Cheryl Marie Cordeiro

Steamed egg yolk buns, New Star Restaurant, Hong Kong.
Photo © Cheryl Marie Cordeiro-Nilsson for CMC 2010

I’ve far too often heard that Hong Kong has the best dim sum, so I was naturally excited about being in Hong Kong if only for the food.

But when in Hong Kong, like its so many shopping establishments, you’re confronted with so many eateries and interesting food choices that finding the recommended dim sum spots doesn’t even occur to you. You’ll find yourself pulled by interesting sights and smells to various foods on display, not the least amusing is watching people enjoy their meals standing at street corners, oblivious to heavy traffic not two feet from them. People stand and eat with the current rain on their shoulders, playfully dampening their fresh clothes and all of this plus the noise of the traffic and the rush of footsteps from others, makes you as a visitor want to get in on the act too – go completely local and tuck into some interesting food, standing in mud puddles and all.

Steamed meat dumplings.

Char siew bao.

After the first rush of excitement and confusion with authentic Hong Kong cuisine, I set about to find the Guide Michelin star dim sum restaurant, Tim Ho Wan (添好運點心專門店) which means “Add Good Luck” at Tsui Yuen Mansion, Kwong Wa St, Mong Kok. The place is notoriously tiny in seating capacity and has been described as literally, a hole-in-wall place to eat. Well, suffice to say, without much planning this time around for Hong Kong and worse, without a map, I didn’t manage to find that place but ended up at New Star Seafood Restaurant along Stewart Road that, to my serendipitous discovery, had some truly awesome dim sum!
Continue reading “Dim Sum that touches your heart, in Hong Kong” →

Information overload along the streets of Mong Kok, Hong Kong.
Photo © Cheryl Marie Cordeiro-Nilsson for CMC 2010

Characteristic of Hong Kong is the information overload that greets you along its busy streets, not only from signboards that hang abovehead, but by all the minute happenings along the street and around every street corner. From the movement of goods from van to store, to the bargaining for the best prices and the rush for buses, taxis and the MTR, it’s tempting to want to observe everything when you’re there. For a first time visitor, it’s perhaps sometimes easier if you just ignored for the most part, the things that happen around you in order not to feel overwhelmed by it all, for Hong Kong like Singapore with a sliver of difference, seems also a city that hardly sleeps.

These pictures were taken mostly in Mong Kok, Hong Kong, with the wet market scenes most familiar and heartwarming to me.
Continue reading “Only in Hong Kong…” →