Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
everything from fiery Sichuan cookery to
veggie-friendly Yunnan cuisine. You'll
also find excellent Indian and Malaysian
curry houses, sushi bars, Vietnamese,
Italian, French and Korean restaurants,
British pub-style food and varied cheap
street stalls ( dai pai dongs ). All budgets
are catered for; many restaurants also
offer limited lunchtime menus which are
half the price of eating out at dinnertime.
English or picture menus are widely
available. Most restaurants will add a ten
percent service charge to your bill.
he kind of snacks you'll find at the
dai pai dongs and many indoor food halls
and canteens (called cha chan tengs )
include seafood, noodle soups, congee
(savoury rice porridge) and buns stuffed
with char siu pork, and shouldn't cost
more than HK$50 for a large meal.
Milk tea (black tea with evaporated or
condensed milk strained through a large
“tea sock”) is a signature Hong Kong
beverage and most street stalls sell this
steaming brew from dawn.
he most common Chinese food in
Hong Kong is Cantonese , from China's
southern Guangdong province. Dishes
consist of extremely fresh food, quickly
cooked and only lightly seasoned.
Popular ingredients are fruit and
vegetables, fish and shellfish, though the
cuisine is also known for more unusual
ingredients such as fish maw and
chicken's feet.
Beijing cuisine is heavier than
Cantonese, based around a solid diet of
wheat and millet buns, noodles, pancakes
and dumplings, accompanied by dark soy
sauce and bean paste, white onions and
cabbage. Mongol and Muslim influences
include hotpots and grilled roast meats.
Shanghai cuisine is characterized by
delicate forms and light, fresh, sweet
flavours, sometimes to the point of
becoming precious - tiny meatballs
steamed in a rice coating are known
as “pearls”.
Szechuan food is the antithesis of
Shanghai cuisine. Szechuan peppercorns,
chillies, garlic, ginger and spring onions
are used heavily, and cooking processes
include techniques such as dry frying
and smoking.
DIM SUM
A veritable institution, dim sum is a
breakfast or midday meal consisting of
small savoury buns, dumplings, pancakes
and other small dishes, all washed down
with copious amounts of jasmine tea.
Traditionally these delicious eats are
wheeled through the restaurant on
trolleys, with punters choosing whichever
takes their fancy. There are only a couple
trolley dim sum places left in Hong Kong,
one of which is Lin Heung Tea House (see
p.147). Most dishes cost HK$13-50 and
dumplings and buns usually come in
portions of three or four.
3
Yunnan cuisine utilizes some unusual
ingredients, such as the blossoms and
shoots of numerous plants, plenty of
vegetables and herbs; expect the likes
of pineapple rice, tofu with jasmine
blossoms and chicken steamed in a pot
with tonics and herbs.
In most Chinese restaurants, the usual
drink with your meal is jasmine tea , often
brought to your table as a matter of
course. Beer is also popular. All restaurants
and bars are non-smoking.
Drinking in bars can be expensive, so
it's best to make good use of happy hours
to avoid drifting into insolvency. Choose
your poison - from a vast selection of
bottled lagers (including Chinese
Tsingtao), imported brews, wine and
cocktails. Bars stay open until 2 or 3am.
MACAU
he Portuguese elements of Macanese
food include fresh bread, cheap imported
wine and good coffee, as well as an array
of dishes ranging from caldo verde
(vegetable soup) to bacalhau (dried salted
cod). One of Macau's most interesting
Portuguese colonial dishes is African
chicken , a concoction of Goan and east
African influences, comprising chicken
grilled with peppers and spices. Macau is
also justly acknowledged for the
exceptional quality of its sweet, flaky
custard tarts or natas . Straightforward
Cantonese restaurants , often serving
dim sum for breakfast and lunch, are
also plentiful.
 
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