MangoVine
Adventures in East Asia

BBQ Meat Takeaways

 09 February, 2009
Monday

In London Chinatown, and most likely in all Chinatowns around the world, you'll commonly see glass fronted restaurants with racks of BBQ meat hanging in the window. Needless to say, they're much more common in Hong Kong, more so in local towns like Tai Po, in the New Territories. Hong Kong to me is like one giant Chinatown!

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The BBQ meat tastes good and is cheap enough to buy regularly as part of a meal to eat at home, so is popular as a takeaway dish.

As well as local restaurant cafés selling BBQ meat (with rice) to eat-in (which is still cheap) in addition to other dishes, we've also come across small, takeaway specialist shops that just simply sells the meat. There's the ubiquitous roast duck and BBQ pork (char sui), as well as roast chicken and the less common (in the UK anyway) roast goose - which is now my favourite.

Buying the meat can be done simply by asking for a few sticks of the BBQ pork or a portion (whole, half etc) of the poultry, or you can ask by cost. However, with typical Hong Kong sales charm, you'll be harshly refused a sale if you ask for too little - if the shopkeeper thinks he won't get enough value from it.

I personally think that's fair enough. A curt reply comes with the territory and chopping away at meat all day is not an easy job. They'll still chop up your roast for you though and appropriate condiments are usually supplied. You can also order rice if you want a complete meal to takeaway.

This entry posted in : Culture. Food. Hong Kong.

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Comments

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06/03/09  at  08:36 AM My fav!


Roast pork (with crispy skin) in most places such as in HK and where I live in Canada is actually called "Sui Yuk" and Char Siu is the BBQ pork that is the kind that is red in colour. .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
06/03/09  at  03:35 PM Hi there,

Actually, you're right - I've no idea why I said "roast". Even all the shop signs say "BBQ"! I'll make all the changes in the article above... .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
16/04/09  at  07:06 AM Three thing you want to look for in BBQ meat.
1.First, the meat must be fresh and never frozen.
2.Good BBQ meat needs to have a layer of fat on it. Lots of marbling helps the meat stay tender, since it keeps the juices from escaping and melts into the meat as you cook. If you want to reduce fat, trim the meat after it cooks instead of before.
3.It needs to have an even thickness. Comment page 1 of 1 pages Commenting is not available in this section entry.
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