Top 10 Hong Kong Street Food Hunting

Hong Kong is the gourmet paradise and everyone visiting Hong Kong is ready to eat. The food guide here will tell you some of the food that you may want to try out.

1. Century Egg Pastry 皮蛋酥

You can find the century egg pastry in most of the bakery shop in Hong Kong. The ingredients consist of century egg, lotus paste, butter & flour. A combination of lotus paste and century egg gives an explosion of flavors in every bite of this unique pastry.

Century egg is duck egg preserved in a mixture of clay, salt, and ash. The color of the egg is black and Chinese love to put century egg in congee. Can you spot the black century egg here?

2. Cocktail Bun or Kai Mei Bao/雞尾包

This is as popular as the star bread pineapple bun/ “Po Lor Bao” in Hong Kong. The ingredients are coconut, butter or margarine. It tasted sweet and soft. You can also find cocktail bun in most of the bakery shop or in the “Cha Chaan Teng” restaurant.

3. Stinky Tofu 臭豆腐

The pungent aroma of this delicacy is like a mix of rotten eggs and meat. If you like it, you like it. If you don’t, you may vomit. Stinky tofu is sold everywhere on the streets of Hong Kong. The Taiwan version of Stinky tofu usually compliments with the pickled vegetables which I prefer more. Hong Kong stinky tofu is eaten with sweet sauce and chili sauce.

4. Fried Pig Intestines 炸大腸

The pig intestines are deep fried and usually skewed in a stick. It is crispy on the outside and chewy inside. You can also add in more flavor with dipping the sweet sauce, chili sauce, plum sauce or anything that is available at the counter. This is one of the most popular street food in Hong Kong.

When you order street food, do ask for the price first before you place the order.  Some honest stores have the price listed out on the signboard but some don’t.  Those without the price tag at the signboard, please be careful.  I encountered this shop at Mongkok which scam me for a piece of stinky tofu for triple the price.

5. Herbal Tea or Liang Cha

The small table is usually set up in front of a shop, can be spotted almost everywhere in Hong Kong. There are several types of herbal tea with all the funny names, such as 24 herbs 廿四味, chicken bone grass 雞骨草, and snake needlegrass 白花蛇舌草. Even if you are not sick, you can still drink this herbal tea, it has plenty of benefits from the Chinese herb and medicine, to soothe a throat or cures a cold.

Highly recommend anyone who is in Jordan area, go visit Chung Kee Dessert. The shop is filled with local and serves high-quality desserts.  The desserts here taste so much better than Hui Lau Shan 許留山, Hui Lau Shan is mainly focused on tourist as it has franchises all over the world.

6. Mango Pomelo Sago 楊枝甘露

Hong Kong people love mangoes and one of the iconic mangoes desserts that you should try is Mango Pomelo Sago. A chilled mango flavored dessert topping with coconut milk and some pomelo fruit, sago pearls and fresh mango. Every time I visit Hong Kong, I will have this iconic dessert.  Simply can’t resist and no other place made a better mango dessert than in Hong Kong.

7. Fake Shark Fin Soup 碗仔翅

Fake shark fin soup is a common street food too. I love how it does not contain any real shark fins (I am against sharks killing just for their fins) but fake fins made from glass noodles. The soup is a little starchy fill with ingredients such as black fungus, mushrooms, the egg that is lightly beaten and shredded chicken.

8. Curry Fish Ball

Hong Kong curry fish ball is another popular street food.  I don’t find them very special at all.  However, you are welcome to check it out yourself.  The store the I bought the curry fish ball do not provide any curry sauce but you are allowed to dip with their chili sauce and sweet sauce. You can also find curry fish ball in Macau.

9. Egg waffle 雞蛋仔

To translate the Chinese word into English is called “chicken egg baby”- an egg waffle shaped like many little baby eggs. It comes like a shape of honeycomb, hollow inside and soft but crispy at the shell.  I know in London Chinatown, they called it Bubble wrap.

10. Red Bean Yuan Yeung Tea 红豆鸳鸯茶

Yuan Yeung is a mixture of tea and coffee and this beverage is very popular in Hong Kong.  Made of a mixture of three parts of coffee and seven parts of Hong Kong-style milk tea, it can be served hot or cold.  This one here includes red bean too. Super yummy.

 

Final thoughts:

From curry fish balls to stinky tofu, Hong Kong is the perfect place for street food. Most eateries open till late and start as early as 6 am. Some of the top places to find food are Mong Kok, Causeway Bay, Jordon & Tsim Sha Tsui.