Hong Kong Street Food

{Street food in Mong Kok}

I have been posting about other types of ethnic food (okay, mainly Mexican), but have yet to write anything on local food here in Hong Kong. To say that the part I was most excited about upon my move to Hong Kong was the food... is... absolutely true! Honestly, the idea of Hong Kong really made me nervous, at first, because I wasn't sure what to expect. As the saying goes, you can take the girl out of Ottawa, but you can't take Ottawa out of the girl. Moving away from Ottawa for the first time in my life, I was afraid that Hong Kong was going to be very crowded (true), busy (true), possibly dirty (not true: it is actually surprisingly clean on the island), and that my living standards were going to have be lowered (true: no oven, no central heating/air, small living space, etc). However, the glitter (please refer to this for my choice of the word "glitter"), so to speak, was the plethora of amazing food that I knew I was going to be able to find here.

{The stinky tofu being picked for me}

Yesterday, after a wonderful afternoon of live music with a Canadian friend (who also lives in Hong Kong) at the Full Cup Café in Mong Kok (to be blogged about in a future post), we decided to stay and hang out in the area for a bit. Some productive shopping later (I hate dilly-dallying when I shop), we stopped for some sustenance in the form of street food. 

As much as I love food, one thing that I have been afraid to try since coming to Hong Kong is also one of the stinkiest foods that I have ever had the displeasure of smelling - stinky tofu. However, I finally overcame my fear yesterday in Mong Kok. Being careful not to take any big breaths at the food stall, I bravely ordered the stinky tofu. Having the paper bag in my hands, I took a whiff of the deep fried cubes of bean curd and felt that it didn't smell as horrible up close. Passing the sniff test, it was time for a taste, and... I didn't hate it! This is the best that I can say about it because even though it was not as offensive tasting as it smelled, I am not sure that I would order it again. The main accomplishment is that I am now able to say that I have faced my fears and eaten stinky tofu here in Hong Kong!

{I've got my stinky tofu!} 

{My bag of "street food", in all of its stinky gloriousness, which I proudly finished}