My Hong Kong Foodtrip on A Budget
It's my first time in Hong Kong, and there's nothing more I would want to do or try other than their oldest, most popular restaurants.
I arrived Hong Kong around noon, and the first time I did was to purchase a sim card worth 4 days of unlimited data for only P108. Then I went on to load P150 on the octopus card I borrowed from a friend and rode an A21 bus to Granville Road, Tsim Sha Tsui.
DAY 1: TSIM SHA TSUI
1. Sun Kee Noodles
Cheese Noodles |
Instant noodles topped with cheese sauce and some pork. The best thing about the entirety of this dish is the tender and flavorful pork. Nothing special about the noodles, or the cheese, and that's coming from a cheese lover.
Pricing - HK$47 per order
Verdict - 3/5
2. Dim Sum Icon
Dim Sum Icon is known for their cute dimsum designs. Since I was alone, I only ordered one item, which was the chocolate buns. The picture on the menu shows the design of a butt, and the one served to me was the emoji, which clearly didn't meet my expectations. The taste was even more disappointing, like more flour than chocolate was in there. But if you insist on trying this restaurant out, perhaps the pork buns would be a better choice, or try other restaurants instead since Hong Kong has a lot of them now.
Pricing - HK$ 45
Verdict - 2/5
3. Lee Keung Kee
The day I tried this in Hong Kong was the day I realized I'm not really an egg waffle fan. An order was huge, and I just got too tired of the taste that I decided not to finish it.
Pricing - HK$ 22
Verdict - 3/5
4. Burger Room
This isn't part of the list of Hong Kong must tries I've seen on the internet, but it was great. I ordered the bacon cheese burger plus some fries and they were delicious. The burger was huge! The patty was thick and juicy, and is a lot challenging to finish.
Pricing - HK$ 88 (burger) HK$ 55 (twister fries)
Verdict - 4/5
5. Emack and Bolio's
For dessert, I was treated with an order of ice cream from Emack and Bolio's. This brand of ice cream is quite expensive, and honestly looks too cute to ignore. I ordered their fruit loops cone with a scoop of smoreo.
Pricing - HK$ 20 (cone) + HK$ 43 (smoreo scoop)
Verdict - 4/5
DAY 2: AROUND HONG KONG
Ham Macaroni |
Egg Sandwich |
The ham macaroni made us question WHY ON EARTH was this a must. There's nothing special, or even delicious about it. The egg sandwich was, I admit, surprising. It'll make you wonder how something as simple as scrambled egg can taste great.
Pricing - HK$ 48
Verdict - 3/5
2. Yee Shun Dairy (Jordan Station)
Red Bean Steamed Milk Pudding |
Steamed milk is common around Hong Kong, but I saw a lot of recommendations to try Yee Shun Dairy, so that's where we went for an order of steamed milk pudding, and it definitely is a must try.
Pricing - HK$ 38 (red bean), HK$ 34 (double skim)
Verdict - 4.5/5
3. Mak's Noodles (Jordan Station)
Shrimp Wanton Noodles HK$ 36 |
A serving of Mak's shrimp wanton noodles may look small, but is actually too heavy and can feed two people. The joint also has a minimum charge of HK$ 30 per person, which, thankfully didn't get enforced on our visit. The dish was a bit bland, though, but this restaurant had the best service and the nicest server out of all the restaurants, so plus points for that!
Verdict - 3.5/5
4. Tsui Wah (Jordan Station)
Condensed Milk Bun HK$ 13 |
The condensed milk bun is one of the most popular dishes to try in Hong Kong based on my research. It's just a piece of bun cut in half, toasted and drizzled with some condensed milk. It's cheap, so don't even complain about it.
Verdict - 3/5
5. Tai Cheong (Central Station)
Egg Tart HK$ 9 |
Tai Cheong's Egg Tart is probably one of the first things that will appear when you search for dishes to try in Hong Kong.
Verdict - 3/5
Roast Goose |
Roast Pork |
Yat Lok is a simple Michelin-star restaurant in Hong Kong. It ain't fancy, but it's a Michelin-star restaurant star for a reason. I loved both the dishes we've had! Out of everything I've tried in Hong Kong, this is the restaurant I'll definitely come back for.
Pricing - HK$ 55 per person
Verdict - 4.5/5
Cheese Tart |
Pricing - HK$ 20 each
Verdict - 4/5
We found the curry cheese balls somewhere near our hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui, which tells me that this street food is all over Hong Kong. This was my dinner, and it was delicious, filling, and cheap.
Verdict - 3.5/5
Other restaurants on my list that we weren't able to try (either because we weren't able to locate it, we ran out of time, or the line was too long) include:
- Kam Wah's Pineapple Bun (Mong Kok Station)
- King of Coconut (Yau Ma Tei Station)
- Kau Kee Noodles (Central Station)
- Joy Hing Roasted Meat (Wan Chai Station)
- Givres Rose Gelato (Wan Chai Station)
- Yum Cha Restaurant Dimsum (Tsim Sha Tsui)
- Lang Fong Yuen HK Milk Tea (Tsim Sha Tsui)
- Hui Lau Shan Mango Drinks (Tsim Sha Tsui)
- Delicious Kitchen (Tsim Sha Tsui/ Causeway Bay)
- Smile Yogurt & Dessert Bar (Tsim Sha Tsui)
- Via Tokyo (Tsim Sha Tsui/ Causeway Bay)
I'll try these the next time I pay Hong Kong a visit, and will definitely throw in some not-so-budget-friendly restaurants as well.
(Date: June 16-17, 2017)
Hungry for More,
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