How Hong Kong Conquered British Food

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Hong Kong is one of the most diverse cities in the world, especially when it comes to food. This time, I traveled to my family's hometown to uncover the varied history of Hong Kong-style Western food. From cha chaan tengs to dim sum, Western and Eastern cuisines have mixed in this city to create something truly unique.
SOCIAL MEDIA:
Twitter - / itsmatthewli
Instagram - / randomchino
Credits:
Producer - Matthew Li
Production Assistant - Mana Chuabang
Script Supervisor - Louis Govier
Special thanks:
Yusef Iqbal
Yeevonne Lim
Dylan Payne
Brandon Goddard
Kevin Thomas
Timestamps:
0:00 - Hong Kong's unique cuisine
1:46 - Hong Kong style french toast
2:08 - How colonialism changed Hong Kong food
4:12 - Hong Kong's pork chop and buns
6:25 - Bing Sutts vs. Cha Chaa Tengs
8:37 - Pineapple Bun and Malay Sponge Cake
9:56 - Hong Kong's Identity Crisis
11:19 - In the Mood for Wong Kar-Wai
11:54 - Macaroni Soup
12:50 - What it means to be from Hong Kong

[@offthemenuyt]

Hey everyone! Two corrections/clarifications: 1- 7:07 it's Cha Chaan Teng* not Tang. Didn't catch this until it was uploaded. 2- I forgot to mention that Bing Sutts originally came from Guangzhou in mainland China. The style of shop was brought to HK and morphed into what it is today.

[@ESC_jackqulen]

One more correction 10:30 it's 50 years not 40 years

[@ESC_jackqulen]

What's special about 茶餐廳 tea restaurants, at least in the old days, is that they're individually operated mom and pop restaurants. This is partially how new innovations of dishes keeps being created. Unfortunately, like all good restaurants, it became several big brands doing franchises. They replaced most of the mom and pop ones with soulless shiny decorations. The more authentics ones Matthew visited are getting harder to find by the year 😢

[@firnheledien]

If you ever get the chance, you can cover the Hainanese in Malaya and Singapore who worked for the British military as cooks. Their Hainanese western cuisine has stuck around in both Malaysia and Singapore to this day. It's a cuisine that is not very well known outside the region.

[@cameronpratt6164]

Your videos are always waaaay too good of a production for how few subs you have Matthew. Keep it up!

[@Fenix5jr]

Totally agree with this! I was expecting to see you have 2M subscribers with the quality of the video you’ve done and very very informative too

[@ReikazeRambles]

​@@Fenix5jrforte 4:28 421tef😊78 4:28

[@yakitatefreak]

While you're in the region, neighboring Macau has Pastéis de nata (Portuguese Tart in Cantonese [葡撻] ) at Lord Stow's Bakery, their famous pork chop buns (Not Portuguese fusion), and a variety of Portuguese fusion food. Piri-Piri Chicken is locally known as "African Chicken" [非洲雞/Galinha à Africana] because it was made famous in Africa (The more famous cousin to this dish, Peri-Peri Chicken, is a British favorite in a restaurant known as Nando's). 免治炒蛋 or Minchi (from the English word "Mince") is Portuguese fusion fried minced meat and potatoes served with an egg on top. Galinha à portuguesa [葡國雞] is actually a Macanese invention that could also get a deep dive. This also ties into an older food video "Why Portuguese Food is Hiding Everywhere" and can be a whole deep dive.

[@chilliam00]

+1 definitely needs to do a video expanding on this.

[@noorjahan-e-khan]

LOL I saw the thumbnail and the lighting was instantly giving me Wong Kar Wai, loved that you included it in the editing.

[@lauraqueentint]

wonderful footage and editing! Cha chaan teng and food from hong kong is what i miss the most, as a hong konger living abroad. you're right about how complicated the hk identity is, and the food just goes to show that when cultures collide, something unique and wonderful can come out of it.

[@EpicvidsKetti08]

There are Three Identities of Hong Kong. The Identity of Britain, China and the sovereign identity of Hong Kong (Place People, Culture and Heritage). The best thing you can do is preserve the Culture in however way you can. Because a place like this is its own revolution.

[@KRYMauL]

I think a lot of people who identify as Hong Kongers will probably identify as British.

[@robmello3245]

@@KRYMauL event though the british don't see them as their own. the chinese hong kong people were only a tool to have some control over that region in Asia.

[@peanut3616]

only if they are entitled to a BNO passport

[@ailing9119]

You did a great job with the production. Very professional 👍

[@madebytam]

Love these colonial food series videos. Would totally watch this video stitched together with your other videos into a full length documentary on colonization of food, its influences and the new cuisines that were created. You can even sell it to Netflix etc.

[@seanmalroy]

Excellent. And well produced. Everything from the music to your fancy video effects to you as a presenter. And the writing oh my gosh.

[@chaos_xsh]

Wong Kar Wai-esque editing is a nice suprise. superb video!

[@ESC_jackqulen]

1:20 In Hong Kong, we don't call it "Hong Kong style Western cuisine", we just call it "western cuisine" 🤧 As another Hong Konger that grew up in USA just like Matthew, yeah it's vastly different from actual western cuisine you'd actual expect in USA or Europe. I like to scare Italians on what we do with our pasta and pizza lol

[@KRYMauL]

I think he was doing a google translate definition.

[@jimmychu7609]

This video is a love letter to Hong Kong. Love your work.

[@HFC786]

Please consider doing a video on how Lebanese food has travelled the works through the diaspora despite a small population

[@hongwahliu5056]

I really like how you mix food with history! Very interesting and also yummy video. Thanks! 👍😉

[@honeyten1001]

I loved this, very interesting and super well edited.

[@gondirtin]

Love the Chungking Express inspired montages!! You're doing wonderful work. Keep it up!

[@herngong]

Best KZbin documentary that I have watched in ages.

[@Topsecret888...]

Ok bro, your video is quite well made. You managed to blend a bit of history and food altogether in a simple, easy to understand presentation. Good job!

[@davidtam1518]

Hong Kong is one of the coolest places/cultures and it's a shame that it's slowly losing it's identity. I grew up in Richmond (Canada) and was surrounded by kids/families who immigrated over from Hong Kong so I feel like I got to really experience a lot of the Hong Kong culture through them and the heavy population of immigrants. I grew up eating at Cha Chaan Tengs, visiting HK bakeries and my family owned a butcher shop selling Cha Siu, Siu Yook, etc. Nowadays, all the HK establishments are being taken over by the Mainland Chinese and you see much more Mainland influence. Cantonese is spoken less and less :(

[@robmello3245]

people dont see hong kongers speaking english as a problem, but when it comes to mandarin, their own nation common language, suddenly it becomes something "negative". colonialism really messed up everything. but I really dont think cantonese will disappear; it is a very active language in all of Guangdong area in mainland China, as the same happens to all the other languages/dialects spoken in China, coexisting with the putonghua.

[@HkgHkg-gu3rd]

Curry is always the best British food of all time.

[@PaulRamone356]

You’re really good.. hope you’ll have more subscribers

[@methewolf]

Great videos

[@ndwolfwood09]

Great video, hope HK's regional & specialty foods and languages (Cantonese & English) are there to stay for a long time.

[@StanfordChiou]

Thanks for explaining the difference between cha chaan teng and bing sutt so clearly! The reason I was so confused is because I went to Lim Kee Bing Sutt, which you show at 6:43. Lim Kee calls itself a bing sutt, but it offers cooked food, making it more like a cha chaan teng.

[@Mel-]

Cool video 🙂 very interesting

[@infernopyre]

10/10 video 👏

[@tasnadian]

i love your videos but i also wanna know where you get your T shirts keep up with the amazing content

[@syzygy321]

These food history videos are so interesting. I hope you do history of ketchup too at some point. I heard it has its roots in cantonese fish sauce with similar name!

[@marvnch]

criminally underrated

[@Elias_Halloran]

good one

[@laurenjahnke7850]

Yum

[@nickleung9245]

wong kar wai edit wow

[@KRYMauL]

Hong Kong needs to start looking at Singapore-style food courts.

[@chatchaiii]

I teared up a bit when you said “nowhere else in the world is like this city”🥲 Great video, you’ve got yourself a new subscriber from HK!

[@themysterytraveler6536]

Did you get a chance to hav the egg tarts at Tai Cheong? I'm not a big fan of them usually, but they are outstanding there. Also glad to see you repping the Town & Country gear.

[@lily-hsau8552]

hi I really enjoyed all of your videos!!! did you study in U Wisconsin-Madison

[@bjornironside8671]

Glad you poped in my feed, crimaly undersubed. Really good shit honestly keep it up. Feels like a pbs show.

[@kirbmaster9405]

I hope we can preserve hong kong’s unique culture

[@peanut3616]

Warn people that the sausage bun bread is sweet and soft… and that there is no pineapple in a pineapple bun

[@HONG9438]

As a Chinese living in PRC. Most of my favorite restaurants established in Hongkong such as ho hung Kee, 36 RMB for one bowl of wonton noodles, I can’t see how Chinese noodles chains can justify their pricing strategies. Not to mention kee wah and mei xin pastry, since all Chinese prepackaged pastries will add chemicals additives. But I believe there are always some reports about health benefits of chemical additives written by Chinese scientists or propaganda experts 🙃

[@tktyga77]

With what you've covered in mind & heeding the cultural & regional variations of mainland & Greater China & India (subcontinental & beyond such as nearby) including in martial arts, what do you suppose an inverse of Indo-Chinese food (found among Desi groups in & out of the subcontinent) might be like (with veg & non-veg included) with the needful adaptations? Sorry if I asked you something like this before

[@madhukarg8052]

Hong Kong is a culture pot where East and West collide

[@worldsofpivotify]

I'm just here watching all your videos waiting for you to reach a million subs. I believe VERY strongly that you're going to get to a million subscribers, it's only a matter of time

[@thelias91]

11:20 I’m in trans

[@khoipham7209]

bro thinks hes Wong Kar-wai 💀 love this video tho

[@Anthony-ri1lu]

Appreciate your introduction to Hong Kong cuisine but probably do some research before discussing about Hong Konger's sentiment towards the UK-China transition. 13:02 "And some even fear that Mandarin will eventually replace Cantonese as the main dialect of Hong Kong - I don't think that's going to happen any time soon." Do you know what languages the majority of Hong Kong schools are teaching in now? Mandarin. Do you know what and how cultures are built upon with? Language. Forcibly replacing a ethnic group's language is exactly how you kill their culture. See Uruguay. I hope your parents didn't watch this video. They ran away from HK during transition-period for a reason, yet now you are just nonchalantly commenting on the frustration of those who chose to stay.

[@donwald3436]

You are called hongers tho lol.

[@AL-fo3jj]

Where did you grow up? You don't sound like you have a New York accent

[@totot99]

*main language. not dialect

[@rocketsteel]

Nothing wrong with Mandarin. Just like English became widespread after 1842.

[@richard1701able]

As a British person in Hong Kong I can honestly tell you that you didn't conqure British food. You copy and pasted a counterfit version, then you "Chinesed" it until it became unrecognisable to anyone.

[@ladymacbethofmtsensk]

Found the true brexit geezer