Never having been to Hong Kong, a friend of mine is traveling there soon for a visit. <BR> <BR>He wants to know what eating utensils are used in the city, chopsticks or knives, forks, and spoons? <BR> <BR>Thanks for your help.

Depends very much *where* you eat. Western hotels and restaurants same as here i.e. Europe and US. Tiny Chinese places in a market with chopsticks of course. But your friend would not eat in such places especially as a first timer in HK. In Chinese restaurants for tourists and western people you get usuallly next to chopsticks also fork and spoon, no knife of course. Everything is chopped. HK besides that is *very* western style.

I'd advise your friend to give chopsticks a try before he goes. They're really not difficult to master. I learned by practicing with M and M's. It's true you can get a fork and knife in almost any restaurant in HK, but even many very good Chinese places won't set them out, and you're reduced to asking for them. This isn't a big deal of course, but it's not as much fun as 'doing as the Romans do'.

I agree that your friend should try to learn to eat with chopsticks. It really is a lot of fun once you get the hang of it. When I started traveling to Asia on business, I couldn't use chopsticks at all. After a while, it got to be embarrassing to always have to ask for a fork in restaurants when all of my dining companions were using chopsticks. I practiced with them a bit and got comfortable using them very quickly.

Just got back from Hong Kong. My experience was that in Chinese restaurants (including the most expensive) it is chopsticks only. I guess you could ask for a fork and knife, but I didn't see anyone do it. In non-Chinese restaurants, it was forks and knives.

In three weeks in Asia a few years ago never used anything but chopsticks (including the flight over). Don't even remember seeing anything else. They are not hard to learn how to use. Since then, I will never use anything but the sticks when eating East Asian cuisine. Give it a try is my advice.