Jose suggested in an earlier post that he should work on his persuasion skills. I can confirm that he improved, or let’s say that he changed his strategy.

“It’s an egg. Really, it’s just an egg!” he says as I suspiciously eye a black, greasy something in my sticky rice soup (or congee, 粥) that I ordered for breakfast. If he says so… I put the thing in my mouth and chew — and almost instantly want to spit it out again: not only its texture but also its taste is beyond anything I could possibly eat at this time of the day. I force myself to swallow it against my better will, after all I do not want to be impolite and show bad manners in a restaurant.

Jose does not feel bad at all: “If I would have told you that most of the Europeans do not like this egg, you never would have tasted it!” Very nice, thank you… That is really thoughtful. Considerate. I think I could have lived without the experience of tasting century eggs (or preserved duck eggs, 皮蛋).

Hm, yeah. I am not yet convinced by his “progress”.

Apart from this rather unpleasant experience, food in Hong Kong is amazing! There are so many different types of dumplings, buns, noodles, rice, meat, fish (though obviously not for me), veggies and fruits… And desserts! A whole new world! Let me take you through some of the mouthwatering dishes we ate over the last two weeks.

The most traditional and well-known dish is dim sum — a variety of dumplings (餃子), buns (包) or rice rolls (腸粉) that you eat in small portions (so that you can taste as many as possible). They are traditionally served in bamboo baskets which the chef piles up to allow steam to go through all of them. You may find dumplings filled with shrimps, pork meat, vegetables — in short, with pretty much anything inside. Most of the tea houses (茶餐廳), where dim sum are served during yum cha (飲茶, “tea drinking”), have their own specials. This is why I hardly had the same bite twice.

Even at a “normal” dinner you would have a lot of choice on the table: you would get a bowl of rice and then help yourself to whatever meat or vegetables there are. Generally, a soup is also served for dinner.

You might know Peking duck (北京填鴨) from the Chinese restaurants in Europe: I had it once or twice in London’s Chinatown; however it tasted completely different here in Hong Kong. You put the crispy duck skin on a thin rice crepe and season it with a dark sweet sauce, cucumber and spring onion.

I think nothing surprised me as much as the desserts! They make desserts of ingredients I never would have thought to be sweet: all sorts of beans, rice, corn or even tofu (soya bean curd, 豆腐) are prepared for dessert. I had rice-flour-balls filled with red beans (紅豆), black sesame (黑芝麻), peanut or mango; coconut milk-pudding; sweet rice; fruity creams with mango and grapefruit (楊枝甘露); and last but not least green tea soft-ice.

Although I tasted something new at almost every meal, there are still so many dishes and flavors I have not tried yet… Fortunately, we will be back in September (and surely many more times in our life) for more gastronomic discoveries!