life if you haven't stayed at the Chungking Mansions in Hong Kong. This place sets the standard for dodginess. You just have to have stayed there.

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  9. Boy this brings back memories. I remember being at some of these locations.

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Thanks for your comment joy - please keep your musings happy - if you want to complain about a restaurant please do it on a restaurant review site (or your own blog) - we're all about celebrating cultural diversity and the great eats that come along with it :-)

Our ethics: We pay for all our own meals and travel (though sometimes Mum shouts us).