The Best Hong Kong Street Food

The Best Mini Egg Puff Vendor in the Tsim Sha Tsui district
HONG KONG, December 22 – Busy Hong Kong pedestrians are known for their love of street food, and thousands of tiny street vendors are ready to serve them quick and tasty treats. Here are some of my favorite Hong Kong street foods:

	Bok Choy Cookie The Bok Choy Cookie is a light waffle cookie that is wrapped in a thin sheet of rice paper. It’s a very sweet candy-like treat and is extremely light. If you have a sweet tooth, you must try one. They are sold along the boardwalk in the Stanley District of the city.
	Stinky Tofu The most infamous Asian street food is probably one of the most delicious in Hong Kong. Known for its disguising smell, Stinky Tofu is simply a fried fermented piece of tofu. The smell is the result of the tofu’s fermentation process but don’t let that discourage you. It’s a delicious little snack and taste better than it smells. Stinky Tofu is sold in many locations, but I prefer the Stinky Tofu vendors in the Mong Kok district.
	Mini Egg Puffs Mini Egg Puffs are the most popular street food in all of Hong Kong and are enjoyed by millions of people. The puffs are made from sweet pancake batter and are cooked in a griddle iron much like a waffle. The tasty little puffs can be found on every major Hong Kong thoroughfare, but the best are sold by the vendor located on the corner of Hillwood Road and Nathan Road in the Tsim Sha Tsui district. You can’t miss it because there is always a crowd of hungry people waiting to order.

REVIEW: Storm Warriors 2

HONG KONG, December 19 – I know that the blog has been taken over by food posts recently, and I have not really blogged about pop culture. Fear not! In addition to eating my way through the streets of Southern China, I also watched a good deal of Hong Kong cinema.

As a pop-culture addict, I closely monitor local advertising in particular the giant billboards and posters. There were two movie posters that were plastered on every street corner in Hong Kong. The first one was James Cameron’s Avatar 3D movie, and the other was Storm Warriors 2.

Based on a Hong Kong manwha, Storm Warriors 2 is a highly styled film that uses a lot of CGI to enhance the elaborate action sequences. Some of the larger scale battles blatantly rip-off the 300 movie with high contrast cartoonish CGI-enhancements. The Pang Brothers, the directors, reportedly admitted to cribbing off of the Zack Synder film.


The story follows the basic Shonen Fighting format with the bad guy being nearly invincible and the good guys training to defeat him. It’s simple enough that you can sit back and enjoy the CGI-enhanced visuals without worrying about all of the plot holes. The pacing seems pretty decent and the dialogue is very simple. Overall, it’s a high energy PG-13 popcorn movie.

Having never read the manwha, the relationship between the two swordsmen, Wind and Cloud, seems eerily reminiscent of the relationship between Griffith and Guts from the Berserk manga series.

Related Links:

• The Storm Warriors - Wikipedia
• IMDb: Fung wan II (2009)
  

The Invicible Four Brothers

MACAU, December 16 – One of the main reasons I took a short trip to the Portuguese-Chinese outpost of Macau was to look for Four Brothers. I wasn’t looking for actual relatives or a 2005 Marky Mark flick. Motivated by my taste buds I was looking for a tiny restaurant named Four Brothers. They are quite renowned for a couple of very unique signature dishes.

Fish Skins


Fish Skins, a local delicacy in Macao, is one of the most distinctive dishes in southern China. It is simply the skin of a fish that is stir fried with hot pepper, garlic, and local seasonings. The skin has a squishy texture similar to squid sashimi, and it is not slimy at all. However, the taste is quite different from squid and has a spicy and herbal flavor. The dish's spiciness makes beer the prefect compliment. The waiter will inquire your preference for the dish to be served hot or cold. Trust me... it’s a dish best served cold (just like revenge).

Cow Bones


Do you ever wonder about the fate of cow bones after the cow is butchered? Probably not. At the Four Brothers restaurant, they marinate and grill the beef laden cow bones as a dish. When the waiter serves the cow bones, they are literally dripping with fat and Chinese barbecue sauce. Like barbecue ribs, the cow bones are meant to be eaten with your hands. The waiter will provide plastic disposable gloves if you don’t want to use your bare hands. It’s absolutely amazing food.

The Four Brothers restaurant has spawned two other restaurants aptly named Four Brothers Two and Four Brothers Three with similar menus. It’s definitely the best place to eat in Macau. The food is simple, honest, and delicious.

Eat Macau For Free

Chinese Almond Cookies
MACAU, December 15 – If you can get away from the fancy resorts and mega casinos, you can find a lot of great local food in the old sections of the city. The best part: it’s free.

In Taipa Village, there are literally thousands of tiny shops, eateries, restaurants, and bakeries. Most of these establishments entice customers by offering free samples. There is no commitment to buy, and you can try everything in the store. Just politely point at the food that you want to try, and the clerk will give you a piece.

On the streets of Macau, you can find some of the following tasty foods:


Portuguese Egg Custards, Koi Kei Bakery


Variety of Sweet Barbecue Jerky, Koi Kei Bakery


Phoenix Egg Roll with Dry Roasted Seaweed, Choi Heong Yuen Bakery
During the busy afternoon rush hour, Macau shop clerks will literally be shoving food into the mouths of pedestrians. If you circle around these generous shops several times and graze, you can fill up on some good local food without spending a single penny. There are plenty of shops and millions of pedestrians.

Exile on Hau Fook Street

Shanghai style Water Dumplings
HONG KONG, December 15 – Hau Fook Street is known as a haven of small boutique eateries. Each establishment has their own unique set of tasty specialty dishes, which cater to almost any palette. A dedicated food tourist could spend weeks sampling each of these unique establishments. I went there in search of a late breakfast and found some interesting dishes.


Sticky Rice Balls are pretty famous for their Gestalt combination of flavors. They resemble small loafs of rice rather than balls, and they are filled with preserved pork lard, Chinese sugar bread, and preserved salted Chinese cabbage.


Thick Soy Porridge is a local favorite. It’s very sweet and is served either warm or cold according to the customer’s preference.

Shanghai style Dumplings. It’s a hardy helping of wonton-like water dumplings prepared in a tasty broth. It’s a prefect dish to start a busy Hong Kong day. (See above)