I've just returned from a four day holiday in Hong Kong and what a gastronomical adventure it was. Gastronomical in terms of the food fare and astronomical in terms of the amount of food we ate. Friends shared their must-try food list with me, and I'm glad I was there with three other friends. More people meant that we could try more food!
Being budget travellers, we were on the lookout for great flight deals to Hong Kong. When we saw that Scoot was having a deal which worked out to less than $200 per return ticket, we snapped that up. The only downside was the timing of the flights. Our departing flight was at 2am and arrived in Hong Kong at 6am while our flight back was at 7am. The timings screwed up our body clock, but I guess it was a compromise we had to make for cheap tickets!
Accomodation
We stayed at the Yau Ma Tei area which was very central and convenient. It was within walking distance to Mongkok and approximately half an hour MTR ride to Causeway Bay. It was my first time staying in an airbnb apartment, and it was interesting to have a glimpse of a typical Hong Kong lifestyle. Our two bedroom apartment was small, but we eventually got used to it. We paid $133 for four people a night, a steal compared to staying in hotels! I'm not the extreme rough-it-out traveller type or the atas traveller - just give me a clean place to sleep at night!
Top 10 Food Places
1. Australian Dairy Co.
If there was a mandatory Hong Kong food shot, it has to be from Australia Dairy Co. The cha chan teng was chaotic and you can expect to share tables with others, but that just completes the experience! It was a rainy day, but the weather didn't stop the crowd from having macaroni with ham and toast with scrambled eggs! The scrambled eggs were so delicious, I haven't figured out what was the special ingredient yet.
Australia Diary Co.
G/F 47-49 Parkes Street, Jordan
Nearest MTR: Jordan, Exit C2
Opening Hours: 0700 - 2330
Closed on Thursday
2. Mido Cafe
I'm so amazed at how simple fare like toast with peanut butter and condensed milk can taste so good. We were contemplating if we should get the baked rice and am so pleased we did. The french toast is also apparently very good!
Mido Cafe
63 Temple Street, Hong Kong
Nearest MTR: Yau Ma Tei
Opening Hours: 0830 - 2130 daily
3. Chan Kee Roasted Goose
Pork belly with roasted goose. Enough said.
Chan Kee Roasted Goose
427-427A Reclamation Street, Mongkok
Nearest MTR: Mongkok
Opening Hours: 0730 - midnight
4. Yee Shun Milk Company
Yee Shun Milk Company is famous for their traditional double boiled steamed milk dessert, which you can choose to have it hot or cold. We also tried the cold custard milk dessert, but preferred the hot double boiled steamed milk one! We visited the Yau Ma Tei branch, but they also have a few other branches at Causeway Bay, Prince Edward and Jordan.
Yee Shun Milk Company
G/F, 513 Nathan Road
Nearest MTR: Yau Ma Tei Opening Hours: 12pm -12 midnight
5. Tsim Chai Kee Noodle
This is really the BEST wonton mee I've ever tried. Topped with king prawn dumplings, minced fish ball and sliced beef. The noodles were so springy you can bounce off it if it's made into a trampoline! Highly recommend this store, but friends said that Mak's noodles opposite were better.
Tsim Chai Kee Noodle
98 Wellington Street
Nearest MTR: Central Opening Hours: 0900-2200
6. The Coffee Academics
Credit: BuzzFeed
We popped into The Coffee Academics for a coffee break and to shield ourselves from the rain and we were rewarded with one of the best iced mocha I've ever had. I fell in love with the industrial design of the cafe, and it reminded me alot of Common Man Coffee Roasters! When we were on our way out, we saw that they had their own coffee roaster. Did you know that The Coffee Academics were named by BuzzFeed in the article: 25 Coffee Shops Around The World You Have To See Before You Die?
The Coffee Academics
G/F, 38 Yiu Wa Street
Nearest MTR: Causeway Bay
Opening Hours: 0900-2200
7. 18 Grams
We loved our traditional fare, but woke up one morning craving for western breakfast. I had the seafood rissotto and really enjoyed it. Friends also raved about the affogato they had.
18 Grams Mong Kong
B04, 56 Dundas Street
Gala Place Basement
Nearest MTR: Mongkok
Opening Hours: 1130-2130
8. Sweet Tooth
Waffles in Singapore, waffles in Hong Kong. The waffles and pancakes were great, but the four of us had trouble finishing the dessert. While we admitted defeat, we turned around and saw a couple sharing a waffle stack between the two of them. The waffle stack consisted of NINE layers of waffles with icecream in between....W.O.W. True to its name, you must really have a sweet tooth to be able to finish their dessert!
Sweet Tooth
G/F, 46 Carnavon Road
Nearest MTR: Tsim Sha Tsui
Opening Hours: Noon - Midnight
9. Bai Wei
This is really one of my favourite snacks in Hong Kong. The cold noodles were so yummy and I got to choose my side dishes to accompany the noodles. Cold noodles mixed with chicken kidney and crabstick. Yum.
Bai Wei
3/F, New Town Mall
688 Nathan Road
Nearest MTR: Mongkok
10. Ichiran
The first time I tried Ichiran was earlier this year in Tokyo, Japan. It was one of the best ramen we had, I loved that you could customise your ramen according to the texture of your noodles and how flavourful you wanted your soup base. We knew that Ichiran had an outlet in Hong Kong and wanted to reunite with our favourite bowl of noodles. Ichiran just opened another outlet next to the first, and each outlet had a queue of approximately 30 people. We had to wait in line for around 40 minutes, and that was the longest I queued for my food in Hong Kong. The ramen joint is open 24 hours, so you've a place to go to satisfy your ramen craving any time of the day (or night!).
Ichiran
Shop H&I, Ground Floor
Lockhart House, Block A, 440 Jaffe Road
Nearest MTR: Causeway Bay
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| Sanrio mall decoration for Langham Place Mall |
So that marks my food adventure in Hong Kong! There were many other food places which we didn't manage to check out due to the limited capacity of our tummies, so we'll be back soon again!
