{"id":145940,"date":"2025-05-30T07:34:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T05:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cookinc.it\/?p=145940"},"modified":"2025-09-10T10:48:24","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T08:48:24","slug":"eating-alone-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cookinc.it\/en\/2025\/05\/30\/eating-alone-together\/","title":{"rendered":"Eating alone together"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The fun of exploring the food scene in an unfamiliar territory not only lies in the <em>whats<\/em>, but also the <em>hows<\/em>. Every society has certain unspoken dining etiquettes that reveal its very psyche. Those not knowing them by heart risk committing culinary faux pas that would garner, at best, a few chuckles from the locals, or at worst, unpleasant exchanges tainting their reputation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the case of <strong>Hong Kong<\/strong>, first-time travellers should remember it is a city where space comes in short supply. Urban density manifests itself in housing, transportation, as well as various culinary institutions. As a coping mechanism, <strong>the custom of <em>daap toi<\/em>, or table sharing, was born<\/strong>. Cramming as many people as possible helps feed a large population which habitually eats out. At the same time, small restaurant owners who operate with narrow profit margins need every chair (not table) turned over quickly to keep their businesses going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Daap toi<\/em> is practised in most of Hong Kong\u2019s lay food spaces \u2013 dessert shops, teahouses serving tea and dim sum, <em>cha chaan teng<\/em>, a hybrid of caf\u00e9 and diner, and beyond. Solo patrons or small groups are asked to do so whenever a joint has all its tables occupied but spare spots remaining. <mark style=\"background-color:#A4A4A4\" class=\"has-inline-color\">The lunch hour is, above all, the prime time for it<\/mark>, as office workers scramble for places to fill their bellies, so they can get back in time to attend to the world\u2019s strictest business schedules.<\/p>\n\n\n\t\t<div class=\"paywall-block alignfull\">\r\n\t\t\t<div class=\"surface-container-grayscale-low padding-row-xl padding-col-m\">\r\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"main-column\" id=\"customer_login\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"body-big-condensed margin-bottom-s\">Want to keep reading this article?<br>Log in or subscribe.<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"flex can-wrap\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"fill col-1-of-2 padding-l surface-object-grayscale-inverse\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<form class=\"woocommerce-form flex column space woocommerce-form-login login\" method=\"post\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"button-condensed margin-bottom-s\">Login<\/div>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"woocommerce-form-row woocommerce-form-row--wide form-row form-row-wide\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<label for=\"username\">Username or email address&nbsp;<span class=\"required\" aria-hidden=\"true\">*<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Required<\/span><\/label>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" class=\"woocommerce-Input woocommerce-Input--text input-text\" placeholder=\"username\" name=\"username\" id=\"username\" autocomplete=\"username\" value=\"\" required aria-required=\"true\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"woocommerce-form-row woocommerce-form-row--wide form-row form-row-wide\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<label for=\"password\">Password&nbsp;<span class=\"required\" aria-hidden=\"true\">*<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Required<\/span><\/label>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<input class=\"woocommerce-Input woocommerce-Input--text input-text\" type=\"password\" placeholder=\"password\" name=\"password\" id=\"password\" autocomplete=\"current-password\" required aria-required=\"true\" \/>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"woocommerce-LostPassword lost_password margin-bottom-s\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"label-small-sans margin-top-s text-on-grayscale-opacity-high\" href=\"https:\/\/cookinc.it\/en\/my-account\/lost-password\/\">Lost your password?<\/a>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"redirect\" value=\"https:\/\/cookinc.it\/en\/2025\/05\/30\/eating-alone-together\/\" \/>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"form-row\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<label class=\"woocommerce-form__label woocommerce-form__label-for-checkbox woocommerce-form-login__rememberme\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<input class=\"woocommerce-form__input woocommerce-form__input-checkbox\" name=\"rememberme\" type=\"checkbox\" id=\"rememberme\" value=\"forever\" \/> <span class=\"label-small-sans\">Remember me<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/label>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" id=\"woocommerce-login-nonce\" name=\"woocommerce-login-nonce\" value=\"962b1ba2ec\" \/><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"_wp_http_referer\" value=\"\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145940\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<button type=\"submit\" class=\"woocommerce-button button medium dim woocommerce-form-login__submit\" name=\"login\" value=\"Log in\"><span class=\"label\">Log in<\/span><\/button>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/form>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"fill flex column gap-s space col-1-of-2 surface-container-grayscale-inverse text-on-grayscale-inverse padding-l\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"flex column gap-s\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"button-condensed\">Subscribe to Cook_inc.<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"body-small-sans\">With a subscription, you\u2019ll get full access to Cook_inc. \u2014 from in-depth stories to exclusive content. Join the fam!<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/cookinc.it\/en\/subscriptions\/\" title=\"Find out more\" class=\"self-start button medium bright\"><span class=\"label\">Find out more<\/span><\/a>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The fun of exploring the food scene in an unfamiliar territory not only lies in the whats, but also the hows. Every society has certain unspoken dining etiquettes that reveal its very psyche. Those not knowing them by heart risk committing culinary faux pas that would garner, at best, a few chuckles from the locals, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":120882,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"selected_color":"","palette":"{\"media_id\":120882,\"colors\":[[41,43,43],[210,201,204],[136,119,111],[146,173,192],[123,143,172]],\"selected\":\"rgb(41, 43, 43)\",\"gradients\":{\"a1\":[\"#f2ffff\",\"#e6feff\",\"#6ff6fd\",\"#4cd9e0\",\"#1dbdc4\",\"#00a1a7\",\"#008489\",\"#004f52\",\"#002b2d\",\"#002021\",\"#001415\"],\"a2\":[\"#f2ffff\",\"#e6feff\",\"#cce8e9\",\"#b1cccd\",\"#96b0b1\",\"#7b9697\",\"#627c7d\",\"#324b4c\",\"#102a2b\",\"#041f21\",\"#001415\"],\"a3\":[\"#fdfbff\",\"#f9f9ff\",\"#d5e3ff\",\"#b5c7e9\",\"#9aaccd\",\"#8091b1\",\"#667896\",\"#364764\",\"#132641\",\"#071c36\",\"#001129\"],\"n1\":[\"#fafdfc\",\"#f7faf9\",\"#e0e3e3\",\"#c4c7c7\",\"#a9acab\",\"#8e9191\",\"#747878\",\"#444747\",\"#232627\",\"#191c1c\",\"#0e1212\"],\"n2\":[\"#f4fefe\",\"#f1fbfb\",\"#dae4e5\",\"#bec8c9\",\"#a3adad\",\"#899393\",\"#6f7979\",\"#3f4949\",\"#1e2728\",\"#141d1e\",\"#091213\"],\"error\":[\"#fffbff\",\"#fff8f7\",\"#ffdad6\",\"#ffb4ab\",\"#ff897d\",\"#ff5449\",\"#de3730\",\"#93000a\",\"#540003\",\"#410002\",\"#2d0001\"]}}","authors":"[{\"role\":\"Words by\",\"related\":[{\"postType\":\"collaborator\",\"postTypeLabel\":\"Contributor\",\"title\":\"Vincent Leung\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cookinc.it\/en\/collaboratore\/vincent-leung\/\",\"ID\":145889,\"value\":145889,\"label\":\"Vincent Leung\",\"thumbnail\":false}],\"title\":\"\",\"unique_id\":\"NDM0MjcwMDk0MDM2Nzg4NTAw\"},{\"role\":\"Cover photo by\",\"related\":\"\",\"title\":\"Jim Chan\",\"unique_id\":\"MTgyNjUwODE0NDExODY2ODAw\"}]","magazine_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1620],"tags":[1881,1882,1883,1884,1885],"location":[1804,1819],"class_list":["post-145940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","tag-daap-toi","tag-what-to-eat-in-hong-kong","tag-hong-kong-food-culture","tag-asian-food-culture","tag-asian-cuisine","location-world","location-hong-kong-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookinc.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookinc.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookinc.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookinc.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookinc.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145940"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/cookinc.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":155587,"href":"https:\/\/cookinc.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145940\/revisions\/155587"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookinc.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookinc.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookinc.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookinc.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145940"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookinc.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=145940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}