21 Foods That'll Rock Your World in Hong Kong.

Put down the Chinese take-out menu and learn the words "cha chaan teng." Pronounced just as it looks, a cha chaan teng is the term for the Hong Kong-typical casual restaurants serving up cheaply priced, richly flavored eats at all hours of the day. Yeah, they're kind of like diners, diners with specialties like roast goose, pineapple buns and hot ginger Coca-Cola, and they're a lifeline to locals and adventurous travelers willing to step outside malls and Michelin-starred restaurants.

1. Black sesame tong yuen.
Excellent for breakfast or dessert, Tong Yuen are glutinous rice balls filled with sweet black sesame or red bean paste, then topped with chopped nuts. It doesn't look pretty, but is so tasty it now figures in our food daydreams.

2. XO sauce.
XO Sauce is a spicy condiment made of dried scallops, shrimp, onions, garlic and chili oil. Add it to tofu, fried rice, dim sum, or really anything that could use a kick of spice.

3. Milk tea and Yin-yang.
At left, a very traditional iced Hong Kong milk tea, which is only black tea with the addition of evaporated or condensed milk. At right, the Yin-yang, which is a mix of Hong Kong milk tea and coffee. The latter is thicker, stronger and more filling, but traditional milk tea has the advantage of being downright refreshing.

4. Eggette (gai daan jai).
An "Eggette" or gai daan jai in Cantonese, is an egg custard waffle cooked in specially shaped waffle irons over an open flame. The sweet egg batter becomes a bumpy waffle that's ideal to break into bite-size pieces for a hot snack while strolling.

5. Sweet rolls.
These sweet rolls are an excellent sweet side dish or a quick snack to accompany a Yuanyang. Essentially it's a sliced bread roll, toasted, buttered, drizzled with sweetened condensed milk and served hot.

6. Hot Coca-Cola with ginger and lemon.
Not sure we believe this is"good for you, but Coca-Cola boiled with ginger and lemon is surprisingly good for your tastebuds. Try it instead of hot tea or coffee and then try to convince your Facebook friends it's not something you just made up. 

7. Macaroni in tomato soup.
Definitely a comfort food, this is hot, filling, cheap and usually consumed at breakfast. Macaroni noodles swim in a huge bowl of steamy tomato soup, sometimes complimented by bits of ham, carrot, peas and corn.

8. Pineapple bun (Bor lor bao).
Bor lor bao is a soft, sugary sweet bun usually with a top crust that mimics the texture of a pineapple. It can be plain, or filled with all sorts of things, ranging from actual pineapple slices to BBQ meat, to a custard like with this mini pineapple bun. 

 

9. Pork floss.
OMG. Of every nummy food on this list, pork floss is the one we daydream about most. Imagine dried pork with the consistency of coarse cotton candy and you have a basic idea. It's just spectacular. 

10. Meats on sticks.
Various meats and fish balls on sticks. They may be BBQed, roasted, or drenched in a curry sauce, but you've gotta try them all. You could essentially eat food on sticks all day long in Hong Kong, depending on what neighborhoods you're frequenting. For juicy chunks of pork with a perfectly crispy skin, ask for Siu Yuk. 

 

11. Portuguese egg tart.
A Portuguese egg tarts is a simple, sweet baked pastry shell filled with egg custard. Though they were invented in Hong Kong, the nearby former Portuguese colony of Macau also enjoys claiming them as a specialty. Make sure you eat them hot, and it's okay to treat them as finger food. 

12. Coconut juice smoothies.
Calling these smoothies is a stretch, because these tiered beverages of coconut juice, fresh fruit, taro, rice balls or crystal jelly cubes are in a category all their own. Combinations are numerous, so there's always a reason to take a break and sip through mango bits to reach the delightfully chewy glutinous balls in the bottom of the cup. 

13. Osmanthus with wolfberry curd.
This is quite specific, but we fell in love with this exquisite dish on our most recent visit to Hong Kong, while noshing at the Michelin-starred Ming Court restaurant, known for their elevated Cantonese cooking. Aside from its aesthetic appeal, the little gelatin treats taste like heaven, a light, herbal tea with hint of exotic berry.

14. Roast duck and goose.
Do yourself a favor and order both the roast duck and goose to see how they can be so alike, and yet so different. Goose is a bit darker, heartier, and makes for a mouth-wateringly perfect crispy skin to crunch. 

15. Rice noodle roll (cheung fun).
Technically a part of dim sum, cheung fun also occasionally shows up as street food during the holidays in Hong Kong, which is where we last sampled it from a cart in the Sham Shui Po neighborhood. A delicate ricesheet is steamed and then cut and filled with shrimp or, our favorite, char siu (BBQ pork). 

16. Ramen luncheon meat breakfast.
Believe it or not, this is breakfast. There's scrambled eggs, a local green, two slices of lunchmeat, all atop a considerable helping of ramen noodles. It's hot, it's comfort food to the max, it's cheap and it actually sounds tasty at any time of the day. 

17. Vegetarian set meal.
Every single one of these mouthwatering dishes are completely vegetarian. It's not because that's how we've ordered it, but because that's the only way it can be on the premises of a Buddhist monastery. Here we have tofuskin in a lemon sauce, fried lotus root slices, spring rolls, local greens and a glass noodle soup with mushrooms. 

18. Meatless food made to look like meat.
In a city obsessed with meat skewers and meat in buns and roast meat and meat meat meat, Hong Kong is surprisingly vegetarian-friendly thanks to the Buddhist population and international influence.

19. Blooming flower teas.
Calendula, jasmine and more teas begin as dried bulbs, which then bloom and regain their vibrant colors under the hot water pour in the ceremonial preparation of tea. As these teas are a little pricier than regular loose leaf, we'd recommend grabbing a box for special occasions rather than a quick cup. 

20. Potato chips.
Where to begin? Hong Kong's international population assures that the snack variety in markets is second to none. Potato chips with flavors like Mongkok sausage and Unagi Kabayaki formed our first introduction to Hong Kong's culinary kaleidoscope. 

21. Dim Sum/Yum Cha.
 You think we'd forget dim sum? Also known as yum cha, this meal is comprised of a variety of dishes, ranging from congee and turnip cakes to bao buns and shrimp dumplings.