My mom grew up with the rare flavors of Hong Kong.

There’s only one place where you can get the real, original thing: Hong Kong’s open-air dai pai dongs (literally: “big license stalls” in Cantonese).

Decades ago, the city had hundreds of them, but because of new government regulations, there are only around 20 left — and very few still use kerosene.

She lived in a small apartment in the working-class neighborhood Kowloon, where she worked in sweatshops and factories. The hours were long and difficult.

She would often get off work late and go straight to a dai pai dong for a cheap dinner. When I was a kid, she would wax poetic about the impeccable sear and char of the dishes.

As she told me: “Wok hei is so difficult to find in America. If you want the perfect texture and taste of the char, it lives only in Hong Kong.”

So this year, my mother and I traveled back to Hong Kong in search of the exquisite flavor she hadn’t been able to taste for 50 years.

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