The Top 10 Must Try Street Foods In Hong Kong

This snack will please all lovers of the classic potato chip. A whole potato is sliced into a giant spiral and skewered on a wooden stick before being deep-fried. When the crunchy snack is ready to serve, diners can season it with a wide variety of toppings, from pepper to seaweed to chilli. Spiral potato chips are not as easy to find as other street foods in Hong Kong, but pay a visit to the tourist island of Cheung Chau or Mong Kok and you’re guaranteed to come across them.

Stinky tofu is often considered a little repulsive by travelers, but locals here love it. Food carts selling the aromatic treat are easy to find thanks to their pungent odours, and despite the disgusting smell, a bite of the snack often changes your opinion for good. The tofu is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, usually eaten alongside sweet and spicy sauce. The perfectly balanced texture and tasty middle make for a truly unforgettable snack.

Imported from Taiwan, bubble tea has gained overwhelming popularity across Hong Kong. Literally translated as “pearl milk tea”, bubble tea consists of chewy tapioca balls in milk. It is a popular drink that combines a solid snack and a liquid perfectly. A lot of innovative alternatives have popped up to cater to the taste of patrons too. Milk tea is sometimes replaced by chocolate, green tea, ginger tea and even oolong, so try a few to find your favorite.

When winter is around the corner, streets in Hong Kong are strewn with moving carts and hawkers shuffling chestnuts in a big wok over burning charcoal. This seasonal treat is a popular snack among locals, who look to warm themselves up in the freezing weather with a bag of chestnuts in hand. With no sauce or seasoning added, the raw taste and nutrition of the chestnuts are enough, and they are a perfect snack for strolling through the icy streets of Kowloon.

The fame of Takoyaki balls has spread from thier home town of Osaka to Hong Kong, making it a prevalent street snack here today. The ubiquitous snack is made with grilled batter stuffed with cabbage and octopus and grilled in a pan until it turns golden brown. Before serving, it is topped with seaweed and floaty bonito flakes. Foodies can also opt for a tart sauce to add extra flavour to the snack. Remember to savour Takoyaki balls before they turn cold to enjoy the best taste.

Occasionally, travelers in Hong Kong will bump into stores with a large fridge at the front featuring a lot of small bags, which means they’ve come across a cold noodle shop. Customers can choose from an impressive array of condiments and ingredients, such as seaweed, sausage, chicken kidney and quails’ eggs, as well as a wide variety of noodles, including pasta and udon. After choosing the best combination, hand the bags to staff and they will mix everything and season it with soy sauce, oyster sauce and garlic.

Consuming organs is perhaps a strange idea for travellers in Hong Kong, but why not step up and experience the local culture with a spot of these deep-fried pigs’ intestines. The chewy intestine is coated in delicious golden yellow marinades and dipped in mustard and sweet sauce before serving. The incredibly crispy outer layer teams with the juicy and chewy texture in the middle to deliver an unforgettable flavour.

Visitors must have heard of the celebrated street food of curry fish balls, even if they have not travelled to Hong Kong before. The renowned snack dates back to the 1950s and is prepared with a blend of corn starch and fish, then deep-fried to give it an alluring golden colour. It is drizzled with curry sauce and can be made both spicy and mild, depending on preference.

Originating in the Qing Dynasty, bowl pudding is unquestionably one of the most authentic street foods in Hong Kong. Batter, mixing sugar and long grain rice flour are steamed in porcelain bowls to create the dish, which can be categorized into two types: a yellow one made with yellow sugar and a white one prepared with white sugar, both with a similar taste.