Sightseeing at Hong Kong's Dried Seafood Street | Des Voeux Road West | 4K 60FPS Walking Tour

In the UK, it's extremely hard to find some ingredients. Some things are due to EU-adjacent import and export controls. Other things, like lap cheong, just aren't the same. And some things are just bad. Ever had an overpriced, out-of-season rambutan that's been shipped halfway around the world? It'll leave a bad taste in your mouth in more ways than one.

As you might expect, that's not the case in Hong Kong. The Fragrant Harbour has everything a Cantonese chef, and often in great quantities. Dried Seafood Street and Tonic Street — which are really a collection of streets — exemplify this more than anywhere else. It hadn't crossed my mind to film the area until I recorded the tram to Kennedy Town from east HK, but gave me a great excuse to pass Western Market and stray away from the more well-known areas of central that are frequented by expats.

The area's history as a hub for fish products goes back decades, with many businesses being family ventures that have passed from parent to child. Initially, the products were dried on the rooftops of the buildings that line the road and then sold at street level. Now I imagine that much of the preparation happens off site, but the bustling trade on the ground remains. You'll find a lot here that you won't see anywhere else, and certainly not in the West. Dried scallops might not sound like much — but you'd be surprised just how many dishes they can bring life out of.

This walk starts at the Macau Ferry Terminal, moving past Western Market to Bonham Strand and Wing Lok Street, where you begin to see some of the seafood businesses. It then moves onto Des Voeux Road, where the majority of this video takes place, and where many people ply their trade, before ending at Sai Ying Pun MTR station.

🎥Filmed on Panasonic GH5S using a DJI RS3 Mini stabiliser.
📅 Recorded June 7 2023 at approx 17:00
🌡️ Temperature ~28C. It had rained on and off all day.
Sorry about the droplet on the camera lens — it happened mid-way through and I didn't realise. I don't think it was worth binning the footage over, but it obviously takes away from it.

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Locations featured:
00:00 Intro
00:16 Macau Ferry Terminal-Western Market walkway
02:42 Western Market
03:45 On Tai Street
04:47 Bonham Strand and Wing Lok Street
10:42 Start of Des Voeux Road
13:22 Queen St-Sutherland St
15:58 Sutherland St-Ko Shing St
17:12 Ko Shing St-Eastern St
20:47 Eastern St-Centre St
25:02 Centre St to End of De Voeux Section
27:07 Chung Ching Street
29:02 Outro