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
They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day
So in this episode we're exploring some of the most popular
local breakfast choices in Hong Kong
We're starting out the morning in Jordan
where I'm meeting up with Ysabel
So did you eat breakfast yet?
No, not yet. I haven't eaten anything today.
Okay, not even coffee?
No, no, nothing.
So You drink coffee?
Yeah, I do drink coffee.
Okay, perfect
Honey ginger coffee
I am here today with Ysabel.
She is a local Hong Kong food blogger on Instagram
and today's episode is all about breakfast
So what, what do Hongkongers typically eat on breakfast?
I think a very typical Hong Kong breakfast would be fried eggs with toast and macaroni with cha siu or ham
What about when you're a kid? What was your favorite?
When I was a kid, I think I just ate cereal with milk.
When I was little yeah, not very Hong kong-style
But yeah, that's what I ate.
Okay, so I feel like
the vibe I get here is Hong Kong is a very busy place.
So breakfast needs to be as cheap and fast as possible
So you either have the Cha Chan Tang, which is super quick
which you guys will see it really soon
or people will just pop by a bakery or 7-eleven to grab like bread or something very quickly or a drink or
Yeah, I guess congee which is also pretty fast
Yes, I think so because in general people do things very fast here in Hong Kong
Yeah, everything. So for breakfast because they're on the way to work to school,
so they have to get something very quickly.
Thank you
A lot of people ask does your assistant get a drinks or food
I was like of course
Some tourists actually inbox me to ask
Oh, where should I go if I come here for two days or like three days
or what's your favorite restaurants in Hong Kong?
So I actually have a list that I send every one of them
yeah, and for you know for more for people asking for more fancy restaurants, I would suggest maybe
VEA in seung wan
For people asked about more like Hong Kong style food. I would suggest again
Cha Chan Tang
but there's one very famous one in Chun Wan
I don't know if you have been there before, it is called Gala Cha Chan Tang.
The name is Gala. I don't know how to say that in English, but
Thank you very much. But that's where I would recommend them to go and then
Australia Dairy company, is also one that I would suggest them to go because it is a very very genuine Hong Kong experience
yeah, everyone says the food there so good but it's weird for me because
When I look at the ingredients is something simple
so I don't know how it would be so much better than other places, so I'm excited to see that
Yeah, that's good. Because the toast there is very thick
So it's kind of different from some other restaurants
and also the soup they make is not something people usually make at home
so they are very good. I hope you'll like it
On that note, we set off so I could try it for myself
We headed to arguably the most iconic local breakfast place
for both locals and tourists, only to find that we'd have to wait a little longer
Oh, you can see the line already.
This is Australia dairy company
it's been serving up breakfast apparently with a side of attitude since 1970
the founder worked on an Australian farm in the 1940s and named it after that
It's a traditional Cha Chan Tang,
and besides they're amazing milk and egg products.
It's known for its long lines,
not the nicest service and being crammed with strangers in a small area
All this is intentional though. They want you in and out as fast as possible
There's a lot happening
There's a lot of people, drinks are being thrown at us
Menus
Are you scared?
You look so scared.
I'm observing the scene.
Okay
Upon entering, we received an English menu making it easy for tourists to clearly order
And the stuff, they're actually quite opposite of what I heard quite friendly
Maybe this was a good day or I was lucky or maybe because of the camera
I don't know
but I took it all in for the mixed personality, fast pace, organized delicious chaos it is
Basically this very typical Hong Kong style breakfast with a ham and also macaroni and a soup here is
Homemade and customized and you cannot make it at home. So this is what made it so special
I think it's very milky. And also there's chicken inside a soup, but I have no idea how exactly they make it
Yeah, that's why I cannot make it by myself
It comes with a side of scramble eggs and toast
and the toast is very thick.
With butter on the inside
So this soup is very rich in flavor with chicken
and it's kind of sweet, so it is very good
I think it is like savory and salty, but slightly creamy at the time
It's very smooth, I think they add a milk when they make it so that make it so tasty.
Yeah, it is creamy but also very like salty
Y: Yeah, it is kind of salty. T: Makes you wanna eat more.
So we did eat more and halfway through we received our drinks.
We went for the most iconic Hong Kong drink- milk tea
We got one hot and one cold and talked with the friendly strangers sharing the table with us
Is that your favourite breakfast?
Really?
It's very canadian, but we have maple syrup in canada.
I don't know what that is
It's honey.
Oh, it's a disgrace to the french toast, you have that maple syrup.
You'll enjoy our breakfast within a total of thirty minutes
then we left back into the hot humidity, feeling slightly confused about the whole experience
So overall, it's clear that that place is really popular. There's tons of tourists
There's tons of locals. People from many many countries.
It is tourist friendly because they have an English menu
It's fast it's really fast, but I had a good experience. It was pretty it's friendly, the food was good.
Fast and cheap. I can't complain.
Yeah, I agree. As a local the service today is very very good
Exactly, compared to what I get usually and the food is good as usual and the drinks are good
I'm glad you like it.
It's good because I haven't heard about this place before like you guys mentioned it
But yeah, definitely recommend this if you're looking for a breakfast place
because this area is really good for cheap shopping and eating.
So if you want to wake up go here for breakfast, walk around and shop all day.
I think it's really good idea.
Yeah, that's right.
Our next stop is an old bakery for some options on the go,
Hong Kong has some pretty uniquely flavored bread
That's both inexpensive and delicious
The most popular?
This is the pineapple bun.
Okay a lot of people like that.
Yeah. A lot of people like that. It's a very very Hong Kong style bun. Yeah.
And also the egg tart is also very popular.
Oh, I know this one.
And it's available in many other place
What's your favorite out of all the bread?
Cream bun.
So a lot of cream inside the big bun.
Pineapple bun is also popular because it's cheap and also it's big
So it's filling and also cheap,
so it's a good choice
and you get a bit of fruit
I can just stand. Oh, you want me to sit? Okay, I'm scared. Okay. Is it okay?
first up
We've got the pineapple bun
So these are just flour mixed with
some kind of flavorings with a taste of pineapple
But they do not actually have pineapple pieces or any sort of pineapple inside the bun
So most of the flavoring is just on the top part.
Yes
So I'll try a small
small part of it
I think this one is not very sweet
But usually when it comes with a butter inside, the flavor would be more
Diverse because this one is just the flavor on top and it's cold now.
It's better hot?
Yeah, I think it is better hot.
So if you go right fresh in the morning, more hot?
Yeah, so it's better to have that for breakfast
Next up we have this very famous egg tart.
I think it's very flaky and kind of crispy. But also if it's served hot it will be a lot better
Because it's pretty cold now, but it's still good, it's still good.
So overall the bread here tends to be very sweet
Yeah, all of them arekind of sweet yeah, I agree
It's I've noticed that like even all the breakfast items like the soup was slightly sweet. The milk tea is sweet. So
There's not like like for example western style. It's very salty food and bitter coffee
But here things tend to be more on the sweeter sweeter creamier side
I kind of agree like Hong Kong people like a lot of cream inside everything basically
So we got a lot of cream inside of soup and buns and also all kind of foods we eat. So I really do
It's very rich.
So where we going next?
We're going to a congee place in Hau Fook treat which is a very populous street
Full of new restaurants and also popular among teenagers
So this congee place is actually one of a kind cuz is one of the most it's one of one of the oldest restaurant
in that street, so that's kind of special
This shop is here for more than 30 years.
Thirty years.
Yeah, more than 30 years.
Congee is a kind of rice porridge.
There are so many variations
But essentially it's made of rice cooking for a long time in water.
You can add different toppings and side dishes to go with it
Really interesting options.
There's a lot of parts and inside a pig's stomach kid named art
yeah, inside a pig's
stomach, kidney, intestine
I just like a simple one, like this one, Shanpan style.
Congee comes still bubbling hot.
Yeah, this one is really good.
Yeah, that's good
I love congee actually, this is what people eat when they are sick.
Chicken soup for us, like in Canada.
It's like very comforting, warming, very simple, so not so difficult to digest.
I finished up my congee,
Ysabel decided to take hers away with a fried dough on the side.
Then we went to our final spot.
When thinking of quick options, you can't dismiss the convenience stores.
We were in a 7-eleven.
There are 7-eleven and other convenience stores all over Hong Kong basically on every street.
Where you can find one and in the train station,
so people will just pop in here grab a quick snack, drink, food, especially before work or school.
So what's, what's kind of the typical items people would grab in here
I think just this kind of sandwiches over here.
Like these ones
Another sometimes, people will just get a carton of milk or just got a hot drink over there, especially in winter
But maybe not now because it's too hot
and there are a lot of juices available here as well.
So that's what we usually get for breakfast if we're in a hurry.
I was actually quite surprised because when I came back to Hong Kong
There's a lot of new options,
Like these rice?
It looks very like, it looks very similar to Japanese
These rice rolls, these are like more of a Korean thing, right? The kimchi stuff.
Yeah, they have a big selection of sandwiches
wraps
salads
fruits
These are also pretty quick,
you just buy these and then you heat them up in their microwave
and they're ready to go
So these are all ready-made meals
Overall it's super similar to the Japanese one
It's changed a lot over the years because when I lived here four years ago, it wasn't like this at all
Yeah, they had a lot of different different things.
Yeah. Yeah, healthier, more options more
more international
and still cheap
So we are all done, how many breakfast to we have?
Yeah, so full.
It's not even lunchtime but I think we were going to be completely full for the rest of the day.
What was your favorite item this morning?
Um I think, it's the Australia Dairy Company again.
It's my favorite place.
it's your favorite place.
Yeah that macaroni or
the fried eggs.
My favourite one was the congee
I really love congee
And I think it's because I like mushy hot food and I love oatmeal morning
Yeah, congee is my thing, and I got it perfectly match with the cold soy milk after.
And then you feel like you are ready go back out to eat. I don't know. I really enjoyed that.
All right. So thank you so much Ysabel for joining us today.
Thank You for having me.
I will link here below. You guys can go check her out
and I will see you in the next episode!
Bye