photo credit: Paul Mannix

Aberdeen is situated at the southern part of the Hong Kong Island. In the olden days, many fishermen and their families lived and worked on the fishing boats that were docked there at the Aberdeen.  These fishermen are mainly the Hakkas, one of the dialects of the Chinese in China.
Nowadays if you visit Aberdeen, you will be highly recommended to take a half hour boat ride around Aberdeen and you will still see some of these fishermen and their families living there. From there, you can see how they make a living with their fishing skills and also their lifestyle on living on the boat.
Another famous tourism spot at Aberdeen is the Jumbo Seafood restaurant. It is a floating restaurant that is very famous among the tourists and many well-known and established culinary competitions are held there.  It is often used in Hong Kong or even Hollywood movies. Other than the famous restaurants, we can also see small sampan operators who also sell live seafood and cook for you on the spot. You can enjoy fresh seafood as in the floating seafood restaurants.

Yung Kee is a very famous restaurant and it has a significant status in the Hong Kong F&B industry since the 1950s. it is an award-winning restaurant and it received its highest tribute in the industry on their 65th Anniversary Commemoration.  Many tourists made their way to this restaurant situated just beside the famous nightspot, Lan Kwai Fong.
Roasted meats such as roasted chicken, barbeque pork and roasted goose are one of the local delicacies and Yung Kee is famous for its roasted goose. Not only they are able to roast the skin till it became dark rich brown and red colour, it is able to retain the sweetness and juiciness of the meat; enable the diners to taste the very original flavour of the poultry. It also has the crisp on the outside and tenderness inside.
Other than the main dishes, some of the side dishes are also their signature dishes. These dishes are the smoked century eggs, preserved fresh goose liver, preserved pork sausages and meat.
It is a very popular restaurant that it is a must to make reservation or else it will be very tough to even queue for a table there. However, you can always see a few tables left empty. These tables are usually reserved for VIPs such as Hong Kong artistes and as well as international stars, and the rich and famous who need to hold their dinner appointments there. They have preserved and also introduced innovation to local cuisine and with their highly professional chefs, they won over the hearts of many local and international celebrities, and also high-ranking officials all over the world.

Dim Sum Restaurant by Insider Hong Kong Travel Guide

Tea culture (Yum Cha) in Hong Kong was deeply rooted. “Yam Cha” literally means “Drink Tea”. It also translates to the common activity practiced by HongKonger visiting tea or dim sum restaurants in the morning to “eat dim sum, drink tea and read newspapers”.

Sharing tables with strangers in dim sum restaurants is common during breakfast hours and lunch times. This is one unique scene in Hong Kong.

Please take note that cost of tea in dim sum restaurant is not counting by pot, but by head count. 6 people have 2 pot of tea will be counted as 6 units. Normal cost of tea per person in dim sum restaurant is around HK$8-10.

Traditionally, dim sum is served only by the pushing cart. You can only place your order for the particular dim sum when the dim sum cart is pushed next to your table. The push cart is specially designed to keep the dim sum steaming hot while pushing around the restaurant.

Nowadays, in order to increase the efficiency of dim sum cart, you can place your dim sum order directly with the waiter or waitress and your orders will be served to your table once the kitchen had prepared them. Most of the dim sum restaurants do keep some dim sum carts in action to keep the tradition going.

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Preserved seafood is common among the Southern Chinese. In the olden days, fisherman sun dried or preserved their catches for rainy days. This tradition is passed down from generation to generation.

Almost anything that is caught from the sea can be preserved. The more exotic and expensive ones are shark’s fin, abalone, scallops and oysters.

Shark’s fin soup is one of the most famous Chinese delicacies since the Ming Dynasty. It is commonly served during wedding or birthday banquets. In recent years, the consumption of shark’s fin has sharply decreased. All thanks to animal-protection and environmentalist groups for their continuous efforts.

Preserved seafood are great gifts among the Asians. One of the biggest wholesale markets for preserved seafood is located in the western Hong Kong Island- Bonham Strand Street West, Sheung Wan.

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This is not really a gourmet dish… it is just merely a bread dough stuffed with sweet lotus paste. Taste good when it is eaten with chinese tea.

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Any visitors in Hong Kong should never miss trying the dessert (sweeten soup) in Hong Kong.

Dessert (sweeten soup) is a common beverage available in all seasons with different varieties. Cooling desserts is served in the hot summers and warm nourishing sweeten soups are common in winter.

One of the most popular dessert shops is as shown in the photo. Their specialty is MANGO. Mango dessert – warm or cold, they are best in town!

Each dessert will cost you around HK$30. Very reasonable pricing for the quality of dessert you are getting. My favorite is the mango pudding and sago topped with freshly cut mango cubes; served chilled. You can have it both dine-in or takeaway.

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Salted fish can be commonly found in many shops that sell preserved seafood & herbs.

Salted fish is mainly consumed by the Southern Chinese and is a very common dish among the elderly in Hong Kong. The younger generations are not so keen on this as there are many cases of cancer (Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma -  cancer of nose & throat) that are closely related to consumption of salted fish.

Salted fish is commonly found in the fried rice in Hong Kong. It is added to give an extra boost of fragrance to the ordinary plain fried rice. This dish can be ordered in many local coffee houses during lunch hour.

My advice is to try once or twice… but don’t get addicted as it is bad for your health.

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Please take note, if you are going to use a pair of non-disposable chopsticks in a local coffee house or noodle shop, I strongly encourage you to rinse them in a glass of hot tea / water that they serve before you start using them.

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