Hong Kong's strangely familiar comforts

I've been pleasantly surprised at just how little I've missed the things I took for granted in California, like decent Mexican food. There's one Mexican restaurant that I know of in downtown Guiyang, but it's not exactly up to the standards I have. They don't have soft tortillas for their tacos and their salsa isn't much better than the generic jars you get in an average supermarket in the US.

I've not missed it that much, though. The local food here is outstanding, and I can't think of a bad meal that I've had. There's a tremendous variety of seasoned meat and vegetable dishes, noodle soups, dumplings, and hot pot cuisine. Guizhou cuisine is generally spicy in a flavorful and hot way rather than a painful and punishing one. Anyone who knows me well knows that I love spicy food, so I've felt right at home with the local eats.

I still get a craving for tacos every once in a while, though.

While I was in Hong Kong, I found a restaurant called Agave. It was just a block away from my hotel. Their menu advertised margaritas made with fresh squeezed lime juice and Reposado Tequila. I stopped in to have a drink and try some of their food on the second day I was there.

I came back every day.

They had an impressive selection of silver, Reposado, and Anejo tequila. I had Milagro for most of my margaritas, and they were everything I had hoped for. 

On the rocks, no salt, just the way I like them.

Later I had to try their top shelf, and it did not disappoint. Adding orange zest was a little unorthodox, but effective. I may have had a few of these.

It may be that I thought the food was better than it was just because it had been so long since I had any of it, but I'll stand by this assessment: it was delicious. The first thing I tried was a carne asada in red chili sauce, served with freshly made corn tortillas and black beans. It was perfectly cooked and seasoned, and I had a silly grin on my face the entire time I was eating it.

I only had time to take one picture before I devoured the entire dish.

I'm not kidding when I came back every day. I tried every one of their tacos: chicken and pork adobo, carnitas, and carne asada. I even sampled a few of their Anejo tequilas. On my last day there, I tried their side of habanero, and found something that was both delicious and almost too much for my tongue to handle.

I met my match in this tiny cup of orange fire.

I found comfort food in Hong Kong, a taste of something I didn't realize how much I had missed. Writing about it now makes me miss it even more.

There were a couple of other things that reminded me of home, though maybe not with the same kind of emotional impact as the food.

I spent the majority of my life in Berkeley and Oakland, and those cities have a long tradition of street art. Oakland in particular has some highly skilled graffiti artists making murals all over the city. It's not something you see in China at all. Putting tags on buildings is something that will get you arrested for vandalism, and the public art tends towards statues and sculptures rather than murals. It's similar in Hong Kong, but I did see a few tags in some alleys. They weren't common by any means, but it did make me think of home. These two pieces were next to each other, just off the main road in Wan Chai.

California, and the Bay Area in particular, has an astounding number of craft beer brewers and specialty pubs. There are a few good ones in Guiyang but none of them that really remind me of home. I found one in Hong Kong that would not be out of place in the Bay: It's called the Hoppy Junction, and the owner was an outstanding host. I learned a lot about the city from him. He gave me pointers on getting around and suggested good places to go that were off of the tourist track.

The beer board was the first thing that made me think of home. This is standard in just about every craft beer bar I went to in California.





Of course I had to try the Gweilo, which is a not exactly nice Cantonese word for foreigner. I appreciate a good self-deprecating joke and pale ales are one of my preferred beer styles, after all.
The description says it all:

It's a beautiful beer, and it tastes great. I came back a few times during my stay to have one or two and chat with the locals here. I hope it's still around when I come back, because it was a nice place to relax and have a good pint in.

I didn't expect to find so many things that reminded me of home while so far away from it. The city has just about everything, and I'll surely be back many times while I'm living in China.