Dim sum, coffee, char siu, egg tart, lamb skewers in Australian's ideal Hong Kong food day
Chinese-Australian commercial photographer Nicholas Wong, who has shot many top Hong Kong restaurants, has been based in the city since 2018. He spoke to Andrew Sun.
I've always gravitated toward big, bold flavours. I tend to prefer street food over fine dining. For me, you get a real sense of a place by eating what everyday people eat.
I grew up in outer suburban Melbourne, where my parents worked hard in Chinese takeaway restaurants that catered to Western tastes.
Most nights, dinner was whatever leftovers they brought home – so my early food memories revolve around classic Chinese-Australian dishes.
Nicholas Wong is a Hong Kong-based photographer who grew up in the Melbourne suburbs. Photo: Nicholas Wong
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
an hour ago
- South China Morning Post
Nepal propelled by unbreakable spirit and bus-driver-turned-head coach on Asian Cup quest
Matt Ross turned his life upside down to move across the world for football and found himself driving a bus. After sticking to his guns to forge an upwardly-mobile career, however, the Nepal head coach said his own mental toughness 'pales into insignificance' with that of the players in his world No 175-ranked squad. 'When you hear of the conditions in which some of our boys grew up, and the sacrifices their parents and extended families have made, it melts your heart,' said Ross, ahead of Nepal's friendly with Hong Kong on Thursday. 'It equips our team with such belief and strength. We have an unbreakable spirit.' The Australian and his wife quit their teaching jobs in 2011 to move to Germany, where the 47-year-old, who had been coaching part-time, pursued a professional football role. Nepal's players are put through their paces during a training session at Hong Kong Stadium. Photo: Edmond So While his wife landed a teaching post, Ross was running into dead ends and took a job as the school's bus driver. In 2013, he finally gained unpaid work as a video analyst for Eintracht Frankfurt Women.
South China Morning Post
2 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Nepal propelled by unbreakable spirit and bus-driver-turned-head coach on Asian Cup quest
Matt Ross turned his life upside down to move across the world for football and found himself driving a bus. After sticking to his guns to forge an upwardly-mobile career, however, the Nepal head coach said his own mental toughness 'pales into insignificance' with that of the players in his world No 175-ranked squad. 'When you hear of the conditions in which some of our boys grew up, and the sacrifices their parents and extended families have made, it melts your heart,' said Ross, ahead of Nepal's friendly with Hong Kong on Thursday. 'It equips our team with such belief and strength. We have an unbreakable spirit.' The Australian and his wife quit their teaching jobs in 2011 to move to Germany, where the 47-year-old, who had been coaching part-time, pursued a professional football role. Nepal's players are put through their paces during a training session at Hong Kong Stadium. Photo: Edmond So While his wife landed a teaching post, Ross was running into dead ends and took a job as the school's bus driver. In 2013, he finally gained unpaid work as a video analyst for Eintracht Frankfurt Women.
South China Morning Post
15 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
What's in a Chinese olive? The history behind the congee ingredient
As a Hongkonger, I have no childhood memories of the Chinese olive. Zero. And it wasn't until a few years ago I had my first encounter with this fruit in pickled form. Even without tasting it, the sight of the black-green paste, swaddled in oil the colour of a dark lake, told me it was going to be rich, or at the very least, interesting. What is that? I asked my mother, pointing at the jar. Her answer was plain: 'They're olives. Put them in your congee.' Tasting pickled olives for the first time is hard to describe, but I could tell right away I'd remember the taste for the rest of my life. It was far more subtle than what I'd thought of as a pickle – no acidity, no sharpness, no crunch. All of the soft chords and bass of a song, none of the treble: earthy umami, a silky texture, simple yet layered. And, as Mother said, fantastic on congee. Her introduction-to-olives lesson ended there. I'm not sure she knew what Chinese olives were. She perhaps assumed the same as I, that they were olives, just grown in Asia instead of the Mediterranean. We were wrong. Kwok Kam-kei throwing airplane olives up to his customers, in 1994. Photo: SCMP Archives Despite the name, the Chinese olive (Canarium album for Chinese white olives, Canarium pimela for Chinese black olives) is not related to its namesake in Europe (Olea europaea). Where European olives belong in the Oleaceae family of (wait for it) olive trees, Chinese olives belong in the Burseraceae family of resinous trees and shrubs, also known as incense trees. These trees are characterised by their resinous sap, which, historically, played a major role in the shipbuilding industry in China and Vietnam. Evidence suggests the tree was being cultivated for its resin as early as the 9th century. Pickled olive is a Chiuchow speciality , used throughout the cuisine, in fried rice, stir-fried dishes, steamed proteins such as ribs and fish, and, of course, congee. A jar of pickled olives contains a paste-like mixture of the fruit, along with mustard greens pickled in soy sauce and oil. An interesting piece of Chiuchow olive history is that they have another, nomenclaturally inaccurate name for the Chinese olive: betel nut. It was far more subtle than what I'd thought of as a pickle – no acidity, no sharpness, no crunch Vanessa Lee Similar to Taiwan, Fujian province and parts of Southeast Asia, the people of Chiuchow also chewed betel nut as a stimulant, but the practice was abandoned in the late Qing dynasty, with the nut being replaced with Chinese olives. The people of Chiuchow, however, still call it 檳榔, 'betel nut', or 珍果, 'precious fruit'.
