- I'm on a semi-retired models quest to eat my way through Hong Kong or any other city I travel to.
- With the help of food bloggers,
I want to learn more about the culture, meet new people and discover exciting new tastes in the places I'm in.
- For the last episode of season 1, we're going to do something a little bit different,
something I've never done before.
- We're gonna be eating and cooking at a stranger's home.
- It's not really a stranger. You guys remember William from episode 3?
- I'm here with William from BB egg waffle.
- William and his wife owned a waffle shop here and back when we were filming with them
he was like
"Oh, I want to show you guys around the area I grew up in and now live in and maybe cook for you."
- So I took him up on that offer and it's all happening today.
- That area is Sai Wan Ho near Shau Kei Wan station in Hong Kong.
- Now first, I couldn't make a trip there without visiting the iconic Tai On building.
- Built in 1968, it's part of the first generation of composite buildings in Hong Kong.
- It its beneath a twenty-eight story building containing 1884 flats.
- This building has a strong family like atmosphere and with that, its own culture.
- The upstairs residents, nearby neighbors and shopkeepers all have this close-knit community that they've built over many years.
- This place has everything you need and residents living above it don't even need to leave this area.
- It's got everything from food, electronics, doctors offices.
- Its us!
- There's a ton of street food available here, a lot of snacks that students look to eat after school
noodle shops, the Tai On building iconic waffle shop.
- Fears are a whole bunch of stuff, egg waffles.
- I read it as a hidden gem and all of this is at really low prices. So this place is definitely a foodie paradise.
- These self-sustaining small communities started spreading up mostly in the
1960s as the government was facing swelling population issues and it allowed people to work and live in the same unit.
- However,
in the late 60s, the government changed the laws because of Hygiene and health and by the early 70s
composite buildings stopped being constructed.
- Places like Tai On building where communities live within a building and have a strong connection and culture are really rare today.
- Even this place faces a great possibility of destruction in the future
to be replaced with another mega mall or new housing complex.
- Today is all about community, family, and the customs passed down through generations.
- So, moving from one big family bonded together by a building. Let's meet our smaller local family bonded by blood.
- Wait, that sounds kind of intense.
- Kinda like a gang, you know what I mean? They they were born into the same.
- Hello, I am Tarina, I grew up in Sai Wan Ho
and now I [will] show you around Shau Kei Wan.
- Yeah, and this is William.
- So, where are we going first?
- Now, we [are] going to have the noodles.
- Noodles?
- Oh, yeah.
- Is this a famous place in this area?
- Why is it famous?
- Local people would like come here.
- Yeah, it's quick, it's cheap, it's tasty.
- Wait, this is sweet, isn't it?
- Oh wait, they're both sweet. It doesn't matter.
- Doesn't matter what you ask for them to do what they want to give you.
- The rice noodles are so thick here different texture than I usually see.
- The rice noodles are different they like squish like, different texture. This stuff is my favorite
- I love these kind of noodle since I couldn't eat, yeah so good.
- I'm going to try the potato noodles.
- What do you think of the potato?
- Spicy.
- The texture is chewy.
- Let's try.
- It's really good too, it numbs your lips you can't feel your tongue in your lips.
- Yeah, it's a weird sensation
- This style is China, like north of China.
- This is really good for a diet, I can't pick up anything. It's so smooth.
- Yeah, I just wanted to go in my mouth.
- So dramatic.
- Go!
- Here, [there were] many shops to repair the car. Now it's changed. Many restaurants here.
- So this street is mainly restaurants now
- Why did they change that? Why did the car business...?
- Because [there are] many estates
new estates here, and many people are living here, so they change.
- Yeah, here.
- Here?
- It's a dessert place.
- It's a dessert, the chinese dessert and fishball:
Shumai.
- The Shumai is very famous.
- Oh, really? Why is it different?
- Many start here, because it is homemade.
-Homemade?
- And it's sweet.
- Yeah, it's sweet.
- How long has she been making...?
- How many does she make a day?
- So like 2000.
Every day.
No days off.
- Wow, well, she passed this down to her sons? Do her sons also make this?
- After finishing our lunch, dessert, and a snack it was time to head to the nearby wet market.
- So we've just come to Sai Wan Ho market where we can find all the ingredients that we're gonna use to make dinner tonight.
- We're gonna meet up with their mother and
do some of the shopping.
- We're learning that the things with E and numbers are no good that there's chemicals or enhancers.
- So that's the trick in Hong Kong. I didn't know that. Now I know.
- So you guys all live in this area?
- Yes.
- The whole family.
- She live[s] over there over there.
- I live here
- My mother lives here.
- And your sister?
- [My] Sister is also here.
- So, do you all eat together every night?
- Usually.
- Usually everyone after work goes to your mom's house?
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- J!
- I'm working for my dinner. I'm an English teacher now.
- If not you've got no dinner tonight.
- Okay, kids listen up!
- Ready? One, two, three, go!
- We're putting in barriers now.
- One, two, three, go!
- [laughs] I self-destructed!
- Pickled ginger.
Hong Kong style.
It's different.
- Try.
- Okay.
- You like it?
- A little bit of garlic, too.
- Okay this episode has turned into lets the western girl try all of our strong food
- You won't believe this garlic, when you taste, you will feel sweet.
- Oh its sweet?
- Yeah, it's a different taste of garlic.
- It looks like it went bad.
- Oh, do you want to eat it with me? Do you like it?
- Really?
- You already ate it! We were supposed to do a cheers.
- He's brave.
- Okay.
- Sweet
- It's almost like you're eating a candy that gets more sweet, but not really, I don't know what flavour that is.
- Like a soy sauce candy.
- Sweet soy sauce candy or something.
- See? I can't.
- Not for me.
- Mom prepared a feast that included a bunch of family favorite dishes such as stir fried kale with garlic
ketchup shrimp,
Yes, that sauce is made from actual ketchup, squid, tomato and potato soup
scallops with lily bulbs and fish cakes with sweet and sour sauce.
- Whats your favorite food?
- Fruit.
- Fruit? Really? What kind?
- Mango
- Mango? Wow, you're so healthy.
- Do you need the sauce?
- Sure!
- Thank you!
- So good.
- I started this series out not really knowing where it would take me,
we just picked topics and planned things as we went along
- And I was hoping to find something that would challenge me, help me to meet new people, and
teach me more about
Hong Kong the place I live in now, but it did so much more than that.
- Besides the food, I got to learn so many new things about a culture that isn't my own.
- I got to hear people's stories both about the past and the present and
listen to their worries about the future and usually when I
would eat or dine somewhere, it would be with my boyfriend, my friends, my family, people that I know and
I have to say that dining with strangers has
really
given me an
unexpected refreshment to my life
what I found in this series is a new sense of belonging
warmth and
just a really strong feeling of kindness from the community around me.
Not only from like what they gave me but what they give back there's a lot of places that gave back to the community
there's a lot of places that
you know whether that be through money and donations or like
hiring people in the local areas or volunteering or just
you know, keeping the culture going
adhering to different dietary standards
there's so many ways that food relates and connects to the communities around it and
it sort of works hand-in-hand.
So if you take one thing away from this series,
besides going out and trying some really good Chinese food if you can find in your area. I want it to be that...
You try and have an open mind. Get out try new things, talk to people, and just really connect with your surroundings.
I hope you guys enjoyed this series
I hope you enjoyed watching it as much as I did filming it and I will see you in my next video.
Bye!
- Thank you guys. Thank you so much for today.
- You're welcome!
- Bye
- He trolls spiderman.
- He trolls him.
- Can you say what just happened? Please?
- I asked Natalie to film Spider-Man and she literally had a meltdown. I've never heard her swear so much in her life.
- That's not effing Spider-Man, Taylor. Its effing Deadpool. Get your Marvel people straight.
- You know that Spider-Man doesn't have a sword, right?
- I don't know what he-- There's so many. I don't know if it's something new.
- He's gonna take me over and he's gonna do something to me right now.
- Is it happening?
[Laughter]
- How do you feel? Finish the foodie series.
- I don't wanna eat anymore.
- Just really tired but happy.
- Yeah?
- Yeah.
- You have fun?
- Yeah, I have fun because some of the places if it's not a foodie that brings me to that then probably I won't know where it is.
- And I like
- secret is that all those restaurants that we went to, I will actually go back to it
kike later by myself or with my family, so it's not that we just recommend it to you guys and then nope
we don't go there but I actually went back there like very often.
- Me too!
- So do try!