A proper food review - Dim Sum

上海飽餃店

The shop front, just to help you out.  You
can grab some takeaway, if needed

One of the major reasons that just about anyone goes to Hong Kong is the dim sum.  Tiny morsels of meat or veggies wrapped in pastry and steamed or pan-fried.  The quintessential HK food.

They're great for kiddlies as well.  Small enough for small hands to pick up, easy to portion size and kids love them.

Now, assuming you've done your research, you'll have found the Michelin starred "Tim Ho Wan" in Mong Kok.  You'll have also found the 45 minute long queue and ticket system are an issue.  Especially when trying to amuse kids.  Take them to the park, find something to occupy them.

Or try the place in Hung Hom, whose Chinese name is above.  Rarely is there a wait.  If there is, try Mikawaya (another entry, another time) a few doors up at number 14 - the ladies there are very friendly and love kids.  You might like to tack it onto a visit to Wonderful worlds of Whampoa shopping area (with a boat for a shop in one area).

A bit of background.  We stayed in To Kwa Wan in an apartment (long story).  It was advertised as Hung Hom.  If you stay in Hung Hom, make sure it is right near an MTR, or you'll do a lot of walking.  This put a real dampener on our trip, as we needed to travel to get to a restaurant.  If you stay in Hung Hom proper, you have one of the best eating suburbs in Hong Kong, cheap, cheerful and full of openrice finalists (see tip below).

So we went there a couple of times - the Dim Sum were that good.  And recommended by another Aussie reviewer (living there).

Xiao Long Bao - notice the sag in the bottom?  That's soup.

The Xiao Long Bao were amazing, easily the best I've tasted and first trip we went to the 'upmarket' style dim sum places on HK Island.  (Tip: be careful with these as they're filled with a soup that can burn unsuspecting kiddies' tongues).  The soup was divine, the filling superb.  The skin was perfect, not chewy or too thick.

The Chive "Pizza" is like a cross between a chive pancake and a naan bread.  Without the oil.  Our kids wolfed these down like there was no tomorrow.  You can get these to go.

Sheng Jiang Bao (fat ones) and Wo Tip (the gyoza looking ones)

Sheng Jiang Bao - pan fried then steamed Pork buns, were amazing.  You can get the BBQ ones and the pork and chive style ones.  Both very very good and very filling.

Wo Tip - mixed pork and veggies in a gyoza style case, pan fried, then steamed.  These are delicate, but really flavoursome.  I'm a gyoza fan normally, and these do not disappoint.

The best thing is, there is a picture menu with prices for the non-Chinese reader (don't worry, they're all good).  Point (politely) and you'll be fine.




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Not sure of the English name, but I can give you an address in Hung Hom (6 Ming On Street, Hung Hom)

Tip: www.openrice.com.hk (click ENG in the corner) is a great site to search for places to eat.  It's massive.  And there are usually English reviews on most these sites.  Sign up and contribute.

Chains are your friend - at least initially

Chain Restaurants - Cheap and Cheerful.



Hong Kong has chain restaurants a-plenty.  I'm not talking about McDonalds, Burger King or KFC (though there are plenty of those too), but local ones (or near enough).

A quiet street in Mong Kok

You see, if you have lots of kids and are new to HK (especially the main areas of HK), it will overwhelm you.  Disneyland (if you go there first) and HKIA lull you into a false sense of security and do not prepare you for the heaving mass of human beings that is HK.  

It is a culture shock.  If you add in trying to figure out where to eat for the first day in 'real' HK, it all becomes too much.  Especially with kids and a possible language barrier.  Don't worry, go with it, they and you will get used to it.

For this reason I've not included Cha Chaan Tengs (HK Tea Cafes that do breakkie onwards).  Sure, do it at some stage, but not your first day.  Unless you have a high coping mechanism for lots of people and the possibility of no English menu.

The other thing is with HK - if you're an early bird (and what parent isn't), it's still quiet on the food front.  And breakkie in HK generally is either Congee (Juk) which is a savoury rice porridge, or Western breakfast (which isn't always that Western).  Yoshinoya is an exception, but not all are open early.

Cafe de Coral - Breakfast menu (with English)

Cafe de Coral.  This does a mixture of Western style food and local food.  Again, it's like comparing a McDonalds burger to a real, local hand made shop burger.  Maybe that's a bit harsh.  Expect to pay around HKD$80-$120 (about AUD$11-$18) for a family of 5-6 for a filling breakkie.

Western Breakfast at Cafe de Coral

Yoshinoya, my personal favourite chain

Yoshinoya is a Japanese chain, with Gyudon (Slivers of beef and Onion on top of rice) among other things for a very reasonable price (it was about AUD$14 for all of us to eat).  Good for when you don't want ham and eggs for breakkie.

Maxim's MX is another one.  I don't like it.  My kids (who aren't usually too fussy) don't like it.  My wife doesn't like it.  'nuff said.

If you're feeling really anti-social, try 7-Eleven for some sandwiches or a microwave meal (they supply the microwave)or a local egg-tart place, (more on this in another post).

Tips with kids:

You've got that card right - the Octopus card.  You can use that as a tap n go payment for most of these chains.  Load it with minimum HKD$50 at a time (notes in machines at the train station or 7-Eleven) or more.  Makes life uber-easy.

Learn a few basic things in Cantonese, people speak a little English but it varies.  Don't expect Disney style proficiency.  People appreciate it (you're in their country, right) and will be more likely to help.  The numbers (so you can point to a board in CdC or a menu at Yoshinoya and say '2'), please/thank you (Mmmh-Goi (like boy) will do for both or Ching for please if you are really good), and Yes/No (Hai (like a long "Hi") and Mmmh-Hai).  Look at wikitravel.org under Cantonese for an online phrasebook that served me well.

Figure out where each of this is, close to your stay.  It takes the stress out of thinking of it.  Same goes with 7-Eleven.

Disneyland - HK Style

The entrance to the park - note the wide open spaces - not normal for HK

No blog about Hong Kong with kids could miss Disneyland.

The first time we went in 2009 (with 3 kids at the time), it was tiny.  This time (late 2013), it's now a decent sized park.

It's no American sized one.  But it is, especially for Hong Kong, spacious. No elbow jostling, no majorly long waits for rides, plenty of merchandise.

HK Disneyland has a very Asian feel.  Think soy-sauce western cuisine, but better.  It feels like an Asian themepark should.

And it's cheap.  For a theme park, that is.  If you are in the US, or you have a decent enough exchange rate with HK, you're going to pay far less than the equivalent in Tokyo, Paris (gasp!) and the US.  I use the bottle of cold water exchange rate - and it's about AUD$2.20 for a bottle.  That's retail in Australia (though expensive for HK).

Hollywood Hotel from the Poolside - it's too big for one photo

The Hollywood Hotel is done in an American Art Deco feel - gorgeous

Hollywood Hotel - outside Chef Mickey (the buffet restaurant)

Hotel (we stayed at Hollywood Hotel for 2 nights), is also way cheaper than staying in Tokyo - about 1/4 of the price.  We got interconnecting rooms.  Seeing the pics of the other one (which is a lot more expensive), it's better looking and cheaper.

Merchanise - adequately priced.

Merchandise in Main Street USA (in the park)

Look, it's not a cheap experience, but it is cheaper.  Well worth it.  Allow for Disney from your budget, stay there.  It cost us as much in our 2 days in Disney as it did for 2 weeks in HK.  HK food everywhere else is cheap enough, the shopping good enough (if you're smart) to save you the money back.

One of the many cool Mickey pens

There's merchandise at the Hollywood Hotel shops as well

My other tips for a big family getting there?

Take a taxi from the airport.  It costs very little and is well worth it after a long flight with kids and all the luggage you will tow.  Make sure they're "official" cabs (Toyota Crowns which will be Blue, Red or Green), not the ones that solicit you.  Get a blue one if you can, the rates are marginally cheaper.  You're welcome.

The buffet at Disney Hollywood hotel isn't cheap (around AUD$30-$40 per adult head), but you'll be thanking them for feeding you and letting you go to bed to recover.  Book in advance (a couple of days will do fine) and check out the website for coupons, you may get it cheaper.

Otherwise, the food there (and the park) isn't great.  The cafe out the back is awful for breakkie (Hollywood and Dine).

Another cheaper cost saving - as you arrive, in the arrival areas of Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA), go to 7 Eleven (or Circle K) and grab some instant bowl/pot noodles and some beer (or soft drink) from the fridge.  Get back to your room, boil the kettle and makes some noodles for the family, have a drink (or you'll end up paying about AUD$5 per can in the hotel, which is about 6 times the price) and go to bed.

Grab an Octopus card in the airport (the MTR shop is there just before you leave the airport).  Sure, you could grab it in HK proper, but this will help you the next day, because you can go from the Park (or the use the hotel's free shuttle bus to get to the park) and take a train to Tsing Yi (go to Maritime Square) or Tung Chung (Citygate Outlets) to feed the family dinner (cheaper and nicer).  Find out when fireworks are on, and allow yourself time to get back and see it.

Hong Kong Food blog with Kids - reasons, premise....

I sit here, kicking myself for a number of reasons.  It's been less than 6 months since my last trip to Hong Kong.  After the last trip, I decided:

1. To never blog again (especially travel) - sure, they were good in their time, but the internet's moved on and Instragram means I can take lots of photos with little text; and 

2. Never visit HK again.  After all there are many other places to visit in the world and, as one South African lady we met at a taxi rank near IFC said (she lives there): "I have a love/hate relationship with Hong Kong".  This increases significantly when trying to get 4 children around the place (I will add, that a couple of small decisions had a big impact on our trip, which were my fault).

Ironically, it's after the nostalgia kicks in that you start thinking "maybe" again.  I am.  So I look at Instagram at all the #hashtags that are HK related.  Somehow it feels hollow.  I like them, but where's the substance?

So, I end up (through my good friend google) coming across blogs.  Some of them recent, even.  Maybe the blog isn't dead after all.  Food, travel, more food.

Hence, here I am.  Writing a food-ish blog.  I stifle my own self-loathing by saying "it's for posterity's sake, so I don't forget stuff" and "maybe others will be happy seeing a food blog on HK, the same as I was".  

I suppose one big difference is: I am an Aussie (first gen from multiple nationalities) with 4 kids and that will form part of the premise of this blog.  

You see, most bloggers (English speaking ones) are either expats (English, American, Aussie) living there, or food/travel blogs written by Singapore/Malaysian Chinese - who can read enough Chinese characters to get by, yet write well in English.  They are generally either single, or a young couple.  They are generally brought up on their Chinese food, so the approach is different.

If someone has kids, they'll think "great, you can stay at Chungking Mansions or another hostel; fit into tiny cafes, but what about us?".  This hopefully fills a gap in blogland, and I hope that someone gets something from it.

Okay, enough narcissistic introspective, lets get onto the food (and travel).  These aren't in any particular order, just what the photos I took remind me of.