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Many
of Hong Kong's visitors come to the dynamic and bustling
port city for one thing
only ...to dine. No one is quite sure how many eating places
there are in Hong Kong, but
there are some 6,000 licensed restaurants. The variety of
cuisine, ambiance, and price
range is unbeatable. Although there is something for almost
everyone, the major culinary
glory of Hong Kong is its Chinese restaurants: the true
gourmet can depend on finding
the finest ingredients, chefs, and standards of service in
the world.
Cantonese
Cuisine:
Of all China's regional cuisines, that of Canton (Guangdong)
province
is generally recognized to be the finest. An old Chinese
adage advises anyone seeking the
ideal life to eat in Canton City (Guangzhou). Many Chinese
emperors traveled to this southern
region for dining pleasures or, alternatively, lured or
summoned Cantonese chefs to Beijing's
imperial kitchens.
In
a Cantonese kitchen, no animal is taboo; it is said that
anything that shows its back to the
heavens is fair game for a Cantonese cook. (It is also said
that the only thing with four legs a
man should not eat is a table!)
Shanghainese
Cuisine:
The
three East China Sea provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and
Fujian,
together with their two adjacent inland provinces, make up
what is called the Eastern School
of Chinese cuisine.
A
Shanghainese menu is a virtual geography lesson, for almost
every eastern specialty originates in a particular city. For
example, Shanghai crabs are associated with the Song Dynasty
Garden City of Suzhou, as is the succulent Chinese ham in
honey sauce. Another garden city, Hangzhou, has been
immortalized in culinary circles with its dish of Beggar's
Chicken. Also, as Hangzhou's West Lake is famed for its fine
watercress and freshwater fish, Shanghainese chefs honor
many of their dishes with a "West Lake" title.
Beijing
Cuisine:
Whereas
Shanghainese restaurants are generally informal, purist
Beijing eating places tend to fit the stereotype of a
Westerner's idea of a Chinese restaurant: red brocade,
tasseled lanterns, and a more formal or imperial style.
Mongolian
Cuisine:
However,
imperial grandeur is not the order of the day at Hong Kong's
Mongolian barbecue restaurants. Convivial informality is the
rule as diners gather around a hot pot ("fire
kettle"), recreating the campfire ambiance of ancient
times on the Mongolian steppes. Marinated preserved slices
of meat (traditionally mutton) are placed in ladles and
dipped into a moat of simmering stock. Piquant side sauces,
quick-boiled vegetables, and side orders of dumplings or
noodles complete the satisfying meal.
Sichuan
(Szechuan) Cuisine:
Sichuan
specialties include smoked duck--a fascinatingly complex
blend of cooking techniques and taste contrasts. The duck is
seasoned with orange peel, cinnamon, coriander, and other
ingredients; marinated in rice wine; steamed; and then
smoked over a charcoal fire sprinkled with camphor wood
chips and red tea leaves. The result is a gourmet's magical
mystery
tour!
Dim
Sum:
No
Hong Kong visit would be complete without a trip to one of
its teahouses or restaurants that specialize in dim sum.
Served throughout daylight hours, dim sum (literally meaning
"to touch the heart") are snacks of freshly
steamed or fried Chinese canapes. These remarkably diverse
examples of culinary innovation (and engineering) feature
many different ingredients. Large dim sum restaurants offer
scores of choices, though the daily selection will always
include steamed shrimp dumplings (har qau), steamed pork and
shrimp dumplings (siu mai), deep-fried spring rolls (tsun
quen), and steamed barbecued pork buns (cha siu bau). Dim
Sum ladies wheel their trolleys through the bustling
teahouses; customers may lift the lids of the bamboo baskets
to identify and check the contents.
Asian
Cuisines:
As Hong
Kong has the unique status as the international hub of Asia.
It boasts a fine selection of Indian, Japanese, Korean,
Indonesian, and Thai restaurants. There are also Burmese
restaurants. Various restaurants in the city's deluxe hotels
present multi-ethnic menus that are an Asian potpourri.
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