Hong Kong Eats: Char Siu

Before my return to the Old Continent. I did some traveling. This is the first entry on my special

about the amazing foods I ate in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong is a melting pot of cultures, religions and of course food. First thing to remember is that this region is, in fact, Cantonese, which means different language and of course different food from the typical Chinese food we all know.

That being said, what better way to start than with one of the staples of Cantonese cuisine? Char Siu.

The amazing Char Siu

Char Siu is the Cantonese version of the Sunday Roast. Delicious pork (belly, shoulder or neck) seasoned with honey, five spice, soy sauce and rice wine, all roasted in a wood oven (traditional but not so common anymore) at relatively low temperature and for quite a long time, resulting in a beautiful piece of meat that is crispy on the outside and is soft and moist on the inside. Yes, it is as good as it sounds.

You will see these type of meat hanging in the windows of countless places known as Siu Mei, there you will also see ducks, geese, sausages and pigeons prepared in the same awesome way, resulting of course in a culinary overload.

The rule of thumb here, as in most places in the world, is to avoid the tourist areas and try to find the place with the most amount of locals and that looks more authentic. I followed the recommendation of a good friend of mine, who got the recommendation from another guy, and in the same way I hope I can convince you to visit this magnificent place.

Joy Hing's Roasted Meats is, no questions asked, a hidden jewel. Inconspicuously located on a side street of Wanchai with no signs outside, this little place (And when I say little, I mean it, they have like eight tables in a 5 x 5 place) offers such an experience. There is a line outside practically all the time, people come here to get some take out or grab a quick bite (out of respect to the other people waiting you try to make your stay inside as fast as possible). It is one of the few Siu Mei left in Hong Kong that still uses a wood oven to roast their meats, and this oven is constantly working, I would guess that the go through several pigs a day, seriously!

But the wait is worth it. Once in, you have to find a place to sit, which most likely will be sharing a table with 5 other locals that are very concentrated on  their plates to even look at your foreigner face. The servers speak a little English, but to be fair, you don't need that, you came here for one thing and one thing only: Char Siu! So, when the server comes to you and mumbles something in Cantonese that you probably  don’t have a clue what it means, just look him in the eye, smile and say: Char Siu! Big! Rice! Cha! And you are done, 2 minutes later you will have the most amazing plate of roasted meat you have ever tasted with a hefty portion of rice. Tea is free by the way and is usually on the tables for you to serve in a paper cup. This stuff is so  good that you will for a little while forget everything about anything, you will concentrate on your plate just like the locals do, and before you realize it you will have consumed almost a kilogram of meat. Amazing!

You will get a little receipt which you will take to the lady at the cashier and pay. The last time we ate like there was no tomorrow and ended up paying around 90 HKD (roughly 9 Euros) between two people. It was so awesome.

I hope that these lines have managed to convince you to visit this amazing place!

Joy Hing's Roasted Meats

265-267 Hennessy Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong, China

Price: Less than 100 HKD