‘Old school’ dim sum, Japanese fare, late-night Chinese street food – Hong Kong-based DJ and restaurant music director Johnny Hiller shares where he goes to eat a variety of cuisines in the city.
The sights and sounds of local dishes being cooked on giant roaring woks at dai pai dongs are synonymous with Hong Kong. Just like enjoying breakfasts and brunches at a cha chaan teng or dim sum teahouses, dining in a dai pai dong is a quintessential Hong Kong experience, which rooted in delicious, very reasonably priced Cantonese fare packed with a dose of “wok hei” a smokey flavour that can be only achieved by cooking fresh ingredients over extreme heat.
For those unacquainted with this iconic local culinary tradition, dai pai dong literally means “restaurant with a big license plate” the city s last remaining open-air street food vendors that were once ubiquitous in the early 20th century. Due to growing hygiene concerns, the government had begun to restrict the licensing of dai pai dongs, where only around 20 establishments are left today.