Many of Hong Kong’s commuter towns are soulless towers filled with thousands of people living on a concrete platform or a-top a shopping mall. Carefully regulated and controlled they’re not places that allow HongKongers entrepreneurial spirit and hard work to thrive. To find that you’ve got to look for the older buildings. In Sai Wan Ho for example one such building close to the MTR is Tai On Building (57-58 Shau Kei Wan Road) whose ground floor is a warren of shops and businesses including many small restaurants and food stands. Two among these are Sek Ho Di and 艾·蜜思手抓餅 – both open around midday.
Sek Ho Di, located at shop A63A has been open for almost a year and serves up tasty savoury and sweet tortillas Hong Kong style. The savoury options are char sui and mozzarella in BBQ sauce ($20) and chicken and mozzarella in hot sauce ($20) while those looking for a sweet tortilla can enjoy green tea and mozzarella ($16) or citrus paste and mozzarella ($16). The 12inch tortillas are filling and flavourful – although the char siu would be better with a bit more meat – and make a perfect lunch, snack or meal. The lemon and mozzarella is a tasty not too sweet dessert perfect after a bowl of rice or noodles.
艾·蜜思手抓餅 located at shop A3-A7 offers a massive range of stuffed roti. Take care when ordering as the owner speaks no English, although there is an English menu. They have two types of roti plain and taro, you’ll need to ask for taro when you order otherwise you’ll be served a regular. Fillings on offer run the full gamut from egg to duck to tuna to tinned mushrooms.
I ordered a sausage, mushroom and bacon roti ($22) but as the owner cracked an egg onto a roti that already contained a slice of cheese I realised he hadn’t understood the bilingual menu. However the stand is small enough that you can point to the fillings you want. Egg and cheese instead of mushroom was fine and the resulting roti was hot, delicious and full of flavour. As you can see from the photo they don’t stint on the fillings. The taro adds a different texture and flavour to the roti, it’s not any ‘better’ than a plain roti but visually it looks awesome. Surprisingly and perhaps disappointingly there are no sweet options – maybe because there’s a lovely egg waffle stand next door – but a taro red bean roti or a plain roti with condensed milk and peanut butter would be delicious…
Neither shop is perhaps good enough to warrant a special visit to Sai Wan Ho but if you’re in the area both are well worth checking out, as are the other food stands that fill the building.