Final Fall, I used to be invited by Cathay Pacific Airways and the Hong Kong Tourism Board for a week- lengthy go to, timed to coincide with the Hong Kong Wine & Dine Pageant.
It was my first time in Hong Kong, and I beloved each minute. Listed here are the highlights:
Island Explorations
One morning, we took the often scheduled Solar Ferry to Cheung Chau Island for an exploration of the lovable mixture of artisan and conventional bakeries and outlets.
We visited the ornate Pak Tai Temple, one of many oldest Taoist temples in Hong Kong, and the house of the bun towers, the place an annual Fortunate Bun Pageant, highlighted by competing bun tower climbers, is held. We loved distinctive road meals as we wove by means of the waterfront– curry fish balls, zhaliang (crispy crullers wrapped in rice noodles and sauced with soy, peanut, and sesame), the well-known native mango mochi, and people candy red-stamped “fortunate buns”–the identical ones that get grabbed from these competition towers. Subsequent, it was time for an enormous seafood lunch, with a tableful of crab, shrimp, razor clams, and Hong Kong-style vermicelli scallops within the shell. Our full stomachs nearly sank the boat on our manner again to Kowloon.
Extra Boats: Harbor Crossings
In a metropolis whose central district is on an island and is, in truth, surrounded by islands, boats are the place it’s at. Ferries are a straightforward strategy to beat commuter site visitors, and I discovered driving them to be a soothing and scenic strategy to journey.
At sundown one night, we took a really pleasant 45-minute journey throughout Victoria Harbor on aqualuna’s restored red-sailed picket junk boat. It was an ideal strategy to spend a pre-dinner cocktail hour.
We additionally rode the enduring double-decker Star Ferry, which has been operating throughout the harbor for over 120 years. Ferrying back-and-forth from our house base in Kowloon to the Central District on the weathered ships, with their distinctive swingback benches which permit passengers to face ahead in both path, supplied fantastic views and an opportunity to immerse within the native tradition.
Working Class Eats in Sham Shui Po
From pineapple buns and milk tea to handmade dumplings assembled earlier than our eyes, the delights of this strolling tour, led by the educated tour founder Cecilia Leung, appeared limitless. We wandered by means of conventional road markets in Sham Shui Po, tried freshly steamed soy milk pudding at a tofu manufacturing unit, and met Mr. Lau of Lau Sam Kee Noodles, who confirmed us how he kneads the noodle dough with a bamboo pole, then fed us lo mein with dried shrimp roe and his do-it-yourself radish pickle.
Central District Cocktail Crawl
As a beverage author, I all the time exit of my strategy to go to the coolest cocktail bars in any new metropolis. Hong Kong’s Central District presents so many choices, we visited a whole dozen and left city with others nonetheless on the listing. Of us line up for Bar Leone, the primary bar on the 2025 World’s 50 Greatest listing, a wondrous Italian-style spot the place you may nibble on smoked olives and mortadella sandwiches whereas sipping on aperitivo spiked riffs of Negronis and Americanos. Our favourite turned out to be Kinsman, an ode to Cantonese tradition together with shrimp toast and a baiju-based daiquiri. Their thrilling “Story of Chinatowns” cocktail menu honors international Chinatowns from Singapore to Lima.
A Conventional Lunch on the twenty ninth Flooring
Many issues in Hong Kong occur at nice peak, together with a must-do go to to Victoria Peak, and a don’t-miss restaurant referred to as WING, on the twenty ninth ground of an workplace constructing in Central Hong Kong. Chef Vicky Cheng was born in Hong Kong, however his household moved to Toronto when he was fairly younger, and he skilled beneath French cooks there and in NYC earlier than returning to Hong Kong in 2011. He opened Vea, which lives one flight above WING, in 2015, with a mixture of French and Chinese language affect, after which WING in 2021. There we skilled a family-style lunch that I’ll always remember.
Chef Cheng advised us that he knew nothing about Chinese language approach when he moved to Hong Kong, however spent years consuming, cooking, and studying concerning the traditions and components from his household house. WING is a triumph, with a spectacular menu full of these traditions and introduced in a loving, considerate, and informative manner.
The ocean cucumber spring roll, cooked in entrance of us, and the bitter luffa gourd in a broth of fermented greens stood out as examples of extremely scrumptious dishes constituted of humble components. Much less humble but additionally excellent, a large Alaskan king crab introduced with its shell, and uncooked, shell-on botan shrimp with chiu chow chile oil, shocked us. Chef Cheng says he by no means serves the identical dish twice to any visitor, but when he repeated this menu, I’d fortunately eat each chew once more.
Tasting the East on the Hong Kong Wine & Dine Pageant
Held every October on the Central Harborfront, this glitzy and in style outside competition of eats and drinks brings one of the best eating places and wineries to the residents of Hong Kong. For a Westerner like me, the fun got here from sampling Chinese language wines for the primary time, within the Grand Wine Pavilion. I attempted and appreciated a wealthy and citrus-y 100% chardonnay from Yunnan and a zesty, minerally riesling from Ningxia. We discovered a sake from France, a Czech gin, and a well-liked ready-to-drink canned whiskey highball from Hong Kong made with Iron Goddess tea. I additionally loved exchanging my tokens at Gourmand Avenue for bites from Michelin-starred Hong Kong eating places like Bo Innovation and Cristal Room by Anne Sophie Pic. The competition bumped till midnight with dwell music and all types of surprises.
A Word about Cathay Pacific
Hong Kong presents unimaginable experiences to visiting food and drinks lovers. Cathay Pacific generously flew us there in Enterprise Class, the place we obtained to begin tasting the native delicacies (egg tarts! congee!) within the air on the way in which. On the way in which again, I had a dim sum breakfast and lunch in fast succession within the Cathay Pacific Pier Lounge, then ate myself all the way in which house, with just a few very comfy naps in between.
