Drinking eggs

Under the leadership of the adventurous hedgehog we have been visiting some of Hong Kong's oldest cafes and I have got in the habit of ordering anything on the menu with a raw egg in it. First, a bowl of 'pheonix egg custard' from China Cafe on Canton Road, Mongkok. Custard powder and hot water with a broken egg dropped in and the rest is up to you. It tastes, well, a lot like custard. Next, the same without custard from Diamond Cafe in Choi Hung estate (Picture below). Stir it up and add sugar and it tastes, well, a bit like custard.

Australia dairy

The Australia Dairy in Parkes Street, Jordan, and this is what all these people are queuing for on a Sunday lunchtime....



Very tasty and the milk and egg puddings are good too, but this is not a place for a leisurely Sunday lunch. The egg on toast arrives within seconds of ordering it and the bill arrives seconds before you finish eating it, quickly followed by the people who are about to take your table. But, of course, that means that the queue moves pretty quickly too.

Breakfast in Shek Kip Mei

A Saturday morning breakfast at Nam Shan estate in Shek Kip Mei. French toast, a luncheon meat and egg sandwich, iced milk tea, iced yin yeung (coffee and tea), and what is that thing in the middle called? In Hong Kong, French toast is usually two slices of bread with peanut butter to stick them together and a slab of butter on top to go with the syrup. In Cantonese, ask for Western toast (sai dosi).

Eight treasures set lunch

From Tai Hing Roast Restaurant, which has branches all over Hong Kong. This one was snapped and eaten on Tung Choi Street (aka Goldfish Street) north of Mongkok Road. The eight treasures are roast pork, BBQ pork, pig knuckle, red sausage, squid, soya chicken, roast goose and a salted egg.

Two good friends

And before the shopping spree we had lunch at the 'Very Good Restaurant' on Soy Street. This is what is known as a cha chaan teng, a cheap restaurant that sells all kinds of Chinese and Western dishes and a few that have got mixed up along the way. Actually, there are a few 'Very Good Restaurants' around town, but this is a favourite because we like to go upstairs and be reminded of the 71/2th floor in Being John Malkowich. Below are a couple of Hong Kong pop food icons sharing a laugh with the chopsticks. On the left is a glass of iced lemon coffee and on the right a glass of yin yeung - tea mixed with coffee or maybe coffee mixed with tea.

I have been reading a couple of academic papers by DrJoolz where she mentions how digital cameras and Flickr are changing people's lives in a way that they carry cameras around with them everywhere and photograph everything they do. I was reminded that here in Hong Kong taking a photo of your lunch or dinner before you eat it has become quite the thing to do. And sure enough, just after we'd finished our photo session, the young couple next to us pulled out their cameras and started snapping their congee and noodles too.