Exploring Hong Kong's Culinary Delights

When it comes to the great food cities of the world, Hong Kong is easily up there in the top two or three. And here's the thing, when you come to a place like this, you should have one goal and only one goal. Eat everything you can. So, what is our job? Our job is to show you everything you should be eating when you come to Hong Kong. Ling Lei Dai Hoi Yan Gai. This is going to be amazing. Look there's many ways we could have done this video. We could have done the most expensive restaurants, the Michelin starred ones, the biggest. But that's not what this is about. This is about coming to Hong Kong and having the food that we're going to show you. want to stand in line for two hours at some dim sum place like a youtuber tells you to by all means sparky you should be able to do that but i'm telling you right now dim sum that you'll have from not a famous place Hong Kong will very likely be better than any dim sum you have wherever you live unless you live here. So you get it? That's the point. Come to Hong Kong, have these things. If you don't have them when we show you to have them you're still gonna be way better off. As much as I'd like to think I could figure out where to eat in Hong Kong all by myself, I can't. So I looked up a lot of people. I found an expert. Her name, come on, we're not here all day. This is Virginia. From... From... Humid with a chance of fish balls. By the way, one of my favorite things. Virginia does culinary tours, food tours. She has cultural tours, all kinds of stuff. And you are going to show us the things I want to show them to eat. expert. Excited and I also have mahjong classes, Instagram and YouTube videos so you can find me there as well. She's gonna hook us up and she's from Vancouver my hometown. It's like we were brothers, wait, father and daughter maybe that's closer. Anyway shall we go eat everything? Yes dad! Let's go. Christ don't get killed. It's always time for coffee or tea but what I love about Hong Kong is they make something called yin yang yung yang yin yung yin yung yin yung it's a half coffee and a half tea together and there's evaporated milk in this? Yes. Yes and it sounds like the craziest combination but the tea adds so so much you must try it at home. The evaporated milk okay wait but going on with the with the drinks. Oh but if you must know it's like seven parts tea and three parts coffee it's very cheap yeah okay another drink explain this one so this is more of a dessert but it's called a hongdao thing red bean icy on the bottom is red bean because that's a very common dessert ingredient it's sweetened and then they put evaporated milk on the top so i should stir this we'll say that i'm not a fan of boba and so the little bowls in here might throw me for a loop but there's no balls there's no time but it's good but it's It's the red bean pieces. Yeah, yeah, they might. But you will have a nice little bubble tea straw for you. I know I'm going to get a red bean. I love red bean. I do. I'm not sure I love the pieces, but it's a good thing. It's kind of creepy looking, though. The color is a little bit, you know. It's like more fun to drink, you know. It's a drink and you can eat it. Yeah, that's weird. That description doesn't do anything for me. You're not helping, Virginia. Let's do this, though, because I put one of these French toasts on the list when we were first talking. So this is classic Hong Kong style French toast right? Which is deep fried instead of pan fried. Right you can see the crisp which I think is genius probably the way it should always be done and like a giant heap of butter just running off it. Fluffy inside crispy on the outside. Look one of the things I love about this part of the world is the textural differences in the same bite of food. Crispy, soft, salty, sweet. The only way you should ever eat French toast is have it deep fried first and then with just a ton of butter but what What I really want was this one. And watch as I cut it open. Because inside is beef satay. And oh holy crap, was it delicious. Sweet and savory. All in one tremendous bite. Considering how much I love breakfast, there could not have been a better way to start our Hong Kong list of things to eat. But look, we've got to keep going. You can't come to Hong Kong and not have what I think is one of the most iconic foods here. This is wonton noodles with shrimp dumplings. It's just absolutely next level. You're not going to get anything like this back in, well, wherever you're from. from unless maybe you're from Hong Kong this is an always order item for me always shop made noodles right behind me you just can't you just have no idea unless you get here is do this and this taste that comes to the noodles that I can't explain that is so just like reminiscent of the first time I came to Hong Kong the second time third time I think this is four it bought it but oh my god best ever we used to go to this Chinese restaurant in Vancouver it's called Bill Kee you'd walk in you'd see people eating bowls of this it's called congee it's essentially like rice soup rice porridge and I thought it was horrifying the only thing about it that I liked was the fact that they served these Chinese donuts with it I've since learned not just to like it but to love it and this one comes with beautiful slices of beef oh so good so rich like steamy this is this is at the best cold weather food you can get how do you say cheers yum boy rich delicious fantastic and then you take the yaoqiu thank you and you dip it i don't think it looks that good but the taste is you come here you must have fried donut and this come on Look, it's, I don't know, we're a couple hours in. We're full. But we're not stopping because we've promised a lot of food for you. And even though it's 78 degrees, but feels like 178, we're sticking in, baby. We're sticking in. Okay, so I'm not sure if this is a... Officially on our list, but there's a thing called She goes it is but there's a thing called the stinky tofu. Come here. We're sharing this. Oh, right Stinky tofu. I put it on my list. I don't really even know why because are you here? apparently tastes better than it smells the name it's gonna be great it's gonna stink but Virginia goes okay we're here at the spot for stinky tofu and some kind of intestines what did you say friend isn't I like no way bro that I put fried intestines on the list no I don't want fried and okay should we I think it no I think I gotta have it raw first or straight first hold on Let me skewer this way. Oh! Wait. This is my breakfast. It's pretty gross. It smells pretty... Actually, it's not too... It's not as bad as I thought. But it's gonna be hot, right? Cheers. How do you say gum... gum... Yum boy. Yum boy. Or like, yum boy means to drink, but like... Yum boy. It sounds like you're saying young boy. And that's bad. I don't... No, take that out. There's a sourness to it. I love tofu, I love deep fried tofu. This I could get behind. I don't know if I'd have this every day. So not officially part of the list, but still, when in Hong Kong, do as the Hong Kongers would do, have stinky tofu. Just don't smell it, just eat it. It was on your list. Okay, fine, but intestines weren't. Don't try and make me... Do you want to sauce it up and try it again? Yeah, what are my options? Okay, sweet hoisin sauce. And then a chili. Can you take heat? Together? Yes. Now we're just eating sauce. And hiding the grossness. Oopsie. You know what? Put that on the intestines I could probably eat it. That's fantastic. Also on the iconic list of things to eat, pineapple bun with butter. You'll see why it's a pineapple bun. And a coconut tart. Pineapple bun because the top of it, the craggy top, looks like a pineapple. And inside nothing but a big slice of butter. Salted butter, nice. Okay. And Mmm, bread, butter, sweet, sugary, savory, salty. Mmm, so good. I can't have too many bites. It'll be a thousand pounds. Oh, and the air conditioning units are dripping on my head. That's Hong Kong. It's not raining. It's... Jeez. Oh, coconut. Coconut, is it good? Yeah, it's hot. That's easy for you to say. And this is just a little tart? Yeah. You want some? I'm getting so... It's a little warm. That's good. You can see how moist it is. You can see it. You can't possibly come to Hong Kong and not have an egg tart. Check it out! And it's warm. It's almost too hot to hold, yes? This one's puff pastry. Sometimes we have cookie crust. Yeah, so look inside if you can. If I can break it. Ow! I can't. Ow! Ow! So beautiful, so rich, so delicate. And the puff pastry one's honestly my fave. Look, this makes my point. Come to Hong Kong, you don't have to chase down the most iconic egg tart in the world. Almost a random bakery on the street makes outstanding ones. But the other thing they make, watch this. So this is a chicken pie, different from ours at home. I just looked at Virginia and go, what do you call this? And she goes, chicken pie. Okay, I got that part. What do you say? Say it. Gai Pai. Gai Pai. Yeah. And inside? Look, there's a sour sweetness to it. It's almost like it's been made with buttermilk. What is it? Well, I think back in the day you guys used, is it called a roux to make it? Uh-huh, yes. But we don't have those things, so they actually use like cornstarch and other ingredients that were available to us to make it. So there's different variations. Okay, we've done to make it our style chicken Pie one of my favorite things in the world now one of my favorite things in Hong Kong It's on the list solidly on the list. Yes, we just got in trouble for cutting the line It's just Canadians. She's supposed to be more polite than anybody. Oh, no Come to Hong Kong you elbow your way to the front Okay, check this out. I got a couple things here. One is squid boiled and then dumped with some curry sauce on top of it. It's crunchy as f**k. I think I'm used to deep-fried squid or something. I don't like that. Okay, it's actually like rehydrated squid. So this is the dry squid that gets rehydrated. You can call it whatever you want. I'm just telling you it's not my favorite thing. And these are fish sumai. dumpling you have pork ones that dim sum these are fish ones in curry sauce the fish sumai I like but the squid this reconstituted squid no ng take it off the list the list just went down by one I'm sorry, but wait don't stop there. Ah, I can't even believe The tofu, I'm sorry, I didn't mean that okay a green pepper with fish paste. Oh This guy Hmm That's really good really good. Oh, oh, oh, oh spicy In Hong Kong there's something called a Chong Chong Tang. It's kind of like a diner. Before we came on Instagram I said we're coming to Hong Kong where should we go and somebody went don't go to a Chong Chong Tang. It's been done before everybody's done it. To that person I say read between the lines. buddy because it's one of my favorite places because look what you can get Virginia do the model hands you go for about six bucks these are instant noodles with a tomato based broth and beef satay but what it comes with is a big beautiful piece of sort of Texas toast, your choice of side meat, and I chose spam and a fried egg. And over here, look at this one, classic macaroni in a pork bone broth. This one comes with a pork chop, a hot dog because this pork chop is not enough, and the toast and the egg. And for an extra like 50 cents, you get a drink of your choice. And I have lemon iced tea. You can't beat this. It's so fun. You have to come to places like this. Don't listen to that guy. Listen to me. Am I right? Right, listen to him. A real Hong Konger from Vancouver says come here, you should come here. Pork chop with a crispy fatty edge, my favorite. Oh, and the gravy. I mean, it's like the simplest of foods done really well. Think Denny's. And before you dog me for going Denny's, Sam, who goes there? Number one, a lot of people go there. Three words for you. Moons over Miami. One of the greatest inventions ever. Okay, go away now. I want to finish eating. That's the dumb waiter. The dumb waiter. I'm not being mean. I'm not saying a stupid waiter. A dumb waiter is a food elevator that goes up and down. Cook in the basement, send it up to this floor. Dumb waiter. Thank you. My slurping skills aren't that good. That is though. This is Gaidan Cai. It's called an egg waffle because they look like eggs. Think of it as like pancake batter, pancake batter pressed into this light little shape. And I've got plain because I only like these. is plain but you can get the double cheese and salted egg yolk and coffee and matcha and chocolate and all that kind of business would you like some yes please did you know that back in the day people were so poor that they could only buy one or two at a time one or two circles yeah Egg-cellent! Egg-cellent. Wow, that's a genius line. Here, look inside. They're good. And it's not sweet. I guess you could sweeten it up if you added a bunch of junk, but I don't like a bunch of junk. I got you the spicy one. Oh good, okay, so you can't come here and not have curried fish balls. They're amazing. It's ground fish It's pressed into the round shape. It's cooked in a curry sauce. It's really really lovely They throw these little skewers in them to use instead of chopsticks. The very first time I came to Hong Kong and shot here, I had these. I turned to the camera and I said, ha, funny, I didn't even know. The light is terrible. Turn this way. There we go. There we go. Then we got a truck and people in the background. So the first time I came here, I ordered some of these. I turned to the camera and I go, oh, I didn't even know fish had balls. It was from my Discovery series then, and the Discovery people made me cut it out. Because you can't say fish balls. This girl's whole world is humid with a chance. of fish balls aren't you oh it is shameless plug coming up i see this get ready get ready oh fish and they're chewy they're bouncy they're curry they're spicy so good so good Okay, super treat, right? Number one, I didn't know about this. Virginia told me. It's called wife cake, winter melon. I like this, but the real treat for me, almond cookie. I used to have this in Chinatown in Vancouver when I was a kid, and that's a effing long time ago. They're sandy, they're almondy, they're so good. Sandy? Oh yeah, they're dry. They're really distinctive shape. I'm 15 years old again, sitting at the table with my parents and grandparents and uncles. Oh my God. Attention tofu fans, I'm at the Kungwo Bean Curd Factory for hand fried tofu. I put hoisin and spicy sauce on it and if you are a tofu fan, this is a... He's excited because he knows I'm going to love it. This is the place you need to come to. And a delicious crispy bite. I know not everybody digs tofu. Oh, holy crap. Yes, learn to love it. And the deep fried version, so good. So good. Crispy outside, soft inside, spicy with the sauce, savory with the hoisin, sweet with the hoisin, the whole thing is just... dream we stopped for water because as maybe i've said it's 2 000 degrees here and in the 7-eleven look what we found kfc kalby zinger burger chips okay i can do this and kelby there um They're about a 5 out of 10. Don't have to officially be on the list, but it makes the point. Try different things when you're in a place like this. Continuing on with our Cheong Cheong Tang tour. This is beef and eggs. Think of it as scrambled eggs with beef in it. We're not sure what type of beef. Like into an omelette in toast. You can get it in toasted bread or you can get it in soft bread, but however you get it. Just do it. It's the simple things in life in Hong Kong that you want. Take all the Michelin star restaurants and shh... No, just put them in your other pocket. This is real food. Real people food. By the way, one of the other options here is that pig trotter on noodles. I'm sticking with the sandwich. Sesame paste, hoisin, seeds. Goisai. Thank you. Thank you. Nice smile I can see. And then we eat it in the alley. Oh yeah. Sick. Oh, this is badass. Go ahead. This is badass. This is the Risa Passage. But don't go too far. We don't want to see anything scary. Do you want some? OK, cool. What are we going to see weird? Like creepy crawlies, there's a trap there for a reason. There's a what? A trap. There's a rat trap. Right there behind you. Just a trap, not an actual. You'll scare Max. Yeah, yeah. So then you stand in the alley right beside the restaurant. You mix. You get the hoisin. You get the sesame paste. And you say? Slurp it up. No, what do you say? What do we say? Chin chin. Cheers. In Chinese. Oh,. What she said. There's a million noodles available to you all over the world especially here but rolled rice noodles like this absolutely sensational. This must-have dish. I mean I might keep saying that but I mean it every time. So we're in a spot for cart noodles. The cool thing is there's a menu like this. You take a dry erase marker, you mark off what you want, and then they bring it. And here's our version. And this is what? This is a pork broth. There's beef brisket sauce. and there's a curry sauce and then we pick our own toppings so that's the beef brisket sausage with cheese chive dumplings and also chicken wings yeah again why are they cart noodles because it used to be sold on the street in a cart and it's just a bunch of toppings a bunch of noodles and you pick your own stuff and then you just eat on the street okay and amazing smelling too right let's have some oh and the noodles are oil noodles I've never heard them called oil noodles Why is that in Chinese is called Yao Ming so maybe they use oil like a bunch of oil to make it You know what I'm trying not to spill on my pants I'm where I'm wearing a pair of pants that I really like and I don't want to spill on the bet Holy crap. Okay. Check this out a little sausage with cheese You don't see it, but it's a really good smoky little sausage, right? Wow. Carton noodle places all over? Chive dumpling. And you know a machine did not do that. Yeah, it's a really nice plate. Beautiful, right? Yeah, beautiful. Now we come to an important part of Hong Kong's food history, the Dai Pai Dong. In the 50s, the government granted licenses to families of deceased civil servants to operate street-side food stalls so they could make a living. These once numbered in the hundreds and now less than a couple dozen exist. But in this one, oi man saying, we... not only had some incredible dishes, we had Max's favorite dish from the entire trip, the typhoon shelter crab. There's an interesting practice that happens in some restaurants where you'll find a big plastic bowl beside pitchers. filled with hot water or tea. And you use this as sort of a mini sink for rinsing what are seemingly already clean bowls, chopsticks, and glasses. And while it isn't necessarily done for sanitary reasons anymore, it's still considered good form. So when in Rome, or in this case, Hong Kong, just go with it. I don't even know what to do here. And look what's over our shoulder. God. There is no experience like being here for it, and there is no smell like what's coming off this typhoon crab. Typhoon shelter crab. Typhoon. Typhoon shelter crab, yeah. And I don't know how long it took in the walk, but not very long. And just look how amazing. And now everything's here. We've got the amazing typhoon shelter crab with crispy garlic all over the thing. Mapo tofu, an old school favorite of mine from way back. And I think my favorite Chinese dish of all time, beef chow fun. Amazing. Those thick rice noodles, scallions, beef. And this is going to be the best thing ever. The beef. so tender oh this is crazy crab oh holy crab yeah wow i don't even know how to get into this oh my god even with this much garlic it is still so sweet and tender and Amazingly delicious. The garlic is so good. And if you're scared of garlic, you should not be scared of this version of it. Cooked garlic is not anything to be frightened of. Oh my god, Max. I'd love you to stand there and shoot all day long, but you must come. You must come have this. Oh Anyone who knows our family knows we are all huge dim sum fans and would never consider missing it in Hong Kong. And for those who might not know, dim sum is essentially a traditional Cantonese meal. You can think of it as a Chinese brunch made up of a variety of small bite-sized dishes, things like dumplings and buns and rolls, typically things you wouldn't get at regular Chinese food times. And today we find ourselves at the Luck Yu Tea House and we cannot wait. And the crazy thing is, is that Like if you're hungry, it's the world's best food to have because it comes so fast. You order, Max couldn't even get the camera out and ready before the food started showing up on the table. I love dim sum. It's classic. You have to do it. Check out what we're having because they're all the best. Okay, I think my favorite at dim sum is lo mai gai. So this is a lotus leaf and it's wrapped around glutinous rice that's stuffed with things. Look, there's mushroom. Oh my God, there's little bits of pork. Little... Bits of shrimp, it's unbelievable. It is so fragrant, it's so delicious, it's so tender and the best. A little bit in your bowl and then a little bite like this and if you've never had it it's honestly a flavor that you wouldn't know what it is. The lotus leaf perfumes it, the glutinous rice is sticky, it's fantastic, it's a staple. Right, pork buns are important, you got a couple choices here. These guys are baked. Look at this sweet, amazing barbecue pork inside. Okay, you got baked. Then you got these kids. They're steamed, light, puffy on the outside. Still the same inside. Tremendous. All right, one of my all-time faves. And these guys, slices of green pepper stuffed with fish with a fantastic black bean sauce on top. You put black bean on anything and I'd be happy on these. Amazing. Sumai. These are pork and shrimp. dumplings little wrapper unbelievable don't ever come and not get those and spring roll yes we've had these before they're super light they're super crispy but they really benefit from a dip into this hot Chinese mustard and listen so crispy mmm mmm one of the best I've ever had this is unofficial wasn't on my original list but a couple people said oh you got to go to the doggies noodles so i've ordered i don't really know what it is i pointed at the one that said it was most popular so we'll try the broth there's big thick chewy noodles in here Wow, it feels like some kind of fish stock broth, but oily in the best way possible. I mean, I said thick chewy noodles, they look like it. I don't know yet, let's find out. Holy shit. I don't know what this is. I have no idea. It's their signature. Oh, there's minced dace fish, which I've... Hello? There's minced dace fish, which I keep seeing. I don't know if I'm saying it right, but damn. This is good. Yes, it's official. It gets a number. Well, sometimes you gotta make an unexpected stop and I'll be honest, I'm a sucker for an egg sandwich. Especially one that looks like that on the bottom. It's cilantro. and spam and I had to have it. It's not that I'm hungry for god's sakes. I've been eating for two days straight but look it's beautiful. It's beautiful and it smells good. I can smell the toast inside. Let's just get ourselves a nice bite here. Suddenly I've become the Dave Portnoy of egg and luncheon meat sandwiches. You know the drill. One bite. It's an 8-1. Solid 8-1. Back home we're all fully acquainted with barbecue and exactly what it is. it is. In Hong Kong though, it is quite a different thing, but trust me, it is no less delicious. All right, so we've come to the quadfecta of Chinese barbecue meats. Soy sauce chicken, char siu, barbecue pork, sweet honey kind of glaze. This is suckling pig, super crispy skin, and this is a crispy roast pork. And everything's going to be fantastic. My own personal style is to always start with the char siu because it's a fave. Sweet, sticky, tender. Oh, a little fatty sucking taste. Look at this. Oh man. Let's give this one a little ginger scallion sauce. That's insanely fatty, crispy, melts in your mouth. Oh my god, this toy sells chicken. Oh my god, it's so simple, it's so amazing. If you think we'd come to Hong Kong and not find a dumpling shop, you'd be very wrong. And in the Pohong neighborhood of Xiong Wan on a quiet street sits the tiny Hei Bat Fong, a dumpling shop with a crazy selection. We start with hot pork dumplings. They're beautiful. I love the size of them. Check these guys out. Fried chive and pork. Beautiful crisp on both sides. The pleats make it even extra crispy. And then over here, small Shanghai dumplings. These are just little guys. I could eat a million of them. Oh, with seaweed. Oh, dumplings are life. I don't know what makes them... Oh, my gosh. I don't know what makes them Shanghai, but they are amazing. Now, these guys, the fried ones, they benefit from just a little splash of vinegar. Anywhere you turn around in Hong Kong, you're going to find dumplings. So, have some. Mmm. oh the vinegar adds to it so beautifully there's just this amazing fattiness inside and the hot pork okay it's steamy but that's not the hot they're talking about they're talking about what's inside it's gonna ruin me it's gonna ruin me Oh the heat, oh the heat, it's gone. Oh, sometimes it lingers. This came on fast and it dissipated. It's just drawing me back for more. We're here for a beef brisket noodle soup. Oh look, a handful of Michelin awards. Oh here it is. I'm going to eat. A handful of Michelin's, tiny spot, get some pictures. We're gonna go sit over there and have a few bites. It's all happening right here. In fact, you could order with tripe, which is cow stomach. And I'll eat a lot of things. I won't eat that. So one of the ways to enjoy YingKi noodle shops beef brisket noodles is on the longest covered escalator system in the world 800 meters this goes In the middle of Hong Kong's central district, but look Look at the gorgeous pieces of brisket in here. Oh my, oh my God, it's fantastic. Max, you're coming to the, hang on. Let's just jump to the next section. We don't want Max to tumble. There's a reason this has been recognized by the. the Michelin organization. The brisket is super tender, super flavorful, and look at these noodles. This bowl was about six bucks. Come on, you getting something like this at home for six bucks? I don't think so. You're getting cup noodles for six bucks at home, not Michelin beef brisket noodles. Rich, flavorful, tremendous, and we're at the top. Okay, well this is too fun. Maybe I'll just continue to eat my Yankee beef brisket noodles on the way down. I don't know how long these sim... Remember this stuff? Oh, this piece has got some fat on it. This is glorious. Look at this. Who needs a stinking table when you have a long escalator? And it's covered, which is great because it's actually raining today. Now, on my list of things to eat, way before we ever got to Hong Kong was food cooked in clay pots. And not only have they done this for thousands of years, but the process results in the most delicious combinations ever. Not to mention, what happened to the food we ate. to the rice on the bottom of the pot. After you wait and all the smells of the whole place make you crazy, it comes to the table and you go like this. The first one is chicken and lap cheong, Chinese sausage. My old girlfriend used to...never mind. Never mind, I can't even say it. I can't even say it. Yeah, never mind. I can't go there. And this one is a pork ribs, black bean pork ribs. Wow! Okay, but watch. Virginia's going to show us how to do this, right? Be the master. Soy sauce, dark soy, nice dark soy. Color, fluff it up in the middle. Oh, the smell! And then usually we would cover it for about like 30 seconds to let the soy sauce. Okay, do this one too then? in the middle she says that dark soy really is intense in here fantastic by the way i always have dark soy at home we cover this okay now we can open that one and then you would serve all the stuff in the middle first and then as you eat you can wait for that to cook i see okay then the rice crispy is what you're looking for you want that beautiful crispy bottom and then that would be the fanzio scorched rice say that again I can't say that. But wait, one more thing. One more thing before we eat. This. One of my favorite things ever. This is a very popular item here. Make a ton of them and really quick too. This gets made in just a beautiful giant wok. Look, you see little oysters in here. Oh, look if you're an oyster fan, this is a must-have. Absolutely. Crispy egg. Oh, I just can't. Oyster omelet, clay pot rice. I'm being served by Virginia. Oh my god, I got crispy. She's giving us all these crispy pieces. All right, we're gonna continue eating. and you're not. Sorry, just come to Hong Kong. It's that simple. You come to Hong Kong. And for our last meal in Hong Kong, we're at another Cha Chong Tang for a few classics, which happen to be a few of my absolute favorites. How about gorgeous deep-fried squid? Light, crispy, airy, with tons of little bits of chopped fried garlic on top. That's good. Hello sweet and sour pork. How beautiful are you? Oh, oh boy. Extra little bit sour gets you right here. Mmm. And an old-school favorite of mine that I haven't had for Forever shrimp toast. Local favorite says Virginia. By the way, the last time I had this was dim sum somewhere in, I don't know, probably Vancouver. You know, I taste Shaoxing wine. The toast gets a little greasy. The absolute... adds to the whole thing. Holy shit is this good. You tell me. Great? Oh, hot. Yeah, really hot. And she's in the cooking guy fashion. She's burning herself. And continuing on. Nice work, Virginia. Wow, is that good. And last but not least here, one of the greatest Chinese food dishes ever invented, ever known to mankind, ever put on a plate, soy sauce noodles. They're light, they're deeply flavored, and they're fantastic. And this dish, this dish is Kelly. Mrs. Cooking Guy's favorite dish when we go to dim sum anywhere. Are we getting soy sauce noodles? Are the soy sauce noodles coming? Can we get some soy sauce noodles? Yes, my love. We have soy sauce noodles coming. I'm pretty certain these ones are going to kill anything we have at home, sweetheart. But soy sauce noodles for you. No. Well there you have it. We came, we ate, we ate, and we ate. 50 things in two days. Aside from the rehydrated squid that Virginia tried to get me to eat, everything was tremendous. And speaking of Virginia, we could not have done this without her. She was just awesome. But what have we learned? We've learned that you should get off your comfy little couch and head out into this big, sometimes bizarre, but almost always delicious world and try new things. And if Hong Kong is your starting point for that, you will not be sorry. Unless you have that shitty squid.

Ling Lei Dai Hoi Yan Gai. This is going to be amazing. Look there's many ways we could have done this video. We could have done the most expensive restaurants, the Michelin starred ones, the biggest.

But that's not what this is about. This is about coming to Hong Kong and having the food that we're going to show you. want to stand in line for two hours at some dim sum place like a youtuber tells you to by all means sparky you should be able to do that but i'm telling you right now dim sum that you'll have from not a famous place Hong Kong will very likely be better than any dim sum you have wherever you live unless you live here. So you get it? That's the point.

Come to Hong Kong, have these things. If you don't have them when we show you to have them you're still gonna be way better off. As much as I'd like to think I could figure out where to eat in Hong Kong all by myself, I can't. So I looked up a lot of people. I found an expert.

Her name, come on, we're not here all day. This is Virginia. From...

From... Humid with a chance of fish balls. By the way, one of my favorite things.

Virginia does culinary tours, food tours. She has cultural tours, all kinds of stuff. And you are going to show us the things I want to show them to eat. expert.

Excited and I also have mahjong classes, Instagram and YouTube videos so you can find me there as well. She's gonna hook us up and she's from Vancouver my hometown. It's like we were brothers, wait, father and daughter maybe that's closer.

Anyway shall we go eat everything? Yes dad! Let's go.

Christ don't get killed. It's always time for coffee or tea but what I love about Hong Kong is they make something called yin yang yung yang yin yung yin yung yin yung it's a half coffee and a half tea together and there's evaporated milk in this? Yes.

Yes and it sounds like the craziest combination but the tea adds so so much you must try it at home. The evaporated milk okay wait but going on with the with the drinks. Oh but if you must know it's like seven parts tea and three parts coffee it's very cheap yeah okay another drink explain this one so this is more of a dessert but it's called a hongdao thing red bean icy on the bottom is red bean because that's a very common dessert ingredient it's sweetened and then they put evaporated milk on the top so i should stir this we'll say that i'm not a fan of boba and so the little bowls in here might throw me for a loop but there's no balls there's no time but it's good but it's It's the red bean pieces.

Yeah, yeah, they might. But you will have a nice little bubble tea straw for you. I know I'm going to get a red bean. I love red bean.

I do. I'm not sure I love the pieces, but it's a good thing. It's kind of creepy looking, though. The color is a little bit, you know. It's like more fun to drink, you know.

It's a drink and you can eat it. Yeah, that's weird. That description doesn't do anything for me.

You're not helping, Virginia. Let's do this, though, because I put one of these French toasts on the list when we were first talking. So this is classic Hong Kong style French toast right?

Which is deep fried instead of pan fried. Right you can see the crisp which I think is genius probably the way it should always be done and like a giant heap of butter just running off it. Fluffy inside crispy on the outside.

Look one of the things I love about this part of the world is the textural differences in the same bite of food. Crispy, soft, salty, sweet. The only way you should ever eat French toast is have it deep fried first and then with just a ton of butter but what What I really want was this one. And watch as I cut it open.

Because inside is beef satay. And oh holy crap, was it delicious. Sweet and savory.

All in one tremendous bite. Considering how much I love breakfast, there could not have been a better way to start our Hong Kong list of things to eat. But look, we've got to keep going.

You can't come to Hong Kong and not have what I think is one of the most iconic foods here. This is wonton noodles with shrimp dumplings. It's just absolutely next level.

You're not going to get anything like this back in, well, wherever you're from. from unless maybe you're from Hong Kong this is an always order item for me always shop made noodles right behind me you just can't you just have no idea unless you get here is do this and this taste that comes to the noodles that I can't explain that is so just like reminiscent of the first time I came to Hong Kong the second time third time I think this is four it bought it but oh my god best ever we used to go to this Chinese restaurant in Vancouver it's called Bill Kee you'd walk in you'd see people eating bowls of this it's called congee it's essentially like rice soup rice porridge and I thought it was horrifying the only thing about it that I liked was the fact that they served these Chinese donuts with it I've since learned not just to like it but to love it and this one comes with beautiful slices of beef oh so good so rich like steamy this is this is at the best cold weather food you can get how do you say cheers yum boy rich delicious fantastic and then you take the yaoqiu thank you and you dip it i don't think it looks that good but the taste is you come here you must have fried donut and this come on Look, it's, I don't know, we're a couple hours in. We're full. But we're not stopping because we've promised a lot of food for you.

And even though it's 78 degrees, but feels like 178, we're sticking in, baby. We're sticking in. Okay, so I'm not sure if this is a...

Officially on our list, but there's a thing called She goes it is but there's a thing called the stinky tofu. Come here. We're sharing this. Oh, right Stinky tofu.

I put it on my list. I don't really even know why because are you here? apparently tastes better than it smells the name it's gonna be great it's gonna stink but Virginia goes okay we're here at the spot for stinky tofu and some kind of intestines what did you say friend isn't I like no way bro that I put fried intestines on the list no I don't want fried and okay should we I think it no I think I gotta have it raw first or straight first hold on Let me skewer this way. Oh! Wait.

This is my breakfast. It's pretty gross. It smells pretty... Actually, it's not too... It's not as bad as I thought.

But it's gonna be hot, right? Cheers. How do you say gum... gum... Yum boy.

Yum boy. Or like, yum boy means to drink, but like... Yum boy. It sounds like you're saying young boy. And that's bad.

I don't... No, take that out. There's a sourness to it. I love tofu, I love deep fried tofu. This I could get behind.

I don't know if I'd have this every day. So not officially part of the list, but still, when in Hong Kong, do as the Hong Kongers would do, have stinky tofu. Just don't smell it, just eat it.

It was on your list. Okay, fine, but intestines weren't. Don't try and make me...

Do you want to sauce it up and try it again? Yeah, what are my options? Okay, sweet hoisin sauce. And then a chili.

Can you take heat? Together? Yes.

Now we're just eating sauce. And hiding the grossness. Oopsie.

You know what? Put that on the intestines I could probably eat it. That's fantastic. Also on the iconic list of things to eat, pineapple bun with butter.

You'll see why it's a pineapple bun. And a coconut tart. Pineapple bun because the top of it, the craggy top, looks like a pineapple. And inside nothing but a big slice of butter. Salted butter, nice.

Okay. And Mmm, bread, butter, sweet, sugary, savory, salty. Mmm, so good.

I can't have too many bites. It'll be a thousand pounds. Oh, and the air conditioning units are dripping on my head. That's Hong Kong. It's not raining.

It's... Jeez. Oh, coconut. Coconut, is it good?

Yeah, it's hot. That's easy for you to say. And this is just a little tart?

Yeah. You want some? I'm getting so...

It's a little warm. That's good. You can see how moist it is. You can see it. You can't possibly come to Hong Kong and not have an egg tart.

Check it out! And it's warm. It's almost too hot to hold, yes? This one's puff pastry. Sometimes we have cookie crust.

Yeah, so look inside if you can. If I can break it. Ow!

I can't. Ow! Ow! So beautiful, so rich, so delicate.

And the puff pastry one's honestly my fave. Look, this makes my point. Come to Hong Kong, you don't have to chase down the most iconic egg tart in the world. Almost a random bakery on the street makes outstanding ones.

But the other thing they make, watch this. So this is a chicken pie, different from ours at home. I just looked at Virginia and go, what do you call this? And she goes, chicken pie.

Okay, I got that part. What do you say? Say it.

Gai Pai. Gai Pai. Yeah. And inside?

Look, there's a sour sweetness to it. It's almost like it's been made with buttermilk. What is it?

Well, I think back in the day you guys used, is it called a roux to make it? Uh-huh, yes. But we don't have those things, so they actually use like cornstarch and other ingredients that were available to us to make it. So there's different variations. Okay, we've done to make it our style chicken Pie one of my favorite things in the world now one of my favorite things in Hong Kong It's on the list solidly on the list.

Yes, we just got in trouble for cutting the line It's just Canadians. She's supposed to be more polite than anybody. Oh, no Come to Hong Kong you elbow your way to the front Okay, check this out.

I got a couple things here. One is squid boiled and then dumped with some curry sauce on top of it. It's crunchy as f**k.

I think I'm used to deep-fried squid or something. I don't like that. Okay, it's actually like rehydrated squid. So this is the dry squid that gets rehydrated.

You can call it whatever you want. I'm just telling you it's not my favorite thing. And these are fish sumai.

dumpling you have pork ones that dim sum these are fish ones in curry sauce the fish sumai I like but the squid this reconstituted squid no ng take it off the list the list just went down by one I'm sorry, but wait don't stop there. Ah, I can't even believe The tofu, I'm sorry, I didn't mean that okay a green pepper with fish paste. Oh This guy Hmm That's really good really good. Oh, oh, oh, oh spicy In Hong Kong there's something called a Chong Chong Tang.

It's kind of like a diner. Before we came on Instagram I said we're coming to Hong Kong where should we go and somebody went don't go to a Chong Chong Tang. It's been done before everybody's done it. To that person I say read between the lines.

buddy because it's one of my favorite places because look what you can get Virginia do the model hands you go for about six bucks these are instant noodles with a tomato based broth and beef satay but what it comes with is a big beautiful piece of sort of Texas toast, your choice of side meat, and I chose spam and a fried egg. And over here, look at this one, classic macaroni in a pork bone broth. This one comes with a pork chop, a hot dog because this pork chop is not enough, and the toast and the egg.

And for an extra like 50 cents, you get a drink of your choice. And I have lemon iced tea. You can't beat this. It's so fun. You have to come to places like this.

Don't listen to that guy. Listen to me. Am I right? Right, listen to him.

A real Hong Konger from Vancouver says come here, you should come here. Pork chop with a crispy fatty edge, my favorite. Oh, and the gravy.

I mean, it's like the simplest of foods done really well. Think Denny's. And before you dog me for going Denny's, Sam, who goes there? Number one, a lot of people go there. Three words for you.

Moons over Miami. One of the greatest inventions ever. Okay, go away now. I want to finish eating.

That's the dumb waiter. The dumb waiter. I'm not being mean.

I'm not saying a stupid waiter. A dumb waiter is a food elevator that goes up and down. Cook in the basement, send it up to this floor. Dumb waiter.

Thank you. My slurping skills aren't that good. That is though.

This is Gaidan Cai. It's called an egg waffle because they look like eggs. Think of it as like pancake batter, pancake batter pressed into this light little shape. And I've got plain because I only like these.

is plain but you can get the double cheese and salted egg yolk and coffee and matcha and chocolate and all that kind of business would you like some yes please did you know that back in the day people were so poor that they could only buy one or two at a time one or two circles yeah Egg-cellent! Egg-cellent. Wow, that's a genius line. Here, look inside. They're good.

And it's not sweet. I guess you could sweeten it up if you added a bunch of junk, but I don't like a bunch of junk. I got you the spicy one.

Oh good, okay, so you can't come here and not have curried fish balls. They're amazing. It's ground fish It's pressed into the round shape.

It's cooked in a curry sauce. It's really really lovely They throw these little skewers in them to use instead of chopsticks. The very first time I came to Hong Kong and shot here, I had these.

I turned to the camera and I said, ha, funny, I didn't even know. The light is terrible. Turn this way.

There we go. There we go. Then we got a truck and people in the background. So the first time I came here, I ordered some of these.

I turned to the camera and I go, oh, I didn't even know fish had balls. It was from my Discovery series then, and the Discovery people made me cut it out. Because you can't say fish balls.

This girl's whole world is humid with a chance. of fish balls aren't you oh it is shameless plug coming up i see this get ready get ready oh fish and they're chewy they're bouncy they're curry they're spicy so good so good Okay, super treat, right? Number one, I didn't know about this.

Virginia told me. It's called wife cake, winter melon. I like this, but the real treat for me, almond cookie. I used to have this in Chinatown in Vancouver when I was a kid, and that's a effing long time ago.

They're sandy, they're almondy, they're so good. Sandy? Oh yeah, they're dry.

They're really distinctive shape. I'm 15 years old again, sitting at the table with my parents and grandparents and uncles. Oh my God.

Attention tofu fans, I'm at the Kungwo Bean Curd Factory for hand fried tofu. I put hoisin and spicy sauce on it and if you are a tofu fan, this is a... He's excited because he knows I'm going to love it. This is the place you need to come to.

And a delicious crispy bite. I know not everybody digs tofu. Oh, holy crap. Yes, learn to love it.

And the deep fried version, so good. So good. Crispy outside, soft inside, spicy with the sauce, savory with the hoisin, sweet with the hoisin, the whole thing is just...

dream we stopped for water because as maybe i've said it's 2 000 degrees here and in the 7-eleven look what we found kfc kalby zinger burger chips okay i can do this and kelby there um They're about a 5 out of 10. Don't have to officially be on the list, but it makes the point. Try different things when you're in a place like this. Continuing on with our Cheong Cheong Tang tour.

This is beef and eggs. Think of it as scrambled eggs with beef in it. We're not sure what type of beef. Like into an omelette in toast. You can get it in toasted bread or you can get it in soft bread, but however you get it.

Just do it. It's the simple things in life in Hong Kong that you want. Take all the Michelin star restaurants and shh... No, just put them in your other pocket. This is real food.

Real people food. By the way, one of the other options here is that pig trotter on noodles. I'm sticking with the sandwich.

Sesame paste, hoisin, seeds. Goisai. Thank you.

Thank you. Nice smile I can see. And then we eat it in the alley. Oh yeah. Sick.

Oh, this is badass. Go ahead. This is badass. This is the Risa Passage. But don't go too far.

We don't want to see anything scary. Do you want some? OK, cool. What are we going to see weird?

Like creepy crawlies, there's a trap there for a reason. There's a what? A trap.

There's a rat trap. Right there behind you. Just a trap, not an actual.

You'll scare Max. Yeah, yeah. So then you stand in the alley right beside the restaurant. You mix. You get the hoisin.

You get the sesame paste. And you say? Slurp it up. No, what do you say? What do we say?

Chin chin. Cheers. In Chinese. Oh,. What she said.

There's a million noodles available to you all over the world especially here but rolled rice noodles like this absolutely sensational. This must-have dish. I mean I might keep saying that but I mean it every time. So we're in a spot for cart noodles. The cool thing is there's a menu like this.

You take a dry erase marker, you mark off what you want, and then they bring it. And here's our version. And this is what? This is a pork broth. There's beef brisket sauce.

and there's a curry sauce and then we pick our own toppings so that's the beef brisket sausage with cheese chive dumplings and also chicken wings yeah again why are they cart noodles because it used to be sold on the street in a cart and it's just a bunch of toppings a bunch of noodles and you pick your own stuff and then you just eat on the street okay and amazing smelling too right let's have some oh and the noodles are oil noodles I've never heard them called oil noodles Why is that in Chinese is called Yao Ming so maybe they use oil like a bunch of oil to make it You know what I'm trying not to spill on my pants I'm where I'm wearing a pair of pants that I really like and I don't want to spill on the bet Holy crap. Okay. Check this out a little sausage with cheese You don't see it, but it's a really good smoky little sausage, right?

Wow. Carton noodle places all over? Chive dumpling. And you know a machine did not do that.

Yeah, it's a really nice plate. Beautiful, right? Yeah, beautiful.

Now we come to an important part of Hong Kong's food history, the Dai Pai Dong. In the 50s, the government granted licenses to families of deceased civil servants to operate street-side food stalls so they could make a living. These once numbered in the hundreds and now less than a couple dozen exist. But in this one, oi man saying, we... not only had some incredible dishes, we had Max's favorite dish from the entire trip, the typhoon shelter crab.

There's an interesting practice that happens in some restaurants where you'll find a big plastic bowl beside pitchers. filled with hot water or tea. And you use this as sort of a mini sink for rinsing what are seemingly already clean bowls, chopsticks, and glasses. And while it isn't necessarily done for sanitary reasons anymore, it's still considered good form.

So when in Rome, or in this case, Hong Kong, just go with it. I don't even know what to do here. And look what's over our shoulder.

God. There is no experience like being here for it, and there is no smell like what's coming off this typhoon crab. Typhoon shelter crab.

Typhoon. Typhoon shelter crab, yeah. And I don't know how long it took in the walk, but not very long.

And just look how amazing. And now everything's here. We've got the amazing typhoon shelter crab with crispy garlic all over the thing.

Mapo tofu, an old school favorite of mine from way back. And I think my favorite Chinese dish of all time, beef chow fun. Amazing.

Those thick rice noodles, scallions, beef. And this is going to be the best thing ever. The beef. so tender oh this is crazy crab oh holy crab yeah wow i don't even know how to get into this oh my god even with this much garlic it is still so sweet and tender and Amazingly delicious. The garlic is so good.

And if you're scared of garlic, you should not be scared of this version of it. Cooked garlic is not anything to be frightened of. Oh my god, Max. I'd love you to stand there and shoot all day long, but you must come.

You must come have this. Oh Anyone who knows our family knows we are all huge dim sum fans and would never consider missing it in Hong Kong. And for those who might not know, dim sum is essentially a traditional Cantonese meal.

You can think of it as a Chinese brunch made up of a variety of small bite-sized dishes, things like dumplings and buns and rolls, typically things you wouldn't get at regular Chinese food times. And today we find ourselves at the Luck Yu Tea House and we cannot wait. And the crazy thing is, is that Like if you're hungry, it's the world's best food to have because it comes so fast.

You order, Max couldn't even get the camera out and ready before the food started showing up on the table. I love dim sum. It's classic.

You have to do it. Check out what we're having because they're all the best. Okay, I think my favorite at dim sum is lo mai gai.

So this is a lotus leaf and it's wrapped around glutinous rice that's stuffed with things. Look, there's mushroom. Oh my God, there's little bits of pork. Little...

Bits of shrimp, it's unbelievable. It is so fragrant, it's so delicious, it's so tender and the best. A little bit in your bowl and then a little bite like this and if you've never had it it's honestly a flavor that you wouldn't know what it is.

The lotus leaf perfumes it, the glutinous rice is sticky, it's fantastic, it's a staple. Right, pork buns are important, you got a couple choices here. These guys are baked. Look at this sweet, amazing barbecue pork inside. Okay, you got baked.

Then you got these kids. They're steamed, light, puffy on the outside. Still the same inside.

Tremendous. All right, one of my all-time faves. And these guys, slices of green pepper stuffed with fish with a fantastic black bean sauce on top. You put black bean on anything and I'd be happy on these. Amazing.

Sumai. These are pork and shrimp. dumplings little wrapper unbelievable don't ever come and not get those and spring roll yes we've had these before they're super light they're super crispy but they really benefit from a dip into this hot Chinese mustard and listen so crispy mmm mmm one of the best I've ever had this is unofficial wasn't on my original list but a couple people said oh you got to go to the doggies noodles so i've ordered i don't really know what it is i pointed at the one that said it was most popular so we'll try the broth there's big thick chewy noodles in here Wow, it feels like some kind of fish stock broth, but oily in the best way possible. I mean, I said thick chewy noodles, they look like it.

I don't know yet, let's find out. Holy shit. I don't know what this is. I have no idea. It's their signature.

Oh, there's minced dace fish, which I've... Hello? There's minced dace fish, which I keep seeing.

I don't know if I'm saying it right, but damn. This is good. Yes, it's official. It gets a number. Well, sometimes you gotta make an unexpected stop and I'll be honest, I'm a sucker for an egg sandwich.

Especially one that looks like that on the bottom. It's cilantro. and spam and I had to have it.

It's not that I'm hungry for god's sakes. I've been eating for two days straight but look it's beautiful. It's beautiful and it smells good. I can smell the toast inside.

Let's just get ourselves a nice bite here. Suddenly I've become the Dave Portnoy of egg and luncheon meat sandwiches. You know the drill.

One bite. It's an 8-1. Solid 8-1. Back home we're all fully acquainted with barbecue and exactly what it is. it is.

In Hong Kong though, it is quite a different thing, but trust me, it is no less delicious. All right, so we've come to the quadfecta of Chinese barbecue meats. Soy sauce chicken, char siu, barbecue pork, sweet honey kind of glaze. This is suckling pig, super crispy skin, and this is a crispy roast pork.

And everything's going to be fantastic. My own personal style is to always start with the char siu because it's a fave. Sweet, sticky, tender. Oh, a little fatty sucking taste. Look at this.

Oh man. Let's give this one a little ginger scallion sauce. That's insanely fatty, crispy, melts in your mouth. Oh my god, this toy sells chicken.

Oh my god, it's so simple, it's so amazing. If you think we'd come to Hong Kong and not find a dumpling shop, you'd be very wrong. And in the Pohong neighborhood of Xiong Wan on a quiet street sits the tiny Hei Bat Fong, a dumpling shop with a crazy selection.

We start with hot pork dumplings. They're beautiful. I love the size of them. Check these guys out. Fried chive and pork.

Beautiful crisp on both sides. The pleats make it even extra crispy. And then over here, small Shanghai dumplings.

These are just little guys. I could eat a million of them. Oh, with seaweed. Oh, dumplings are life. I don't know what makes them...

Oh, my gosh. I don't know what makes them Shanghai, but they are amazing. Now, these guys, the fried ones, they benefit from just a little splash of vinegar.

Anywhere you turn around in Hong Kong, you're going to find dumplings. So, have some. Mmm.

oh the vinegar adds to it so beautifully there's just this amazing fattiness inside and the hot pork okay it's steamy but that's not the hot they're talking about they're talking about what's inside it's gonna ruin me it's gonna ruin me Oh the heat, oh the heat, it's gone. Oh, sometimes it lingers. This came on fast and it dissipated. It's just drawing me back for more. We're here for a beef brisket noodle soup.

Oh look, a handful of Michelin awards. Oh here it is. I'm going to eat.

A handful of Michelin's, tiny spot, get some pictures. We're gonna go sit over there and have a few bites. It's all happening right here.

In fact, you could order with tripe, which is cow stomach. And I'll eat a lot of things. I won't eat that. So one of the ways to enjoy YingKi noodle shops beef brisket noodles is on the longest covered escalator system in the world 800 meters this goes In the middle of Hong Kong's central district, but look Look at the gorgeous pieces of brisket in here.

Oh my, oh my God, it's fantastic. Max, you're coming to the, hang on. Let's just jump to the next section.

We don't want Max to tumble. There's a reason this has been recognized by the. the Michelin organization. The brisket is super tender, super flavorful, and look at these noodles.

This bowl was about six bucks. Come on, you getting something like this at home for six bucks? I don't think so. You're getting cup noodles for six bucks at home, not Michelin beef brisket noodles. Rich, flavorful, tremendous, and we're at the top.

Okay, well this is too fun. Maybe I'll just continue to eat my Yankee beef brisket noodles on the way down. I don't know how long these sim...

Remember this stuff? Oh, this piece has got some fat on it. This is glorious. Look at this.

Who needs a stinking table when you have a long escalator? And it's covered, which is great because it's actually raining today. Now, on my list of things to eat, way before we ever got to Hong Kong was food cooked in clay pots.

And not only have they done this for thousands of years, but the process results in the most delicious combinations ever. Not to mention, what happened to the food we ate. to the rice on the bottom of the pot.

After you wait and all the smells of the whole place make you crazy, it comes to the table and you go like this. The first one is chicken and lap cheong, Chinese sausage. My old girlfriend used to...never mind. Never mind, I can't even say it. I can't even say it.

Yeah, never mind. I can't go there. And this one is a pork ribs, black bean pork ribs.

Wow! Okay, but watch. Virginia's going to show us how to do this, right? Be the master.

Soy sauce, dark soy, nice dark soy. Color, fluff it up in the middle. Oh, the smell!

And then usually we would cover it for about like 30 seconds to let the soy sauce. Okay, do this one too then? in the middle she says that dark soy really is intense in here fantastic by the way i always have dark soy at home we cover this okay now we can open that one and then you would serve all the stuff in the middle first and then as you eat you can wait for that to cook i see okay then the rice crispy is what you're looking for you want that beautiful crispy bottom and then that would be the fanzio scorched rice say that again I can't say that.

But wait, one more thing. One more thing before we eat. This.

One of my favorite things ever. This is a very popular item here. Make a ton of them and really quick too. This gets made in just a beautiful giant wok. Look, you see little oysters in here.

Oh, look if you're an oyster fan, this is a must-have. Absolutely. Crispy egg.

Oh, I just can't. Oyster omelet, clay pot rice. I'm being served by Virginia.

Oh my god, I got crispy. She's giving us all these crispy pieces. All right, we're gonna continue eating. and you're not.

Sorry, just come to Hong Kong. It's that simple. You come to Hong Kong.

And for our last meal in Hong Kong, we're at another Cha Chong Tang for a few classics, which happen to be a few of my absolute favorites. How about gorgeous deep-fried squid? Light, crispy, airy, with tons of little bits of chopped fried garlic on top.

That's good. Hello sweet and sour pork. How beautiful are you?

Oh, oh boy. Extra little bit sour gets you right here. Mmm. And an old-school favorite of mine that I haven't had for Forever shrimp toast. Local favorite says Virginia.

By the way, the last time I had this was dim sum somewhere in, I don't know, probably Vancouver. You know, I taste Shaoxing wine. The toast gets a little greasy. The absolute... adds to the whole thing.

Holy shit is this good. You tell me. Great?

Oh, hot. Yeah, really hot. And she's in the cooking guy fashion. She's burning herself.

And continuing on. Nice work, Virginia. Wow, is that good.

And last but not least here, one of the greatest Chinese food dishes ever invented, ever known to mankind, ever put on a plate, soy sauce noodles. They're light, they're deeply flavored, and they're fantastic. And this dish, this dish is Kelly. Mrs. Cooking Guy's favorite dish when we go to dim sum anywhere.

Are we getting soy sauce noodles? Are the soy sauce noodles coming? Can we get some soy sauce noodles?

Yes, my love. We have soy sauce noodles coming. I'm pretty certain these ones are going to kill anything we have at home, sweetheart.

But soy sauce noodles for you. No. Well there you have it.

We came, we ate, we ate, and we ate. 50 things in two days. Aside from the rehydrated squid that Virginia tried to get me to eat, everything was tremendous. And speaking of Virginia, we could not have done this without her.

She was just awesome. But what have we learned? We've learned that you should get off your comfy little couch and head out into this big, sometimes bizarre, but almost always delicious world and try new things. And if Hong Kong is your starting point for that, you will not be sorry. Unless you have that shitty squid.

Transcript for:Exploring Hong Kong's Culinary Delights

Transcript for:
Exploring Hong Kong's Culinary Delights