When people asked me what I was most excited for in my study abroad experience I would always tell them, “the food and the people.” I consider myself a social butterfly and I enjoy meeting new people from different cultures so that explains the, “people” part. With regards to the “food” aspect, I love eating and trying new kinds of food. I think that food goes beyond just eating to stay alive because food can tell you a lot about a culture and help you understand people from other countries. In this blog I will talk about my food experiences here thus far.
While I knew that chop sticks were used in China, how much I was going to be using them never really crossed my mind before coming here. For the entire first week here I did not use any silverware and just used chop sticks. This was a good thing though because I became increasingly proficient, and now I can use them comfortably to eat all kinds of foods. There are also some chop stick rules that I learned in my time here, such as the “no stabbing” rule. It is offensive to stab your food with a chop stick because it represents killing an already dead animal and is perceived very negatively. I do not have to use them all the time now that I have discovered more restaurants but I still use them atleast once a day.
There are also some other Chinese customs that take place before eating. One of these is the washing of all your cutlery. You are given a bowl of warm washing water to wash your bowl, cup, and chop sticks in. Once you have washed your utensils you can poor the water back into the bowl and the waiter or waitress will take your dirty water away. You are expected to do this before your meal to show respect for the chefs and other employees. I was fortunate to have the owner of a restaurant show me how to perform this ceremony so that I knew what to do in future instances. If I had not known this I probably would have offended many people.
As I mentioned in an earlier blog, my specific street is more of a traditionally Chinese street and therefore has lots of classic Asian cuisine. My flatmates and I typically go out to eat for two to three meals a day since the food is not too expensive and our kitchen is not really made for cooking complex meals. The relatively cheap food is a result of the HKD to USD rate being good right now, not the food quality being low. Anyways, there are great restaurants within a 5 minute walk of my apartment. These include a Thai restaurant, Vietnamese restaurant, Chinese noodle shops, Chinese Diners, and some Dim Sum restaurants. Since there is so much variety it really caters to university students who might otherwise get bored of going to the same place all the time.
Dim Sum for those that may not know is a meal in which the customers order lots of dishes and then share them with eachother. This is typically a brunch meal, although my friends and I have gone to our favorite Dim Sum restaurant for breakfast, lunch, and dinner in our time here at least once respectively. They typically offer vegetables, rice, shrimp, dumplings, beef, pork, and all sorts of other ethnic Chinese foods. Dim Sum is a great way to have all kinds of different foods for the price of one ordinary restaurant meal.
While these meals are typically inexpensive you can get even cheaper and more convenient meals on campus at multiple eateries. There is the campus canteen which serves a variety of Asian styled dishes for the equivalent of 4 to 5 USD. This canteen acts similarly to a dining hall at Northeastern, and is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner 7 days a week. The canteen has some of my favorite dishes in Hong Kong and for that price it is definitely worth while. This is even more convenient when rushing between classes.
On campus there is also a restaurant called, “Ebeneezers” which is more of a middle eastern falafel and kebab place. This is a great place to get away from typical Chinese cuisine if you want something different. You can replace the rice in meals with french fries to give you a small taste of home. They also have a Subway on campus which I have not been to but I would presume it is similar to Subways in the U.S. While it is not great for a full meal you can also go to one of the two Starbucks on campus for a quick breakfast. As I mentioned in a previous blog it is 30% off for students which is an excellent deal.
My absolute favorite place to eat though is called Classified. Classified is an upscale western restaurant and serves all sorts of western dishes like steak, burgers, salmon, and sandwhiches. I can honestly say this restaurant is one of the best places I’ve ever eaten in my life. It is expensive but with a student ID it is 50% off! The only problem with Classified is that whenever I am there I always end up ordering a second meal because it tastes so good.
Late at night it can be a bit trickier to eat but I have developed some “life hacks” that have proven to be instrumental in satisfying my late night hunger. One hack is to always have bread, jelly, and peanut butter in your kitchen. It is very easy to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich and can be so satisfying when you don’t feel like leaving the apartment. Also convenient is the numerous 7/11’s in Hong Kong which are all open 24/7. On my street alone there are over 7 of them so it should never be too hard to find one.
I hope I covered most of my food experiences thus far in Hong Kong. This may seem like a lot of information but in just three short weeks I was able to develop a reasonably priced regiment for getting food in Hong Kong.
