Baked Potatoes and the Turkish Man

Hong Kong is very much a gastronomic city whose sensational street food is as famous as the haute cuisine in the Michelin starred restaurants here. For greater fun, however, you have to go local. In the course of taking photos for the contest themed on people who sell things, I ran into an interesting story of baked potatoes. The story takes place in Mong Kok, an eater's mecca jam-packed with kiosks and shops offering choices of local food exotic and weird alike.

The baked potato is hardly a novelty in Hong Kong. Go in almost any western cuisine restaurant and you can order any baked potato prepared to your choice. The interesting thing is that the dish has seemingly returned to its old style: street food. Originated in England as revealed by historians, baked potatoes were sold by peddlers on the street as early as in the eighteenth century. The food became an instant hit and turned into a famed dish in England soon. As many as ten tonnes of potatoes were sold by the peddlers each day. As time wore on, the recipe was passed onto other countries and baked potatoes have taken on different varieties since then. In Mong Kok, food kiosks selling potato food have sprung up in recent months. The Ireland's Potato on Dundas Street has seen queues of hungry customers for some months. The newest addition is the tiny Big Potato. What makes it stand out from the others?

It is the Turkish owner, Mr Frehat. The young man is married to a Hong Kong lady. Moving and living here give him one problem: homesickness. His solution? He runs a kiosk selling baked potatoes home-style. To save costs, he cannot but make do with Chinese white potatoes. The compromise is compensated by an unique four-level oven Frehat managed to ship from Turkey. The oven is shaped like a doll house with a tiny chimney on top which will carry away the hot steam to make the baked potatoes dry and crispy. Frehat's Big Potato is in a space of just 30 square metres. It does not offer any seat for customers. People simply buy food and go. The draws are his baked potatoes which come in many flavours and styles, like the Seafood, Classics, Tuna, Chicken Meat, Mexican and Russian. Of course, he sells Lahmacnn (Turkish pizza) too.

Come to Mong Kok. Buy some curry fish balls and the stinky deep-fried tofus, and Frehat's baked potato. Take a bite of each and then you should now why Hong Kong is famous for its street food.