There's Fast Food And Then There's SUPER Fast Food

    Everything in Hong Kong is fast. Salespeople apologize if you have to wait more than a minute for something while shopping. Even the elderly in Hong Kong walk faster than anywhere else in the world. They sprint with their canes to catch subways and buses and push people like us over if we are blocking their way-all while hurling insults at us for being in their way and wasting their time. HK people are just plain hardcore. Time is definitely money in HK. So it's to no surprise that fast food in Hong Kong has to be SUPER fast to go along with their SUPER fast lifestyle. They got places to go, people to see, deals to make. 

    You can make like this this random man I took a picture of for example and opt for the more western kind of fast food with a Hong Kong flair to it. He seems to be throughly enjoying his KFC meal. KFC, McDonalds, Fat Burger, Burger King-you name it, Hong Kong has it. Fast food places here actually look pretty high class. They also have special dishes not avaiable elsewhere. For example the KFC here serves Portuguese Egg Tarts and the McDonald's here has special taro & chocolate pies, and double pork burgers as well as the usual stuff. 

    If you opt for Chinese fast food, then Tai Hing (太興) is your best choice. They open early in the morning and stay open late. Typical Chinese breakfast fast food includes toast and macaroni soup, which is what Tai Hing serves until it hit 11AM... when their barbeque meats are ready. That's when the good stuff comes out! Once the clock strikes 11, you have freshly BBQed cha siu, chicken, duck, goose, squid, pork, etc. They have cheap set meals where you can choose the types of meat you want either on rice or with noodles. They also have many types of noodles to choose from. After you have chosen whether you want rice or noodles, you can then choose what drink you would like. You can also opt to replace your drink with some soup instead. The set cost you the same as about a McDonald's meal but is much more fulfilling and healthy. If you want to be even cheaper cheapskate, wait until 2:30 when their afternoon tea special starts. You can save about $5 off the regular lunch set price. My personal fav is their rice or their "lai fen", which is the white noodle (Box 1,3). It's slippery so it might jump out of your bowl when you're eating it. L.A. does not carry lai fen so I have to take advantage of it each time I see it. Also super delicious is their rice. Be sure to ask for extra Cha Siu sauce to pour over your heavenly rice (Box 2)! 

    Tai Hing's speciality is their milk tea, which recently won a contest as HK's #2 best milk tea. I also love that if you order their milk tea cold, they don't put the ice inside so that it gets all diluted and nasty but they ice the bowl around it instead. Genius! 
    Tai Hing is always crowded. Lines go out the door especially when it's afternoon tea time, which is why many times when you are eating you'll be forced to share a table with random people you don't know. Sure, it might be weird that you can hear someone else's conversation or that you are getting close and cozy with random people you've never met before... but it's all for the food. It's definitely not a place to sit and have a conversation. You get in and get out! To the point fo sho! You have a better than home cooked meal for a McDonald's price in less than 10 minutes.

    If you're not feeling BBQ meats, then head over to Chee Gay (池記). This place is super small, which is why you for sure will be getting cozy and sitting next to people you don't know. The plus side is that you can check out, stare, and smell whatever dishes the other people are eating. Heck... maybe if you are nice, they might even let you take a bite. This place is loud and crowded, but their food is delicious. Their shrimp wontons are super good. My favorite dish though, is their crab porridge (Box 1). The porridge is so orange in color because of the crab roe. The more crab roe-the more orangey your porridge will be. And the roe is the best part (Box 2). We also tried their steamed fish balls, which were also good. This place always has lines out the door. They've been listed in multiple tourist guide books so everyone likes to come here. You can frequently see tourists carrying around their huge suitcases and standing in line at this place. But definitely get in & get out. Order, finish, & pay for your meal in less than 10 mins. It can actually be done in less than 5 if you try hard enough. 

    But when fast is just not fast enough... you can go to the Australian Dairy Company in Jordan. They boast the best scrambled eggs in all of Hong Kong. This place means business. Customer service and customer's opinion is both overrated and means nothing to these people. They know their food is awesome so they couldn't give a rat's ass about if you enjoyed your experience or not. But what an experience it is!

    Here is their famous toast & scrambled eggs and their hot steamed milk dessert. We were rushed to order upon being seated after our waiter kicked out the two people sitting who had just barely finished their last bite right before us. Awesome. The eggs came out within 1 minute and the dessert came out within 2. We were done and promptly kicked out as soon as we finished. Definitely not a place for conversation to happen! The eggs weren't bad. I don't know about being called HK's best scramble eggs though. The toast was delicious though as was the milk dessert. My sister loved the "order & get the hell out of here" attitude & atmosphere. As for me, I think I like watching other people get kicked out but when it's you that's a different story.

You've never had fast food until you've been to these places! So next time instead of going to the drive thru... get in and get out at one of these places!

Happy & Fast Eatings!