Hong Kong Eats

I LOVE Hong Kong. It’s a beautiful place where you can run along the harbor, find some great views of the high rises, and eat phenomenal food of all cuisines! Here are some of my favorite eats in HKG.

Megabox is known for a great place to eat lunch. Once day we went on the 10th floor and found this restaurant. I had rice with eel, cheese, tomatoes, and of course a fried egg. LOVE

At Tiffany’s, they served Hainanese Chicken. This is basically succulent steamed chicken, served with 3 sauces: plum sauce, scallion oil, and a chili sauce. The dish was accompanied by bok choy, pickled veg, rice, and soup.

A good friend of mine took me to Discovery Bay, a quiet island where a lot of foreigners live. We sampled Korean BBQ at First Korean Restaurant! As our meal, we had a sample of marinated meats, scallops, and an assortment of sides (look at the kimchi)!

    

Per my boss’ recommendation, I went to Maxim’s Palace which is on the second floor of City Hall. This restaurant is one of the few places that still serves dim sum by the carts, and it is AMAZING. Look at these braised chickens feet, pork shumai, and rice noodle rolls filled with shrimp!

For my birthday, we went to Brotzeit German Bier Bar & Restaurant. My friend and I split the Cheese Spatzel (which I could eat every single day of my life). Imagine mac and cheese but with misshaped pasta and a gooey-er cheese sauce. What more could you want in life?!

Of course I had to have garlic sausage with sauerkraut.

There’s a horse race track right in the middle of a city in Hong Kong called happy Valley. It was a great place to bet as little as $1-2 USD per race, as well as eat fried potato wedges with sour cream, cheese and bacon. I ordered the rice, bbq pork, and bbq duck (when in Hong Kong, amiright)!

Now for the star of the show - real Hong Kong food where the servers do not speak English and the menu has pictures of the food. I would recommend going to Chung Chung Food Shop with someone who can speak the local language to help order. My recommendations: clams in the black bean sauce, fried squid, fried garlic tofu, and pigeon.

Yes, you read that correctly. Pigeon. Now I know this in the U.S. is considered a bird that eats the trash on the streets. But these pigeons are raised to be eaten. The meat is similar to duck but has more flavor. Promise me you’ll give it a chance, you won’t regret it!

Getting Fishy

Who doesn't love fish? Unless you're in a small office and someone reheated last night's salmon. But other than that, I really enjoy eating all different types! One of my favorites is the Palmburo fish, which was introduced to me by my dad. Although the fish isn't as well known as salmon or halibut, this fish should become a staple in your diet. It's readily available at Asian stores such as V Mart in Lowell, MA or H Mart in Burlington, MA.

It's a white fish with an amazing subtle but flavorful flesh. Here's a picture of it. I made two since I am SUCH an amazing little sister and made lunch for my older sister.

Inside, I stuffed it with scallions and fresh sliced ginger. I also added a little pinch of salt. I coated the outside with some olive oil so that the skin would not stick to the foil. 

Hipster side view

I baked the fish in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F for about an hour. I carefully flipped them over halfway to cook on the other side. And to crisp out the skin, I broiled them for 2-3 minutes. 

Drooling. 

Although it isn't a problem with this fish, I know some people have issues getting small fish bones stuck in their throat. One time it happened to me and I thought that it was just something I'd have to live with. Fortunately, my mother came to the rescue and told me to make a little ball of rice and swallow it whole. The rice dislodged the fish bone without ANY issues. What would we all do without moms??

Palmburo Fish

Ingredients:
1 palmburo fish per person (cleaned)
A thumb size piece of ginger, sliced
1/4 bunch of scallions, whole
Salt
Olive oil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Cover a flat pan with foil and coat with olive oil
3. Place sliced ginger and scallion in the cavity 
4. Salt cavity and both sides of the fish
5. Bake fish for 30 minutes, and flip to the other side
6. Bake for another 30, or until the eyes have turned white and have popped out a little
7. Broil to crisp up skin for 2-3 minutes. Keep an eye out to ensure you do not burn the skin
8. Remove from the oven, set aside for 5 minutes to cool.
9. Serve and enjoy! 

Some dipping sauces that I enjoy with this fish is some soy sauce mixed with Tabasco