Hong Kong City food stalls actually means roadside stalls. They first appeared after the end of World War II. The British Hong Kong government at that time lacked adequate social welfare, many family members of civil servants who were injured or killed during the war, and could not rely on meager pensions to maintain their lives. civil servants, in order to maintain their family's livelihood. You can apply to the Hong Kong government for a mobile cooked food license without fixed stalls, allowing them to set up stalls on the street or in alleys.
This is the reason why food stalls first appeared in Hong Kong City. Because food stalls are affordable, many refugees who went to Hong Kong City for refuge had no shelter. They would sleep on the streets when they were sleepy and eat at food stalls when they were hungry.
Later, many workers who worked the night shift would also have a simple late-night snack at the food stalls after get off work. As the economy gradually prospered, some people with better economic conditions gradually began to live a night life. After coming out of bars and nightclubs, you will also have a simple late-night snack at the food stalls.
Slowly, food stalls began to prosper, and it could be said that they were very prosperous and became a part of Hong Kong life.
Fang Lang's impression of food stalls actually comes from the memories of later generations. Food stalls in this period were still in their infancy. The reason why Reinhardt has a certain understanding of food stalls is because the Admiralty Naval Base originally There are several ship maintenance stations, and many shipwrights work there.
In order to do business for these workers, some people naturally opened food stalls near the naval base. Gradually, even British naval officers like Reinhardt became aware of the existence of this special food stall.
Therefore, when Fang Lang proposed to experience the food stall culture of Hong Kong City, Reinhardt agreed without hesitation.
After finally waiting until ten o'clock in the evening, after the banquet at the Governor's Mansion ended, Fang Lang, led by Reinhardt, impatiently drove to the Stanley Street area in Central, the area with the most food stalls at this time.
Fang Lang, who was sitting in the car, was enjoying the night view of the port city while chatting with Reinhardt beside him.
"Brother, have you ever eaten at the food stalls in Hong Kong City? Do you know where the best food is?
Don't wait until you find a place with bad taste and you'll be wasting your time. "
After hearing Fang Lang's words, Reinhardt, who was sitting aside, rolled his eyes at Fang Lang angrily and said:
"Isn't it easy to find a restaurant with good food? Just look where there are the most people queuing, and the food here will definitely not be bad."
Fang Lang glanced at Reinhardt in surprise.
"Hey! You kid can do it! You have mastered such rules. Not bad, not bad. The young man has a future."
"I have been living in Hong Kong City for almost a year. Do I still understand the situation in Hong Kong City? I have to say that the Chinese food is really addictive. I discovered a magical food in Hong Kong City called "Western Food" Toast".
This kind of French toast modified by Hong Kong people is definitely my favorite. They fry the toast and then drizzle it with syrup and butter, which is like injecting soul into the toast.
do you know? This is the most delicious food I have eaten in years, especially with some condensed milk on it to give it a richer flavor.
It's a pity that this kind of delicacy will not appear in food stalls, otherwise I will definitely let you taste what is called delicious food in the world tonight. "
Hearing this, Fang Lang glanced at Reinhardt with a disgusted expression on his face. This poor British kid from a food desert must have lacked the influence of delicious food. Even Western toast, which is neither Chinese nor foreign, can taste it. Conquering him shows how low his requirements are.
It's not that Fang Lang thinks "Western Toast" is not delicious, but that in his opinion, this kind of food can only be regarded as a dessert at best, not a meal at all.
"Look at you, you look like you have never seen the world. Do you know what kind of Chinese delicacies can be called delicacies?
If we seriously talk about China’s food culture, I won’t be able to tell you enough until tomorrow morning. For example, you may have never been to the food stall we are going to this time! "
Reinhardt was very dissatisfied with Fang Lang looking down on him, but he didn't know if he also knew that Chinese food was indeed not something that their British food could defeat, so he did not refute directly, but said with some confusion:
"How do you know I haven't been to a food stall?"
"Does this need to be said? Just from the fact that you regard a dish like Western toast as a classic, I know that you must not have seen much of the world.
Today I will teach you a rule. In China, real food is often hidden in the streets and alleys. And the food stall we are going to now is likely to hide real Chinese food. "
With a smile on his face, Fang Lang pretended to be mysterious and lowered his voice to Reinhardt.
After hearing what Fang Lang said, Reinhardt looked at Fang Lang up and down with some doubts.
"Is everything you said true?"
"Is it really true? Can't we find out if we try it tonight? However, this kind of thing sometimes depends on luck. After all, there are still differences in chefs' skills. The same dish will appear completely different in the hands of different chefs. Same taste."
As Fang Lang talked, even he began to look forward to it.
Time passed unknowingly as the two chatted, and the motorcade slowly stopped not far from Stanley Street in Central. Although many people already owned private cars in Hong Kong City during this period, they were not so common that parking spaces could not be found.
However, in order to keep a low profile, Fang Lang asked everyone to park their cars a little further away early. As the motorcade slowly stopped, a group of plainclothes guards got out of the car in twos and threes and dispersed around.
After the guards were in place, Qi Qingshan stepped forward and knocked on Fang Lang's car door. Fang Lang, Qi Qingshan, and Reinhardt wandered towards the food stall on Stanley Street.
Stanley Street is a normal street during the day, but at this moment it is already occupied by densely packed dining tables.
As a few people slowly approached Stanley Street, more and more pedestrians began to appear around them. Foldable small round tables filled the entire street, and they were placed on the open-air stoves, which were smoky and smoky. From time to time, as the chefs stir-fried, flames burst into the sky.
The waiter with a towel around his neck was busy running around. Groups of diners chatted and laughed while tasting the delicious food. The hard work of the day was fully released at this moment.
There were several tables of young people dressed as company employees with good economic conditions. They were drinking and punching happily. Their faces were all red from drinking. A young man who looked a little thin was already lying on the table unconscious. He was obviously erect. Raise the white flag and call a truce.
Such a lively scene surprised Reinhardt, who experienced the excitement of a food stall for the first time.
In the eyes of these ordinary people who are struggling at the bottom of society and struggling to make ends meet, it is as if the tense situation just mentioned by the big shots in the Governor's Mansion does not exist, forming a sharp contrast. For a moment, Reinhardt didn't know what to say.
Fang Lang was not surprised by this. On the contrary, he felt more cordial to this occasion than ever before. He couldn't help but stand there and took a deep breath.
The air was filled with the aroma of various delicacies, instantly filling his nostrils. He couldn't help but gently close his eyes and savor the food carefully.
The moment he closed his eyes, he seemed to have returned to the night market he had frequented in his previous life. In the noisy food stalls, he could hear the voice of the proprietress enthusiastically soliciting customers, and the sexy beer girl in sexy clothes was selling wine around. The three rounds of drinkers displayed their pride unscrupulously.
All of this was so intoxicating, and for a moment Fang Lang almost didn't want to open his eyes again.
"Fang, how about we go to that restaurant? Where there are the most customers."
Just as Fang Lang fell into intoxication, Reinhardt glanced at the food stalls and found that there was a small shop not far away with many people gathered in front of the food stalls. Several of them seemed to be waiting in line. Vacancy.
This situation was perfectly in line with the rule of having the most customers, so I couldn't help but ask Fang Lang for his opinion.
Fang Lang, who was pulled out of his memory by Reinhardt, sighed softly and looked in the direction of his finger. He saw a stall about thirty meters away. As expected, there were more people than the nearby stalls.
The stall is very small, and seems to be a husband-and-wife team. The chef at the stall is a middle-aged man who looks a little lame, but the person in charge of greeting the customers is a middle-aged woman who still looks charming and slightly shrewd. .
This woman is slightly chubby, and her long black hair is tied up high with a silk scarf with black dots on a white background. It sways from side to side as the woman moves around, giving her a somewhat unique look.
"No problem, let's go here and try it!"
After saying that, he took the lead and walked towards this food stall.
After walking in, I saw a wooden sign with black characters on a white background erected in front of the stove where the lame man was, with the words Mingji written from top to bottom.
Fang Lang smiled slightly and did not go to talk to the proprietress. Instead, he stepped forward and said to the lame man:
"Master, do we still have room for the three of us?"
The lame man, who was busy in full swing, looked up at Fang Lang and the others. When he saw that Fang Lang and the others were well-dressed, and there was a foreigner following them, a trace of surprise flashed in his eyes, but he quickly came to his senses and hurriedly spoke in surprise. road:
"Yes, yes, boss, please wait a moment, I will ask my wife to help you arrange it right away!"
After speaking, he said directly to the middle-aged woman who was clearing away tables and chairs not far away:
"Shufen, there are three guests here, please help make arrangements!"
After hearing the words, the woman turned back and looked in the direction of the stove. At this time, Fang Lang noticed that the woman looked unexpectedly beautiful. She had a traditional Chinese oval face and white and smooth skin. The first thing Fang Lang saw was in his mind. The first word that comes up is prosperous husband phase.
Perhaps she discovered that there was a foreigner among the few people, and the three people were obviously dressed differently from the surrounding workers and staff. The boss lady was also slightly stunned before she realized what she was doing.
"Okay! Three bosses, please come over here! My place will be cleaned up soon. You can sit here!"
Hearing this, Fang Lang glanced at the few guests still queuing up and said rather embarrassedly:
"Boss, I see that there are still a few customers queuing up here. Why don't we let them eat first? We can sit on the side and wait."
Fang Lang felt a little regretful after talking to the lame man. Knowing that there were still people waiting in line in front of him, he ran up to the boss and asked if there was a seat.
In fact, the main reason why Fang Lang came up to chat was that he didn't see the menu at the scene and wanted to ask the boss what special dishes this food stall had and see how the boss's skills were.
Unexpectedly, the boss didn't ask him to wait, but directly asked the landlady to arrange a seat for him. This made Fang Lang's original plan of standing by the stove and chatting with the boss come to nothing.
But he didn't want to break the rules, so he couldn't help but refuse the boss's kindness.
The few customers who were waiting in line seemed to feel a lot more comfortable when they saw Fang Lang looking at them and refusing to let the boss arrange it for them first.
I don’t know whether it was because I saw how many people were dressed that I was a little surprised that people like them would come to eat at the food stalls, or because there was a foreigner among the three of them. Everyone’s eyes were full of curiosity and exploration, but it didn’t show up. Out of resentment or dissatisfaction.
One of the uncles, who looked to be about fifty years old, even took the initiative and said:
"It's okay, we're not in a hurry, you can eat first!"
The more polite these people were to Fang Lang, the more embarrassed Fang Lang felt. We were all compatriots, and he really didn't want to jump in line, nor did he feel that he was superior to others.
"How embarrassing! We are coming later, so we have to be on a first-come, first-served basis. Actually, I mainly want to ask the boss first what special dishes the stall has."
The guests who were waiting in line became very fond of the young man in suits and ties when they saw him behave modestly and politely, and they all expressed that they would not mind letting them eat first.
The uncle who spoke out before said directly:
"Sir, the most we can do is eat a bowl of vegetarian fried rice noodles. Xiao Chen can't make much money for us. But decent people like you must spend more than us, and their profits from spending here can also be higher, so, You’d better order first!”
Fang Lang burst out laughing when he heard this. This old man was really sincere, and he didn't hide anything in his words. It was obvious that these customers and the couple in the store should be old acquaintances, and they got along quite well with each other.
This was somewhat unexpected to give way.
Turning to look at the store owner and his wife, he saw that they seemed to have been impressed by the uncle's words, and the expressions on their faces seemed a little embarrassed.
Seeing this, Fang Lang could only shrug and said with a smile:
"Okay! We won't be polite."
Reinhardt couldn't understand what the people were saying, so he could only stand aside and wait quietly until Fang Lang put his arm around his shoulders and walked towards the small table that the landlady had just cleared away.
He just walked over with an indifferent expression. As a British man, he regarded Fang Lang as a friend, but he did not regard all Chinese as friends, so he did not care at all about the feelings of other Chinese here. Everything seems to be taken for granted.
Qi Qingshan, on the other hand, remained silent throughout the whole process, his eyes scanning the faces of the customers near the food stall from time to time, watching the surroundings vigilantly, for fear of any accident.
When the three of them walked to the dining table that the landlady had cleared, she had already wiped the table clean with a rag.
After a few people came and sat down, he nodded to the three of them very politely and said:
"Three distinguished guests, what would you like to eat?"
Fang Lang turned his head to face the full headlight of the landlady, swallowed with some difficulty, quickly looked away and said:
"I didn't find the menu just now. I don't know what special dishes you have here. Let's do it this way! You can arrange a table with the best ones. If you are satisfied with the meal, we will not hesitate to reward you with tips."
When the boss lady heard that there was a tip reward, her eyes immediately lit up. She stood up happily and clapped her hands and said confidently:
"No problem, then I will ask our boss to use his housekeeping skills to ensure that the guests are satisfied."
(End of chapter)
