I think I’ve always enjoyed eating, though at some point in my teenage years I wished for the invention of a pill that would be able to satisfy my hunger instantly. I found cooking and looking for food too time consuming, and for whatever reason I was at a really busy point of my life. I also never went out to eat much when I was living in Canada since I as a poor student… and going to restaurants meant asking my sister/dad to give me a ride, until I hit the age of 17 where I was able to drive but still too poor to dine out.
Moving to Hong Kong changed my eating habits quite drastically. For the first 1-2 years, I was living off satay udon with fish balls at home pretty much every single day. There was no longer a sister, dad or mom cooking for me, and given that I was still poor and living in a touristy area, I just cooked whatever was easiest and filled my stomach. If I tracked the number of times I ate veggies or anything remotely healthy in a month, it would definitely be under 5 times. The next 2 years, I became less poor, but I was basically working like crazy so I stuck with the satay udon and fish balls sans-veggies/healthy components. To make life less miserable, I started to dine out much more and gained a load of weight.
Year 4-present is when I feel like I’m at a happy medium. I cook a lot at home, trying to add in veggies as much as possible, cutting down on the processed foods (fish balls & co.), the instant noodles, and started to make Chinese soup every weekend. I still go out to eat, but I don’t go as crazy and always try to include the veggie factor. When I know I won’t be able to include the veggie factor for a particular meal, I would dose up during other meals of the day.
Alright so I don’t know why I spent the past 10-15 minutes talking about my eating habits, because it doesn't actually have much to do with why I wanted to start this blog. The reason really is this, I do like to eat, and friends and colleagues keep telling me to start a food blog. I think I’ve always brushed it off because there are just way, way too many food blogs out there. Recently though, I’ve befriended a number of “foodies” and “food bloggers”, and started reading some of the blogs they recommended and honestly… BLAH. I feel like these bloggers are just reviewing restaurants to show how they are hip and trendy, rather than actually sharing their love for food… or maybe I find their tastes too high end… or maybe I’m just too ghetto. In any case, I am starting this blog because I just want to share what normal people in Hong Kong eat. Not just what the trendy hipsters eat. I have very normal taste, not an expert in anything really, with a salary just slightly above average compared to the typical non banker local. I hang out mostly in Central and CWB because those are the 2 most easily accessible locations for me, but I also frequent MK. I am just a very average person sharing with you where I normally eat, with the possibility of the occasional baller places. That's very normal too, right? I mean it's totally normal to be not normal. You know... Like that motivational poster, you are unique, just like everyone else! I will try my best to include photos, but since I am usually too hungry and attack the food when it's served, it's very likely that you will be seeing half eaten foods or no photos at all.
With that said, today I shall start with one of my lunch time staples. Nam Kee noodles. They have been around for a long long time, but I never went until one of my "local" friends brought me there one day. I say "local" because he's one of those half Brit international school students who speak no Chinesey. Anyway, he was raving about their "spring rolls" which again are in """" because they are definitely not spring rolls, but more like fish meat rolls wrapped with thin bean curd sheets. I'm not a big fan of it, instead my favorite is the 中辣大腸小鍋米線, which is a sour and medium spicy soupy noodle with pig intestines. It's right up my alley because 1. I wouldn't cook pig intestines at home and I honestly really like it 2. It's spicy enough for me 3. Fills me up and 4. Is easy on my wallet. I know carbs aren't the best thing to eat, so I usually get a plate of veggies on the side to "even it out" slightly. Altogether my bills is usually $44. I steal a couple extra packs of their hot sauce on my way out and proceed back to my desk in the office to begin the attack and leave the area smelling like Nam Kee for the rest of the afternoon. I've mastered the art of eating alone at restaurants, but seriously Nam Kee is too small for me and I prefer to eat slowly at my desk and sweat as much as I need to without feeling gross. Plus there are free drinks in the office so.... Win win!
You have been blessed by the fact that I remembered to take a pic today before the food was all gone.
Locations:
They are seriously almost everywhere. In Central alone there is one on
Stanley Street and one on Victoria Street. In CWB there are also 2 that I
know of, one near the Regent Hotel, closer to the Tin Hau side, and
then the other is by the wet market, closer to the Wanchai side. Go on
their website and look for the one closest to you and enjoy!Website: http://www.namkeenoodle.com.hk/nav_content.html (I like how they don't have an English version of the website... truly catering to local Hong Kongers!)
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