Luisa Tam

My Hong Kong | The extraordinary power of Hong Kong’s ‘two-dish-rice’ meal boxes: home-cooked food that fills the city’s people with hope

Hong Kong’s staple ‘two-dish-rice’ meal boxes – a big portion of rice with two Cantonese dishes for US$3 to US$5 – are seeing a resurgence during the pandemic

Not only are these meal boxes cheap, they have rekindled the city’s Lion Rock ‘can-do’ attitude and have challenged its (at times) exclusionary dining landscape

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Customers line up to order a “rice with two choices of sides” in Yau Ma Tei during the fifth-wave Covid-19 outbreak. Photo: Felix Wong

Luisa Tam

Published: 12:15pm, 7 May 2022

With over 50 Michelin-starred dining venues across the city, Hong Kong boasts some of the world’s best fine-dining experiences that range from the surprisingly affordable to ultra-exclusive and overpriced.

Thanks to Covid-19, the city has had to endure more than its fair share of draconian anti-pandemic restrictions such as an evening dine-in ban that has only just been lifted.

As a result of the reduced service hours coupled with sky-high rentals, many high-end restaurants have suffered losses. Some had to offer creative takeaway menus or set up home-catering services to keep their business afloat.

Even some popular local fast-food chains, the go-to eateries for the masses during times of economic downturn, have taken a big hit and seen their businesses plummet during the on-again-off-again dine-in bans.

Customers line up to order a “two-dish-rice” meal box in Yau Ma Tei, in Kowloon. Photo: Felix Wong

This has all prompted the resurgence of Hong Kong’s “two-dish-rice” meal box staple, crafted by the city’s more modest eateries, which have taken the city by storm.