Category: Where to Eat/Drink

In Hong Kong, herbal tea shops like the one shown above are common. A bowl of herbal tea sells for about HK$7. The locals just drink it, standing on the pavement outside the shop. And pay when finished.

In most of the herbal tea shops, they also sell “tea eggs”, which you will see simmered in a rice cooker filled with spiced tea. As they have been soaked overnight, the shells are cracked to allow the flavors from the spice tea to leak in.

Though I often pass herbal tea shops, and see these cracked-shell eggs simmering in the soy sauce-like spiced tea, I have not been motivated to try just one.

But today, I finally had my first taste of the tea egg. I tell you, it tasted really good. Though the eggs are called tea eggs, don’t be fooled, they do not taste tea at all. That is all I can say.

So if you are visiting Hong Kong, try go for the tea eggs. It costs HK$3 for one, and HK$5 for two. Not every tea shop sells tea eggs though.

My tip is that, don’t go for the herbal tea，which you probably won’t like.  Go for the tea eggs.

If you want to eat nice Beijing style dumplings, I recommend “Peking Shui Jiao Wang” (北京水餃皇) in Wanchai. It is at No. 118, Jeffe Road, Wanchai. MTR exit: Wanchai, Exit C. 

The price here, I must admit, is high compared with other dumpling restaurants. For a bowl of meat and vegetable dumplings, it costs at least HK$30 (about US$4). In other dumpling restaurants, it may be just HK$20 (about US$2.5).

But the high price means better quality.

I ordered a bowl of sour and spicy dumplings noodle (酸辣水餃麵). It tasted good. The sour and spicy soup base was not too spicy. The dumplings tasted fresh and the wrapping soft. It costed HK$38 (about US$5).

I also ordered a glass of soy bean drink. The drink came in a big glass and was only slightly sweatened – the least sweatened soy bean drink I have ever tried. Here in Hong Kong, restaurants sell heavily sweatened soy bean drink. 

“Peking Shui Jiao Wang” seems to have been recommended in some travel guide books. I saw two tables of foreigners there – there are probably ten tables in the whole restaurant. The menu is all in both English and Chinese. The staff was eloquent in recommending dishes to a table of foreigners. No doubt, this restaurant is often frequented by foreigners.

In Hong Kong, there are three major Chinese fast food restaurants：

http://www.cafedecoralfastfood.com

http://www.fairwood.com.hk

http://www.maxims.com

（in Chinese only）

There are a few reasons why I recommend to you these fast food restaurants.

To try the local food in local restaurants is not always easy, since the menu is not always in both Chinese and English. But in these fast food restaurants, their menu is shown on the wall in big Chinese characters, and small English letters. So foreigners should have no problem ordering the food. Warn you though, the staff at the cashier is not always good in English and maybe you need to point at the menu to order the food. I saw this happen a few times already.

Second, the food is inexpensive and tastes quite okay. Well, it is fast food and so you shouldn’t expect too much anyway. Sometimes some dishes taste really good. Say the curry rice from the Cafe de Coral. These restaurants are always packed for lunch and dinner.

Third, their branches are in every corner of Hong Kong and you can easily find them.

Fourth, these restaurants not only offer Chinese food, but also “Chinese style” Western food, such as spaghetti, or “Chinese style” Japanese food, such as Ramin. The choice is not limited anyway. And the Chinese food choice also comes in Hong Kong style and mainland Chinese style, such as Shanghai food.

Fifth, visiting these restaurants will let you experience the epitome of Hong Kong efficiency. Try standing at the food counter and you will see how quickly the staff put the order together for customers and keep the always long queue moving. There are usually three to four staff working behind the counter and they work so fast, and so seamlessly. I bet you will not forget the scene.

Some more tips：Hong Kong style milk tea is unique. These restaurants offer tasty milk tea. So try them. Also, if you are on budget, try coming in from 2pm to 6pm. These are afternoon tea hours and the tea set is offered at a very low price. Say, a hot dog with a cup of milk tea costs about HK15.