I have tons of food pictures to come, but no time to post them (I’m doing my Literary Festival event tonight). These include awesome dim sum breakfasts and banquet meals in both mainland China and Hong Kong. As a teaser, here’s a simple lunch I had today.
Hong Kong is full of business and retail folk, and I swear that, as in mainland China, none of them bring a cold lunch to work. They all seem to go out for a hot lunch during the work week, crowding into the small but delightful noodle and rice joints in the business district. I picked one at random today, hankering for some barbecued pork. You can apparently choose the best places by the lines outside, so I made a random selection:
When you reach the head of the line, you tell them how many in your party (1), and they put you in any open space. This looked good: packed to the gills with people wolfing down lunches of noodles and rice with meat and veg:
A simple but eminently satisfying lunch of rice, barbecued pork, and Chinese broccoli:
And parked right outside, a sign of Hong Kong’s wealth: a fire-engine red Ferrari:
The Ferrari is truly a sign of wealth, considering the tax on new cars:
The tax varies and is based on the value of the vehicle. For instance, on the first HK$150,000 of taxable value of private cars, the tax rate is 40%; on the next HK$150,000, the rate is 75% on the next HK$200,000, the rate is 100%; and on taxable value over HK$500,000, the rate is 115%.
So in essence, you get to pay for your Ferrari twice, plus some!!
And I believe that license plates with low/few/lucky numbers are also quite expensive.
The record is US$2.3 million for a license plate!
http://www.citylab.com/commute/2016/02/hong-kong-license-plate-lucky-auction-23-million/470409/
I’m guessing parking in Hong Kong is probably pretty pricey too?
I have read about parking spots going for anywhere between $500,000 to $4.8M HK$ for the approximately 630,000 spaces available!
Yep. That qualifies as nuts!
Parking? Hahaha .. aside from parking at your mansion on Victoria Hill there aren’t many places to park.
That’s what the $20 million dollar helicopter is for. Opens up all those roof tops for parking. From the sounds of it, it might save you money vs driving too.
The best meals are simple. And Chinese broccoli with barbecued pork rules!! Is that Ferrari your rental?
I see you splurged on your rental car. Nice!
That is some of the most delectable BBQ pork that I’ve ever seen. That small smoke crest around the top is a tell-tale sign that it slow-cooked to perfection.
I hope that it tasted as good as it looked!
OT, but did we get an answer to the puzzle about the ‘identical twins’ that look different? I appreciated the distraction from the rest of the news…
Yes, we’ve been left hanging! I feel a bit like The Accountant (new movie) character when something prevents him from finishing something he has started.
Had Chinese for lunch so I am prepared. There were no Ferrari parked outside, however.
“A simple but eminently satisfying lunch of rice, barbecued pork, and Chinese broccoli:”
Isn’t that bokchoi? Or is bokchoi Chinese broccoli? I thought is was usually called Chinese celery?
Looks like a wonderful lunch at any rate!
No, that’s gai lan, and “Chinese broccoli” doesn’t do it any justice. I personally find it to be vastly superior to the floretes we eat. It’s all stem and leaf and when it’s well cooked it is delicious. The stem is slightly sweet and there are other savory flavors as well. Personally it has this slightly sweet corn flavor to me, but no one else has confirmed that so perhaps it is just me.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gai_lan
Whatever it was, it was delicious,complemented the pork wonderfully, and was infinitely superior to what we in the US know as broccoli.
If you haven’t already and have another chance in the future at Hong Kong cuisine, I highly recommend dou miao (豆苗) aka snow pea tips because they are delicious and yes the second word kind of sounds like a bit like a cat meow. Honestly, China’s gift to the world of cuisine ought to be their vegetables. I cannot fathom why things such as Brussels sprouts are more popular in the US than China’s particular variations on Brassica oleracea.
Snow pea tips are awesome. I stir-fry them with scallops or the like.
Thank you!
Do you see many Anglos out and about?
“You can apparently choose the best places by the lines outside.”
Yes. My HK-born wife will NEVER try a new restaurant which is not already quite crowded, no matter how enticing the menu and coloured photographs look on the window.
I would not do well there. I hate to stand in line (or even sit in line) waiting to eat.
I notice the mirrors onm the Ferrari don’t even fold in when parked. Sheesh
Yes. Given HK’s speed limits and overcrowded roads, motoring practicality was never the point of buying the Ferrari; think of it as motorised bling or insisting your guests use the solid gold toilet with hand-painted silk toilet tissue and a Rembrandt on the wall.
This island is so small that there is virtually nowhere you can open up your Ferrari or Lamborghini, so yes, they’re largely status items. I have heard of someone being overtaken on a public road by a bunch of hot cars racing at high speed.