Just SayingHere’s why Hong Kong’s food trucks might leave a bad taste in your mouth
Yonden Lhatoo says stationary food trucks at overcrowded tourist sites are not such a great plan, and we should instead be promoting our cultural assets such as the humble dai pai dong
When Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah first pitched the idea of having food trucks around Hong Kong, in his budget speech in February, I remember finding it the only interesting idea in his entire spending blueprint.
While it piqued my interest, I also remember others being very sceptical about the proposal and whether it would work in our already overcrowded city, but I advised them to hold their peace pending further details, which we have now. I have to admit they were right to have reservations.
Here’s how it’s going to work – or not. Under a pilot scheme, 12 food trucks will be allowed to operate at six prime tourist spots. There will be two each at Golden Bauhinia Square in Wan Chai; Salisbury Garden and Art Square in Tsim Sha Tsui; the Central harbourfront; Ocean Park; and Hong Kong Disneyland. The trucks will ply their business rotating among the six designated sites.
Talk about an anticlimax. The trucks will be more or less parked permanently at tourist spots that most Hongkongers tend to shun anyway because of the crowds. Don’t expect them to be mobile in the sense that they can stop by the roadside, pull up in your neighbourhood or park at any venue other than the predesignated six spots. Public space is a luxury as it is.
To me, that’s the equivalent of going to a tiny restaurant rooted in one spot with the only draw being that it’s shaped like a truck. Thanks, but no thanks. Commuting to a tourist spot so I can line up for food handed to me from a hole cut out of the side of a motor vehicle is not really my cup of tea. And I’ll have to stand and eat as well?