One of the best things to do in HK is eat! I don’t mean just the usual Chinese food like dimsum and roast duck. There are also great places for Vietamese, Thai, Italian, Indian, Japanese and other cuisine.

Local food here is quite different from Chinese cuisine as we know it in the Philippines. Variations are not that drastic, though. Because I want you to enjoy your Hongkie food trip, a few things to help:

-       Dimsum is served during lunch up until early afternoon, which is teatime or yam cha. Don’t expect most restaurants to serve it for dinner.

-       Charsiu bun (charsiu pao) is the closest there is to asado. The pork and turnip-filled bun is the closest to bola-bola. And no, they don’t serve it with that dark sweet sauce like they do in Chowking.

-       Must tries: xia long bao (a meat dumpling with soup INSIDE), and tzipao (or sweet custard-filled bun)

-       Many local places will serve their house tea. You’ll notice locals dunking their chopsticks into a glass of hot tea to disinfect it.

-       Don’t expect to be served tap water. It’s probably not a good idea to ask for one, anyway. Your options: hot or cold lemon tea or milk tea.

-       If you’re familiar with traditional Chinese feast, then you know the first rule: take your time. Food is served one dish at a time, the rice dish usually being the last. By that time, you’ll be a bit stuffed from the eight courses that came before, and you happily lower your carb intake.

-       It’s okay to slurp your noodle soup in local noodle places.

-       Street food or daipadongs offer good in-between shopping nutrition. Try: the waffles and fish balls in curry sauce. Stay clear of the colorful “fruit” slushy juices in the dispenser. They’re made up mostly of just sugar.

-       Local fast foods: Fairwood and Café de Coral. Tourist-friendly, fusion cuisine. Personal fave: Fairwood’s curry dishes and the mini-hot pot (served only in winter).

-       Coffee places like Starbucks close at 10:00pm. >sigh< Alternative for late night caffeine fix: UCC 3-in-1 at OK convenience stores.

-       Fast food coffee (like McDo and Fairwood) is served with A LOT of milk by default. If you want black coffee, make sure you say “no milk.”

-       No matter which country you’re in, McDo fries taste the same.

-       Stay away from Pizza Hut. Unless you fancy strange, overpriced, rubbery pizzas. Let me know what the sweet corn pizza tastes like.

Personal faves:

Spring Deer at TST for roast duck served with pita bread

Metropole for dimsum, served by staff pushing carts

Ebeneezer’s for shawarma, Mediterranean pizza and biryani

Red Ant for fusion food reminiscent of the neat little cafes at Serendra

That noodle house next to our building for spicy lamb noodle soup

This other noodle place in our area for soup that comes in various degrees of spicy (not spicy to very burning)

Maxim’s tea cakes, breads, snowy mooncake and Hello Kitty cakes

Taste supermarket’s egg tarts

Agave for margaritas and heaps of nachos

Honeymoon Desserts for, uh, desserts such as mango sago soup with pomelo

That Thai food stall on the ground floor of our building for the beef barbecue satay

Seafood restos at the Cheung Chau wharf

Temple street for spicy fried shrimp

North Point public market’s cooked food section for drunken shrimp and hot pork sparerib salad

Charlie Brown Café at TST or Mong Kok for the ambiance and the fun looking food

The street food waffles and takoyaki

UCC Café (their tagline: Happy. Coffee. Smile.)

The food courts at Time Square, Causeway Bay and City Gate Outlet Mall, Tung Chung

The frozen dimsum section of supermarkets

Superfresh (?) Burgers at Causeway Bay

When opportunity strikes, Monsi and I play tour guide to friends and family visiting Hong Kong. We’ve done this a handful of times already, and have once gone to Lan Kwai Fong for three consecutive nights to entertain three separate groups.

Anyway, if you do plan on going here without the guided tour, here are a few pointers that ought to help:

On Getting Around:

1. Get an Octopus Card. This is will serve as your all-around pass for the MTR, tram, ferry and bus. You can also use this to buy little necessities at 7-Eleven and other retail stores. Buy one at the airport or MTR station. It costs HK$150 with a stored value of $100. You can top it up with at least $50 at a time at convenience stores or at the MTR. This saves you the trouble of fishing for loose change or frequenting the MTR ticket booths.

2. Airport Express is an expensive way to get to and from the airport. Yeah, I know it’s flashy and fast, but if you’re on a budget, you can get a bus for half the price, or even less. At best, the Express is great for those traveling alone and with a lot of baggage.

3.  It is possible to get around without resorting to a taxi. Grab your itinerary, go research on the HK tourism website on how to get there. The MTR, Tramways and City bus have their own websites too, telling you of the routes, schedules and stops.

4. For the shutterbugs out there: Local store owners don’t really like having their store front photographed. Some will have this sign out on their stall. If you can’t help it, bring your super-mega-ultra-extra-long zoom lens.

Attention All Shoppers!

Hong Kong is not so much of a bargain center compared to Bangkok. If you’re out for street market shopping, good prices can be had at Prince Edward and Temple Street. Tung Choi, a.k.a. Ladies’ Market in Mongkok is catching on with the tourist vibe and prices are pretty high. Avoid the weekends if you want to preserve your sense of personal space.

If you’re out for electronic gadgets, Sham Shui Po is the place. Word has it that a scam is going around Tsim Sha Tsui. Here’s what happens: You settle on a price. The vendor takes your money and prepares to get newer stock. He shows up with another item of sketchy brand and says that they’re all out of the item you want. They will insist that you get this product and will not give back your money.

Tip: be literal on the exchange. Make sure your purchase is with you when you part with your cash.

So far the best sale seasons I have experienced are sometime around Mid-autumn festival (around September) and New Year’s leading up to Chinese New Year (January to early February).