After the Awa Odori festival in Tokushima and the great Japan trip last August, I needed to run a few errands for a few hours in Hong Kong. Time was tight, but I stopped by Tak Kee in Kennedy Town for some satisfying Chiu Chow along my route. Tak Kee was a very casual Chiu Chow joint, where many working class folks satisfied their Chiu Chow cravings at a reasonable price. During lunch, swear words casually fly from various tables.
Grabbed the classic Chiu Chow marinated goose rice ($?), the very peppery pork stomach soup $88 and a cold drink. Nothing fancy, but scratched my Chiu Chow itch. The restaurant wasn’t very full.
I think the total added up to around $150. Which made me feel like a high roller because the economy, along with wages in Hong Kong, was stagnating. Many working class folks were struggling, as evidenced by the surging popularity of to-go “This This Rice” places where dozens of dishes were offered and people picked two or three items by pointing (hence, this, this) along with rice as their lunch/ dinner, all for a very economical price of under $40, or about $6 USD. Folks turned to such eateries and forego dining out in order to make the very tight budget.
On the way to Tak Kee, I even passed by such a place that offered “This This Rice” for $28. I didn’t have time to snap the photo but I felt sad when I saw it, because I hadn’t seen lunch box this cheap for 20-25 years. Even Cafe de Coral, an ubiquitous fast food Chinese place, charged more these days.
How far Hong Kong has fallen since its 90s heyday, when it was the envy of all of Asia outside Japan, when it was THE financial center and exported pop culture all over Asia. Even now, there are new restaurants around the world that celebrate this golden era of Hong Kong.
The marinated goose out front ready for the diners.
is it the high prices?
In fact, when they don’t swear, we’d wonder if something’s wrong.
