It's 3 a.m. and I could eat a horse: late-night dining in Hong Kong
There's something about city life that causes us to regularly endure nights of self-induced excess. In those moments, the only thing that can motivate us to peel ourselves off the pavement outside of California Tower ("I thought this was the taxi line") is the promise of a meal that is large in quantity, hot in temperature, and briny in taste.
Here are a few of our Hong Kong late-night dining oases:
Sun Hing in Kennedy Town
When we're looking for an end to our night, others are just starting theirs. In the wee hours of the morning, restless old folks congregate at Sun Hing Sik Ga, a dim sum restaurant that opens at three in the morning. This is old school Cantonese-style dim sum, fresh from the steamer, accompanied with dark black tea that will burst the bubble of beer we're trapped in right open.
Biergarten in Tsim Sha Tsui
In TST, the dirt-cheapest place for a fast food fix is Ka Ka Lok Fast Food's counter (16 Ashley Street) where we join the other slightly sketchy clientele to grab a HK$11 greasy burger or super-sized deep-fried pork cutlet.
But a more satisfying bet is Biergarten, a German-themed restaurant that offers meat and wheat heavy dishes, designed to accompany drinking bouts. The Zurich-style veal (HK$128) has great textured strips of meat smothered in thick, creamy sauce with hints of white wine. This is piled on top of doughy spatzle that soaks up all that cream. Plus we can get our best beers of the night here: dark, malty Kostritzer or the lighter Schneider Weisse wheat beer.
Wing Wah in Wan Chai
Retreating (just for awhile) from the neon-lit streets of prowling, um, dancers and their appreciative clients, we head over to Wing Wah Noodle Restaurant for a spot of true Hong Kong late-night dining. The place is a time capsule of 1970s Hong Kong with faded original decor and wrinkled waitresses. The staple of thin chewy noodles with plump prawn-stuffed dumplings is a great Hong Kong flavored full stop to the night.
Yu-raku in Causeway Bay
Yu-raku’s okonomiyaki is gourmet junk food. Sit drooling at the long counter as the chef fries beaten egg into a thick omelette, flinging in spring onions. Breathe in the smell of frying bacon before it is wrapped around a thick patty made of fried noodles, then watch the omelette wrap around the bacon noodle bundle and try to resist sticking your hand out and grabbing the thing right off the counter.
Little Chili in North Point
Little Chili offers a range of Sichuanese classics that encourages us to gulp down big bottles of cheap Chinese beer. The laziji -- fried chicken and chili peppers -- comes heaped with bright scarlet whole peppers. If you don't go mad from it, it can be fun rummaging through the oversized peppers for little nuggets of crisp chicken. The shuizhu niurou, beef cooked in spicy broth, has really tender strips of meat in a thick, mouth tingling sauce. This is the best of Hong Kong late-night dining via Sichuan.
