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How ‘2-dish-rice’ meals went from Hong Kong workers’ staple to culinary classic amid tough economy, pandemic
- Two-dish-rice shops, also known as ‘this-this, rice’ stores, are booming despite rest of catering industry struggling as local patrons dine across the border
- Food culture academic says dining restrictions amid pandemic helped to normalise shops offering affordable choice of Cantonese favourites as an option for everyone
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Bargain bite: how ‘two-dish-rice’ has steadily become more popular in Hong Kong
Bargain bite: how ‘two-dish-rice’ has steadily become more popular in Hong Kong
Along a street full of closed storefronts in a Hong Kong residential neighbourhood on a weekday evening, dozens of hungry customers have formed a long queue outside one of the few surviving eateries in the area.
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At Exquisite This This Rice, a “two-dish-rice” outlet in Shek Mun, six employees work in tandem as they take orders from customers and ladle freshly stir-fried Cantonese favourites into takeaway containers.
It offers customers two pre-cooked main dishes of their choice and a generous serving of rice for HK$39 (US$4.99), with such no-frills meals serving as a regular staple of Hong Kong labourers.
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Exquisite This This Rice and similar eateries have enjoyed success in the city, even as the catering industry is increasingly saddled with complaints of poor service standards and grapples with losing local patrons to venues across the border.
The two-dish-rice shops offer cheap lunchboxes and are even opening in some of Hong Kong’s most expensive neighbourhoods at a time when other businesses are closing amid a slow post-pandemic recovery.
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