I’ve been obsessed with alleys in Hong Kong since I first visited. In fact nearly every city I have visited seems to have fascinating things to discover in alley ways. Don’t get me wrong, they can be scary and frankly disgusting too. I usually curb my curiosity due to time, or the company of a three and five year old. However, on this particular day I was able to wonder freely through the streets of Sheung Wan and later Admiralty and Wan Chai. I popped in and out of antique stores, general stores, floral shops, modern furniture stores, I discovered a full fledge upscale kitchen store (a needed step up from Wing On) just after I had negotiated for a used crock pot (what was I thinking!), I saw street art, and all kinds of new eateries.
In fact, in a matter of about 5 hours I ate at three different places. I ate mexican sweet corn and carnitas tacos accompanied by a bacon bloody Mary, then I ate poutine which was basically smothered french fries. Made a pit stop to shop for a cocktail dress (I have found out the hard way that a girl, even a regular mom actually needs one of these in HK). Then I met Adam and a few more friends for drinks and another sampling session. Although these narrow little streets can be exciting they can be a real pain to navigate when you are looking for something specific. It is sometimes impossible to find a street name let alone an address. So when Adam had his mind set on this new bar/sliders restaurant we set out on yet another alley adventure. This place had been recommended to Adam only he couldn’t actually remember the name of it, so we had a lot going for us at that time. We knew the vicinity, the kind of food it served and Adam was pretty sure it was called Pete’s Outlook, or something with Pete, or Looking. We easily arrived to the area via taxi then randomly chose to veer left then right and low and behold down a little side street at the beginning of an alley was Ted’s Lookout, and the place was populated. We patiently waited/hovered for a table, and even had shots with Sam the host. We ordered sliders, fries, and a taco plate (apparently I have a thing for tacos and french fries). Both the food and atmosphere were great.
This was not the first time we have found ourselves eating and happily conversing in an elbow to elbow establishment on a narrow and dimly lit street. We were reminded how much we prefer eating in alleys on a date night better than any cocktail party dress place out there.
It was a good day to explore a small part of Hong Kong.
Sakes For Heaven 