Table for one: the pleasures of eating alone, and why it’s one of the best forms of self-care
- Dining out alone frees you from having to consider others’ tastes and calendars, and lets you savour what you are eating without companions distracting you
- You can scarf down dumplings to your heart’s content, get face-deep in a sandwich without worrying how it looks, or luxuriate in a menu of haute cuisine
Food tastes better when you’re eating it alone. I can vouch for this statement because I’m writing it while seated at a table for one at Hong Kong restaurant Cornerstone, having just happily devoured a gorgeous risotto with Caledonian blue prawns.
Without a dining companion to distract me, I was able to fully appreciate the subtle sweetness and acidity that rounded off the richly flavoured dish, and the contrast that was created by pieces of pork crackling that punctuated the rice.
I hadn’t planned on getting dessert, but I enjoyed the risotto and the starter (a spiced chickpea tikka studded with slivers of smoked sardines) so much that I’ve decided to order the pâte à choux with my coffee. After all, I’m eating by myself. And that means I get to eat whatever I want.
I’ve always had a habit of dining solo. Even as a teen, when friends, understandably, weren’t eager to try fried bugs with me or didn’t want to eat mushy canned peas for a month just to save up for an omakase meal, I did the most sensible thing and went to those restaurants by myself.
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If the place turned out to be a dud, I wouldn’t have to feel guilty about dragging my friends there. And if it was good, as most often was the case, I’d get the satisfaction of recommending it to pals and maybe even revisiting the restaurant with them.
Perhaps it helped that I grew up in a city like Hong Kong, where independent dining is fairly common.
No one bats an eyelid when I show up alone at Boiledumplingss, my favourite cheap Kwun Tong eatery, to scarf down 20 of its silky namesake morsels packed with pork and coriander (the pan-fried bacon and cheese dumplings are also insanely good).
The same would be true at any noodle shop or cha chaan teng, where everyone is too busy to care if you are eating by yourself or with a parrot perched on your shoulder (I have, indeed, seen someone do this).
Beyond being a by-product of cosmopolitan convenience, however, dining alone can also be one of the most effective forms of self-care.
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Granted, I’m aware that a lot of people do not feel this way. When I ask friends and family members, many say they have no problem grabbing a quick bite by themselves in between appointments but wouldn’t eat alone by choice and certainly wouldn’t see it as a treat.
I understand where these sentiments come from. After all, we’ve all been fed a diet of social stereotypes that frames solo dining as strange or sad and done only by loners.
Well, the joke’s on you, society, because being a loner is a total gas. Anyone would feel the same way once they realise how liberating, even nourishing, it is not having to consult with someone else’s tastes or timetable when planning your meals.
Especially in a fast and hyper-connected city such as Hong Kong, I make a conscious effort to step back from the million things that can pile up on my plate so I can carve out time for solo meals where I can focus on myself.
This might mean booking a seat at Roganic’s kitchen counter, where I get to luxuriate in the restaurant’s flawlessly crafted farm-to-fork fare uninterrupted. Or it could mean getting face-deep in Graceland’s Cubano sandwich with the sort of feral abandon that I can only fully unleash when eating sans company.
If all this sounds misanthropic, I can assure you it’s quite the opposite. Eating by myself reminds me that food naturally brings people together.
At a recent meal at Holt’s Café, for example, the staff very kindly offered me a spacious banquette seat close to the window. Not only was it the perfect spot to tuck into the restaurant’s signature barbecued pork rice, burnt ends and all, it was also a great vantage point to watch life unfold around me.
I observed a young couple with a pram trying to navigate their new reality of dining out with a baby. I noticed the suited men talking business over Americanos. And at the table next to me, there was a quiet, bespectacled teenager having lunch with his mum and dad.
I wasn’t sharing food with these people as I would with a dining companion, but I felt connected to them all the same. With that thought, I broke the egg yolk over my rice and savoured the joy of eating alone.
Dorothy So is a journalist and editor who covers culture, art, tech and food. When she’s not writing, she spends her time searching for the perfect sandwich.
Top tables for first-timers dining alone
Roganic
With its attentive staff, comfortable set-up (complete with counter seating) and thoughtfully crafted dishes, Roganic makes eating alone an easy and thoroughly enjoyable experience.
UG08, Sino Plaza, 255 Gloucester Road, Causeway Bay
Graceland
Sit at the bar at Graceland if you’re looking for a drink and a quick bite. Otherwise, the open-air counter is a great spot to people-watch while you tuck into one of the ginormous sandwiches.
Shop B, G/F, 12-14A Yim Po Fong Street, Mong Kok
Samsen
At this popular no-reservations noodle spot with outlets in Wan Chai and Sheung Wan, it’s often easier for the staff to fit a solo diner at the counter than seat a large party. Use that to your advantage.
23 Jervois Street, Sheung Wan
68 Stone Nullah Lane, Wan Chai
Holt’s Cafe
A great place to watch the world unwind from the comfort of a banquette seat.
2/F, Rosewood Hong Kong, 18 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
Any cha chaan teng
Fast and affordable, Hong Kong-style diners are also some of the best spots for solo noshing. You might even end up sharing a table with another lone diner.
