On the Menu | Best food in 2023: my favourite dishes of the year, from sushi in Hong Kong to street food noodles in Thailand, and a very special cocktail in Japan
- The Post’s food and wine editor Charmaine Mok reveals the best things she ate and drank this year, in Hong Kong and elsewhere in Asia
- While she ate some unforgettable one-off dishes that were available for a limited time only, these are dishes you’ll hopefully still be able to enjoy in 2024
Sometimes what makes dishes memorable is the context in which we ate them, not just our objective appraisal of their taste, temperature, texture or appearance.
I began 2023 in Hong Kong with a chilly sunrise hike at Cape Collinson, where doubling back on ourselves in the darkness – guided only by our headlamps – happened with a frequency I was not proud of.
But when the first rays of sunlight broke through the hazy sky, the sense of accomplishment was only trumped by the smugness of having brought full flasks of hot drip coffee, and a mini picnic to ring in the new year.
On the menu: konbini-style egg salad sandwiches, store-bought onigiri, home-made smoked salmon, and lots of fresh fruit and vegetables to begin January 1 in the most wholesome way possible.
And now we come to the end of 2023, with hundreds of restaurants visited and meals eaten, and a handful of holidays taken around Asia, with memorable plates from each destination.
While there were some unforgettable one-off dishes that were available for a limited time only, these are my dishes of the year that you’ll hopefully still be able to enjoy in 2024.
