Hyrox Hong Kong: 62 Minutes of Suffering, 80 Hours of Eating, and Why Hong Kong Might Be One of Asia’s Best Food Cities
- Alex
- May 15
- 9 min read
Updated: May 17
Tokyo to Hong Kong and Straight Into Roast Meat Heaven
We left Tokyo early Thursday morning and landed in Hong Kong just after midday.
In my opinion, there’s always something exciting about arriving somewhere around lunchtime because you can drop your bags, get straight outside, and immediately start exploring instead of losing a whole day to airports and transport!
After landing, we caught the Airport Express into Kowloon before jumping onto a local train towards Yau Ma Tei station, near where our Airbnb was located.
We stayed in a super local area rather than around Central, and I think that ended up being the right choice. Everything is rougher around the edges, but in the best possible way.
The food is cheaper, the streets busier, and every second shop seemed to either be a roast meat restaurant, noodle spot, bakery, or tiny Hong Kong style café packed with locals.
Naturally, the first thing we did after checking in was go searching for food.
We ended up at Shen’s Roast Meat Restaurant, and what followed was probably one of the best opening meals to a trip I’ve had in a long time! (Keep in mind I travel for work and races every few weeks so this is really saying something!)
We ordered barbecue pork, roast pork, chicken, all on a bed of rice. And that was accompanied by a ridiculously comforting soup filled with winter melon, carrot, and chicken on the bone, all sitting in this deep, rich broth that tasted like it had been simmering for hours, if not days!
It was one of those meals where halfway through eating you already know you’re about to order more food.
So we did. Both Sebastian and I ended up getting second plates of roast meat and rice, which set the tone for the rest of the trip pretty quickly.
After lunch, we headed down towards Central on Hong Kong Island and spent the afternoon walking along the waterfront and boardwalk area. It was nice stretching the legs after travelling and taking in the skyline properly for the first time.
Hong Kong really does have one amazing city skyline! Massive buildings everywhere, ferries moving across the harbour, humidity hanging in the air, and constant movement where ever you look.
Hong Kong Feels Completely Different to Taipei
One thing that stood out to me almost immediately was how different Hong Kong’s food culture feels compared to somewhere like Taipei.
In my experience, Taipei revolves around night markets. The streets come alive at night with endless stalls and street food vendors everywhere across the city. Hong Kong feels different. The food culture here feels like all the best street food somehow moved indoors into small local restaurants, cha chaan teng cafés, roast meat shops, noodle houses, bakeries, and yum cha spots.
There are night markets in Hong Kong, but they’re nowhere near as big, food-focused or chaotic as somewhere like Raohe Night Market in Taiwan.
Instead, the magic in Hong Kong comes from wandering into a random tiny restaurant with fluorescent lighting, laminated menus, and ducks hanging in the window, only to end up having one of the best meals of your life.
I LOVE both Taipei and Hong Kong for their respective food scenes but I was also really interested in the contract between the two cities!
Friday Morning Training and Sebastian’s Hyrox Debut
Friday morning started with an early gym session before heading over to support Sebastian in his first ever Hyrox race.
Over the last few months in Tokyo, building Welcome to Japan, training together, and eating together, he’s completely transformed his body and his fitness. He’s dropped six or seven kgs since the new year, and it’s been really amazing watching that progress happen in real time. Not just physically but seeing his mindset change has been incredible as well.
His target time for his Hyrox debut race was 90 minutes.
He finished in 1 hour and 15 minutes. What a weapon!!
What made it even more special for me personally was finally being able to support Sebastian at a race. He’s spent months supporting me at races around Japan and overseas, helping with pacing, race prep, filming content, logistics, and everything else that comes with travelling for events. So being there on the sidelines for his first Hyrox experience was awesome.
He raced smart, held himself together really well, and looked strong the whole way through. That’s huge, because Hyrox can humble people very quickly if you get pacing wrong early on. We strategised and I tried to tell him of all the mistakes I'd made previously to combat this lol.
Beef Noodle Soup Before Racing Probably Isn’t Ideal... But Here We Are
Friday night, after Sebastian’s race, we headed to the famous Kau Kee for beef noodle soup.
Now realistically speaking, smashing a spicy bowl of beef noodles less than twelve hours before racing Hyrox yourself is probably not ideal race preparation. But weirdly enough, this has somehow become a pattern for me.
Before my first ever Spartan race in Taiwan last year, I also demolished a giant spicy bowl of beef noodle soup the night before racing. Then ended up placing first in the 20k Beast Spartan race the next day lol.
Either way, after the noodles we somehow still found room for cookies and random Asian dessert bowls filled with mango, sago, taro balls, sweet potato balls, purple wild rice, and red bean paste.
Some would say, peak athlete behaviour. Others, not that haha.
Race Day: My First Proper Crack at Hyrox
Saturday morning was race day for me, and although technically this was my third Hyrox event, it was the first one where I was going to give a full effort.
The goal from the start was simple: crack the 60-minute mark. More than anything, I just wanted to finally put together a smooth Hyrox performance from start to finish.
Compared to Yokohama and Osaka earlier this year, this race felt completely different. In Yokohama last August, I ran 1:13 and literally had no idea what I was doing. I ran extra distance multiple times, made mistakes at stations, and learned the hard way how unforgiving Hyrox can be.
Then in Osaka this January, I brought that time down to 1:05, but there were still pacing issues, penalties, and a lot of inefficiency throughout the race.
This time though, everything felt controlled. I knew the distances, the weights, my pacing, and what the race was supposed to feel like physically.
Dropping 7kgs myself since the Kyoto Marathon in February also made a massive difference to the running sections. Instead of sitting around 4-minute pace between stations, I was moving at an average of 3:25 min/km pace throughout the race, while still arriving at stations feeling composed and in control.
For the first time, I felt like I was actually racing Hyrox instead of just surviving it.
I crossed the line in 1:02. Smooth execution from start to finish. That was enough for 10th overall in the men’s open division and 4th in my age group. More than the time or placing, the fun part for me is seeing the progress. Training hard, getting fitter, learning the race properly, and becoming more efficient every time I step onto the floor.
That’s why this race felt so good. And that's why I'm so happy with the result!
At the same time, there’s still a lot left on the table. I lost time on the wall balls late in the race, the lunges definitely need work, and my overall leg conditioning under fatigue still has another level to get to. But that’s the exciting part now.
I finally feel like I understand Hyrox properly, and more importantly, I know exactly where I can continue improving from here heading into Shanghai later this year!
Post-Race Yum Cha Might Be the Greatest Recovery Meal Ever
Straight after the race, we went for yum cha, and I can genuinely say it was probably the best yum cha meal I’ve ever had. And I've eaten more than my fair share, let me tell you!!
Every single dish was ridiculous. Dumplings, har gow, pork buns, rice rolls, siu mai, bok choi, everything.
At one point, the guy running the restaurant looked at Sebastian and I and said: “Gentlemen, I think you ordered too much.” I looked back at him and said: “Mate, you don’t know what we’re capable of.”
He laughed, brought all the plates out anyway, and we demolished absolutely everything in sight.
Hong Kong Bakeries Are Dangerous
Outside of the Hyrox races themselves, one of the biggest standouts of the trip was definitely the bakeries.
Hong Kong bakeries are unbelievable. Pineapple buns, coconut tarts, egg tarts, sweet breads, fresh buns straight out of the oven everywhere you look. The problem was that most of the time I ate everything too quickly to even take photos.
Fresh and hot straight out of the oven? Absolutely zero chance they were surviving long enough for my phone to be pulled out of my pocket lol!
The pineapple buns were probably my personal favourite. Slightly sweet, soft on the inside, with that crispy sugary top layer that works perfectly even though it sounds super simple.
Between the bakeries and the yum cha alone, I could happily spend another week in Hong Kong.
Australia Dairy Co and Hong Kong Café Chaos
We also visited some of the more famous viral spots around Hong Kong, including Australia Dairy Co.
Absolute chaos in the best way possible. Tiny tables, staff moving at lightning speed, people constantly coming and going, and absolutely no time to think before ordering, nor eating.
The scrambled eggs lived up to the hype. Ridiculously soft and creamy, especially inside the scrambled egg sandwich. The macaroni was exactly as expected - macaroni in chicken stock soup. But there's nothing wrong with that. The whole vibe of the place was enjoyable.
We also ordered French toast stuffed with peanut butter and covered in condensed milk, which was the best individual dish of the entire trip.
Completely ridiculous. Completely unhealthy. Completely worth it.
One Day of Racing, Four Days of Eating
The funny thing about these race trips is how little time you actually spend racing compared to everything else.
Combined race time between the two of us was just over two hours total. The rest of the trip was spent eating, recovering, training lightly, wandering around the city, and finding more food.
And that balance is probably why I enjoy these trips so much.
You get the intensity and focus of race day, but then everything around it becomes part of the experience too. The city, the food, the conversations afterwards, the recovery meals, the bakeries you randomly stumble into, the tiny restaurants you’ll probably never find again.
That’s the stuff you end up remembering most and why I especially love travelling and racing all throughout Japan and Asia!
What’s Next From Here
Overall, this trip was a massive success. Sebastian smashed his first Hyrox race.
I finally put together a Hyrox performance I’m genuinely happy with. And Hong Kong completely exceeded expectations as a food city.
Now it’s time to lock back in in Tokyo. I’ve got six weeks until a couple of big trail races, a lot of training ahead, and then one final Hyrox race for the year in Shanghai.
After this weekend, I’m more motivated than ever.
Thank you for reading through to the end of another race and food adventure.
I love writing these blog posts because they capture such a weird but fun combination of things that I care about. Racing, travelling, eating incredible food, and slowly figuring out what this whole lifestyle looks like moving forward.
If you’re interested in this side of what I’m doing, I’m documenting my full racing and training journey as I build in this space! You can follow along on Instagram, or check out my website. If you have any questions around fitness, racing, or performance, or you’re keen to train or collaborate, feel free to reach out!
A little bit of suffering. A ridiculous amount of eating. And hopefully a few good stories along the way.
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