Indian food for brunch, dim sum and duck for visitors: places a Scot likes to eat at in Hong Kong and Scotland
- For a hotpot experience you won’t forget, visit Chaoshotpot in Tai Hang on Hong Kong Island, suggests the general manager for Peninsula Merchandising
- The Scot likes to take visitors to Hutong for brunch, Spring Moon for dim sum and roast duck, and he can’t wait to visit Scotland for fresh seafood
Originally from Scotland, Guy Riddell is the general manager for Peninsula Merchandising, in charge of The Peninsula Hong Kong hotel’s 17 outlets offering branded products. He talks to Andrew Sun.
I’ve lived in Hong Kong five years but I first travelled here in 1998. I love to try new places, but my wife and I also have firm favourites. The lovely thing here is there are restaurants that have been around for 30 to 40 years, but every week there’s also somewhere new, so you get this incredible balance. The sad thing is there is quite a high turnover of restaurants.
My wife is Indian but grew up here. I like spicy Indian food but she actually prefers Chinese spices like mala. We love going to Chilli Fagara (7 Old Bailey Street, Central, tel: 2796 6866). After we met, she took me here to see if I can cope with the spiciest food. This was my initiation test. We love the spicy prawns and cumin lamb.
An off-the-beaten-track place we love is a called Chaoshotpot (22 Wun Sha Street, Tai Hang, tel: 2890 9308). The owner is named Ted. His last name is Chao but we pronounce the place as chaos – kay-os. He’s got a great wine list and great ingredients. At the end of the meal, if you have non-spicy soup left, he’ll come out, put rice or pasta in, boil it down with spices and mix it a shot of whisky to finish off the food that way.
There are great Indian places here. For our wedding anniversary, we went to New Punjab Club (World Wide Commercial Building, 34 Wyndham Street, Central, tel: 2368 1223) which is one of our special places. It’s great food, great fun. We like Chaiwala (Basement, 43-55 Wyndham Street, Central, tel: 2362 8988) for a fun weekend brunch. It’s got great atmosphere, nice food.