The 3 Must-Haves in Hong Kong - Live Fish, Roast Goose and Beef Brisket
Hong Kong is THE land of good food. It’s one of my favorite cities in the world and the quintessential land of Cantonese food. My bias probably, since I am Cantonese by dialect group and my dad was born in the Canton province of China before he fled to Singapore as a teenager during the Japanese war. Hong Kong has countless varieties of delicious food but these trio are must-haves for me – live fish, roast goose and beef brisket noodles.
LIVE FISH on Lamma island, one of the smaller islands of Hong Kong is a bliss for seafood lovers. Also a favorite for hikers, Lamma Island is dotted with many seafood restaurants, fronted by big tanks of live seafood. Different types of live fish, geoduck clams, bamboo clams, lobsters, crabs, shrimps, oysters, etc.: customers pick the seafood first and then decide on the method of preparation. Perhaps it’s my Cantonese background but I think the best way to eat live fish is ‘Hong Kong Way’; which is steamed with light soya sauce, a dash of oil, and topped with lots of finely sliced ginger and scallions. With a simple cooking preparation, you can better taste the sweetness of the seafood.
ROAST GOOSE - Yung Kee Restaurant is located in the Central district of Hong Kong island. Hugely popular with tourists as well, Yung Kee's roast goose is one of the best in Hong Kong. Roast goose is very similar to roast duck, which is a lot more common but I find roast goose to be less game and less fibrous. Incidentally, Yung Kee serves the century egg as an appetizer, eaten with thick preserved ginger slices. This is the best century egg I’ve ever tried. Century egg, also known as preserved eggs or 100-year old eggs is an acquired taste for foreigners. Long fabled to be prepared from horse urine, I'm sure this is no longer true. Hence, please try it! :-)
BEEF BRISKET – Beef Brisket is as common as Wonton noodles, you find it in many cafes and restaurants throughout Hong Kong and Kowloon. My most memorable and favorite beef brisket noodles is from ‘Ngau Kei’ phonetically taken from the name which means ‘Nine Waiter’. This hole-in-the-wall outfit is located in the mid-levels – above Central district and halfway to Victoria Peak. You can order your beef brisket noodles in varying degrees of fat – lean, half fat, all fat and with different types of noodles – egg, flat white, short tubular. The lady owner tells us that they boil the beef broth for over 9 hours and the secret ingredient is dried orange skins!!
