Food: Which HND-HKG sector were you on? Was it the morning flight? I've only ever flown the ~4pm ex-HND departure in F, and catering was superb with dinner...they load the Kaiseki, a lobster course, and lamb. However, I've flown ex-HKG to HND early morning and catering was, frankly, the same as J class just with fancier plating. Quite poor. No snacks. First time I ever went hungry on a CX flight. Perhaps it's similar ex-HND in the morning?

Service: Probably just due to the short flight...on every CX F flight except the Japan flights, I feel very comfortable saying the standard procedure is for them to retire to the galley and not be super proactive as you prefer. The only difference is that Japan F flights are vastly shorter than the regular F flight. And on a full load, the crew could literally spend half the flight just doing the meal service alone. The Kaiseki meal comes out in 4 courses (5?) IIRC. At least, this is my experience. The overwhelming majority of my CX F flights are not Japan (aka, long-hauls), but for the 4 sectors I think I've done to/from Japan in F, service has been up/down the aisles and it has been primarily due to the fact the cabin was full and crew were doing the service. Perhaps that's why?

Even on the long-haul sectors, you're bound to get "served" more when the FAs are doing something in the cabin. There's just a lot more down time on a 16 hour flight to JFK.