What cuisines (if any) might an American living in Hong Kong miss?

December 8, 2021 11:55 AM

Hong Kong is obviously one of the world's major cities, so this question may be completely pointless. But I've never visited there, so I'm wondering if there are any cuisines someone from the U.S. might not typically be able to enjoy there but could here? Asking b/c I have a friend who's lived in HK for 10 years visiting soon (and I'd like to surprise him, so I don't want to ask him). If the answer is "None, they've got everything you can imagine in Hong Kong," then that's the answer! Thanks so much.
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell to Food & Drink (11 answers total)

Mexican food (legitimate Mexican as well as Tex-Mex, Cal-Mex, etc.), and American-style diner food were the the things I was not able to find to my satisfaction when I lived in the area.
posted by skewed at 12:13 PM on December 8, 2021 [19 favorites]

Seconding Mexican food. I have mailed boxes of hot sauce and corn flour to my friend in HK to try and help her make some Mexican at home to satisfy cravings.
posted by foodmapper at 12:27 PM on December 8, 2021 [1 favorite]

Came in to share American-style diner food.
posted by Juniper Toast at 12:37 PM on December 8, 2021 [2 favorites]

I find that the stuff you really can't get outside the US is home food, Mom Food, comfort food, potluck food - casseroles, regional specialties, meatloaf, the sort of Scando/Eastern European foods of the upper Midwest, Tex Mex (I can't even get that in California, or Cajun food) and the regional Central/South American specialties you find where those communities have grown in the US. US styles of BBQ, cookout/backyard BBQ food, soul food.

Even very popular American and European classics are generally re-tuned to an Asian palate there. Hong Kong can and does offer (particularly) high-end French, Italian, Spanish etc food from acclaimed chefs from those regions, but pizza and pasta at a simple checked-tablecloth restaurant here is very different, Italian sandwiches, simpler bistro food.

But definitely when I've been away a long time I want enchiladas, diner breakfast, Texas-style smoked BBQ, an absolute wreck of a hamburger, sit-down Italian OR my mom's lasagna, a giant salad, a steak the size of a barn door that's not $80, nachos, the best Italian sub in town, macaroni and cheese, good sourdough bread, mozzarella sticks. Whatever the best pizza in town is. The places where you can find the fire trucks parked outside at lunch.
posted by Lyn Never at 1:06 PM on December 8, 2021 [12 favorites]

In my experience living in East Asia for many years, Mexican food is really not a “thing” out there. I had my first taco in the US in my early thirties, and people were flabbergasted, but it just wasn’t a cuisine I grew up with at all.
posted by cultureclash82 at 1:32 PM on December 8, 2021 [5 favorites]

Chicken wings
posted by backwards guitar at 4:00 PM on December 8, 2021

Along with Mexican food, I'd probably add in other Central American, South American, and/or Caribbean cuisines, things like Salvadoran pupusas or West Indian patties.
posted by mhum at 4:32 PM on December 8, 2021 [1 favorite]

Anything that's actually good and decent from the Latin Americas and the Caribbean side and yep, genuine regional American stuff. Western cuisine, Asian-style is very dominant here but also for obvious (?) reasons while American global brands are around, localisation + assumptions + a general pushback about having more american stuff means no one really takes seriously that Americans would have a need for authentic attempts of their food. As for South America and the Caribbean, i never quite figured it out - the distance and also a homogenized view thanks to Tex-Mex chains are generally why, methinks. Echoing the examples above, BUT for whatever reason, not burgers, not even home-style burgers. Or at least not these days, so maybe you can have that lower down the list.
posted by cendawanita at 6:31 PM on December 8, 2021

I’m an American living who’s been living for 15+ years in an Asian city that is far less cosmopolitan than Hong Kong. Even where I live, it’s not hard to find diner-style breakfasts or passable Mexican (well, maybe not enchiladas or huevos rancheros, but burritos and fish tacos).

The cuisines that I miss the most are the slightly more obscure non-Asian cuisines. I haven’t had Greek gyros, Jamaican jerk goat or Ethiopian in decades. Also, if you’re from the Northeast, your friend would probably really appreciate proper pizza. (Yes, pizza is pretty ubiquitous throughout Asia but it’s either fancy-pants thin crust or whatever stinky tofu/cocktail hot dog/boba milk monstrosity Asian Pizza Huts serve.)
posted by alidarbac at 6:47 AM on December 9, 2021 [1 favorite]

Pizza and Mexican food. Yes you can get something that approximates both, but if you have certain standards in either area you may be disappointed. Bagels. A legit hoagie.
posted by aspersioncast at 8:19 PM on December 9, 2021

Proper unpasteurised French cheese.

Mexican but that's also the case pretty much anywhere outside North America.
posted by turkeyphant at 6:15 PM on December 11, 2021