Nothing quite says comfort like heart-warming, cold-quenching winter foods during the unforgiving winter cold that’s ahead these next few weeks. Fortunately, in Hong Kong, there is an abundance of tasty dishes that can help keep your body warm and keep your energy levels high. From bowls of flavoured noodles to delicious soups and other special delicacies, there’ll always be a plate of goodness anywhere you turn to this holiday. Check out the following winter dishes no Hong Konger should live without.

TEN DISHES THAT HONG KONGERS MUST EAT DURING THIS SEASON

• Claypot Rice

Clay pot rice, served with preserved Chinese sausage or other favourite toppings, is one of Hong Kong’s best winter dishes. Many times this wintertime staple has been dubbed the Hong Kong winter food because of the profound comfort it brings. Everyone agrees that until the best rice dish which is clay pot rice was discovered, no one knew that rice could taste so delicious.

• Poon Choi

Poon Choi, which literally translates to “basin cuisine,” is served in a large metal bowl with items like, lamb, pork, duck, abalone, radish, crab, fishballs, squid, chicken, dried eel, fish, dried shrimp, beef, bean curd, prawn, pigskin, and vegetables. The metal basin is heated on a portable gas stove to keep the food steaming hot while guests enjoy the extensive menu. This season, gather your foodie friends around a delicious poon choi basin!

• Hot Sweet Soup

Instead of drinking, why not warm up with a bowl of your favourite hot sweet soup? These traditionally curated delights, which are typically made with a wide variety of healthy ingredients like milk, almonds, ginger, beans, sesame, and nuts, not only taste delicious but also have health and beauty benefits that can nourish our bodies internally.

• Congee

A delicious delicacy with a gluey and soft surface, congee is a Cantonese rice porridge normally served plain or cooked with meat and dried fish to give it an unpretentious flavour. Because the congee is cooked in a lot of water and simmered, it is easy to digest and can help you stay hydrated. This makes it a favourite for older people and people who need something to eat when they have a cold.

• Hotpot

Nothing quite warms the heart like huddling around and enjoying a good hotpot with family and friends on a cold winter night. Hotpot is the ultimate get-together dish that satisfies both the desire for love and community as well as the desire for a full stomach. Hotpot has forever been an element in Hong Kong’s culinary scene, and the darling dish has since developed into new, more complex recipes.

• Red Bean Soup

Red bean soup is as unassuming and straightforward as any dish can get. And we all know it doesn’t need that much of an introduction. A bowl of red bean soup, which is both filling and adaptable, can be the ideal summertime or wintertime treat. It’s safe to say that no two red bean soups are the same because they are both simple to prepare but harder to perfect.

• Lamb Stew

Cantonese lamb stew, also known as Cantonese braised lamb or lamb pot, is another popular winter dish in Hong Kong. Interestingly, despite being known as “lamb stew” in English, goat is the most commonly used meat in Hong Kong! This stew is typically cooked in a clay pot with mushrooms, bean curd sheets, and other ingredients in a savoury sauce. While you eat, the pot bubbles on a hot plate to keep everything warm!

• Snake Soup

Many years ago when most families couldn’t bear the cost of heating their homes, eating snake soup turned into a cheap choice to keep warm, as snake soup is wealthy in nourishment and advances better dissemination. Although it can slow-cook for more than six hours, this sweet, fragrant, and full-of-traditional-Hong-Kong-style-flavor dish is a great way to instantly warm up and ward off the winter chill.

• BBQ

Hong Kongers are known for their love of barbecues and barbecued foods. Because barbecued foods help satisfy people’s cravings for something savoury and hot in the winter, this local custom has gotten popular. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it was much safer to order our favourite barbecued snacks from home. But now, once again, Hong Kong families would be able to congregate around barbecue sites in country parks to prepare their favourite barbecued foods.

• Hot Vitasoy Milk

Hot Vitasoy Soya Milk is the special bonus on this list. During the winter, you might see school children and occasionally nostalgic adults holding a warm glass bottle of Vitasoy soya milk. This drink, which is still served hot in the majority of Hong Kong convenience stores and is frequently drunk through a straw, made the childhood of many locals in Hong Kong.