Malls & Meals in Mong Kok

While mass market consumerism encourages a sort of monotonous uniformity, malls themselves are often given character by the people who patronize them, and sometimes by the products and stores.  Foreign is always fascinating but the familiarity of being in such a common setting with slight variations has always been appealing to us. These differences might be something as simple as the phenomenon of Engrish which baffles us more today than it did 10 years ago. It’s very likely that google translate won’t convey the intention of a message, but if you’re a business owner who doesn’t have one friend whose native language is English, surely you can find someone on the internet to give you advice before this happens (or maybe their one English speaking friend thought this would be a hilarious prank at the potential expense of this sign maker's livelihood)? But I digress….

We briefly escaped the signal 3 typhoon and traded the streets of Mong Kok for the polished floors in Langham Place.  As with all Asian countries we’ve visited, they had the most popular clothing chains and coffee shops. It’s oddly comforting to know that you can be on the other side of the world and find the things you enjoy at home. Who has time to think about cultural assimilation when you’re scoring sweet deals at H&M?

We worked up an appetite with our strenuous window-shopping cardio and found a Thai restaurant near the movie theatre. It was our first time eating Larb Gai. We’ve since prepared it at home so many times. Finding new-to-us recipes when we travel is one of our favourite things… even if the discovery is made in a mall food court.