Tales from the Fragrant Harbour

[Duvel]

25 minutes ago, dcarch said:

 

World's largest picnic!

You can do a quick food survey of what they eat.

 

dcarch

 

 

If you would be interested, I think I could get a source ...

[Shelby]

That food all looks awesome!

[dcarch]

51 minutes ago, Shelby said:

That food all looks awesome!

 

But they are very poor people.

You see they can't afford to buy chairs.

 

dcarch

 

[Jacksoup]

It had to check the current time in Hong Kong so I could determine approximately when the next posts will show up.  This is fascinating.  Thank you for all the photos

[Duvel]

Good morning from Sai Yin Pun !

 

I headed out this morning for the wet market and was planning to have a congee with a fried bread stick ... After running around for a while (sipping on a lemon ice tea - an alternative to the dark green tea I have on weekdays) I found a congee shop. But somehow I decided to look for something more savoury later ...

 

 

 

Fried bread sticks on the top, more fried dough items below and baked buns on the bottom, all to be consumed with ...

 

... thick Congee, served with roasted peanuts and pickles.

 

The fried dough sticks are slightly sweet and taste a bit like doughnuts.

[Duvel]

Every district of Hong Kong has it's own wet market, where mostly the local population buys their groceries, fish and meat. Notable, fruits are not sold at wet markets, but separate fruit markets instead. Sometimes the wet markets are couped with cooked food markets, where local fresh and rather cheap food can be found.

 

At Sai Yin Pun wet market ...

 

The "Dried veggie and tofu" place ...

 

All types of soy bean products ...

 

Large cubes of coagulated duck blood are paired with tofu products, due to their similar consistency and usage ...

 

 

 

1st floor: Veggies galore !

 

Tradition.

 

Gai lan ...

 

The root vegetable store ...

 

Greens ...

 

Leafy greens ...

 

Some sort of bean ?

 

[Duvel]

2nd floor: Fish !

 

All your hearts desire - and fresh ...

 

This display is very usual - Cantonese love to see the swim bladder intact.

 

Shell fish, shrimps ...

 

Fresh (barely) alive fish ...

 

Minced fish meat (in the middle) for filling veggies, tofu or rolling into fish balls for hot pot ...

 

Not quite fish ... but toads.

 

Turtles ...

 

and blue crab.

[Duvel]

3rd floor: Meeeaaat ...

 

Beef & pork ...

 

Variety meats (under the table) ...

 

Chicken ...

 

Very fresh indeed ... there are live chickens in the background. You order, make your round and gete a freshly dressed chicken some minutes later .

 

Black chickens. Good for tonic soups ...

[Duvel]

Outside the wet market, the local shops continue...

 

This one sells everything you possibly need for putting into hot pots - very popular in Hong Kong:

 

Fruit (we will see a large fruit market this afternoon) ...

 

Longans & lychees ...

 

Roasted meats (guess what for lunch today ?)

 

A nice shot of tradition meeting "modern" Hong Kong ...

 

On a side entrance of a roasted meat shop, something waiting for a spot in the roasting oven

 

 

Edited July 29, 2017 by Duvel (log)

[Duvel]

Lunch today is "Siu Mei", or roasted meats. Actually it describes everything coming from the above shown Siu Mei shop ...

 

 

From left to right: Si Yau Gai (soy sauce chicken), Char Siu (barbecued pork) and Lou Dan (soy sauce boiled eggs).

 

Left: Siu Aap (roasted duck), right: Siu Yuk (roasted pork with crispy skin).

 

Sauces are Lou Sui (sweet aromatic soy sauce) for dipping as well as hot mustard for the Siu Yuk. Accompanied by mushrooms with garlic & chili and smacked cucumbers, again with garlic and a dash of vinegar. Oh yes ... and everything served with a Paulaner Hefeweizen (wheat beer), just because it's weekend

[liuzhou]

4 hours ago, Duvel said:

Some sort of bean ?

 

 

I've seen and bought those beans, but can't remember what they were called - in any language. It'll come to me.

 

Your market looks very similar to mine - at least in terms of available produce. Not surprising, I suppose. The only real difference I spotted is that the locals here don't eat much beef, so instead of a labelled 'beef' section, we have one trestle table.

Edited July 29, 2017 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

57 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

It'll come to me.

 

 

I think they are 扁豆 biǎn dòu, literally 'flat beans',.lablab.

 

Hyacinth bean seems to be the most common English name, but there are many more. Even more Chinese names!

 

I believe in Cantonese they are 膨皮豆 (swollen skin beans) but I won't swear to that in court.

 

 

Edited July 29, 2017 by liuzhou (log)

[Shelby]

Sitting here with my morning coffee just drooling over these market pictures.

 

Those are some long okra!

 

How are the toads used?  

 

@liuzhou Are these gorgeous bluish rainbowish colored fish the same kind that you bought a while back?

 

 

[liuzhou]

If you mean the parrotfish here, then perhaps the greenish looking specimens at the 12 o'clock position or the blue streaked ones at 6 o'clock in @Duvel's picture, then perhaps. These tropical fish are so difficult to identify. And it's not easy to see the detail in the picture.

 

Need to see their mouths more clearly.

 

[Shelby]

1 minute ago, liuzhou said:

If you mean the parrotfish here, then perhaps the greenish looking specimens at the 12 o'clock position or the blue streaked ones at 6 o'clock in @Duvel's picture, then perhaps. These tropical fish are so difficult to identify. And it's not easy to see the detail in the picture.

 

Need to see their mouths more clearly.

 

Yes!  I couldn't find the post but that's exactly the one I remembered.  Thank you!

[IowaDee]

I agree, they are stunning.  My first thought was that they look like living opals. 

[rotuts]

Again ,

 

@Duvel 

 

than k you for taking the time to post so many pictures. !

[TicTac]

The seafood selection is unreal.

 

Something we rarely, if ever, see in Canada.

 

 

[KennethT]

@Duvel Awesome! I'm loving this!

[Smithy]

The pictures are fascinating.  I'm curious about the slaughtering process.  It's easy to see why chickens and other small creatures are brought to the market live and killed there, but what about the larger creatures?  How far away would the cattle or pigs have been slaughtered, and how would they be transported to the market?

[liuzhou]

33 minutes ago, Smithy said:

how would they be transported to the market?

 

They ride motorcycles.

 

 

 

[Duvel]

2 hours ago, Shelby said:

Sitting here with my morning coffee just drooling over these market pictures.

 

Those are some long okra!

 

How are the toads used?  

 

@liuzhou Are these gorgeous bluish rainbowish colored fish the same kind that you bought a while back?

 

 

 

The only dish I know for the toads is baked ice with toad legs. Let me investigate further  

[Duvel]

2 hours ago, IowaDee said:

I agree, they are stunning.  My first thought was that they look like living opals. 

They are very pretty. I was hoping it carries through the photograph ...

[liuzhou]

1 minute ago, Duvel said:

They are very pretty. I was hoping it carries through the photograph ...

 

But if they are parrotfish, they can make you very ill, See the link to the post @Shelbyasked about.

[Duvel]

1 hour ago, Smithy said:

The pictures are fascinating.  I'm curious about the slaughtering process.  It's easy to see why chickens and other small creatures are brought to the market live and killed there, but what about the larger creatures?  How far away would the cattle or pigs have been slaughtered, and how would they be transported to the market?

So far I have not seen a live larger mammal being killed at the market. Everything comes in (rather unusal) cuts ...