HONG KONG DAIPAIDONG What's for lunch?

(A footnote about the music in this video- The song on this clip is by Screaming Jay Hawkins- a musician who is comparable to Ludacris, Busta Rhymes or James Brown. The sounds made during the song are not meant to mock the Chinese language, rather, they are poetic and musical bursts of expression made to articulate the confusion of hearing a language which you do not understand. This song was chosen partially because it's amusing and partially because of it expresses perfectly the ambiguity and fascination a Western person might feel when visting a daipaidong for the first time. It is not intended in any way to offend.)

Common in post-World War II Hong Kong, a Daipaidong is a mobile food stall where the dining room is made up of folding tables and stools in an open-air alleyway. Daipaidongs were often clustered together near housing estates and fresh food markets. Since the licenses issued by the Government Authority to run these food stalls were large in size, 'daipai' means a big license while 'dong' stands for 'stall'.

These convivial places for cheap eats are dying out in Hong Kong as the government deemed them unhygienic. However these days, the standards of cleanliness are much higher than they have been in the past. (This was actually a good side-effect of the SARS epidemic. People became much more diligent about hygiene after SARS.) The daipaidong licenses expire when the current license holders die and the licenses will not be eligible to be passed onto the next generation.

Despite the crude atmosphere, people love coming to the Daipaidong because it's lively, inexpensive and the service is really fast. Daipaidongs serve anything from breakfast items to traditional Cantonese food such as fish balls with noodles, pig intestine, beef soups and rice dishes.

Traditional Daipaidong stoves were made with brick and stone. Enormous cast-iron woks were placed on top of open flame to make the dishes. The chefs had to be very well-trained as they were under alot of pressure to churn out the dishes as fast as possible. In the above video, you can see one of the last remaining traditional stoves in Hong Kong.

Come take a tour of these informal alfresco eateries and experience the cheap and cheerful atmosphere of a typical lunch at the daipaidong on Wellington Street.