For some reason, last time we were in Hong Kong we ate very conservatively, sticking to Western style food as much as possible. I guess the risk of getting “travellers tummy” (or what Emma so gracefully describes as “gut rot”) was on our minds at the time, but it did prevent us from “eating with the locals” so to speak.

This time around, I thought we should make an effort and found ourselves dining at one of the smaller restaurants in Kowloon. This place must have been authentic, as the shop facia was in Chinese only, and the English on the menu was definitely an afterthought.

Still, where unlike other places where a lack of the “global language” meant “no foreigners”, people here were very welcoming. In fact, when we did come across a language gap, helpful locals sitting adjacently helped us with the translation.

As for the food itself - well, they always say that proper Chinese food is different from the stuff we get in England, and they were right. All the usual themes were there; fried rice, noodles etc… but that’s where the similarity ends. There were no special fried rice dishes, kung po chicken or sweet and sour pork - fatty pork knuckle, beef brisket, broths, intestines and stomachs of all varieties was the order of the day, washed down by a tumbler of green tea. Choose carefully, and you can have something very tasty, but watch out if you’re feeling experimental.