Wan Chai Market

Wear shoes that don’t make you slip. Sometimes the fish oily substance will leak and when you step on it with a bad shoe you might slip.

Wan Chai Street market is surely one of the cleaner ones in hong kong. I don’t regularly shop at wet markets just because they tend to be literally «wet» everywhere, and it’s dirty, sometimes i imagine myself slipping and falling to the ground, i honestly don’t know how i would react if that actually happened. I mean with any market, i am pretty sure i wouldn’t want to slip and fall at all… but at least the wan chai street market doesn’t reek of seafood and meats.
I have only been here a handful of times, once was for a hot pot, and my friends sent me to get the food.
They don’t have a huge variety here compared to some of the other street markets i’ve been. What i like about it here though, is that everything is very neat. It almost seems like they’ve rented out a nice venue just to sell food. does that make sense? It almost doesn’t feel like a wet market.
When I came, it was during the day on a weekday, so it was not very busy, you will see a lot of grannies and domestic helpers buying their groceries. the store attendants (especially one fruit stall) was very helpful. They don’t have a huge variety of selection in terms of fruit but it was clean and fresh, which was enough for me.
When you roam outside, apparently, that is part of the wet market as well. It is just one street that leads up to the main road, they have more livestock and seafood there.

This is the closest ‘wet market’ for me and one of the places I walk past most days. Sometimes, I don’t buy anything at all, but it’s on my way home and I enjoy the atmosphere so much I don’t try to find side streets to avoid the crowd.
Over the last years, supermarkets have risen in popularity with detriment to traditional markets which it’s a shame. If something comes to everybody’s minds when thinking of Hong Kong, that’s its crowded authentic street markets.
Wan Chai market’s main building is located at the lower level of «The Zenith» building but the market has spread outside in the side streets too. Besides vegetables and fresh fruit, meat and fish, you can find all sorts of homecare and clothing stalls selling ladies and men’s underwear and t-​shirts. There are also a couple of Chinese bakeries.
The market opens up at 6am and closes by 8pm. Obviously, food is fresher in the morning but you’ll get the best deals by around 7 to 8, and the food usually remains fresh.
Wan Chai market is mostly frequented by locals, but most vendors speak some English, which may be enough if you are talking about prices and quantities, but don’t expect them to explain the origin or type of fish or meat. Price wise, within the market most stalls keep their prices within the same range, but I’ve noticed they are more expensive than other (not so central) wet markets and even supermarkets.
And you want to know a little secret? Walking around these streets at night it’s a complete different experience! The streets look so dim and quiet, you’ll think you’re somewhere else than Wan Chai.