Restaurants in Hong Kong
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A
City Hall Maxim’s Palace
This place offers a typically Hong Kong dim sum experience – noisy, cheerful, in a huge kitschy hall with hundreds of locals and many dim sum choices that are paraded on trolleys. A seat by the window will let you see land reclamation in progress where the old Queen’s Pier used to be. There’s breakfast dim sum on Sundays from 9am but people start queuing for a table at 8.30am.
reviewed
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B
Woodlands
Located above a department store, good old Woodlands offers excellent-value Indian vegetarian food to compatriots and the odd local. Dithering gluttons should order the thali meals, which are served on a round metal plate with 10 tiny dishes, a dessert and bread.
reviewed
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C
La Kasbah
La Kasbah is a Frenchified Maghreb caravanserai serving dishes from Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco, which effectively means meze and tajine or couscous. It's good stuff but expensive for what it is. The bar, Medina, is open til 02:00.
reviewed
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D
Wu Kong Shanghai Restaurant
If you don’t mind the staff looking daggers when you dawdle over your banana fritters, the specialities at this pleasant Shanghainese restaurant – cold pigeon in wine and Shanghainese pot-au-feu – are worth a trip across town. The four-course hairy crab meal (from $400, October to December) is also divine.
reviewed
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E
Sha Tin 18
When done right, the Peking duck (whole $398, half $218, 24-hour advance booking required) here – with skin airy like a kiss – is excellent, but sometimes the birds aren’t rescued from the heat in time, and they taste burnt. However, that is a kink this just-opened restaurant may be able to iron out, given time. The pot-stickers ($68), mustard greens ($78) and Chinese-themed desserts are quite delicious. Take a ringside seat at the show kitchen and see if you agree with us. The Hyatt Regency is a five-minute walk from University MTR station.
reviewed
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F
Tung Po Seafood Restaurant
Tung Po has revolutionised dai pai dong cooking, and it’s easy to see why. Beer is served in chilled porcelain bowls, to be downed bandit style. The young staff strut around in rubber boots, serving Cantonese dishes with a twist. Book ahead (reservations 2.30pm to 5.30pm) or go before 7pm.
reviewed
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G
Yung Kee
Operating since 1942, Yung Kee is famous for its roast goose and dim sum (served 2pm to 5.30pm Monday to Saturday, 11am to 5.30pm Sunday), though everything in the phone book of a menu is good.
reviewed
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H
Tai Ping Koon
Soy sauce Western is believed to have been invented by the first Tai Ping Koon in Guǎngzhōu. Today tasty classics such as smoked pomfret and ox tongue with rice are still served in neat, if slightly worn, surrounds by the waiters who have been here for decades. There are branches in Yau Ma Tei and Tsim Sha Tsui.
reviewed
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I
Man Fai
Any time of day you can see people squeezed together here at the few communal tables, slurping up noodles. It’s not a heaven for hygienists, but it is for Chiu Chow squid-ball lovers. The signature balls, desired for their al dente texture, are served with a variety of noodles ($20) and with other ingredients such as beef balls and crispy fish skin (assorted $23).
reviewed
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J
American Restaurant
The friendly American (which chose its name to attract Yank sailors cruising the Wanch for sustenance while on R&R during the Vietnam War) has been serving decent Northern Chinese cuisine for well over half a century, including a rarely seen Northern delicacy – pig’s throat stir-fried with parsley.
reviewed
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K
Chuen Kee Seafood Restaurant
This is the plush new branch of the Michelin-recommended Chuen Kee, the granddaddy of Sai Kung seafood restaurants. The elaborate display of fish and crustaceans at the door may make you cringe, but cringe will turn to crave once you’ve had a bite of the cooked versions.
reviewed
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L
Sushi Hiro
This glorified restaurant is one of the many authentic sushi bars tucked away in commercial buildings, much like the way it is in Tokyo. Like other sushi bars of this grade, it offers a seasonal choice of fish that changes on a weekly basis, and the chef will happily pick the best for you.
reviewed
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M
Islam Food
Take care when sinking your teeth into the signature beef pastry ($20 for two) because they’ll squirt. Less spectacular though still good are the lamb dishes and dumplings. It’s not the cleanest place, but fans don’t seem to mind.
reviewed
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N
Life Cafe
Right next to the Central Escalators, Life is a vegetarian’s dream, serving organic vegan food and dishes free of gluten, wheat, onion and garlic. Housed in a three-storey prewar building, it is filled with intimate seating; some find it too intimate to converse, but we love the window-watching tables, and the roof terrace is a nice place to chill over a bottle of white during summer months.
reviewed
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O
Chang Won Korean Restaurant
One of the most authentic Korean restaurants in town, Chang Won makes delectable beef ribs, seafood pancakes and cold noodles, and the staff are generous with side dishes. But the toilet is not for the faint-hearted.
reviewed
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Asian Kitchen
A number of foodies on the quest for the best Hainan chicken rice in town have found themselves ending up here in this far-flung place. The bak kut teh (herbal pork-rib soup) has also won quite a few fans.
reviewed
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Q
Tsui Wah
Anyone who spends any length of time in Hong Kong ends up slurping noodles at the territory's favourite late-night eatery at least once. Added bonus: it's something of a pulling place for every persuasion.
reviewed
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R
Kowloon City Thai Restaurants
Kai Tak airport may have shut down in 1998, but the neighbourhood of Kowloon City to the northeast of Tsim Sha Tsui is still worth a journey. This is Hong Kong's Thai quarter, and the area's restaurants are the place for a tom yum and green-curry fix. Kowloon City, packed with herbalists, jewellers, tea merchants and bird shops, is worth a postprandial look around.
One of the most authentic Thai restaurants in the area, Friendship Thai Food (2382 8671; 38 Kai Tak Rd; dishes around HK$32-138; ;10:30-15:00 & 18:00-24:30) is always full of Thai domestics. Golden Orchid Thai (2716 1269, 2383 3076; 12 Lung Kong Rd; dishes around HK$35-65; ;noon-01:00) is slightly more…
reviewed
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Dai Wing Wah
The walled villages in the New Territories are traditionally homes to the Hakka, a roaming and hardworking people who moved to Hong Kong, among many other places, from the Central Plains of China. Their lifestyle spawned a unique cuisine featuring the liberal use of salt, preserved ingredients and fatty meat. Established in 1950, Dah Wing Wah is the most famous restaurant in Hong Kong for walled-village dishes. Its head chef and managing partner, Hugo Leung Man-to, is famous for his efforts at enhancing and preserving traditional dishes. Hugo sources local ingredients from small farms and food producers whenever possible, and complements them with his insightful…
reviewed
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S
Yin Yang
Margaret Xu, the chef of Yin Yang, calls her cooking New Hong Kong. A former ad-agency owner who taught herself how to cook, Margaret grows her own organic vegetables and uses old-fashioned tools, such as stone-grinds and terracotta ovens, to create Hong Kong classics with a clean, contemporary twist. Yin Yang is housed in a three-storey 1930s heritage building. Dinner is a tasting menu, but you’ll have to book at least five days in advance. The website mentions a deposit, but that’s negotiable. There are takeaway options as well.
reviewed
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Crown Wine Cellars
The WWII bunkers on the hill have been transformed into a top-notch wine cellar, with a colonial-style glasshouse restaurant surrounded by towering trees. You can tour the site and have a meal there by subscribing to the one-time ‘silver’ membership free of charge. Take minibus 5 on Lockhart Rd, right behind Sogo department store in Causeway Bay, and make a stop at the top of Deep Water Bay Dr.
reviewed
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Lei Garden
Military-like quality control (which obviously doesn’t extend to the decor) has earned two of nine Lei Garden branches, including this one, a Michelin star. Don’t miss its award-winning creation: sweet sago soup with mango and pomelo ($25 a bowl). There are branches in Central (2295 0238; Shop 3007-3011, 3rd fl, International Finance Centre; 11.30am-2.30pm, 6-10pm; MTR Hong Kong, exit E1), Wan Chai (2892 0333; 1st fl, CNT Tower, 338 Hennessy Rd; 11am-3pm, 6-10.30pm; MTR Causeway Bay, exit A), West Kowloon (2196 8133; Shop 2068-70, 2nd Level, Elements, 1 Austin Rd West; 11.30am-2.30pm Mon-Sat, 11am-2.45pm Sun, 6-10.30pm Mon-Sun; MTR Kowloon, exit A1), and Mong Kok (2392…
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U
Ap Lei Chau Market Cooked Food Centre
Sharing a building with a market, six dai pai dong operators cook up a storm in sleepy Ap Lei Chau. Pak Kee and Chu Kee both offer simple but tasty dishes in the $40 to $60 range, and affordable seafood selections. You can also buy seafood from the wet market downstairs and pay them to cook it for you the way you want. Every evening fishermen and dragon boaters come here for the cheap beer and the food.
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Lan Fong Yuen
Don’t be fooled by the rickety facade: it hides an entire cha chaan tang (tea cafe). Lan Fong Yuen (1952) is largely believed to be the inventor of ‘pantyhose’ milk tea. Over a thousand cups of the silky brew are sold per day. Watch staff work their magic while you wait for a table. The city’s ‘signature’ yin yeung, a mixture of tea (70%) and coffee (30%), is said to be an invention from here, too. A cover charge ($20 per head) applies.
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Afternoon Tea at the Peninsula Hotel
More than a Hong Kong landmark, the Peninsula is one of the world’s great hotels. Though it was being called ‘the finest hotel east of Suez’ just a few years after opening in 1928, the Peninsula was in fact one of several prestigious hostelries across Asia where everybody who was anybody stayed, lining up with (but not behind) the likes of the Raffles in Singapore, the Peace (then the Cathay) in Shanghai and the Strand in Rangoon (now Yangon). Taking afternoon tea at the Peninsula is one of the best experiences in town – dress neatly and be prepared to queue for a table.
reviewed