A delicious blast from the past.
The roof is partially covered in both corrugated iron sheets as well as tarpaulin, the walls are a mix of wooden planks and more corugated iron sheets in a multitude of colour and sizes. Welcome to the Woosung Street Temporary Hawker Bazaar in Jordan. Inside, it’s dark with mood lighting provided by sparse long neons.
Here, a group of different stall holders cook up their specials for customers of this very unique “food court”. They trade from early morning right through to late a night, some offer different menus for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Dinner, in particular is an eye opener, the neon struggles against smoke from smoking woks and steaming soup pans. At night ‘sexy’ ladies strut about enticing diners to buy the beer brands which sponsor them. They may not look ‘sexy’ at first, but these middles aged, scantily dress women will become increasingly more alluring as diners drink more beer and the smoke and steam acts like a natural vaseline lens.
But today, I’m here for breakfast, which is served from 7 – 11.30am. In fact I’m here almost every morning. This place fascinates me and, by now, the people know me. Their quizzical looks, brought about because they don’t understand how I look so Chinese but can’t speak a word, has long been replaced by a pitying smiles – and an English menu.
Today, I’m having noodles with shredded pork with bread, ham and fried egg on the side, all to be washed down with orange/brown coloured Hong Kong milk tea. I order a slightly different variation each morning, sometimes it’s macaroni in the soup, other times I replace the ham with a sausage. But it’s always Hong Kong tea, anything else would be blashphemous.
The soup is tasty, flavoured by the soup bones, pork and pickles. The two slices of buttered, crustless white bread are my favourite; so fluffy, so light and so lacking in any nutrition, yet strangely delicious. Actually it’s the Hong Kong milk tea which really hits the spot, very rough tea masked by loads of milk. Tip: don’t add sugar, it would only take away from this unique taste.
This enchanting place place is one of the must-visit spots according to noodlies, Sydney food blog.
Woosung Street Temporary Hawker Bazaar
Woosung Street (Yau Ma Tei end)
Jordan, Hong Kong
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They were taken with a Sony NEX-5N, a supporter of noodlies.
This is our favourite place to eat in Hong Kong. We’ve only ever been at night, you’ve given us a new mission now to try the breakfast there next visit.