Hi,
When I move out to HK next month from the UK I will no longer be able to shop in my grocery shops such as Sainsburys, Morrisons and Asda. What is the HK equivelent on HK Island to this and how expensive is a food shop compared to the UK?
Thanks
Lee
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The main difference is there are no pre-prepared meals available in the HK supermarkets so you are 'forced' to actually cook - so make sure you pack all you nigella & jamie books.
Park'n'shop sell a few waitrose products but they tend to be basic staples like jams & biscuits.
agree with cara re not trying to recreate UK eating habits.
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There are several M&S stores but the food section is pretty small. Its still nice to occasionally pick up a treat.
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iggyowner82, I would agree with the above posters. If you shop like a local i.e. wet markets for fruits, meats and go to the 'usual' welcome and park'n'shop for your groceries life works out to be much cheaper in HK, I did some calculations when I first came to HK and it was like around 25% of the cost for our family (with an extra mouth to feed - the helper's) versus our expenditure in Australia. However if you decide to continue your western tastes then I would say on average you would pay the same or more in Hong Kong. For Australian and British tastes (so my Brit friends tell me), the best range is available at Great Supermarket at Pacific Place. It's my favourite supermarket but the prices are quite expensive. They have loads of Aussie and British brands, and great imported fruit and veggies. The meat sold there (pretty much all imported) really has great flavour too, unfortunately I found that many of the meats available at the wet market, although the right cut for steaks, just didn't have the right taste. Same goes for fruit and veggies. My children only eat imported food as I'm very paranoid about food from China because of their quality control issues, but obviously I can't control that when we do eat out (which is not often).
In terms of citysuper, this is pitched at the expat market but has loads more Japanese brands, but also a great cheese section.
If you want to do direct comparisons for yourself, then you can go online to welcome or park'n'shop to check prices.
Of course I also go home at least several times a year or have friends from home visiting and we/they always bring loads of food. What do they bring - eye bacon (really expensive here), tomahawk steaks, lamb (really expensive here), local sweeties (jelly lollies, strawberry and cream, chico babies) and some fruit.
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Thanks for the replies guys. I was really just wondering where the big local supermarkets were as I am used to where I can locate the UK ones. As I have been given the names of them I will have to go out on a recon when I get there to get my barings in terms of where they are.
Not against trying local equivalents. Infact, I am looking forward to it. But at least I know that if I wanted something that reminds me of home there seems to be the choice to pay a premium and eat "western" food.
Thanks again.
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Tune
14 yrs ago
If you're coming from England then yes, prepared to be dazzled by our ‘Shame Of Developed Asia’ supermarkets. Most of them belong to a balding man who owns just about everything else in this city, so competition is somewhat stifled. Be prepared for a game of now you see it now you don’t with items you like, bring a pair of boots for scaling the flotsam and jetsam in the aisles, and your own horcrux in case you find yourself in a Wellcome- those places will suck the life right out of you. On the other hand, you could always do your weekly shopping in China, Bangkok or Jakarta- they have real supermarkets. However, on saying all that, nobody else has the wet market, fantastic places if you can speak Cantonese. Or you could stick to those wonderful supermarkets you have in England- Sainsburys, Asda, Morrisons- FAB.
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Wet markets win hands down, good choice of fresh vegetables, the fresh live seafood sections are unbeatable, even if you cannot speak cantonese the vendors are always eager to please and prices are usually displayed, by catty or pound, most wet markets have a frozen meat shop which usually has great Aust. and NZ Lamb leg or rack, great beef fillet from Argentina and Brazil, I have even found foie gras, there is also great duck, pigeon, quail from china in the poultry section. Always a good buy is the frozen duck breast or legs (perfect for confit), at a mere 60P equivalent.
The marmite and other imported goodies all come from the "Li Ka Greedy" chains of stores, these can be easily identified by the crazy prices, lack of hygiene and regular breach fire codes in terms of their blocked aisles and blocked fire exits. You may however be lucky enough to find "well aged" frozen fare in the freezers often dating back years, their meat prices are generally about 70 to 80% higher than the frozen shops.
As you may be aware, Hong Kong is Asia's self appointed "world city", although they got it wrong, they meant worldsh*tty. A visit to a typical supermarket in central Bangkok demonstrates this as it knocks the socks off the HK equivalent. In Hong Kong, you have two choices, either Park and Ripoff or Unwelcome, plus a few rebranded versions of the above, which sell a the odd Waitrose or Sainsburys products at record prices, but tend to have the same wilted crops livestock products on sale and mop the floors three times a month instead of two.
Welcome to Asias worldsh*tty!
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Also try online shops for imported meat: meat market.com.hk and south-stream-seafoods.com they are a lot cheaper and deliver to many places in hk. I wouldn't trek the wet Market unless you have a stomach like Andrew zimmern. Also, prepare yourself to see half priced rotting fruits and veggies in some of the famous chain stores. Not much quality control here and it is appalling how a usd 6 bag of lettuce is sold for 3 about a week before expiry but you can see the bugs and mold in the pack.
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Mowen 33, If I may correct you, it is not only the half priced rotting produce, any fresh market produce with at least six items in the pack is bound to have at least one spoiled item inside, even if placed on the shelf the very same day, if you are in either P n Rip Off or Unwelcome.
I once made the suggestion that the supermarkets put in "rot bins" for customers to assist with the quality control, however it seems that the shelves would be largely empty if this system was introduced, so it was shunned.
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Its a vicious cycle. The tax rate here is zippo, hence there is zero spent on regulatory bodies to routinely inspect and (more importantly) enforce infringements. The staff that come around for accreditation of the industry which my husband works in at least, make completely bogus observations which you could fix in like 5 minutes whilst ignoring the bleedingly obvious systematic problems (which really require tackling).
So welcome and park'n'shop can get away with things if they don't cause a problem where a few hundred die, because then the problem would be too big to sweep under the carpet.
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Agree with mowen33, southstream online is great.
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Ditto the previous comments on South Stream Seafoods. They've been a godsend since I moved here from the UK. Don't let the name fool you, they have beef, lamb, veggies, bread, pies, sausages and a lot more. A number of products are organic.
If you compare prices you'll find South Stream are half the price of Meatmarket. Meatmarket used to be quite reasonable but their prices have doubled in the last year.
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on first inspection south stream looms like it is approx 4x the price of the frozen meat place in Sai Kung discussed recently in a different thread. Same produce.
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Well Truedesigners, the answer is simple, you live in the city of greed, where people are so obsessed with money they will do anything to accumulate more, it is Asia's world city of greed, run by incompetent puppets who are controlled by property tycoons and their Beijing masters.
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BGW
14 yrs ago
@Boddingtons. South Stream primarily sells chilled prime steer from NZ, Australia and the US. It's unlikely the Sai Kung frozen meat store sells the same. Frozen knackered dairy cows perhaps. There is a world of difference in meat grades. All cows are not created equal. Even within specific countries there are multiple grades. From utility grade beef to Prime, AAA, MSA, Q Mark or whatever that country is using. The best grades are almost never sold frozen by the container load as it can all be sold chilled. Demand for these chilled grades outstrips supply. It's the lesser quality beef that ends up in the frozen food shops as their criteria for buying is essentially price.
@truedesigners. It's true you can buy cheaper frozen chicken, pork and lamb at the local frozen meat stores but it's guaranteed to be of China origin. I used to do the same and can't say I had any ill effects. The more I learned the less I trusted the source. I live by the better safe than sorry adage now.
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Care to share the name and details of the frozen meat place in Sai Kung? thanks!
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