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Top Deck
Alfresco dining in a Chinese courtyard setting and with a view of the sea - you can't beat that. The seafood brunch with free-flowing champagne on Sunday (around HK$330 ; to ) is a dream.
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Towngas Avenue
This is an odd concept in a Hong Kong restaurant, where the cook is usually to be heard and not seen. This restaurant, operated by a Hong Kong gas utility, allows you to watch chefs at work through a glass screen. You get to keep the recipe of the dish(es) you order and you may even spot the cooker or fridge of your heart's desire: it's also a kitchenware showroom.
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Va Bene
This smart restaurant bears a striking resemblance to a neighbourhood trattoria in Venice. It's a good choice for a special date or an extravagant celebration. There's a set lunch for HK$198 . Book ahead; dress smart.
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Veda
We've heard talk that this uberstylish and pricey eatery is not measuring up to the same standards as when it first opened its doors and introduced Hong Kong to 'innovative Indian' (eg chicken in coriander and cashew-nut paste, fish steamed with mint). Sunday brunch (around HK$200 ) still seems to pack in the punters, though. The weekday lunch buffet is HK$98 .
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Verandah Restaurant
In the new-colonial bit of the wavy Repulse Bay condos, the Verandah is hushed and formal, with heavy white tablecloths and demurely clinking cutlery. The Sunday brunch is famous (book ahead); the afternoon tea is the south side's best. Set dinner starts at around HK$580 .
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Viceroy Restaurant & Bar
The Viceroy has been an institution in Hong Kong for some two decades: an upmarket Indian restaurant with sitar music and a fun place to watch comedy at least once a month.
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W's Entrecôte
W's serves steak almost exclusively in a number of shapes and sizes but with a Gallic twist. Included in the price is a salad and as many frites (chips) as you can squeeze onto your plate. Starters are in the 'foie gras and snails' category.
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Wang Jia Sha
Another mainland import to cash in on the affluent Hong Kong market, this household name from Shanghai offers delectable siú lùng bàau (steamed pork dumplings; around HK$32 for four), daam daam min (noodles in savoury sauce; HK$28 ) and more.
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Weinstube
Pfannengebratener fleischkäse (pan-fried meat-loaf), Schweinshaxe (Bavarian-style pork knuckle) and other hearty mains await you at this Austro-German wine bar, which has been going strong for over two decades. Happy hour is from to Monday to Friday and from noon to on Saturday.
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Wing Lai Yuen
A household name in Hong Kong for daam daam min , this unpretentious local eatery actually offers more than that. Try the fiery beef cooked in chilli broth (around HK$48 ), or for something tamer, go for the wonton chicken in clay pot (from around HK$78 ). English won't work here: bring a phrase book.
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Woodlands
If you can't handle the less-than-salubrious surrounds of Chungking Mansions,Woodlands offers an inexpensive Indian alternative in the Tsim Sha Tsui area.
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Wu Kong Shanghai Restaurant
The specialities at this Shanghainese restaurant - cold pigeon in wine sauce and crispy fried eels - are worth a trip across town. Dim sum (around HK$20 to around HK$48 ) is served all day.
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Xinjishi
This restaurant exemplifies how the world has turned upside down in Hong Kong in recent years. It's a branch of a successful mainland-based chain, with five restaurants in Shanghai, one in Taipei and another in Osaka. It offers traditional Shanghainese (the cooks are imported) in a modern, very stylish setting. Try one of the clay-pot dishes, such as braised pork meatballs with vegetables (around HK$70 ).
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Yè Shanghai
This groovy place takes street-level Shanghainese cuisine and gives it a tweak here and there. The cold drunken pigeon (around HK$100 ) is a wine-soaked winner and the steamed dumplings are perfectly plump, but sometimes this restaurant goes for clattery style over substance. There's live music from to Thursday to Saturday.
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Yin Ping Vietnamese Restaurant
This little place is the 'anchor' Vietnamese restaurant on a street with more than a few of those eateries. Set lunches with soup are a snip at around HK$37 .
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Yummy Vietnamese Restaurant
This place looks like a fast food canteen but it's actually a truly authentic Vietnamese restaurant that serves even the most exotic of dishes, such as duck foetus egg (around HK$18 ). But no need to go that far if all you want is a bowl of truly satisfying pho (from around HK$25 ) or roasted pigeon in lemongrass HK$60 .
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Yun Fu
No other place does Chinese food in such a fun way. Entering the restaurant through the stone staircase feels like travelling back to the time of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon . After an exotic cocktail garnished with dry seahorses or lizards, your appetite should be whetted for goose liver soaked in dark soy sauce and sliced duck fillet wrapped in tofu paper. For veggie, why not a whole roasted bamboo shoot served in the bark?
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Yung Kee Restaurant
This long-standing institution is probably the most famous Cantonese restaurant in Central. Its signature roast goose has been the talk of the town since 1942 (the restaurant farms its own geese for quality control), and its dim sum ( to Monday to Saturday, to Sunday) is excellent. Set meals around HK$300 - HK$550 per person.
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Zuma
This uberchic dining import from London markets itself as authentic but not traditional Japanese cuisine, and has miles of space in which to serve it. There are robata counters, a sushi bar and a terrace. Up the game with sashimi omakase of rock lobster, Dungeness crab, sea urchin, monkfish liver, abalone, oscietra caviar and tuna belly, each of which will set you back around HK$880 .
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