And that is bad news for most Filipinos. For Hong Kong is the favorite destination of many Filipino tourists. Go around Tsim Sha Tsui (the shopping district in Kowloon) during Easter and Christmas breaks and you will feel like you were in Baguio in summertime. And why not? With all its tempting food and till-midnight shopping, it is the perfect place for the Pinoy food lover/shopaholic bargain hunter.
I was in my teens when I first went to Hong Kong with my best friend Cherie. After buying all the things we wanted and eating all the dim sum and noodles we could, we were still left with so much money. Not because we had a lot of baon (pocket money) but because shopping was very cheap then and the exchange rate was P1.50 to every Hong Kong dollar. Plus, of course, we only shopped along Granville Road (alley shopping) and not in reputable shops meant for the tai tais or rich Chinese wives.
Not wanting to bring home our excess dollars, we decided to pool our money together on the last day and bought trendy clothes to sell to our friends back home. Remember, that was the time when branded clothes were not yet readily available here and fashion then was mostly made by the neighborhood modista and sastre. But still, we had some more money left and no more energy to look for more clothes. Cherie decided to finish it all by buying two car stereos and hid them in our pile of clothes. When we came home, we sold everything, including the car stereos, and got our shopping and airfare money back. That was my first taste of business, I guess.
But now with all the brand-name shops here and with our poor peso struggling against the dollar, it is no longer wise to shop in Hong Kong. Juan dela Cruz has to struggle also to stretch his baon. When I was still residing in Hong Kong, a pound of chestnuts was HK$12 or P18 and now it is HK$20 or P130! My late mom said in the 1960s, our peso had a higher value. One peso then was equivalent to HK$2. Whatever happened to us? Now it is P6.50 for every HK$1. Kawawa naman talaga ang pera ng Pinoy.
But shopping aside, Hong Kong will always be special to me, having lived in the former colony for 18 years. And each time I visit my friends and the familiar places, there is always this yearning to stay longer or even for good. And besides, dining is still the best though admittedly expensive once you convert to our pesos.
There is a Korean restaurant called Hon Wo, along Canton Road, across Ocean Terminal. This place is always packed especially during dinnertime. On the far end of its smoky room is a buffet of 75 (yes, 75) choices of cooked and raw dishes, not counting the two kinds of soup and five dessert items. I couldn’t take a photo of the food as the buffet table was always swarming with people.
I always take a bowl or two of the chicken ginseng soup. Not only is it flavorful, it is also medicinal. There is sushi for starters, then we feast on chili clams, spicy curried crabs and assorted vegetable dishes while we grill our barbecue of beef, beef ribs, pork, fresh bacon, marbled lamb, squid, prawns, Japanese fish bursting at the seams with its roe, chicken, octopus, and fish fillet. Oh, the list can just go on and on. And to ease our guilt, we eat lots of fresh green leafy vegetables and healthy tofu. Chilled fresh lychees, oranges and watermelon or rich tapioca with mango balls swimming in thick coconut milk or steaming hot red or green bean paste or taho and black glass jelly are all for dessert. All these for HK$108 for adults and HK$78 for children.
Along Hankow Road across Hyatt Hotel, there is a basement restaurant called Wu Kong that serves good Shanghainese food. On our recent visit, my friends treated us to crispy fried duck served with Chinese pancake and hoisin sauce, hairy winter crab richly sautéed with salted duck egg yolks, crunchy long string beans with Yunan ham and the house specialty of roast chicken pieces with whole dried chili peppers. The dish had more chili peppers than chicken pieces. My husband Claude (Tayag) bravely bit a chili and turned beet red instantly. The food was great and my friends’ company made it even taste better.
If dining in restaurants is beyond your budget, fret not because Hong Kong has a lot of hole-in-the-wall type of eateries. The best bargain and still one of my favorites is the common sabit-sabit or hanging roast duck, goose, pork barbecue and white or soyed chicken served atop steaming white rice with some steamed Chinese broccoli for HK$35. Noodles and congee (rice porridge) shops are everywhere and my tip is, the smaller and the more unpretentious the place is, the better the food. I always order egg noodle soup with beef brisket or salted pork with century egg congee. If you want a better bargain, go to Jordan and Prince Edward areas, just five to 10 minutes by subway from the tourist-y Tsim Sha Tsui.
Be adventurous. As a general rule, all Chinese food in Hong Kong is excellent. Chinese people love to eat and appreciate good food. Whichever subway exit you take, you are bound to find a row of eateries or even dai pai dong (street food) with dishes sautéed on the spot. Don’t worry if you do not speak the language. Just point (our usual turo-turo way) the vegetable and the meat or seafood that you like and let the cook in a white undershirt sauté it for you in his magic wok. I can almost assure you it will be a memorable meal.