Ok, first of all. Michelle (the friend I am staying with during my stay in Hong Kong) is a hardcore foodie. Seriously. I spent most of my money on food than anything else. I became a foodie without planning to.

To be a foodie, you cannot be picky. It is not allowed. If you don't like it (after you try), just say so. People will understand because you tried and tested. If you didn't try new food and decide you don't like it without tasting, you will get looks (especially from foodies).

Before I started taking pictures of food, I felt funny taking pictures of my food in public places. Michelle explained to me that Hong Kong people take pictures of food at all the time. It is true, I started to notice that people around me take pictures of their food at the all time.

People I met in Hong Kong seemed to be always surprised when they found out that I'll try just about everything. Michelle explained to me that more than often when Hong Kong people meet other people from other countries, they usually refuse to try new foods at all. So, every time people I just met found out that I am not so picky, they will ask me if I will eat snakes. I did.

To experience the culture of the country, you cannot be picky with food. Often, food is one of the main aspects of the culture. To experience Hong Kong culture, Michelle's family took me to this restaurant and its specialty is snake dishes. I thought it would be interesting and I don't know if I will like snake dishes. I had several snake dishes, a turtle stew, a lizard and chicken soup at that restaurant. I loved most of the dishes, snake tasted just like chicken.

This is snake bile wine and it tasted absolutely disgusting.

L to R: 1st row: snake soup, snake stir-fry, snake balls
2nd row: deep-fried snake, snake stew, turtle stew
3rd row: chicken, sticky rice, lizard and chicken soup
I ate more seafood during my stay in Hong Kong than entire of my lifetime before coming to Hong Kong. I hate seafood and I always thought fish tastes fishy. I know Hong Kong is famous for seafood since it is by the sea and I decided to give seafood a chance.

I fell in love with Hong Kong's seafood. There were some seafood that made me cry because it tasted so good. I tried everything that had been offered to me. I didn't like some but I liked the most.

L to R: 1st row: Ox tongue sushi, grilled salmon, salmon and eel hand roll, grilled mackerel and tuna sushi
2nd row: dried fish, mud carp balls, sea cucumber, and soft shelled crab handroll
3rd row: raw beef, fatty tuna sushi, assorted sushi
Assorted raw fish
Neck of yellow fin fish, this meat made me and Michelle cry. It was so tender.
Hairy crabs are yummy but so much work to break the shell and eat the meat.

That is how fish is served in an upper-class restaurants. 
Oyster with loads of cheese!
Yours truly enjoying a piece of the salmon's head. 

One night, we went to a seafood shop and picked out crustaceans and fish to bring to a restaurant. People at the restaurant will cook the seafood for us, the dinner was very fresh. I never had anything so fresh like that night.

Shops selling live crustaceans and fish
L to R: 1st row: poached prawns, flower snail
2nd row: razor clam, mantis shrimp
I ate in several different settings of dining style. I ate a dinner on the street - cheap casual dining, more  of local food. I went to a local restaurant (tourists wouldn't go there because 1: it is not clean and 2: it is not adveristed to tourists), also casual dining. Of course, I went to a fast-food style restaurant and those common food-chain restaurants around the town. The fine dining experience that I had was attending to a high-class restaurant for a banquet. Food varied throughout the class of dining, especially in the presentation of food. The only thing that stayed constant - the taste of food. Some of the causal dining food tasted really good while others tasted bad, same thing with fine dining food.

This is what local restaurants tend to look like.
Chinese clay pot dinner on the street.





Before coming to Hong Kong, like I had mentioned that I hated seafood, but I also hated most of the vegetables (especially tomatoes and broccoli), some soups, some fruits, and nuts. After coming to Hong Kong, I like pretty much everything (often depending on well cooked food are) ... Except for sea cucumber and turtle.

I am a chocoholic, or as my friends say so. I love chocolate, I'll eat it everyday if I can, which I already am... Sort of. I just love sweets and Hong Kong have many dessert places. It seems that it is popular among people to head to a dessert cafe during nighttime and enjoy sweets that the cafe have to offer. I went to several dessert cafes and had several different kinds of desserts. I found a new favorite - black sesame dumplings in ginger soup. Sesame dumplings are so sweet but the ginger soup balances the sweetness of sesame dumplings.

L to R: 1st row: chocolate cake at a popular dessert cafe, red bean pudding and sponge cake, strawberry pudding
2nd row: black sesame bun, Japanese dessert: green tea ice cream with red bean paste and Mochi, and jellied noodle with various fruit and green tea sauce.
One of my favorite buns,  yellow custard bun.
We just had to have frozen yogurt.
This dessert is pretty popular, egg waffle.

L to R: a Hong Kong style egg tart (egg only), Portuguese egg tart (egg and custard).

L to R: black sesame dumplings in ginger soup and mango puffs.
Of course, I had hot pot. I already had hot pot dinners several times back at home when Michelle hosted a hot pot dinner. I had this time in Hong Kong, hot pot is all about putting raw food in boiling soup and let it cook in the soup.

Hot pot dinner at home
Since I am in an Asian country, I just had to have noodles. I love noodles. I tried several different kinds of noodles that Hong Kong has to offer. I had udon, ramen, pho and of course, pasta. I also tried food that each district and islands are famous for. For an example, Cheung Chau island is famous for their buns and potato chips, I had them. I also tried one of popular fast food - Pepper Lunch. They serve really hot plate and raw food on top, people cook food themselves on the hot plate. I also went to a popular Japanese burger chain, Mos Burgers. I have to say that Mos Burgers' burgers were good. I also had bubble tea, one of my favorite drinks.

Vietnamese pho


Japanese udon 
Popular ramen from Ichiran - long lines line up for this 24/7, literally.
Cheung Chau Island's famous bun.

Cheung Chau Island's potato chips
Pepper Lunch.

Bubble teas
Quail eggs, a street snack.

Popular fried chicken food chain from Taiwan - this is chicken cartilage on a stick.
I know there are lots of pictures in this post but that was not all food I ate during my stay here. I had more (including a Peking duck dinner) - and I enjoyed every moment. I never knew that I could enjoy seafood this much and often, the food I ate wouldn't be available in my hometown or as good as here.  I think people who refuse to try new food will miss out lot things that Hong Kong (or any other places) has to offer. Believe it or not, trying new food is a key to experiencing new things, meeting new people and seeing more places than planned to.

Favorite dessert place: Awfully Chocolate. This picture makes me happy.