Hong Kong : Cantonese Food

  As you may have already noticed, I have a great passion on food culture. Having a good meal is one of aspects that you consider important in travelling. I am one of those who search for tasty local  dishes and good restaurants in holidays. My interests in food is extended from learn process of making food and ingredients to studying a bit of history behind food. For example, I visited a Parmiggiano Reggiano factory and traditional balsamic vinegar cellar while I was in Italy. In this way, you would appreciate more food itself. Surprisingly food tastes better. Nowadays, many people think it is necessary to eat healthy dishes. However, some of those tend to be trapped by popularity and advertisement and as a result, in the long term, they take a large amount of chemicals which affect their health.
 So, I ususally try to find more about those aspects related to food such as nutrition, producing processes, ingredients and history. I regard traditional cuisines and local specialities.  Their production and cooking usually involve skillful labour and manual processes which are handed over a generation to another.

 I have already introduced to you one Portuguese restaurant, Antonio in Macao. Their dishes are from Portugal's traditional recipes and therefore well known in Portugal. The chef, Antonio is a Portuguese. So, there is no doubt in its authenticity.
 On the other hand, the Pawn represents modern British cuisine. This category is developed quite recently, probably in the late 90s in order to promote more British cuisine to the world. It is influenced by French. A good point of this style is that it does not lose British traditions by adapting French style slightly in sauce or decorating. At the Pawn, you can also find a typical British dish such as "Fish & chips". "Peppered rare beef, wild leaves, truffle oil" is basically a traditional British "roast beef" with French taste.

 Hong Kong and Macao are a single holiday destination where travellers can enjoy four different cuisine: British, Portuguese, Macanese and Cantonese (Chinese cuisine in this region). Here I am going to taste more dishes of "Tasty Congee (正斗麺粥専家)".
  I tried to have lunch at this restaurant in a large shopping mall near the central station but I found it had been closed for renovation. Since I do not have the address of this restaurant in the other location, I went to Apple computer shop to look for it by using a free internet service. The staff is very friendly. Especially, a young HongKonese guy was very helpful to search the address for me. (This extra friendly service never exists in Japan. Thanks Hong Kong.)  He even told me to be careful with a "rip-off" taxi driver, suggesting a normal fare to pay.
  My impression is, people in HK is more flexible and helpful than Chinese in general. I think it can be related to be living in an international community and they are not influenced by strict comminist rules. And they convey a good command of English.
 With his help, I could get to the other Tasty Congee (正斗麺粥専家) restaurant.

鮮蝦雲吞麵 (Shrimp wanton noodles in soup)

I had this soup noodle again. This thin wheat flour noodles with prawn dumplings are speciality of this restaurant. The soup has a light flavour and noodles sustain a certain hardness. In Japan, I never go to "ramen shop". Ramen is equivalent to this type of noodles in Chinese speaking countries. But I love this one very much.

405 鮮玻璃明蝦腸粉 (Rice noodle roll with BBQ pork)

 



This soft Chinese crêpe is made from ground rice power and it is unique food in this region. I have never seen this type of food at any Chinese restaurants in neighbouring countries including my own one. You usually dip it into a soysauce for a moment before you eat. You could say it is a steamed spring roll.

194 蝦春巻 (Prawn spring roll)

These are spring roll filled with prawn.

At the end of a meal, I had fried rice and my stomach became completely full after eating it...