15 Chinese STREET FOODS in Hong Kong & Macau!! JUICY Buns, CANTONESE Seafood + DIM SUM

Welcome to Chopstick Travel. I'm Luke Martin and today we've got another compilation style video for you. This time from Hong Kong and Macau, two special regions of China and home to incredible Chinese street foods. This is the top 15 foods to try on your next trip to Hong Kong and Macau. Enjoy. We've come straight to a famous spot called Cheng Hing Kee. It's recommended by Michelin for their Shanghai style pan fried dumplings. I ordered up four right here. You can see they've been topped with a little bit of sesame, tiny bit of green onions and they are scorching, scorching hot. I'm going to kind of open this guy up because as you may be able to see, they are super, super juicy. Like there is soup filling. It's almost like a xiaolongbao. Let's go for a little sip. Oh my gosh. It's like an entire mouthful of soup. There might be more. Wow. That is packed full of juice. Oh my God. I'm going to have another drink. Man, that is juicy and it tastes amazing. Okay, I'm going to go for a bite. It's quite hot. Crunchy on the bottom. Nice, nice juicy pork. My gosh. Juicy is an understatement. That is ridiculously packed full of soup. The only thing is the dumpling wrapper tastes a bit stale almost. I guess you could say they've been sitting there. I feel like if you came and had them when they were freshly fried, it would be even better. Okay, I'm going to really regrettably waste the juice in this one just so you guys can tell. Do you see? Look at how much soup is in there. Okay, that's enough wasting. Let's go for another sip. It's almost like a xiaolongbao, like a soup dumpling, but it's not. It's actually a xianjianbao, which is like a fried on the bottom. You can see it's got that crispy layer on the bottom. Look at it just dripping juice. Oh my God. That might be the juiciest dumpling I've ever had. Look at this on my arm. Okay, these are hazardous. You got to be careful with these. They're so, so juicy. Oh my gosh. Yeah, that's the juiciest dumpling I've ever had for sure. Oh my God. So good. Oh wow. It tastes really good though. I can taste like a peppery taste. Oh my God. Look at this. These are seriously dangerous dumplings. Yum. Love it. For our next street food, we are having dessert. So right along Nathan Road here, the section with these beautiful banyan trees, you will find Lee Kung Kee's North Point Egg Waffle. So an iconic Hong Kong dessert, the waffle. And where I come from, the waffles have indents. But here, they're almost outdents. They're these little bubbles you can see like that. So there is just one woman working in a tiny little shop, very famous shop with a nice big line. She's getting lots of business. And she's got four of these waffle makers going. And this is, like I said, iconic here in Hong Kong. Super crunchy. It's pretty plain to be honest. Maybe there's a little bit of vanilla in there. There's a hint of sweetness for sure. It's really airy. And they kind of burst when you bite into them. So they call them Hong Kong Egg Waffles. I don't know if it's because there's egg in the batter or if it's because these kind of look like eggs. What I like is that they're kind of rippable one biters. Like I said, it's pretty plain. But I love the texture. Really crispy on the outside. And it's super popular. Look at the line. She just opened up and there's a huge line already. North Point Egg Balls is what she calls them. This is a super old school local feeling shop. It's called Sopa de Vitas Vinque. And they're famous for their tofu pudding. So silken tofu. I just ordered one up right here. Cold or hot. I ordered cold. You can see the beautiful tofu there. And it looks like it might be in soy milk. And this is going to be the perfect chilled dessert to cool off on a hot Macau day. Skip Margaret's egg tarts. Come straight here. That is so so good. Perfectly sweet. Refreshing. And we ordered a second dessert. Xie xie. This is a jelly soy milk. So I think it's grass jelly. And then it looks like there's some sugar syrup at the bottom. I'm going to kind of mix it up here. Oh man. That douhua is so good. I don't know if they actually call it douhua here. But it's silken tofu in English. Let's try some of this. Look at the little pieces of jelly. I think it's grass jelly. Let's give that a try. Yeah. That one's not too sweet. Really bouncy jelly. Look at all of it. There's tons of it in there. That looks so cool. Yum. That's good too. Beautiful soy flavor. Really fresh soy milk. To get the soy milk to taste like that, you've got to cook it every single day fresh. Otherwise, you won't taste anything remotely like that. I love the atmosphere of the shop. Really, really cool. Local feeling. Old school place. If you like tofu and you like sweets, this is like the ultimate thing. It's so silky smooth. It just completely melts in your mouth. Slides right down your throat. It's so good. And this place has a perfectly, perfectly sweetened tofu. It's such an amazing texture. Yeah, this is some real high quality silken tofu. Yum. That was so good. This is actually a Michelin recommended spot. They're using wood fire to cook their soy milk, so it gives it an even stronger flavor. Damn, that was really, really good. So this spot, Kow Kee, is an institution here in central Hong Kong. Really central location. I got a bowl of their famous beef brisket noodles with Yifu noodles. I'm just checking the beef in there. That looks like super, super tender beef. Oh my gosh. That looks amazing. I gotta try some of that broth as is though. Oh man. That is so beefy. Super, super beefy. Let me know what I'm doing. That broth is just like concentrated beef flavor. Oh my god, that's beefy. Really, really good. Tiny bowl of noodles, but super delicious. Okay, let's dig into this beef. Look at that brisket. That is ridiculously juicy. A little fatty on the outside. Pieces of tendon and fat in there. Let's try that. That is tender. It just completely flakes apart in your mouth. My god, the broth is so good. Got a little bit of, I think this is red vinegar. Pour a little bit of that in. Give it a little mix. It's a small bowl, but it's a deep bowl. And it's definitely packed full of beef. I mean, I see, jeez, maybe 10 pieces of beef brisket in there. That is just the most satisfying taste. It really just hits the spot. I would be here all the time if I was working in central Hong Kong. Really good location, but really authentic flavor. Damn, this is a seriously good bowl of noodles. It tastes amazing with that red vinegar. But this beef is just ridiculously tender. Oh my god, so good. I could easily eat two of these. And we've also got a typical Hong Kong drink. The iced lemon tea. See the lemons in there? Definitely need this. It is so hot in there. So good. That is just a classic bowl of beef noodles. Very clean flavor. Delicious home-cooked tasting. That really hit the spot. Probably the most famous thing you must try in Macau is egg tarts. So famous Portuguese egg tarts. Pastel de Nata, they're called in Portuguese. This place is called Margaret's Cafe e Nata. And just look at this. This is the line. It's going to be a while. Stay tuned. We're going to the back of the line. Yep, not even there yet. Not even close. Halfway maybe? And there's the end. Luckily Ming does not last long. It's going to be a while. Absolutely mad here. The line is just crazy. Even after you wait in this massive line you can see behind me, they give you a ticket. And they say come back at 3.45. So we still have to wait 15 more minutes. That's fine. These must be some damn good egg tarts. Because this is absolutely insane. They must have had 200 customers since we've been in line. The line is really fast moving. Maybe we only waited 30 minutes. But now we have to wait another 15 minutes. These must be really good. I'm just so thankful they didn't sell out of them. Because if we got to the front of the line and they sold out, that would have been very depressing. Okay, I got the goods. About a 45 minute wait. And there it is. Margaret's famous egg tart. Portuguese style but also very famous here. Of course in Macau I can see it's super flaky on the outside. Look at that golden yellow egg filling custard flaky pastry on the outside. And I guess waiting has its benefits. Because this is fresh, hot out of the oven. Let's try it out. So hot. It's not as good as I thought it was going to be. It's got like no sweetness. It is a little bit buttery. The pastry on the outside is super flaky which is nice. But the filling doesn't have any flavor. It tastes just like nothing. Like gelatin. Let me try one bite. Wow. That is disappointing. I can't believe we just waited so long just for that. It honestly has almost no flavor at all. The pastry has a little bit of a butteriness. But you can see all that custard on the inside. Feels like there's absolutely no sugar in it. It has almost no sweetness whatsoever. The pastry is really good. But the filling, not that good. Wow. What a wait for not much. You guys know me. I'm not a picky eater whatsoever. I enjoy a lot of things. But I do always want to be honest with you guys. Maybe try another one. I wouldn't wait 45 minutes. Especially if you've only got like a day trip like us here. I don't know. It's really famous like you saw. But I don't know what the hype's all about really. It literally tastes like almost nothing. So this restaurant is called Kam Wah Bakery. It's a legendary spot here in Hong Kong. It is a Cha Chan Tang. Which is a kind of take on western influenced breakfast foods here in Hong Kong. But it's very much fusion. So as you may know, Hong Kong was a British colony for many many years. And of course a lot of the influence including the cuisine was brought to Hong Kong. And now today you have Cha Chan Tang. Which is sort of a Hong Kong take on a British style breakfast. It is quite unique though. But first off, it's got to be the tea. I mean the tea is just the quintessential part of the Cha Chan Tang. And here in Hong Kong you can get the milk tea. Which is always with the black and white. So these cups are iconic here in Hong Kong. I got to get myself one of these black and white cups to take home. No sugar put into it yet. It is very thick and creamy with that evaporated milk. And a really strong tea flavor, a little bit bitter. Add a spoonful or two of sugar. And give that a stir. Yeah, that's better. They have an extensive menu here at Kam Wah. But I ordered some of their iconic foods. This is the famous Hong Kong pineapple bun. So there's not actually pineapple in it. I guess it's just the appearance. And this one is filled with a chunk of anchor butter. So that branded butter. Give that a little mix around there. You can see the outside of the top layer here is kind of shiny. And it's got like a sugar coating on the outside. So let's try this. That one is a little bit dry. It's really dense bread. And it's got almost like a crunch on that top sugar coating exterior layer. And I can also taste like a bit of lemon zest or something going on in there. Buttery on the inside. Not salty butter. That one's really dry. Gotta wash it down with the tea. This is really interesting. Almost funny. This is their spaghetti. It looks like a can of tomato sauce with some frozen veggies. And then you can see the Cantonese influence because it's got char siu in it. That roast pork. And this is looking like something I would cook at home to be honest. I'm not a chef so this might be better than I can cook. It's a little bit leaning on the sweet side. Very saucy. Completely covered in sauce. Let's try a piece of char siu. That's good. You know what it reminds me of? Jollibee spaghetti. Tastes almost exactly like the Jollibee spaghetti sauce. Like sweet, tomatoey. Really interesting. Kind of weird. But not bad. Alright, ordered another one of their dishes. This one's looking more Chinese style. It looks like a bowl of noodles. But what's interesting is that there's like this spam. Processed ham here. That's the western influence. This is like a noodle soup with egg. Little bit of greens back here. And then it's in a really thin, light broth. I want to try a piece of this spam with some of the noodles. Not a huge spam fan. But it's alright. It gives it a little bit of saltiness. Really light flavor. The broth almost has no flavor. Let's go in for some more here. Get some of the egg. Some of the soup. Try that again. It's a really plain, simple flavor. I guess it's good for breakfast. It is a really interesting dish. I'd have to say maybe the spaghetti might be my favorite out of all these. So my first stop is this place right behind me. It's called Sing Lei Cha Chan Tong. And they're famous for their pork chop bun. Which is one of the quintessential street foods you must try here in Macau. The restaurant's packed so I just got it for takeaway. And you can see already the Portuguese influence here. Meat and bread. That is very European. But that is a beautiful breaded pork chop with a nice toasty bun. Look at how toasty that is on the bottom there. It is packed inside. We couldn't even get a seat so I'm guessing it's going to be really good. 33 Hong Kong dollars for this. Let's try it out. Oh man. Super juicy. Greasy. And a nice crunch to it. Oh my god. That is really, really good. Super, super crunchy and juicy on the inside. I love the breading. It's got a little bit of flavor. It's got a little bit of a Chinese influence with the spices there. It tastes almost like maybe a little bit of five spice or something going on in there. It's definitely got more flavor than if you were to maybe have it in Portugal. No offense Portuguese but this is really good. Definitely a little bit oily and greasy but that's honestly the way it should be. Super satisfying. I love the crunch. And like I said, you've got to try this when you're in Macau. One of the most famous foods. You can find the pork chop bun at tons of restaurants here in Macau. That place, really authentic, old school shop. They do an amazing fried pork bun. And even though it's got bread on the outside and then it's breaded pork chop, it's still so delicious. It's a little bit of a carb overload but awesome. Okay, this restaurant is called Chun Ki. They have a crazy selection of seafood. Just look at the aquariums behind me. That's the most aquariums I've ever seen at a seafood restaurant stacked up on top of each other. They've got it all. I can see mantis shrimp, scallops, clams, lobsters, cuttlefish, slipper lobsters. Oh man, they have it all. There is so much and then all cooked traditional Cantonese style, of course. This just looks so fresh. We're going to go for some mantis shrimp, probably some scallops. I don't think it's going to be super cheap because this is really fresh seafood here in Hong Kong and I believe this was also a Michelin recommended restaurant. Let's order it up, see how much it costs and I can't wait to try out the Sai Kung famous seafood. We're going to get one of these big mantis shrimp. Wow. Those things are huge. Those are probably the biggest mantis shrimp I've ever seen. This? Hong Kong really knows how to do seafood. It's like the great pyramids of seafood. By far the largest fish in this restaurant is this massive goliath grouper. I don't know if you can tell on camera how big this thing is. It is absolutely huge. I don't even know if it's for sale. If you're going to eat this, you'd have to come with like two buses full of people in order to eat this thing. It is so, so big. Look at that. I don't know, like 300 or 400 pounds at least. The layout of the restaurant is also really cool. You sit right outside in front of all the tanks and then on the other side you've got the ocean. So you've got the seafood coming right from there into the tanks and you're sitting right in the middle. Something that's kind of interesting here in Hong Kong is they'll always bring out this little bowl and then a pot of hot water. Sometimes they just give you tea and then you're pretty much supposed to wash your own dishes here. This is for, oh cool. And then here's another one for washing your hands. Just dip in, yeah? Okay. Cool. I've never seen this one. For drink, you know? No, not for drink. Really friendly here. So like lemon tea to wash your hand and then, oh, as I was saying, you've got to wash your own dishes here in Hong Kong even though you pay 100 bucks for the seafood. Seafood has arrived. We ordered everything classic Cantonese style. So first off are the scallops and these are no measly, wimpy scallops. These are absolute giants and this is probably my favorite Cantonese dish of them all when it comes to seafood. Just topped with tons of garlic and then on the bottom, or I guess on the top in this case, are these cellophane noodles and then a big scallop and some green onions, a little bit of sauce on the bottom. So good. You can just slurp those noodles down with the scallop. Oh, I can't wait to try that. And then back here, we've got the deep fried mantis shrimp. I'm not even totally sure how to eat those. They gave us some scissors with it so we'll have to try to figure that out but it's fried so I imagine you can probably eat maybe these shells, not those ones. Because this is such a massive scallop, I'm actually going to cheat here and use the scissors to cut this into smaller pieces if I can. Oh, man. This is, like I said, my favorite of them all Cantonese seafood dish. Let's grab that and try to get a piece of scallop with some of the noodles. Oh, yes. There we go. This dish is worth coming to Hong Kong alone just for the scallop with garlic and noodles. It's so garlicky and then you get a little hint of soy saltiness and then it just slurps down with those noodles. They just bring in all the flavor of everything going on in that dish. But then the scallop, just so meaty. Look at the size of this guy. Like, I'll move some of this garlic out of the way. There's a ton of garlic too. But there is a huge scallop. Oh, he's kind of anchored on the bottom. Look at that. Oh, absolutely beautiful. So much garlic. This is the best seafood dish in Hong Kong. Seriously, order this anytime you go to a seafood restaurant. If you love scallops, this will be your favorite. In the past, I've had this where it's just a tiny little scallop and then you can kind of slurp back the whole thing. But because this is such a monster, it's kind of not a one-biter. It's a multi-biter for sure. You can still slurp it back. I'm so, so happy to be back here in Hong Kong just for this. It's worth the trip. So much garlic. Oh my god. This is deep-fried and then covered in spices. I feel like I can smell cumin, which is sort of interesting. Definitely cumin-y. Oh, the shell is really crunchy and crispy. I feel like you could probably eat, but the scissors were given, so I'm going to peel back the shell. I don't want to cut my mouth all to pieces. Look at that. Beautiful, beautiful mantis shrimp. Such an interesting creature. Wow. Oh yeah. That is so good. Really, really soft meat. Very sweet. I can taste... Yeah, I think it is cumin. And there's a little bit of salt and pepper on the outside. The shells, they're deep-fried, so you can pretty much crunch them down. Some of the bigger pieces, maybe not. Oh man. The sweetness. Really, really naturally sweet. That's so good. Let's try to get into the tail. This is a much tougher shell. Definitely can't eat this. It's got a really unique kind of purple color to it. There we go. See that? It's almost purple, isn't it? I think I can peel that right out. Probably shouldn't be eating with my fingers, but, you know, got to do what you got to do. Oh man. Yeah, that's so good. That spice rub they have on the outside. Salty, a little spicy. Hints of cumin. Veggies. I love that they don't overcook it here. It's really crisp on the inside. It's got a nice crunch to it. Super garlicky, strong flavor. And it's really juicy. It kind of explodes in your mouth. Yeah, these go perfectly with the seafood. Now, scallops are definitely my favorite, but man, this mantis shrimp is also super good. Kind of hard to get at. Definitely easier than the hairy crabs in Hokkaido, which we were just at recently. But this is so, so good too. It's so sweet. And kind of juicy and soft. It's got a bounce on the outside, but then when you get to the inside, it's really creamy. Not really like a lobster or a shrimp. It's unique. And the spices. Yeah, so I just got the bill, and I guess the way it works is you pay for the seafood and the cooking fee, which is separate. So it came out to 971. A little bit pricey. About 125 US dollars. Two scallops, two big mantis shrimp. But they do give you oranges for dessert. I don't know if that's worth it, but... That was so good. Seafood here in Hong Kong, so good. So on the fifth floor of the Islamic Center here on Hong Kong Island, you'll find the Islamic Center Canteen, which is famous for their dim sum. And like I said, certified halal, all halal here. And we've ordered up some classic Hong Kong dim sum. So first off, over here, we've got the siu mai. So that is chicken siu mai and wrapped in a beautiful dumpling wrapper. And then over here, the beef balls with tons of greens, all steamed, of course, in the traditional basket. This is traditional style, but all halal, which isn't very easy to find around here. And then this one is awesome. This is the lotus root, or sorry, not lotus root, lotus leaf wrapped sticky rice with chicken inside. So unfold that beautiful little package right there. Oh, and it's so fragrant from that lotus leaf. And there's the sticky rice. And you can see the chicken in there as well. That's one of my favorite dishes. Anytime I go for dim sum. Let me go in with my spoon for this. Can you see that beautiful chicken on the inside right there? Oh, that looks great. Let's try it. The sticky rice just completely melts in your mouth. It's got a really unique texture and it's got the essence of that lotus leaf. Gives it kind of like an earthy flavor and then really tender shredded chicken on the inside that's been braised in all kinds of Cantonese spices. Oh, yeah. I love that one because of the smell. You just smell it in your nose. It's so fragrant. All right, the shumai, maybe the most famous of all the dim sums. This one with chicken and then a little dip in the chili soy sauce. Oh, yeah. Oh, my God. That is a really, really good shumai. I don't think I've ever had a chicken shumai before, but it tastes amazing. Their chili soy sauce is really salty, but it's got a nice kick of spice as well. All halal, but that doesn't mean they compromise on any flavor or authenticity. This tastes really legit. Any other Hong Kong non-halal dim sum place would have a run for their money competing with this place. Another classic, the beef ball steamed. So you get that really unique texture. These ones are big. Cut that in half. Let's try. Mmm. Oh, my God. This is really, really good dim sum. Oh, my gosh. It's so delicious. That just completely melts in your mouth, too. So tender, and it's a little bit sweet, fragrant. Yum. Oh, that is awesome. Little crunchy green onions in there as well, too. Okay, let's go for a dip in the chili soy sauce with this beef ball, and they didn't have non-chili soy sauce over there. They only had soy sauce with chili, so you got to be a little bit careful if you're not a spice lover. The texture of that is incredible. So creamy. Yum. This is great. So we are inside of a mosque. You can hear the call to prayer just started. It's kind of a unique experience dining on traditional Chinese dim sum in a totally halal environment. Really great if you're halal. I totally recommend this place. Like I said earlier, I don't think there's a whole lot of options here in Hong Kong, but this has got to be one of the best. So the way this place works is you've got a little green card here, and you just walk up to the front, point out whatever one you want. They'll mark it down on the card. It's really quite affordable, and we just polished off three baskets, completely gone, and going for a little bit of a sweet dessert. And look at this. I have never tried this one before. It's called like a butter cake, and she gave me like the biggest piece possible. It's absolutely huge. I don't know how they... This must have been on the top because there's no way another steam basket would have fit over top of that. Look at it. It's like half a loaf of bread. I'm just going to go right in with my fingers here and rip off a piece. It smells really delicious, buttery steamed bread. Oh, it smells nice and sweet too. It's like a sponge cake, buttery, really fragrant too. Oh, that's delicious. It's called Kam Wah Beef Opal. So they serve curried beef innards. I'm going to order up a bowl, go grab a spot in line right now. This place is super, super popular for their beef opal with curry, and they have a literal bubbling cauldron full of every cut of beef imaginable. I saw liver, tripe, intestines, all kinds of tendon, and they just kind of snip it up with the scissors into small bite-sized pieces, and then they slap on a big sloppy curry on top of that. And then if you want, you can also order it with spicy sauce, which of course I did. And here is my small bowl. So this was, I think it was HK$35. And you can see, I don't know, really everything in here. There's all kinds of interesting ingredients, some tendon, some tripe, everything I just mentioned there. And then it's just swimming in that curry. And it looks like they also put a piece of, or a couple pieces of radish in there too, like a daikon radish. So let me try to grab one of these really fatty pieces, completely smothered in that curry sauce, pouring rain, nice and hot. This will warm me up. Mmm. The curry. Really, really strong curry flavor. And then that piece was like attended. I bit into it, it melted, but then there was also another piece that was a little bit crunchy, chewy. You get all kinds of strange textures going on in there. Okay, let's go back in. See what else we can find. Oh, the flavor's phenomenal though. I don't know what the hell any of this stuff is, to be honest. It's all just cut up and then covered in this curry gravy. You can't identify anything. Mmm. Yum. That piece is nice and soft. Oh my God, the curry tastes amazing. It's almost like a Japanese curry tasting. Mmm. That one, definitely a little bit of a gamey flavor. You can definitely smell that, those intestines coming from that bubbling cauldron. Let's try one of these pieces of radish as well. And yeah, it's definitely got a kick of spice too. Mmm. Oh, it's really good. Oh man, that piece is awesome. Just melt. Completely melts in your mouth. Yum. And this is one of the things you have to try in Macau. This whole street is just lined with different ones, but this one had the biggest line. I think it must be the most popular. Yum, that is awesome. Just look at this. All kinds of strange things going on in here. I love these fatty pieces because, well, sometimes they melt in your mouth. Sometimes you get a little bit of a chewy piece too. Mmm. So fatty. And the flavor is just phenomenal. Yum. There's just a steady, steady flow of tourists and locals. I think there's a lot of tourists coming into Macau. It is a popular tourist destination for sure. And, well, it doesn't matter because the tourists here know the good taste too. Mmm. Yeah. Yum. It's not as funky as it smells. I thought it was going to have a real strong funk to it. But really, it doesn't. It's overpowered by that curry. Mmm. That pot is literally overflowing with intestines and liver and everything. And they've got something that's kind of like bubbling up the braise that it's braising in. It's not the curry that it's braising in. They put the curry on after. And, man, that was really delicious. Got to try that in Macau. Normally, I'm not interested in liver, but this is really good when the combination of intestine and curry. You should give it a try. It's really good. I hope you guys enjoyed this compilation video. If you did, leave a comment down below and let me know what country you'd like to see us do next. That was the top 15 street foods to try in Hong Kong and Macau. I'll see you guys on the next episode of Chopstick Travel. Bye.