I took this photo in a side street in Central, just steps away from first class office buildings and high end shops. I think the few westerners here look pretty cool as they were really getting into local life and were so at ease eating at a dai pai dong.
The term “dai pai dong” literally means “big license stall”, referring to the bigger size of the actual business license issued to this kind of outdoor eateries. HK people probably have very mixed feelings about dai pai dong, they carry a collective memory of carefree style good food with vibrant atmosphere, while the messy environment and undesireable hygiene standard are hard to fit into the city nowadays. The government has been replacing dai pai dongs with indoor food centres and there are only 28 active and non-transferrable licences, when the current licensees age and inevitably die, dai pong dong will eventually disappear.
p.s. oops, almost forgot to show you this wider shot ;p
Link: a very detailed and interesting wiki page on“dai pai dong”
l’endroit donne l’impression d’être conviviable. belle photo et en plus cela tombe bien c’est l’heure du repas.
Je te souhaite un bon dimanche
November 5th, 2006, at 7:44 pm #the place gives the impression to be conviviable. beautiful photograph and in more that falls well it is the hour of the meal. I wish you good Sunday
Don’t drop the camera on any of them :p
November 5th, 2006, at 9:01 pm #If I weren’t so afraid of the hygiene of some of these places, I would probably eat there often. Some of the best HK classic dishes are on their menus. Love this Dai Pai Dong’s furniture!
November 5th, 2006, at 10:08 pm #Cool shot Lisi! LOVE the story it tells…nd the little snipits of color here and there!
And you’re too sweet…yeah, my son had a blast acting…might have lit a fire under him, not sure! 
November 5th, 2006, at 10:53 pm #Oh, Lisi, just as I thought you were really going “Bobbie”, you show us a more DP-type (if there is such a thing) shot! Are you sure it’s Marketing you want to pursue?
November 6th, 2006, at 4:20 am #It is interesting to see so many different tables and chairs. Maybe they are not very hygenic but believe me I have seen worse. Is food alright at least?
November 6th, 2006, at 5:18 am #this is my kind of place! IMHO, the dirtier the place the better the taste of food in my experience
November 6th, 2006, at 3:19 pm #That reminds me of the Yum Cha restaurants here in Australia. If you want real Chinese food, that’s where you go. You can get the kind of food that you won’t get in your average, westernised, Chinese takeaway.
November 6th, 2006, at 8:40 pm #interesting - I don’t know if i would have the courage to try a place if it has bad hygiene though - or maybe I misunderstood it but I like eating outdoors - we just did that this past weekend at the Marina =)
November 7th, 2006, at 5:32 pm #Meg, I sure like this kind of shots once in a while…it’s REAL life
interesting that some of you notice the tables and chairs, I never really noticed…and funny note by Kris, the dirtier the better? this one looks ok, I can’t really stand those near ditches, wet and dark ;p
Steve, exactly…and I thought chop suey restaurant has gone extinct but obviously it still exist in some smaller cities…
November 7th, 2006, at 9:09 pm #I love this shot. I like observing people without them noticing and what better way to do that then from above. I hope they keep more places like this open, a little sunshine is good for the body and mind.
November 8th, 2006, at 9:43 am #