Alright, I don’t get it. Yesterday, a friend and I had dinner on Hong Kong Island for HK$ 450 (about US$ 60) for two. It was good and plenty. During my last visit I had either been invited or I had grabbed a quick dinner on my way back to the hotel—typically cheaply at a noodles place for maybe HK$ 100.
Today, there was a Typhoon warning, and so I decided not to stray too far from my hotel. I decided not to eat in the hotel as they are typically overpriced. Rather, I went to the nearest shopping mall, the New World Center, and decided to have dinner at one of the few available restaurants, Ginza.
A look at the menu convinced me that my second-day jet lag must be getting to me. The cheapest option on the menu was an Unagi Don for HK$ 280 (about US$ 35). Rice with eel for 35 bucks?? And then, most menus hovered at around HK$ 700 to 800, i.e. US$ 100. We are not talking about something special, for example, the typically plain Chef’s selected sushi went for HK$ 480 (US$ 60).
So… what am I missing? Just clueless about HK prices? Or the Japanese are particularly expensive? Or a captive audience? Or just the wrong time and location? Something isn’t quite right here…
1 response so far ↓
1 John Ellenberger // Apr 17, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Sorry Dirk but I haven’t been there in a while I don’t know what is reasonable. I will say that the best meal we had was when we were wandering around some of the buildings connected to the hotel and accidently happened on this large family restaurant. It was packed but because everyone needed one of the big round family tables we were seated right away. The only issue was we had to have our neighbors translate the menu for us–not a tourist place but lots of good food cheap.
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