Small-Group Tour: Kowloon Temples and Markets Discovering

Overview

A four-hour small-group walk through Kowloon with five tasting stops — dim sum, wonton noodle soup, roast meats, milk tea and an egg tart — threaded between market lanes and neighbourhood temples, with no more than eight people in the group.

What to expect

Walking at a conversational pace with regular stops to eat. Portions are tasting-sized but they accumulate, so arrive hungry and expect not to need dinner. Most eating happens standing or at shared tables in places that were not designed for visitors, which is the point.

Nine dragons and only eight hills

The name Kowloon means nine dragons. The story goes that a boy emperor, fleeing south in the thirteenth century, counted eight peaks around the harbour and was told the area was named for its dragons — whereupon a courtier pointed out that an emperor is himself a dragon, making nine. Whether or not it happened, the count of hills is right and the name has stuck for seven hundred years.

Tea strained through a stocking

Hong Kong milk tea is pulled repeatedly through a long cloth bag to smooth the tannins, then finished with evaporated milk rather than fresh. The bag stains deep brown with use and is universally called a silk stocking, though it has never been made of silk. The technique is formally recognised as intangible cultural heritage here, which tells you how seriously it is taken.

Noodles kneaded with a bamboo pole

Proper wonton noodles are made with duck egg and no water at all, which produces a dough too stiff to work by hand. The traditional answer is a thick bamboo pole anchored at one end, which the noodle maker sits astride and bounces down the length of the dough. Very few shops still do it, and the springiness in the bowl is the difference it makes.

Two fingers on the table

When someone refills your tea at the table, tap the table twice with two bent fingers rather than saying thank you. The gesture is said to descend from an emperor travelling in disguise who poured for his own servants, who could not kneel without giving him away and improvised a bow with their hands. It is now simply what everybody does.

The sticks you shake until one falls

At the temples you will see people kneeling with a cylinder of numbered bamboo sticks, shaking it until exactly one works loose and drops. The number on it corresponds to a printed verse, which an interpreter at a nearby stall will read aloud for you. People come before examinations, business decisions and weddings.

Practicalities

Tell the guide about dietary restrictions before the day rather than at the first stop. Wear shoes you can stand in for four hours, and expect narrow, crowded lanes throughout. Cancellation is free up to a day ahead.