One idea to explore for that may be boat trip for the evening making a special request for certain foods to be served.
I'm 100% gluten free, so I have a lot of experience with this. In HK, you have *three* main culprits in just about every single chinese restaurant, without exception: soy sauce, chicken powder, and MSG. Yes, some MSG is sourced and produced from wheat. And/or it's just one of the things many celiacs are sensitive to in addition to wheat/gluten.
Also liquid sugar is a problem, as some of it is produced from malt - so all of it is off limits. So any candies made in china/japan/taiwan are likely as well. And locally made "sweets" that would seem ok on the face of it, ie, peanut brittle type things, are held together by a malt-based sticky sugar. So.... I could go on and on...
Dim sum is no different. You can't just avoid the breads and fried stuff, you have chicken powder and / or soy sauce in just about everything - it's sprinkled on pork, fish, etc. They do it to add flavor. MSG is on literally everything as well. It makes things taste 100x's "brighter".
And another thing to be careful of, like Football16, the staff have zero knowledge of this. If you ask them, they will say it doesn't / it's ok. But even the manager sometimes makes the mistake.
SO - it totally is dependent on how sensitive he is. If he was diagnosed with Celiac, then he should have to be 100% clean - and the wheat in soy sauce / chicken powder and/or MSG makes just about any chinese commercial kitchen off limits.
Other restaurant chains are good however: of course, many Western / American are ok, like steak houses. Turkish, Lebanese, Indian, Pakistani, Nepalase... and there are a ton of these restaurants all over. The more of a chain it is, though, the risker it becomes. Indian and Turkish and most real steak houses seem to all be fine. The more western the cook is, the more likely they are aware of the issue.
If he wants to get more info locally, check out the "gluten free in hong kong" group: Gluten Free in Hong Kong - Hong Kong Expat Forums
This is a good idea. It will cost far less to do this. Eat in TST or WC/Central close to ferry and then hop on it.Original Post Deleted
I like the Turkish restaurants - They've got excellent food, things come with rice, or fries, sub $100 plates, and near both ferries. One at 39 Lock Rd in TST, right near MTR Exit A, and the other side at 66 Lockhart Rd.
Oh, I forgot most Thai (certain dishes) and PHO restaurants are ok too...
TCM
Yup and they do the usual classics. Hotel restaurants are usually more flexible than the local ones so you should be just fine.
Thanks everyone. I will make some calls.
To be mindful of, soya sauce (as a condiment and marinade), chicken stock powder (stock used in stir-fries and soups) and corn starch (from wheat not corn).
A binding agent - either corn starch or potato flour is used when marinating meat and seafood mixtures and to thicken sauces. Both real corn starch/white corn flour (also maize flour made from corn, it's yellow but never used in Asian cooking) and potato starch are gluten free.
Asian restaurants often used corn starch from wheat about 15 years ago. I've seldom seen this product sold in Asian food stores now. Bearing in mind, Australia sells Asian food products from all over Asia. Potato starch is favoured now as less is needed, it provides a glossier finish and permits higher cooking temperatures.
Yum cha will provide limited options if your brother is strict with his diet. I still have yum cha but I allow 5% tolerance when eating out. (I also know how many of the individual recipes are prepared. It's easier for me to pick and choose.) No one goes into anaphylactic shock with celiac disease. It depends on what phase of recovery he is at and what he will allow in his diet.
Last edited by Laksa Girl; 30-07-2011 at 10:26 AM.