Food Markets, Hong Kong

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The prosperous city view is one of the Hong Kong appealing attractions. Tourists love going to the Peak to overlook the gorgeous night view of Hong Kong. It is always so nice to have a fine dinner with your beloved ones under an enchanting view. The only revolving restaurant in Hong Kong - R66 - can fulfill these two wishes at once.



The name R66 comes from this restaurant taking 66 minutes to complete one revolving cycle. The pace is just great to bring you a whole magnificent city view but not too hurry to disrupt your meal. It is a good place for taking photos of the Hong Kong’s forest of skyscrapers from a top view. You will discover another beauty in the Victoria Harbor there.



R66 offers international buffet at lunch, tea and dinner time. It is located on the 62/F at Hopewell Center in Wan Chai. By the way, Hopewell Center is the tallest building in Wan Chai. It takes about 10 minutes walk from Wan Chai MTR station. You should be able to figure it out easily.

More information:www.2shamballa.com/blog

What to buy: Food and Drink

What to pay: R66 International Buffet: Lunch - HKD$148 Tea (only on Sat or Sun) - HKD$98 Dinner - HKD$318

There are a number of dry seafood shops in Sheung Wan area. @Though I have seen many foreigners there, it may not be easy for you to "shop" there. Alternatively, you could go to "Wing Wah" for chinese sausages and waxed ducks (http://www.wingwah.com/pp_big/WingWah.asp) while for more options you really need to go Sheung Wan.

Tea drinking may be the sign of a New Age lifestyle, but it has been synonymous with Chinese culture for thousands of years. Chinese people use a wide variety of teas to quench their thirst, to aid digestion, for health benefits and as an ingredient in many dishes. Chinese tea is a great, reasonably priced gift, especially when attractively wrapped in souvenir packaging. Hong Kong has a large variety of teas imported from different Chinese provinces and cities, such as Fujian's Ti-guan-yin tea , Hangzhou's Dragon Well tea and Yunnan's Pu-erh tea . A popular one from Taiwan is Don-ding Oolong tea . Chinese tea is readily available in Chinese department stores, supermarkets and teahouses.

What to buy: such as Fujian's Ti-guan-yin tea , Hangzhou's Dragon Well tea and Yunnan's Pu-erh tea . A popular one from Taiwan is Don-ding Oolong tea

What to pay: In supermarket, there is Chinese teabag which costs about HKD10 per bag

Fa Yuen Street is famous for accessories and, also, has many stalls selling clothing accessories and fruits.

Fa Yuen Street, actually, starts from Dundas Street but the shopping area of Fa Yuen Street starts from Argyle Street and the other end is at end of the road (adjacent to Prince Edward Road)

Bought some fruits and seems like the prices are not very bargainable.

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Wife Cake is the famous product of Hong Kong. It can be found in some cake/bread shops for as cheaply as HK$2 per piece. However, these are without packaging and are not meant as gifts but for immediate consumption.

For giving it as gifts or buying some for back home, go for Wing Wah's Wife Cake stalls. A box of 6 pieces now retails at about HK$42 (May-2008).

They have variants which includes "Husband Cake" and "Couple Cake" but not so popular and they stock minimal of these variants. Having bought and tried the "Husband Cake", I would give it a thumb down.

They have many stores and can be found in the concourse area of some MTR stations. They have 1 branch at the Nathan Road (Exit D1 at Mongkok Station) and cross traffic light to the same side of Nathan Road. Signboard is in Chinese.

They also have a branch at Hong Kong International Airport and the price is the same as in all other Wing Wah stores islandwide. So, might as well purchase in the public area of Hong Kong International Airport (Terminal 1 - 7th floor) before you leave for home.

What to buy: Wife Cake

What to pay: HK$42 of 6 pieces (boxed)

There is a shop in the New World Center on Salisbury Road by the New World Reinessance Hotel called Needs. It's basically a supermarket and you can find anything you want there. I actually shopped there a couple of times. It's great if you want snacks or if you're going to be spending an extended period of time there and need to do shopping. Check it out.

What to pay: The same as you would at home.

Though supermarkets are a dime a dozen in Hong Kong, it pays to know where the specialty supermarkets to shop for special ingredients:

The Best Place to Get Organic Produce
Three Sixty, Central
Tip: The tea selection here is superb, I even found Mulberry Leaf Tea which is all the health rage in Laos.Go for the Manager's specials - You get as much as 50% off for some items.

The Best Place to Get Hard to get Western Ingredients
c!ty'super
Tip:You can get everything here, from freshly-packed scary looking Alaskan crabs to haricot beans. They also have an excellent pasta section, selling everything from pre-packaged fresh pasta to squid ink!

The Generic Supermarket
PARKnSHOP
Tip: This is the biggest chainstore in HKG so they're pratically everywhere. Go for the membership card since it gives you huge discounts for special items.

Established since 1950, Wing Wah remains it reputation on traditional taste of chinese delicacies. Wing Wah is selling variety of chinese traditional foods eg. sweet flaky pastry (wife cake & husband cake), sausage, moon cake, pineapple cake etc.

What to buy: Highly recommend "wife cake", it was made of wheat flour, glutinous rice flour, sugar, egg, palm oil. Was impressed when I first tried it, bought a few packs for friends back home and everyone love it so much. Would recommend to try out the fresh wife cake, it's far more delicious.

What to pay: 6 pcs/pack = HKD 38.00

Stroll along local markets and see what people buy and bargain its a wonderful experiencing. Watching people shouting and screaming (as in upselling) for their producst can be quite irritating. But then this is Hongkong Market experience.

What to buy: Lots of things to buy and try, and again try not to touch the item if you do not intend to buy. But still, markets and stalls selling great snacks and savouries. Try one!

Bowrington Road Markets was our first markets we stumbled upon near our hotel in the Wan Chai district.

The Bowrington Markets is a busy market for the locals, and is off the beaten path for most tourist, tucked away down small side streets. The scent of fish is strong in the air, since a good percent of the shops are wet markets. (fish and meat markets). Theres a great atmosphere, and it's a good place to get a feel of what every day life is like in Hong Kong.

Directions
Bowrington Market is located in the Wan Chai District, just off Bowrington Road, and Wan Chai Road. The nearest MTR station is Causeway Bay (Island Line). Take Exit A towards Times Square. Exit Times Square and take a left onto Russell Street. Simply follow Russell street for 3 blocks and you will find yourself at the markets.