A Taste Of Asian Food At Jordan Night Market (One-Day Food Trip)

27th February 2024

I travel not just to experience new things, but also to taste new culinary flavors.

Finding a spot to eat is always on my itinerary when I travel to a new place. You might have assumed from reading the title that I visited Jordan in West Asia. No, I didn't, as Jordan is also present in Hong Kong. It's a bustling neighborhood in the Kowloon Peninsula.

I visited Jordan, not really to make adventures and such, but to have a medical check-up. I decided to visit a hospital for the very first time, as I felt like I'd been spoiling myself too much, but taking my health for granted recently. But before I started a very strict diet and serious health goals, I indulged in some new culinary flavors.

Jordan is not a place in Hong Kong to see iconic tourist attractions. However, I have to admit that it's a great location for food seeking. The Filipino restaurant Bedañas is one of the many excellent restaurants in this neighborhood. Although I've been to this place a long time ago, I don't think I've mentioned it here before. Do you think I could wait only by looking at how busy the place is with diners? I searched for other restaurants because I was a little impatient.

I prefer a place which isn't so crowded and doesn't need to queue for a long period. My feet brought me to Pho 5, a small Vietnamese restaurant in Jordan. Actually, it's rather well-known, but I was fortunate to see fewer diners that day.

I wanted to avoid foods containing gluten as much as I could. Although the recommended menu was beef noodles, I chose grilled pork with rice.

It's lemongrass grilled pork with yellow-colored rice topped with pickled cucumber/radish, lettuce, and fried onions. The rice has a similar taste to Hainan chicken rice. This is just one of those recipes where I can't determine exactly what ingredients are used by tasting it. All I can say is that I enjoy its taste with the grilled pork and a comforting hot beverage made with watercress and honey. I guess they made the ideal combination.

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After this meal, I went to the hospital for a check-up. Then I stayed there until past five in the afternoon. While looking for a place to have my dinner, (I seemed hungry already after staying long at the hospital) I stumbled upon the Temple Street where there seemed to be a street food night market. I know that Jordan has a night market, but it sells just goods, not food. So I bet this street food night market was opened for Chinese New Year unless it'll be made permanent. That'd be another attraction in Jordan. I also found out that @kathrynkw paid us a visit here recently. Too bad we didn't see each other as I came later.

This night market highlights the diverse cultures of Hong Kong by offering a variety of authentic street dishes from the city as well as other Asian specialties. Since it was the weekend, there were a lot of people in the market who were eager to try various cuisines. I had a hard time choosing what to eat because there were many delicious options. It caused my stomach to complain even more as I inhaled the aroma of several cuisines. And I was aware that avoiding gluten-containing meals would be challenging. But I swore, this would be the last.

Let's look at different street foods from different Asian countries.

The first thing that caught my attention was the homemade nougat with a wide variety of flavors, and the cotton candy maker machine where you can select your preferred flavors. Of course, kids are those who love this corner.

Turkish and coffee is great for those who want to try Turkish doner (pork, beef, chicken). They look enticing but I wasn't a fan of strong flavors of doner. But what caught my attention was the sand coffee. It's a Turkish coffee brewed in a pan with sand and heat over flame.

Victorian Era offers traditional Chinese food. They look similar to those served in Yam Cha restaurants.

This shop truly drew visitors. The main highlight is the deep-fried pig intestine. It's a kind of traditional Chinese street food and many say it is yummy. I was truly curious about its taste and I almost ordered it. But there was a hesitation as it might make my tummy upset, so I backed out.

And other shops selling Chinese street foods: fish balls, meatballs, squid balls, tofu, dumplings, siomai, and more.

There are seafoods too. This shrimp pancake is quite similar to the one we have in the Philippines, except they use bigger sizes of shrimp. The grilled oysters look delicious but quite pricey.

There are some Indian foods as well, like biryani, samosa, pakora, curry, and more. Many people were trying biryani and kebab as they seemed to be popular Indian foods. Indian foods are full of spices which are too strong for me to dislike them.

However, upon seeing this Nepali shop, I opted to try some Nepali/Indian snacks that other people were trying too. I found the Pani and Dahil Puri enticing, so I gave them a try.

Since Pani and Dahi Puri have the same price, I decided to get both on a single dish. The breaded and deep-fried shells with potato fillings appear to be delicious. These are a rather well-liked Indian snack. I didn't enjoy them as much as I had anticipated. I like to eat the shell and ingredients by itself, without any sauce. I guess my positive impression of it was ruined by the sour sauce. As if I was drinking vinegar. In the end, I regretted buying Puri. I should have tried the grilled chicken instead. My HK$30 was just wasted.

I spotted a Taiwanese shop too, but with limited food choices.

This shop made me crave Pinoy barbecue. And just yesterday, I truly went to a Pinoy barbecue place here in HK 😊. I'll share about it next time.

These frozen fruits in skewers were quite popular too. However, I found them expensive for just a few pieces of fruit in the stick. I rather buy a pack of strawberries and freeze them at home, lol.

Some sweet mochis and refreshments.

After wasting my money on Indian puri, I truly wanted to see a spot to eat without feeling guilty. I saw this Japanese stall serving rice cones, fries, hamburgers, and others. The Wagyu beef rice in a cone was the food that caught my attention the most. Since I've never tried it before, I gave it a shot.

And yep I got one for myself. It cost me another HK$30. I liked the Wagyu beef. It was tasty.

I should say it was a delightful day for me and I was able to try new culinary flavors again. Although I didn't like the other one, it was a good experience, and at least, I had a bite of some Indian food.

Here's a short reel I made showing some street foods here. You may click the link if you want to watch.

Thanks for your time.

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