Well, basically, I was writing this to a friend from Edinburgh who was exchanging in HKU.. and I figured that readers might find this useful and might agree / disagree with me. I didn't tag them as you can easily find them by googling.
Breakfast must go places in Central:
1) Lan Fong Yuen, hidden at the corner to the entrance of a market place, underneath the escalator, it is near Bai Fa Street (Place Flower Street), opposite Pizza Express and 7 Eleven. Order Traditional Hong Kong Milk Tea and Pork Bun. They do one of the best in town and it's cheap and the atmosphere is very authentic.
2) If you feel you want to spoil yourself with breakfast, opt for:
Luk Yu teahouse. One of the earliest tea houses in Hong Kong, they still do dim sum the traditional way, better to bring a Chinese friend with you though, cause the ordering papers are in Chinese. But the food is great and authentic. It is beneath Lan Kwai Fong around the lower corner of Starbucks in a narrow one way road. An Indian door man will open the door for you most probably. The staff might be rude inside, but that's traditional teahouse culture, they become impatient, and that feeling goes way back to 1970-90s. Usually impatient waiters in old hk restaurants means that the food is great because they have many customers so they don't really care if they don't do your business.
Lunch must go places in Central:
1) Tsim Jai Kee. One of the cheapest and most delicious Wonton experiences in Central. Go in rush hour if you want to feel the rush hour of Hong Kong. Order Wonton noodle and Yao Choi (vegetable with oyster sauce). It is located near Bai Fa Street.
2) Gao Kee (Nine Shop), amazing curry Beef tendons and Beef belly meat with noodles, don't be put off by the name, it will probably be the most tender beef you've ever placed in your mouth. This place is a bit tricky to find, but if you make it, you'd probably be it's 1st foreign customer in many years. It is opposite Lin Heung restaurant (ask your Chinese friends)
3) Yellow Door, one of the lesser known places in Central, it is beside 7 eleven and opposite Lan Fong Yuen. It is a private restaurant which serves spicy food. Order the Hong Yao Chao Sao (Red spicy oil and wonton). The wall decoration is painted by Mr. Tsang Cho Tsoi (a deceased local artist who used to draw all over grey electric boxes all over Kowloon district, claiming his is the descendant of the Chinese Emperor, so he himself is the Kowloon Emperor, some say he is crazy, but people who interview him said he talks like a genius who refuses to have the world we live in to turn him into one of the walking zombies of the city). A bit pricey, but worth it.
3) if you want to spoil yourself:
Se Wong Fun (Snake King Fragrance), you can ignore the snake stuff, I never order them. The soup there is the best I've ever had in this entire planet. It costs 68 hk dollars, but it's totally worth it if you are adventurous (not for us Chinese, it's quite common to have Chicken feet).
Order the Chicken feet with seashell soup / Black Chicken soup.. I prefer the chicken feet cause the skin and flesh is very tender in the mouth and the soup is just heaven. You can go for the Lap Mei Farn (Something like black pudding, but it tastes like heaven.. especially the red preserved sausage called Lap Cheung.
It is located along the escalator, between Lan Fong Yuen and Tsim Jai Gay.
Finger food / dessert must go places in Central;
1) Tai Cheung. X-governor Chris Pattern's favourite place (either for political reasons or culinary reasons), get the Dan Tat (Egg pie), Sa Yong (Sugar pastery), Bo Lor Pao (Pineapple bread), and bring some back to your dorm to impress your friends. Food is power in dormitories : ). It is located along Bai Fa Street.
2) Anonymous Tao Fu Fa (sweet beancurd) place in Central.
It is under the escalator, opposite Pizza Express, opposite XTC on ice ice cream shop. The best Tao Fu Fa place in Central. get a hot one, and if you can manage, get Tao Cheung (bean curd shake) to wash down whatever you just had to eat.
3) XTC on ice. Authentic Italian gelato experience. You can sample all fo the tastes before deciding, my personal favourite is watermelon / chocolate. But make your pick.
4) Yeung Kee. On Wellington Street, a bit overrated and overpriced, wasn't as good as before. But it's a nice place to spoil yourself if you have the money. But they serve one thing which is still the best in the whole of Hong Kong:
Thousand year old egg and pickles. Try and buy half a dozen and bring it home and remember to store in fridge if you are not eating it.
How you eat it, take the shell out, cut it in half (don't be put off by the black colour of the egg flesh) and place pickle on top of half egg and eat it. If you can fall in love with that, than you can call yourself a true Hong Konger.
Dinner places in Central:
1) Lin Heung Restaurant. This can either be a dim sum place in the afternoon, beware of rush hour crowds and you really have to be pushy and determined to get your dim sum. For a more laid back experience, go for dinner. You MUST call them in advance and pre-order the Ba Wong Arp (King Duck). Try your luck with other things. But better to go with groups of 4 or more to try out different kinds of stuff. I love the tea there as well. Waiters are usually rude, so the food is good. Call them early and book, don't wait till 4pm, the duck runs out pretty soon.
In conclusion, if you tried all of these, you're probably more a Hong Konger than most Hong Kongers. But these are just my selections. There are a lot of hidden gems in Central waiting to be discovered. I'll give you a list of stuff to be eaten in Causeway Bay next time if you want.
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