Dining and Deals in Hong Kong

In Hong Kong it’s all about making deals and eating food. So on our trip there we decided to make a deal for blue and white antique ginger jars and eat our way through Hong Kong Island and Aberdeen.

We found a shop we liked on Hollywood Street in the historic Sheung Wan area and since my husband considers himself a reasonable negotiator in the “market place” he began to barter with the shop owner for two beautiful medium sized jars.

The men were bantering back and forth about their kids and the the price of the jars in what seemed a prolonged process when my husband said, “If I pay your price I won’t have enough money to buy food for my family.”  The shop keeper shot back, “By the look of you, you could do with a little less food.” They both broke out laughing and agreed upon the price.” We paid and left feeling good about the experience and our purchase, deal or not.

But haggling made us hungry so we headed for a Dim Sum restaurant. Think of bamboo steamer baskets riding along on small stainless steel carts delivering delicacies like Gao Zi, translucent rice flour dumplings filled with beef, pork, tofu or pickled cabbage. Think of Nor Mar Gai, chicken and sticky rice wrapped in a lotus leaf. Think of…NO STOP. Take a deep breath and open your mind because while you may have had Dim Sum you haven’t fully experienced the essential nature of it until you have experienced a Hong Kong Dim Sum palace.

Yes, palace. Modern Dim Sum restaurants in Hong Kong can be three stories tall seating 400 diners on each floor.  Originally Dim Sum was served at drop-in style tea houses along the road side for travelers in the south of China. It has evolved over many centuries into a reasonably priced loud and happy dining experience. 

At the moderate sized restaurant we found we walked up 40 carpeted steps to a large upstairs foyer containing 40 chairs in rows for the large families and groups who wait to be seated on weekends and other popular Dim Sum days. We proceeded into a dining room with 50 round tables covered in pink table cloths encircled with 8 chairs each, bigger than the biggest conference room. While not filled with diners the room was buzzing with 20 Dim Sum trolleys being pushed by 20 no-nonsense servers who understand how to feed 400 people at a time all day long, sometimes starting at 5:30 a.m. Their no-nonsense service seemed a little rude, but never mind, these servers looked tired and had serious Dim Sum ground to cover. Our meal was amazing and we left a tip.

So if you’re going to Hong Kong please go to Dim Sum and start pointing at the trolleys that whiz by. I’d recommend pointing at delicious cha sui bao (steamed barbecue pork-stuffed buns) and not pointing at fungi zao (fried steamed chicken feet). Then relax and just keep pointing and eating. ENJOY and when it’s time to go you too might look like one who could do with a little less food…but hey, what a deal!

Copyright © 2017 Gayle Madison