The One With BBQ Day Out At Shek O Beach

Hello there! It has been ages since I last blogged. Did you miss me? I sure do miss blogging. I keep thinking that I have lost my blogging mojo… and how do you get it back? Why, just by starting to write again, of course.

I have been busy with life. So much has happened, and I scarcely had the time to blog about them. But everything can start somewhere, no? So let me start with a typical HK outing which I did just last Sunday – a barbeque (BBQ) day out at Shek O beach.

Despite the gloomy weather and less-than-encouraging weather forecast, my friends and I decided to try our luck and went ahead with our plans to have a BBQ day out at Shek O beach.

It was proven to be a great decision.

There are a couple tips I would like to share with you if you are thinking of doing a spot of BBQ at Shek O.

Tip #1: Get your BBQ food from Shau Kei Wan, not from Shek O Beach

The reason for this is simple; it’s cheaper to get food from Shau Kei Wan, where you’ll take the mini buses into Shek O anyway. For ours, we just crossed the street from the MTR station to this food stall right across the street. Everything was available; from marinated of all kinds to processed food like meat balls to BBQ necessities such as forks and sauces.

We opted for the raw food here. Chicken wings, pork chop, balls of all kinds… all in all we bought three huge bags of food for a party of seven for something like HK$400. A bargain.

Tip #2: Rent a pit at the beach front

Don’t skimp on that HK$200 per pit (or HK$150 if it is not directly fronting the beach). Yes, you can book some free BBQ pits through the government, but for all weather you’ll be better off having a tent over your head. With a pit that size, you need not worry about cleaning up and stuff.

There are BBQ pits to choose from at Shek O Beach.

Tip #3: Buy drinks and other BBQ tools from the pit owners

That sounded vaguely suggestive. Anyway you can get chilled cool drinks, including beer, from the pit owners. All sorts of drinks are available, priced reasonably from HK$5 for a can of Coke to HK$10 for a can of Blue Girl beer.

Also charcoal, wire mesh and BBQ forks are available too. If you get the charcoal from them, the guy will even start the fire for you.

And so with these, the seven of us had a whale of a time at the beach. There is something magical about sweating over roaring fire, cooking and chatting and laughing all the time. With the sands in between your toes, and sea breeze in your face.

Had it not been a gloomy, slightly drizzling day, I would have even gotten a tan. Oh well, a guy can’t have it all, can he?

Useful Links
– Photoset on Flickr
– Booking a free BBQ pit
– Shek O BBQ pits listing on OpenRice.com
– My previous adventure to Shek O Beach