All 3 streets would be closed to vehicles when night fell. Hence, all visitors could leisurely moved across the streets to check out the stalls as well as the shops behind the stalls. The streets became more bustling with both hawkers, performing artistes as well as people later into the night. At 1opm on a Thursday night, many shops (such as Bossini, Cotton On) were still open for business. Many people could still be seen walking along the streets. On weekend nights, the crowd was at least 2 times more. The high activity level lured us back for 3 out of the 4 nights we were in Hong Kong.
(The bustling Sai Yeung Choi Street)
Local Snacks
There were also many small stalls selling a variety of snacks at each corner. These included the well-known smelly tofu where you could catch a sniff even a few stalls away. For someone who was unused to this local delicacy, the revoltingly nauseous smell could certainly put one off. If you were a lover of pork innards, such as the lungs and blood which were less commonly found in Singapore, you could try a bowl of the marinated pork innards. A bowl of soy sauce marinated pork innards resembled that of kway chap in Singapore, albeit minus the kway.
(Many such stalls selling fried seafood on sticks and smelly tofu)
If you were less adventurous like us, you could try the seemingly more normal fish balls (both curry and non-spicy), There were also a variety of seafood on sticks (like satay) which you could choose from. The squids were big and juicy.
(Fried squids, curry fishballs and normal fishballs)
Food
There were many restaurants, Hong Kong cafes (the famous chain – Café de Coral had many outlets along the few streets) and even the more traditional noodle and congee stalls. One could find the famous beef noodle stall – Lok Yuen along Fa Yuen Street.
As we ventured further along Fa Yuen Street, there were more surprises that awaited us. I always liked ‘Push-cart noodles’ in Singapore and wondered how the authentic Hong Kong version tasted like. I walked many streets looking for the traditional ‘Push-cart noodles’ but many had disappeared with the rapid urbanization of the city. I was ecstatic when I eventually found a coffee shop selling ‘push-cart’ noodles.
(The restaurant selling pushcart noodles at the junction of Fa Yuen Street)
Unlike the Singapore’s dry version, the Hong Kong version was soupy. There were a variety of ingredients which you could order into your bowl of noodles, somewhat like Yong Tau Hoo. These ingredients included vegetables, such as Chye Sim (or Cantonese’s Choi Sum) and kai lan, seafood balls (fish ball or Yu Dan, squid balls, octopus balls), pig’s blood, raddish, etc. We could also choose if we wanted ho fan, noodles or instant noodles as the staple. The serving was also big enough for 2 if you were not a big eater.
(Pushcart noodles with kway teow)
Soy Street, which intersected across the 3 streets, offered the local food in more traditional coffee shops. There were also a few pastry shops along the same street where many visitors and locals alike, stopped by to buy the piping hot pineapple buns and egg tarts. There was also a bread stall selling pineapple bun and custard coconut buns. We preferred the pineapple buns to the custard buns. The bread was soft with the sweet pineapple toppings at the top of the bun.
As we were not especially hungry, we walked the street a couple of times, looking at the food offered, compared the prices before we stepped into an ordinary looking congee shop – Nam Loon Congee Shop. It was a shop with an ordinary appearance but extraordinary food. A bowl of the frog leg’s congee cost less than SGD4 – half the price of that in Singapore. The sweet porridge with the abundant tasty frog legs was heavenly. We were joking that this porridge would stimulate the appetite of even an ill person. The chee cheong fun was also springy. It was more compact tube-like where one would not taste the different layers like Singapore version when one bit into it. It was a different taste but not inferior to Singapore’s version.
(Frog Leg's porridge with chee cheong fun)
Despite feeling full, we were still tempted by the wafting aroma of the freshly baked egg tarts across the street – Sakura Shima Bakery. The Japanese named shop offered local confectionery such as egg tarts and cakes. With the queue in front of the shop, it had to be a sign of popularity and quality. There were 2 versions to choose from – the one baked with traditional harder pastry or the one baked with the more flaky and crispy pastry which was similar to the Portuguese egg tart. Which one should we choose? Stop thinking. We decided to try one of each. Well, the egg filling was smooth and soft while the pastry was crispy even for the traditional version. They were so delicious that I craved for more. It was an extremely tough choice on which one was better. If you asked me for my personal preference, I would opt for the traditional one.
(Left is the traditional egg tart while the right is the egg tart with flaky pastry)
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(The shop selling the egg tarts along Soy Street)
The well-known Herbal Jelly shop – Kwong Ho Tong could be found at one of the shops behind the stalls along Tung Choi Street (Ladies Market). The herbal jelly was more expensive than Singapore’s. Each bowl cost about SGD8. However, it was a slightly bigger size and contained a higher concentration of herbs (from the smell of herbs). The shop also offered other herbal teas. Feeling slightly heaty, I opted for the flu tea which was bitter but refreshing.
(Flu Tea (HKD 16) and Herbal Jelly (HKD 42))
Shopping
Shopping could be done along Sai Yeung Choi Street, Tung Choi Street and Fa Yuen Street.
Sai Yeung Choi Street was more spacious and contained many familiar Hong Kong brands, such as Giodano, Bossini, Apple and G2000. Many of these stores occupied many floors. The Bossini outlet could be found on the top floor of the Bossini store. The Espirit outlet could also be found at the basement of Hollywood Plaza along the same street. The famous Milan Station which sold second hand branded handbags from Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Coach at a discounted price had an outlet along Sai Yeung Choi Street as well.
Tung Choi Street was the famous Ladies Market. It was a street lined with many stalls selling fake goods (fake Coach, Longchamp, Le Sports Sac bags). It also offered many tourist items such as “I Love Hong Kong T-shirts”. My personal view was that Ladies Market was not an ideal place for shopping as it had become too commercialized and touristy with its reputation as one of the most well-known street markets of Hong Kong.
Fa Yuen Street could be broken into 2 sections. The first section was the ‘concentration camp’ of sports shoes. The second section which was further up across Argyle Street towards Prince Edward MTR was a street for cheap clothings. We had heard about this street which offered cheap clothing from colleagues and books but had failed to locate it as we kept walking only along the Mongkok area rather than ventured further. Too bad, we only found this street the night before we departed Hong Kong. It started raining soon after we reached and the stalls started packing away. Within half an hour, most of the stalls had closed. Sigh! We missed the bargains along this street.
(Bustling Fa Yuen Street)
Just a word of caution, the clothes here could not be tried on, so to make a purchase, you had to be quite certain of your own size.
For the youngsters who prefer the latest fashion which follow the latest trend in Taiwan and Japan, Mongkok Centre which was across Argyle Street would be a must-visit. However, the alleys here were narrower and the shop space was smaller. It was similar to Far East Plaza but smaller.
Mongkok epitomized the street culture of Hong Kong with its vibrancy, rowdiness, local delicacies and bargain shopping.
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