We've gone round to the Michelin-starred restaurants and have eaten very well. The girlfriend bought me so many nice meals! What a treat! The service at these restaurants, I must say, has been excellent, and a little hilarious. Though I didn't bother with Tim Ho Wan. I'm not that fond of Chinese food to stand in the queue for 45 minutes for pork done in different styles. (Although they say in reality, a wait of 15 - 20 minutes would be the average as queue numbers are given out and skipped to the next if the person isn't there to put in his order.) There're other nicer hole-in-the-wall joints with equally good food.
I'm not familiar with the social scene in Hong Kong, so for many meals, I didn't dare to take the camera along. I remember how strict London and Paris' restaurants are about this no-photography rule or the clientele simply frowns upon it. After a couple of meals and observing people's behavior, I gave up all pretense of etiquette. Sure, it's fine-dining. But the people strangely, don't dress so. They're more casual than I remember. They're in jeans!! People take photos of food all the time, and indiscriminately use the flash. Rather annoying. And what is with the volume of conversation in these restaurants?! If you want to talk so loud, for heavens' sake, get a private room!
After Europe, it's quite a culture shock to realize that the top end restaurants in Hong Kong aren't exactly as posh or as delicate as I expect. Quite a disappointment really. I'm looking for something different or better than what dots the scene at home. Ironically, I didn't find anything in these Michelin-starred restaurants in this city. Honestly, I'll say that at home, we've a number of restaurants that are on par with, and better than Hong Kong's finest. I found the exceptional taste of food tucked in the streets of the city hidden away in obscure stalls around the corners.
2 comments:
i can only rationalize that HK is more chinese than international; the restaurants may be michelin starred but fine dining etiquette is foreign to the people.
sinlady: maybe. it's like how in Singapore's so called fine dining Chinese restaurants, the human at the next time can play Bejewelled on his iphone with the sound full on and blasting. i walked over to ask him to tone it down. he actually retorted why. so i asked him how he'd like it if i blasted the music from my phone straight into his ears. he got it. but it's unbelievable that a 40year old man doesn't get it in the first place.
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