Eating out in HK is a really big deal. This is for several reasons, the most important one being that Chinese people LOVE to eat. Another reason is that folks like to entertain, but the average flat in HK is very, very small and is not conducive to having a dinner party. Consequently, restaurants are always booked and if you don't have a reservation, you usually don't get in. Unless you know a few things.
Take tonight, for instance. It is Friday night and I wanted to treat the family to a nice dinner tonight. We like to go to Ruby Tuesdays. They have really good food and we bought a discount card that gives us 50% off our meals. (Which makes it about the price of food in the USA) Well, I didn't think about us going out to eat until just a few minutes ago, at around 4 pm. I called to make a reservation and the girl said that they were sorry, but that they were completely booked solid tonight and there were no reservations available. I simply said, "well, how about at 6 pm?" She said, "Oh, that is fine".
The deal is, we are Americans. We have kids. We eat early. The normal HK person doesn't eat until around 8 pm. If we go at six, we only have to promise that we'll be done by 8 and we can eat almost any day, any where, without reservations.
That is one of the little things to know if you happen to want to eat out in HK but you forgot to plan ahead.
3 comments:
Are businessmesn in HK just getting off work at 8? Or do they get off at 5 and go play a round of golf before dinner? Or go home and help their kids with homework before dinner?
Businessmen in HK work to about 7pm. They definately DO NOT help their kids with homework (or any other kind of work at home).
This is the TRUE example of the rat race here.
Not only that but the kids eat late, too. All of our children's friends eat around 9:00 and have their bedtimes no earlier than 10:00 - sometimes 11:00.
Sally
Post a Comment