[Eng/中文] The HK-JP-SG cultural challenge: Places that locals would bring you to after shopping

Maybe it is a time to show off friendship? When I was thinking what to share for this contest, I started flipping the photos from my trips to Singapore and Japan, and finally I found one common thing - food that I would not have tried if I was not brought there by a friend who is local.

大概這是一個炫耀友情的時候？當我還在想，自己能為這次活動寫點什麼的時候，就去翻了一下之前到新加坡跟日本玩的時候的照片，最後也的確找到了一個共識點 - 照片中都紀錄了一個，要不是地道朋友介紹的話，不會找到的吃飯好地方。

That was one shopping day in Orchard Road, the biggest shopping area in Singapore, when we met up a friend and starved for food after shopping. Our friend then brought us through quite a few malls (if you are not familiar with Orchard Road, it is a shopping area with nearly 30 shopping malls on both sides of road, most connected by bridges), then brought us to a restaurant for Indonesian.

那天，我跟朋友在烏節路逛得累了、餓了，就會合了我們的新加坡朋友，讓她帶我們找點吃的。新加坡朋友二話不說就帶著我們穿過了好幾個大型商場到了一個比較小的商場中的印尼餐廳（如果你不知道烏節路是怎樣的話，那是一個集合了差不多30個商場的大型購物區，而商場之間也大多是互通的）。

The food of this restaurant was impressive, and was value for money, especially in the commercial area with many luxury shops. My recommended dish would be the "Tahu Telor", which is a mix of tofu and egg, sweet and sour.

這餐廳的食物質素很不錯，價格也不錯，畢竟我總覺得，要不是朋友帶著，遊客在商場及商業地區找吃也不是容易的事。特別推薦菜色"Tahu Telor"，一種豆腐蛋捲，酸酸甜甜的。

My pick - Tahu Telor 豆腐蛋捲

The situation for my Tokyo experience is a bit different - I went there with a friend who is always keen to read travel books and look for secret places for food. We actually learned this place from a book in Hong Kong, which describes is as "well rated restaurant among local people in Shinjuku" for grilled fish. The book also describes that the restaurant to not too international that only provides Japanese menu - that is why we decided to ask our Japanese friend to go with us.

我在日本的經歷有點不一樣 - 跟我同行的朋友是一個熱愛翻旅遊書尋找隱世食店的人。我們是在一本旅遊書中看到介紹的，裡面把這主打烤魚的居酒屋形容為"（新宿）區內好評居酒屋"，以及"只設日文menu" - 於是我們就決定請一個日本朋友跟我們一起去。

After all , it was indeed a good experience there, despite that we could not chat with the waiter - I believe my friend did have a good chat with the waiter when he topped up our sake glass - as my friend told us that the waiter was from the home town as himself.

總括來說，這的確是一次很愉快的聚餐，雖然我們也的確沒辦法跟店內職員溝通 - 朋友倒是跟他聊得愉快。根據朋友的翻譯，他們還聊到了他們的共同家鄉琦玉縣。

The photos below show only the dishes that we had, but more than that, I would recommend you to google the shop name for it special feature - it does the charcoal grill in open area, just that we did not try to take pictures of the grilling place with respect to the people sitting around.

下面的圖片只拍到了當晚點的菜，然而，我還會建議你搜一下它的店名 - 因為基於對周圍食客的專重，我們並沒有拍下店內環境，而這居酒屋的特色是在店中間開放式的古法炭燒爐。

To fit the theme of this post as "food that I would not have tried if not recommend by a local", I do have a second thing to recommend, and it is actually one thing that you can easily get anywhere in one of the largest chain convenient shop - the nugget at Lawson. Thanks to my friend who told us that they like this snack very much. That is nice!

為了切合開頭"要不是地道朋友介紹不會吃的東西"，我還是再說一個吧。這並不是什麼要本地人才找得到的地方，而是總有一間在你身邊的連鎖便利店Lawson。還是多得朋友跟我說，他們之間都很喜歡吃Lawson自家的雞塊，我才會買來試呢！雞塊的口感真的很不錯，大家下次去日本不妨一試哦！

Back to my home town. Where did I bring my friends to when they came to visit Hong Kong? Definitely a dim-sum restaurant. When friends of mine visited me before, I always brought them to "One Dim Sum". Yes, it is a good place, and close enough to the shopping centres in Mong Kok. I would still recommend it to visitors to Hong Kong. However, if you have enough time to explore more about Hong Kong, I now have a second idea - where it is also new to me, I have only visited once recently and also posted for it →here←. I am not going to repeat the text for Chinese reader, but for foreign friends, the content of my previous post about the dim-sum restaurant is summarised here: it is a very old-styled dim-sum restaurant that offers dim-sums that may already be phased out in majority of chained restaurant, and the cover image of the post is the "siu mai with pork liver" - one very old Hong Kong dish that our generation has never tasted before.

回到我自己的地方，外地朋友來的時候我都帶過他們到哪裡吃呢？答案絕對是點心店啊！以前，當朋友來香港找我的時候，我都會帶他們到"一點心"。的確，那是一家不錯的餐廳，距離旺角購物區也近，即使在現在看來，這對遊客來說也是個不錯的選擇。不過，要是你留在香港的時間足夠久，現在的我還有一個新主意 - 對我來說也是一個新發現的一家點心店。早一陣子去過一個十分有老香港味道的舊式點心店，也在→這裡←寫過，就不重複了。

Singapore - Ayam Penyet Ria
Lucky Plaza, 304 Orchard Road # 01-042/047, 238863

Japan - 原始焼・二代目・魚々子
東京都新宿区西新宿7-19-22 ダイカンプラザシティ1F
7-19-22 Nishishinjuku Shinjuku Tokyo

Hong Kong - 新興食家 (Sun Hing Restaurant)
西環堅尼地城士美非路8號地下C號舖
Shop C, G/F, 8 Smithfield Road, Kennedy Town
(A special note to Sun Hing Restaurant: it opens 03:00 to 16:00 daily!)

Hong Kong - 一點心 (One Dim Sum)
太子運動場道15號京華大廈地舖1-2號
Shop 1 & 2, G/F, Kenwood Mansion, 15 Playing Field Road, Prince Edward