Do you know how your vegetables get to your table, from countries as far as Spain or Chile? Do you…read morecare? Then keep on reading. I asked myself this question while I was working on a report and ended up with a detailed piece of research about the wholesale markets in Hong Kong. As you may know Hong Kong imports almost everything food related from abroad and in the case of fruits and veggies, some of them go through wholesale markets before they get delivered to your local shop or supermarket. I asked for an interview and guided tour in the Western wholesale market, which is the biggest ones and what started with some curiosity turned into an experience I learnt a lot from. There is a 50% chance the apple you have at your desk or the veggies you had for lunch passed by this market. And there's a 90% chance that those veggies came from China, unless you went for locally grown ones (then the chance is 2%). But the wholesale market not only deals with fruit and veggies; fish, meat and eggs are also traded on a daily basis. After the interview they took me on a really fun tour around the market: it was around 11am, so the busiest time was over (it's usually in the early morning). Although I missed that, I could imagine how crazy it could get in there. There are 512 stalls! And if you are good at figures, you may picture how much 103,600 tons of fruit is. Well, that's how much fruit they traded during 2013! The people at the market were extremely kind and attentive and I had a great time with them! Now every time I have a piece of fruit I wonder...how did this arrive to my fridge?

A tribute to my favorite chili sauce from Hong Kong!…read more 余均益 (Yu Kwen Yick) is the stuff of legends. That curious looking almost orange-esque delight in a glass bottle has a simply irresistible flavor that doesn't scorch your throat, and has a very light sweetness with a fermented sour finish. The main ingredient? Fermented sweet potatoes. Be careful with it, it is not soju! This is a family run business that has been around for quite a number of decades. The founder is of Shunde (Shun Tak) extraction and has been doing this secret recipe the same way, literally stone grinding the fermented sweet potatoes and adding whatever is necessary to make this magic sauce. Thus batches are rather limited, and there is consistency in quality. There are no preservatives so try to consume within the expiration date. The family that owns this business rarely does interviews, and they do not wholesale to supermarket chains. If you search high and low, you may find YKY available for sale at random smaller mom and pop grocery stores, because they are trying to help each other out. They do not export this chili sauce, so if you see it somewhere in Toronto or Richmond Hill at some supermarket, it was probably brought over by airplane/hand carried. So the easiest way to get it, is right here at this location. Call ahead before coming, you don't want to trek here to find out they are closed. This magic sauce....what can you add it to to make the dish taste infinitely better? Dry fry beef chow fun - 干炒牛河 (the classic de facto pairing) Fried noodles - 炒麵 Pan fried daikon cake 蘿蔔糕 (lor bak go) Won Ton Noodles - 雲吞麵 (you will be very surprised that this is actually a classic pariring, particularly if the noodles have broth on the side) Steamed rice rolls - 豬腸粉 (another classic pairing) I even went so far as to bring the sauce over to a sushi restaurant and had them make a spicy tuna handroll with it. And holy shizzle miss dizzle, it was so damn good! (Though the chef was snickering and wondering WTF is this stuff.)

OK, just because I give it a 3 does not mean that it is not a good store. I have seen and shopped…read moreat A&M US Groceries and Q Club, which give me some comparison for this type of store is all. And by this type of store, I mean "Costco bulk want-to-be designed for the American shopper." Of the three (with the two mentioned above), this by far is the most organized,cleaniest and tied for largest compared to A&M. Prices are indeed expensive as other reviews have said. Prices are exactly in line with the two other stores I am comparing it to, although Gateway did have a "Back to School Sale - 10% off the entire store" promotion going on when I dropped in. Compared to A&M, there is a lot of staff floating around and organizing shelves, making sure things are lined up, labels out just so. There must have been six staff members there and I was the only person in the actual store at the time. Seemed a bit overkill and the owner could hazard to maybe cut some payroll. I give it 3 star though, because despite shelves looking neat, I felt the product variety was not as good as A&M and some store aisles were just "fillers" (ie...there is a chip aisle and instead of 20 bags of Lays potato chips stocked five rows, four deep to stock a shelf, at Gateway there are 20 bags of Lays and they are stacked 20 rows, zero deep simply filling more space. I am not sure if this makes sense, but it was apparent throughout the store. So in lue of variety, many products are "fillers." (taking up space, but no variety). It was apparent enough with more items than just chips that I dont think it is a result of me being witness to a shipment that has not come in, I think it just might be the store. If I was in the area and needed something that I know I can get there, I would pop in because I know the prices are the same compared to others. But given a choice, this would not be my first selection in the "Costco bulk want-to-be for the American shopper" options in Hong Kong.

This is my 10th year in Hong Kong, which also means I miss good old American sized groceries and…read moreteeth numbingly sweet candies, American sized. Most if all, though, I miss American toilet paper, despite owning a Japanese shower toilet at home. Enter Gateway, the non-membership alternative to American groceries. The decor is like a mini Costco (a wholesale-to-consumer store very popular in North America), with a fair selection of most-missed items from the US: giant boxes of cereals, Halloween candies, tetrapak wines, sauces and condiment, plus normal sized foods like Kraft macaroni and cheese, applesauce and granola bars, basically a selection of foodstuff not found elsewhere, plus American formula of shampoos and body washes. However, my favorite items in the store are the cotton wool pads and quilted northern toilet paper. Granted the toilet paper costs around $10 a roll, but they are the stongest, softest thing that had ever grazed my butt. Heck, they are even stronger and softer than my tempo boxed tissues. They are also the only place I know that carries Sriracha, the famous American-produced Asian-style chili sauce that caused neighbours of its Californian factory to beg it to move as the chili fumes emitted during production is too much to bear. It seriously is potent stuff. Incidentally, my 2 favorite things from gateway go hand in hand like pb & j, but I assure you they are in no way correlated.

Upvoted a star for one of very few if not the only late night option for grub post-partying in…read moreCentral. Perhaps it's not authentic, no big surprise. And yes, it does look and sound and altogether seem like a small town American frat boy's first pick/choice but what else are we to do honestly? Hong Kong is actually rather small. The places you want to eat are closed. Therefore this is really fine. Serve/squeeze your own sauces is fantastic and makes one feel empowered. Demolished the doner sandwiches pretty quickly. If there's anything to complain about, it's that they're a bit small for sloshed heavy midnight eaters.

I wanted some Turkish food, and spent 30 minutes traveling to this "restaurant". It's barely a food…read morestall. Room for one tiny table. I don't much care about that, but the food was old, dry and tasteless, which I do care about. The portion was so small, after eating here, I went to go find some dinner. Definitely not recommended.

Bought some preserved meat and sausages for my parents last January. My parents and their friends…read moreall said those were some of the best they ever had. They even went back there to get some more. I don't know if they are necessary the cheapest, but the quality is superb.

I know I should be embracing all things local in the new country that I live in, but when you've…read morebeen deprived of American goodies for 3.5 years and then you move to a place that suddenly has 2 American stores with everything that you missed, you can't help but regress a little and indulge! Q Club is not as big as A&M, but what makes them stand out is that they offer stuff from Trader Joe's! WOOOOO!!! You can also find a lot of other typical American brands like Newman's Own, Kraft, Gatorade, Cheer, and other American craft beers. If you feel they're missing something, bring it up to the staff and they'll take note- they are willing to listen to customers and see what they can get in the inventory next time.

So there is "A&M US Groceries" and there is "Q Club." (Maybe there are more out there, but these…read moreare currently the only two I have found. In order to explain Q Club, I almost have to compare to A&M). As an American living in Hong Kong, both of these outlets have proven to be a comfort when looking for US branded labels of food, toiletries, sundries, etc. And make no mistake, it is not a fully stocked grocery like you might expect, but just big enough with enough US brands to make you feel like you have some connection to the US products you might miss and/or need. "A&M" is more like a Costco in many ways (they literally stock items you would find at Costco...bulk for the most part but not all, large bags and even Kirkland labels...and it is expensive). Q Club is more like a a small version of an American grocery store (nothing in bulk, but lots of US based grocery products, no Kirkland labels....and less expensive than A&M). For example, at Q Club, I was able to find an expansive shelf of McCormick Seasonings & Sauces, Muscle Milk Lite, Degree anti-perspirant and Kraft parmessan cheese. Even a huge shelf of Mezzetta jarred peperoncini, jalepeno peppers, coctail onions, etc. They are individual items, but definately American tastes. The prices are a bit high compared to what you would pay for in America, but I would say cheaper than A&M US Groceries simply because they are normal sized and not sold in larger bulk bags like A&M. They do have an expansive beer selection you will see right when you walk into the door. The store is small, clean, organized and staff was friendly.

My goodness. I've never been so overwhelmed walking into a grocery store. Located at the ground…read morelevel of the Pacific Place, the Great Food Hall will satisfy any taste and all who are hungry. Beware to those who are carb monsters! Every year that I come back to Hong Kong, I try to make a trip to the Great Food Hall to stock up on Tim Tams. Yes, they do have Australia's favorite cookie along with any other chocolate/sweet treat that you can imagine from around the world. They have sushi, Italian eats and Japanese treats. They have fresh produce and ... did I say they have everything? They have everything. Literally all food treats that you can imagine. I might suggest not coming here when you're hungry otherwise you're going to be filling your cart with calorie intense foods. I mean, I guess there's nothing wrong with that if you're looking to put on some weight!

This place is awesome! Everything that I have tried is fresh. They really take pride in the food…read moreservice here

A good supermarket with good selection of meats and import noodles. If you're not a fan of the…read morelocal Park n' Shop or Wellcome, this is a good place to go.

This is a beautiful, minimalist space with pretty gold accents. It has an elevator making it…read morewheelchair accessible. The iced latte I had was the best I have had in Hong Kong -perfectly balanced! It's a lovely respite from the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong, being conveniently located right on Wellington street. Will definitely be coming back for the stellar coffee and peaceful study space.