Our apartment has become a bit of a B&B recently. Right after Katie left, Seiji’s mom and sister came from Tokyo to stay for a long weekend, which could only mean one thing — even more excessive consumption of delicious dim sum, with yours truly as the local tour guide. It’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it…

I’ve recently become completely enamoured with the night markets of Kowloon. Between the stations of Jordan and Yau Ma Tei is the popular Temple Street night market, a long pedestrian zone of stalls selling tourist crap, seafood restaurants where everything is still wriggling, fortune tellers, old posters of Chinese advertisements, and even a certain area selling a wide variety of erotic paraphernalia.

Personally, I don’t think the food at the bigger street restaurants at the market are particularly special, and to tell you the truth, they are a bit overpriced. I may sound like a bit of a snob, but chances are that in Hong Kong, whereever they have a lot of tourists eating, it probably isn’t quite as authentic, and is likely more expensive.

But if you veer off of the main boulevard of the night market and wander the tiny, dank back alleys, you come across a virtual cornucopia of cheap, delicious, and very authentic local food.

My favourite place is called Yat Bun Dim Sum, a tiny family run restaurant has tables that spill out onto the sidewalk. It’s one of the few places that you can find dim sum served in the evening, as typically dim sum is only served in the mid-morning through lunch, and tends to finish around 2 pm. We like to pull up a few stools here, order some delicious little bamboo baskets of steamed goodness, order a few big bottles of Blue Girl, and enjoy not only the food, but also the street life.

Around the corner is also another tiny place (why is the best food always in the tiniest places?) making this sort of flat bread, one that is about the size of a pita bread, but encrusted with sesame seeds, and infused with diced leek, and another that is stuffed with savoury minced pork and onions. And these tasty treats cost a whopping USD 1! Fantastic.

Here are some pictures from us perusing the night market, munching here and munching there. I better be careful though — I think I may be turning into a dumpling.

See? Even Obama digs the night market!

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