Hong
Kong is home to 10,000 restaurants, ranging from tiny, inexpensive noodle
shops and casual family-style eateries, to elegant dining rooms and
restaurants so large the waiters have to use walkie-talkies. Hong Kong also
caters to all budgets you could fork out as much as HK$ 500 a head in some
of the more exclusive restaurants, and eat for as little as HK$ 10 on the
streets.
So many of the world's cuisines are represented in the territory. But the
best Hong Kong offers is a wide variety of regional Chinese food in its home
kitchens.
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ON HONG KONG ISLAND
Lan Kwai Fong and its environs
The mother of all entertainment areas in Hong Kong, the sloping streets off
Central's Lan Kwai Fong are packed with hundreds of bars, night spots,
restaurants and shops in the small area between Wyndham Street and the
curving D'Aguilar Street, from ultra chic bistros to dai pai dongs. Live
music streams out of the Mexican, American, Thai, German, Vietnamese, Irish,
Japanese, French and Cantonese restaurants that fill the lower floors of the
buildings lining these streets. Appropriately, The Fringe at the corner of
Wyndham Street and Lower Albert Road marks entry into Lan Kwai Fong.
Recommended are the very affordable kebabs (HK$ 35-55) and rolls of Midnight
Express (3 Lan Kwai Fong; open till 3 am), the more upmarket Moroccan
cuisine (entrees HK$ 50 and up) of Beirut (Winner Building, 27-39 D'Aguilar
St) and the blue-hued, bright and noisy interiors of the Spanish La Bodega
(42 D'Aguilar St). Delightfully orange and unfailingly chirpy, the Noodle
Box (30-32 Wyndham St, Central) is a lunch spot par excellence. Check out
the vegetable bok choi (HK$ 45) or the chicken curry with Hokkien noodles
(HK$ 40).
The noisy Wing Wah Lane, one of the corners of Lan Kwai Fong, is lined with
cheap dining options offering great food
and reasonable prices (entree HK$ 30 and up). Here, try the Vietnamese Bon
Apetit (HK$ 20-40) or Good Luck Thai. This is also the place to be for the
homesick. The area has no less than seven Indian restaurants. The most
famous among them is Gunga Din's (LGF, 57-59 Wyndham Street). They offer
generous buffets for HK$ 70 and discounts for large groups. Coco Curry House
(8 Wing Wah Lane), right opposite Good Luck Thai, has Malay-Indian nasi
kandar, complete with teh tarik tea and roti canai. Greenland's India Club
(1/F,Yu Wing Building, 64-66 Wellington Street) does set thalis (HK$ 68),
plus samosas,chicken tikka, rogan josh,aloo gobi, matar mushroom sabzi,
papad and chutney among other regulars.
South of Hollywood Road
Heading north-west from Lan Kwai Fong are the streets of SoHo
Staunton, Elgin, Graham and Peel St in particular all connected by the
Central Mid-Levels Escalator. Step off the world's longest outdoor
escalator to globetrot in SoHo 'south of Hollywood Road' which has
a concentration of restaurants serving cuisine from all over the world.
Stretch your imagination beyond French bistro or Thai spice. Think
Argentinian, Mediterranean, Portuguese, Spanish, Nepalese, Vietnamese, Cajun
name it and you can find it in Central's SoHo.
On Staunton Street try La Pampas for roast beef, Pampas-style, chorizo or
grilled provolone at this Argentine eatery. Troika, on Elgin Street, offers
Russian caviar with sour cream and blinis, and good borscht.
In Chinese culture, red is an auspicious colour. So the charming Bistro
Manchu (33 Elgin St) should be very lucky. A red doorway leads to red tables
lit by red lanterns. The food, thankfully, has its own colour palette, and
covers a range of very reasonably priced North Chinese and Hakka cuisine
(entree HK$ 13-38). They have great dumplings, with some unusual stuffing
try the surprisingly good tomato and egg fillings. They also serve up some
great congee the rice porridge that is the speciality of Hong Kong's dm pai
dongs.
The huge eyes of Swayambhunath staring at you at Kathmandu (11 Old Bailey
St, off Staunton, SoHo) are a bit disconcerting because they grace the
bar. The food isn't bad, certainly not worth the HK prices, but the place
does have atmosphere.
La Kasbah (17 Hollywood Rd, Central) is as Arabian Nights as it gets, with
delicious Maghrebi Turkish, Moroccan and North African cuisine. Our pick is
pastilla (HK $ 85) if you can relate to pigeons in pastry. The less
adventurous can go for traditional Maghrebi couscous (HK$ 145-160). Upstairs
is the chic Medina nightclub. La Kasbah is part of a chain that includes the
delightful S&M (9 Old Bailey Street, SoHo). It's not punishment on the menu,
but something tastier — juicy sausages with hot mash. You get a choice of
sausages from a range that includes Lincolnshire sage and parsley, duck and
apple and German veal sausages, pumpkin, chilly or garlic mashed potatoes
and onion gravy, for HK$ 70.
Causeway Bay
For an ideal family dining experience, go to the Banana Leaf Curry House
(440 Jaffe Rd, 1st Floor, Causeway Bay also in Mong Kok and Tsim Sha Tsui).
Servings in this elegant restaurant come straight onto your banana leaf from
the wooden buckets that servers carry around. Delicately spiced and
plentiful portions of curry (HK$ 25-50).
If you're a sushi fan, Genroku Sushi (Jaffe Rd, just west of Percival St,
Causeway Bay; another branch in Wellington St, Central) is the place for
you. Simple and clean, no fancy decor or any other distractions come between
you and the dozens of varieties of sushi and sashimi that float by on
multicoloured plates on the conveyor belt snaking through the restaurant.
Grab whatever looks appealing — most portions are under HK$ 15.
Because good Italian is so expensive in Hong Kong, the prices at Fat
Angelo's (102, IF Elizabeth House, 250 Gloucester Road, Causeway Bay) almost
seem like a great deal at HK$ 88 for spaghetti marinara or HK$ 145 fettucine
with salmon. Excellent wine too at this family-run restaurant, also located
in Soho (GF, 49A-C Elgin Street).
While in Causeway Bay, for seafood and nothing else discover the milk of the
ocean from across the seven seas at Mr Oyster (GF, Redana Centre, 25 Yiu Wa
Street, Causeway Bay). They offer Japanese Kumamoto oysters (HK$ 22), 10
types from the Pacific and Atlantic along the US coast, Scottish Belon (HK$
38), Irish Gigas (HK$ 35) and British Colchester (HK$ 32). All of these are
served the best way possible raw on the shell.
Saint's Alp Teahouse offers very different kinds of Chinese teas apart from
the regular green leaf. The subtly flavoured black sesame tea, green taro
tea and tea with tapioca are a Taiwanese import, popular in Hong Kong. Their
coffee drinks are equally good, with agar and ginseng flavours, coconut milk
and honey-dew melon shakes. The teahouse has franchises in popular places
like Pacific Plaza, Des Voeux Road West , the World Trade Centre , Plaza
Hollywood and Festival Walk.
For fresh seafood and bay-side dining, you can find good options along the
promenade at Stanley.
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IN KOWLOON
Kowloon's mini-Lan Kwai Fong is Knutsford
Terrace, on the corner of Observatory and Kimberley roads in Tsim Sha Tsui.
It makes for some pleasant terrace dining, away from the din of Nathan Rd
and Kowloon's packed streets. The restaurants are spread across the
buildings along Knutsford Terrace and Knutsford Steps, all unfailingly chic
and the food is worth the hefty price tag. It's a great place to sit and
have a drink or two and sample some truly global cuisine. Try the charmingly
yellow-painted El Cid Spanish restaurant, which serves some great tapas, or
dig into traditional cuisine at La Cuisine de Mekong, offering a selection
of the best of China, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam.
If you never have before, this is the place to sample freshly shucked
oysters served American-style on the half shell with toast and cocktail
sauce at Knutsford Steak Chop and Oyster Bar (Level 1, 15 Knutsford
Terrace). Half a dozen Oysters Rockerfeller come for HK$ 148. Go for the
seafood platter which at HK$ 198 is a steal for decent servings of grilled
succulent tiger prawns, salmon, oysters, squid and mussels.
If you're in Hong Kong in summer, cool off at Balalaika (2F, 10 Knutsford
Terrace), a Russian restaurant where you're handed a fur coat before you
step inside their walk-in freezer for chilled vodka.
۞
IN THE NEW TERRITORIES
Select seafood fresh from the tanks at Sai Kung's
largest seafood restaurant, Chuen Kee, on Hoi Pong Street.
Selections include a variety of sashimi, sea urchin, cuttlefish and lobster.
Also in Sai Rung is the lively Sai King Fishing Village on
See Cheung Street, which serves Cantonese-style food, with seafood
dominating the menu. Must-tries are Sai King's famous crab with garlic and
scallions, or braised sliced pork with dried leaf mustard. For more on
Cantonese seafood.
Back
Kowloon's mini-Lan Kwai Fong is Knutsford
Terrace, on the corner of Observatory and Kimberley roads in Tsim Sha Tsui.
It makes for some pleasant terrace dining, away from the din of Nathan Rd
and Kowloon's packed streets. The restaurants are spread across the
buildings along Knutsford Terrace and Knutsford Steps, all unfailingly chic
and the food is worth the hefty price tag. It's a great place to sit and
have a drink or two and sample some truly global cuisine. Try the charmingly
yellow-painted El Cid Spanish restaurant, which serves some great tapas, or
dig into traditional cuisine at La Cuisine de Mekong, offering a selection
of the best of China, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam.