Hong Kong food connoisseur Chua Lam led a delegation to Taipei on Friday to seek out the citys best cuisine. The group of over 30 people from Hong Kong will eat their way through Taipei for the next three days.

Chua Lam organized the tour group under the theme "Taiwan Fine Food." Most of the people joining the group are lawyers, doctors, antique dealers, or business owners. While the group is staying in a five star hotel, the restaurants that they will be visiting are not necessary fancy establishments. For instance, they plan on stopping at some of the citys wet markets, having a meal at a big outdoor party, sitting down for a meal at a chicken farm and taking a stroll through the Pinchiang market. Each person in the tour group on average has paid over NT$40,000 to join the tour, and Chua has put a limit on the number of people in each group.

Chua said that Taiwanese food is considered southeast Chinese food. He added that the food that is common in Taiwan is hard to find in Hong Kong. Shortly after arriving in Taipei, Chua led his group to Shin Yeh, one of Taipeis most well known Taiwanese food restaurants, so that everyone could begin the trip with a traditional Taiwanese meal. To be sure, most tourists would not order rice congee with yams as part of a meal. However, the people on this tour found the congee simply delectable and decided to have the leftovers boxed so that they could take the remainder with them. It was clear that they were more than satisfied with the restaurant.

On Friday evening, the movie director Tsai Yang Ming invited the group to eat with him at a big outdoor "pan do" that he hosted so that they could sample this type of Taiwanese food. Fireworks were set off to give the Hong Kong visitors a hit of the festivities that are usually associated with eating in these big outdoor parties. Tsai Yang Ming said that he hopes to do his best in order to promote Taiwans food culture.

For lunch on Saturday, the group will dine at the famous Din Tai Fung restaurant, which is known for its soup dumplings. In the afternoon, the group will also visit the well known restaurant, "Tian Tan," or "Heavenly Jar," which is famous for its foods that are thought to keep one in good health. In the evening, the group will have a tasty meal at the "Really Good" seafood restaurant where the proprietor of the establishment will even make Tainan tan tsu noodles for them. On Sunday morning, the group will tour the Pinchiang market and at noon the group will dine at Tung Yan Restaurant.

Chua Lam said that this time is the first time that he has included the big outdoor party meal and a chicken farm on the itinerary. He added that visiting a traditional wet market will let the visitors experience Taiwanese culture and see the local customs of the people. He said that the fruit juice sold at the wet markets is especially sweet and juicy, and is one of the most popular items for the people in the tour groups. He also said that the tourists also love fruits such as jujubes and wax apples, along with green bamboo shoots, and buy lots of the items to have for snacks throughout the day.

Chua Lam is a man of many talents. In addition to having written over 100 books, he used to host a popular show with the now deceased star Huang Zhan. He has also been good friends with the writer Ni Kuang and the actor Jackie Chan, and they often go out to eat to enjoy the best foods.