I’m off to Hong Kong in a week or so. A couple of questions:
Good grocery stores? Where?
What can I get in Hong Kong that I can’t find here in Taipei? What will I be kicking myself for in a couple of months, thinking “D*mn, I should have got that when I was over in Hong Kong!”.
(My god I’m getting old.)
What do you like? That would be a good start. Budget? It’s HK. Shop till ya drop, just don’t go looking for anything vaguely cultural.
HG
Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream. Seventh floor of Times Square. (You can’t bring the ice cream back, but at least you can enjoy it while you’re there.)
There’s also one in “rat alley” in LKF. Look for Elvis.
HG
I’m not asking about general shopping - just groceries/ cooking supplies. Mexican, Indian, western, Southeast Asian food. Basically I’m wondering: when other people who like to cook (or are pretending to learn to cook, which is a more accurate description of what I do) visit Hong Kong from Taipei, what do they find in Hong Kong that they can’t find here?
What are the grocery stores with the best selection, the Hong Kong equivalent of City Super or Jason’s? Or is there a Mexican or Southeast Asian specialty-store equivalent to the godsend that Trinity is here for Indian cooking?
I’m especially wondering about ingredients that I simply can’t find in Taipei, although information about bargains is also welcome.
Mind you, Ben & Jerry’s also sounds good! The rat… less so. Ate it once in Tainan, and it was fine, but that was enough. (三杯 mouse at the aboriginal restaurant - Hudlavoos? A long time ago.)
(I tend to come back from yearly trips to Canada with at least one bag full of things like spices, various dried chile peppers, white chocolate chips, corn tortillas, dried black beans… and wow that combination would make one ugly recipe. Either that or a very innovative mole.)
For Indian groceries, there is a shady kind of place. Loads of Hindi DVds too. Don’t remember the name.
I remember there was a place in Central called Oliver’s Delicatessen or something like that. Used to go there years ago to get stuff you couldn’t get in Taiwan. But now that Taiwan has Jason’s, Breeze Super and City Super, I can get many of the things there. But Oliver’s, if they’re still around, may be worth checking out.
Sounds like Chungking Mansions on Nathan Road, Tsimshatsui. Lots of Indian stuff there.
yeps thats the one.
Will you be heading to Kowloon?
I’d suggest their city super it’s in a mall on the 3rd floor just south of the mall where you can take the ferry to Macao.
For Indian, I’d ask a tout. It’s in Mirador Mansion or Chungking Mansion on the 4th floor. It’s kind of spooky going up there.
multi-grain Cheerios! Plus some other breakfast cereals I’ve never seen in Taiwan.
Second floor of Chunkimg Mansons and you can get pretty much all you could get at a dozen local stores in India. Not too sure on Taiwan’s import laws about some of the fresher supplies, though.
City Super is one of a number of upscale supermarkets. All you’d want, at a price.
HG
When in HK, I always make it my weekly ritual to eat at 許留山(Hui Lau Shan). It’s a typical HK style dessert joint that serves a wide variety of fruit based desserts and more. The mango sago is one of my favorites 
End result: I did virtually no searching, but instead just visited a City Super in… oh, what’s it called - the mall below what’s currently the tallest building, near the Central Star Ferry Pier. EFC2? EMF1? TLC3?
What I bought: white chocolate chips; dry black kidney beans (although I’m not completely certain these are the black beans I want for Tex-Mex and South American recipes); dry pinto beans; rye flour; pumpernickel flour; vacuum-packed gnocchi. I haven’t seen any of these available in Taiwan, but I haven’t been to any of Taipei’s DIY baking stores yet.
Incidentally, Taiwanese City Super cards aren’t useful in Hong Kong.
They sell Pabst blue ribbon in the ok marts in hong kong. However you cannot bring liquids thru the airport in hk (which is strange because TPE doesn’t ever seem to care when going to hk). I found this out the hard way and had to slam a couple of pbr’s before an early morning flight back to taiwan.