I had a colleague and an ex-colleague over for dinner last Friday and realised one major difference between Hong Kongers and Singaporeans.
I had made a pork stew to be eaten with rice and I had taken out three plates to put the rice on plus forks and spoons as cutlery. But I found that they didn’t want to use the plates, forks and spoons and asked me for bowls and chopsticks instead. I hadn’t even thought I might be asked for them even though I did have bowls and chopsticks available (nice ones I bought from Muji by the way).
At home in Singapore I usually eat out of a plate using forks and spoons and that seems to be the case in most Singaporean homes, hawker centres and food courts. And when I had my Singaporean friends over for dinner we all used plates, forks and spoons. No one thought it was anything out of the ordinary.
For my Hong Kong friends, though, it was something they weren’t used to and I think something so small can also show the fact that Hong Kongers are generally more Chinese compared to Singaporeans who are more Westernised.