Places to eat in Hong Kong

February 20, 2006 5:15 AM

Tell me all of your favorite places to eat in Hong Kong.

This may be better-filed in the Travel category. Later this year, sometime in late Summer/early Fall, I'm going to be traveling to Hong Kong for two weeks. Some significant portion of my meals there will be at home with family, but I'm looking to have the best possible experiences when eating out. I'm not loaded, so I'll probably have to limit myself to one or two really extravagant meals, with the rest composed of high-value meals.

Please tell me about any good food experiences you've ever had in HK. Any district is OK (though I'll be spending most of my time in Tai Po, Kowloon, and HK Island). Even if it's just "there's this noodle shop sort of around the corner and down a couple blocks from the MTR, and it's kind of hard to find," please mention this and I will try to gather more information.

I've already started a rapidly growing database of potentially good places to eat. I'll certainly share it at some point if anyone's interested. So far, my primary sources for information-gathering have been the eGullet China forums, hkfoodie's blog, the Chaxiubao blog, Arthur Hungry's opulent adventures, some scattered old posts on Chowhound's "International" board, and assorted loose blog posts I found via Google. I'd be interested in hearing about any other English-speaking HK food blogs that I've missed.

Other tools that have been useful in gathering info about particular restaurants have been YPMap, the best interactive English HK map site I can find (though it really needs Internet Explorer and it's nowhere as good as the standard US map sites), Openrice.com, YP Smart Assistant yellow pages, and the transit maps on the MTR, KCR, and bus websites (and Wikipedia).

If you could give me your tips in English, that would be preferable- by the end of this year I can only hope that my Cantonese will be rudimentary at best. My wife speaks fluently, though, so communication shouldn't be a problem when we're there.

posted by rxrfrx to Food & Drink (5 answers total)

I didn't know restaurants in Hong Kong had names :) I think I just didn't pay attention.

I had a couple memorable meals while in Hong Kong. First of all, I stayed at Renaissance Harbour View Hotel (which is right here) to give you perspective. Everything was within walking distance (unless noted).

There was an Indian (I think) place almost smack dab in the Red Light district. You entered the door at street level and went up a skinny set of stairs to a smaller sized restaurant. They had great Pineapple rice and spicy fish.

There was a Shanghai noodle joint that was great for lunch. I would equate it to a Mom-n-Pop diner in the States. It was packed with small round tables and mismatched plastic stools. The "waiters" spoke great English and were very fun. It was down an alleyway past a Joe Bananas.

Both of these places are probably around this area (just South of the hotel). I do remember having to cross only one main street on the walking bridge.

We went to one restaurant in Times Square, which was a cab drive away. It was a Vietnamese restaurant called the Golden Bull. It was a good meal, though nothing spectacular. It was on the 11th floor or something.

Also a cab drive away, there is a restaurant just outside The Peak. Not in the attached mall, but across the street.

I wish I paid attention to street names while I was there, but I didn't. There is no shortage of food in Hong Kong. Bring an appetite!
posted by bwilms at 2:56 PM on February 20, 2006

Oh, I forgot, I have pictures of some of the meals in my Flickr profile:

Thai (I think): 1, 2
Golden Bull: 1, 2
The Peak: 1, 2
posted by bwilms at 3:30 PM on February 20, 2006

I've travelled a lot and I always look for interesting/extravagant meals to cap off a stressful work-week. If you are in HK, you should at least try to make it to the Felix bar/restaurant at the top of the Peninsula Hotel in Kowloon. I've had better meals, but none in a more impressive environment. If you can't afford the menu (around USD 100 pp), at least go for a couple of drinks at the bar --and whatever you do, don't forget to check out the men's room...
posted by costas at 1:45 AM on February 21, 2006

Lei Yue Mun, near Junk Bay is a great place to get a really fresh seafood meal. Fresh as in you pick out your dinner from an assortment of tanks from a variety of vendors and your meal meets you at a restaurant at the end of the pier. This is a place that is best to go with a local, as you need to wander the stalls and pick out your dinner from the tanks of living, crawling, swinging, seafood and haggle price, etc. Once at the restaurant your meal goes to the kitchen and meets you again at the table.

I can highly recommend the restaurant in this picture, but as my Chinese is for crap, I can't tell you what it's called.

You can see a photo spread of the area, picking out dinner, and eating at the restaurant here. It's at the very end of the walk down through all of the vendor stalls. If you go to this place, order the 1000 year old eggs. It's a specialty and is extremely tasty. Even better if eaten with a slice of ginger.
posted by qwip at 5:16 PM on March 1, 2006

Response by poster: Thanks qwip you rule OK!!!
posted by rxrfrx at 4:10 AM on March 3, 2006