A delicate bowl of chewy noodles, Cantonese style. That means a dough with duck eggs, traditionally flattened with a bamboo rod and a guy sitting on it jumping up and down. Or by machine nowadays. Hidden inside the wild disarray of curly gold sit three or four fat wontons in a small pool of broth covering just the bottom of the bowl. A small bowl. Not like the washbasins of northern noodle soup. Still a bit hungry after one exquisite lady-sized portion and not so skinny prize. Especially compared to Guangzhou, Hong Kong really ramps up on its money-game.

What now with empty bellies and empty wallets? Dumplings and noodle soups are, as ever, the cheapest satisfying meals available. Food courts are a blessing sometimes. Ippudo has some decent ramen soup, comfort served in a white bowl with the sun shining out of a runny eggyolk. Better stay away from crazy pizza creations.

A not so small hole in the wall with all sorts of dairy delicacies and an array of breakfast items. Eggs, if you couldn’t guess. Milkshakes are foamy and light, but not too light. Papaya is quite nice. And then the steamed milk. Sugary, sweet and a rich note of milk. A humble treat. Consistency like silken tofu (and that’s a compliment), flavors available like ginger, coffee and chocolate hot or cold. Delightful for lovers of the white fluid. A good start to the day. The person next to us takes pictures. DSLR, hybrid and smartphone camera.

On to other things and heavier food. Kam’s Roast Goose is our next stop. And the next stop of a lot of other people. A line usually means good food. Take away is fast, though. A container of a few slices of pork belly and roast goose, two stalks of healthy veggies and a good base layer of rice. Two plastic pots of sauces. We cross the street with our little goose in a bag. A guy with a shirt saying surgical endoscopy carries two large bags of Kam’s Roast Goose. A nearby park serves as our improvised restaurant. Outstanding, but with an unbalanced ratio of meat and rice.

Tim Ho Wan, restaurant of good luck and yummy treats. Got a Michelin star somewhere. We share a table with a couple from the Netherlands and agree on our favorite item: the char siu pork bun. Sweet works remarkably well here. Other dishes – the classics – are good too, of course, but somehow predictable. I’m quite happy watching my goji berry jello jiggling on the table. After the feast, we feel happy and quite lucky, too.

Spending quite some time searching for the MacDonald’s at Admiralty. Build your own burger. Swapping our last credits on the Octopus Card for a fast food creation. 100% angus beef, it says. A total lie. It’s a portobello mushroom burger with bacon. Better than the ordinary cheeseburger, but not the most amazing burger out there.

 

January 19th – January 25th 2017