Get to know Hong Kong's culture and cuisine
Discover Hong Kong's lesser-known neighbourhoods and where to eat while visiting...
An iconic whirl of gleaming skyscrapers and dreamy island scenery, Hong Kong has long been a byword for glitz and success. But beyond the designer malls and expense-account restaurants lies a wealth of more authentic discoveries, from family-run bbq joints hawking lacquer-skinned roast goose to throwback neighbourhoods little touched by tourism.
When it comes to both dining and sightseeing, some of Hong Kong’s most exciting, memorable and culturally-rich experiences can be found just a little off the beaten track.
Choose the route less travelled and you’ll be rewarded with buzzing food markets, backcountry hiking trails, in-the-know local restaurants, and a new appreciation for just how diverse and multi-layered Hong Kong really is.
Three chefs and creatives, Dan Lee, Shu Lin and Suzie Lee, recently went to Hong Kong to rediscover classic Hong Kong cuisine, experience the best of the city's innovative dining and reconnect with their Hong Kong heritage. Here they share some top tips for how best to experience Hong Kong's food scene and culture...
Credit: CP Creatives
Credit: CP Creatives
Eat yourself happy in Hong Kong
First, to food, without question Hong Kong’s chief passion. No traveller ever went hungry in Hong Kong, one of Asia’s top foodie destinations. A feast of cuisines, cooking-styles and signature tastes have come to define the city, and none more so than the Cantonese ritual of dim sum, otherwise known as yum cha (which means "drink tea"). Dainty, delectable bites like har gow (shrimp dumplings), char siu bao (barbecue pork buns) and custardy dan tat (egg tarts), are consumed with copious cups of tea, usually at breakfast or lunch. In the most old-school yum cha joints, diners are served from heated carts piled high with teetering stacks of bamboo steamers, while in glitzier places, like the Michelin-starred surrounds of Tin Lung Heen at The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong, yum cha classics are elevated to new heights with luxe additions like Alaskan crab and Wagyu beef.
In a food scene that never stands still, putting a contemporary spin on time-honoured dishes is virtually a Hong Kong trademark. At Little Bao, foodies queue late into the evening for chef-owner May Chow’s pillow-y bao buns, sandwiching fusion fillings like slow-braised pork belly, fish tempura and Szechuan-style fried chicken, along with matcha ice-cream bao for afters. For more of a fine dining option, diners at Hong Kong’s Madame Fu can savour the homespun Cantonese desert of steamed egg-white custard reimagined as a luxurious main, infused with lobster and caviar. The setting is just as unique as the food, set within Tai Kwun, a lavishly-renovated heritage complex formerly home to Hong Kong’s Central Police Station complex.
But you don’t need four walls and waitstaff to have a memorable dining experience. Grabbing a quick bite is one of Hong Kong’s more laid-back pleasures, whether you’re attacking a tray of steamy-hot curry fish balls, gobbling up a crisp, sweet gai daan jai (egg waffle) bathed in chocolate sauce, or braving a few deep-fried cubes of Hong Kong’s famously pungent ‘stinky tofu’. Or for the ultimate local experience, follow your nose to Hong Kong’s surviving dai pai dong (cooked food markets), where you can hop from stall to sizzling stall and graze on wok-tossed noodles, wonton soup, clay pot rice and more, all at bargain prices.
And when you simply couldn’t eat another morsel… it must be time for a drink. In 2022 Hong Kong had no fewer than eight venues among those awarded the accolade of ‘Asia’s 50 Best Bars’, including first place with Coa, a stylish haunt specialising in boutique agave spirits. But to truly experience the pinnacle of Hong Kong’s nightlife scene, ascend to Ozone, the world’s highest rooftop bar, which soars above the skyline from the 118th floor of Hong Kong’s tallest skyscraper.
Suzie Lee's top tips for Hong Kong
"Hong Kong is super accessible by public transport; the Octopus card is a complete multi purpose dream tool for getting around Hong Kong no matter the means of transport and paying for things as well! Keep it topped up and you will be able to get around HK in super speed.
Also, look out for queues outside small cafes/restaurants/stalls…. Get in the queue!! It means it is a queue-worthy place to eat!
So many teeny tiny places actually have Michelin stars and you wouldn’t even know until you looked for them!"
Chef Dan Lee's top tip for Hong Kong
"For me, in Hong Kong, a visit to Tai-O is a must! This beautiful traditional village shows a completely different side to Hong Kong. The smell hits you first! The streets are filled with incredible dried fish and shrimp paste which is famous to the area. Stay around for a tea at sunset, sit on the river and take in the incredible scenery."
Photo courtesy of Chef Dan Lee
Photo courtesy of Chef Dan Lee
Shu Lin's top tips for Hong Kong
"There’s food for EVERYONE in Hong Kong! From dai pai dongs (open air eateries) in Sham Sui Po, a modernised take on Cantonese dim sum and dishes from Hong Kong Cuisine 1983 in Happy Valley, to the best Sichuan fried chicken of your life from Little Bao. There are also sensational and meticulous dining experiences at Tin Lung Heen at The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong under the helm of 2 Michelin starred legend and executive chef Paul Lau. Come hungry, come curious and leave happy. A lot of diners and no frill local places are cash only and don’t accept electronic payment."
Photo courtesy of Shu Lin (Instagram: @dejashu)
Photo courtesy of Shu Lin (Instagram: @dejashu)
Discover Hong Kong's most unique areas
Take a boat to a hidden Hakka Village
Well and truly off the beaten track, the remote village of Lai Chi Wo is two and a half hours from downtown Hong Kong. But make the journey by train and ferry and you’ll be rewarded with one of Hong Kong’s oldest and best-preserved rural settlements, perched amid woodland and mangrove forest in a nature-rich nook of the Northern Territories. Lai Chi Wo was established over 300 years ago by the Hakka people, a Han Chinese subgroup with their own unique culture, customs, cuisine and dialect. Hakka is a Cantonese world meaning ‘guest people’, a nod to how roving Hakka clans, lacking their own native soil, would set up community pockets all over southern China in the late Ming and Qing dynasties.
A closely packed cluster of houses, temples, and ancestral halls, at its peak around 1000 people lived in Lai Chi Wo, farming the surrounding land and fishing the waters of Mirs Bay. But the population nosedived in the second half of the 20th century and the village became a ghost town, virtually abandoned.
Recently however, life has started to return. Fields long overgrown now have neat plots of organic rice, turmeric, coffee, and winter melons. Market stalls sell local artisanal products to the trickle of tourists venturing to the village on weekends. This reversal of fortunes is largely down to a nine-year revitalisation plan, implemented by villagers and volunteers, which has helped attract an influx of new settlers and kickstart a burgeoning tourism industry. You can learn more about the history of Lai Chi Wo at the Siu Ying Story Room, a converted classroom in the village primary school which closed in 1980. Exhibits detail the village’s food culture, festivals and oral history passed down through generations of residents. Guided tours of Lai Chi Wo are given on Sundays, led by indigenous villagers.
A purpose-built nature trail with a raised boardwalk path circles Lai Chi Wo, cutting through a crescent of fung shui woodland believed to help concentrate wealth in the village and keep out evil spirits. Gnarled old trees have affectionate names: the Hollow Tree, the Strangler Fig, the Giant Camphor. Follow the stream out of the village and you’ll emerge into one of Hong Kong’s most abundant wetland habitats, where you might spot scuttling fiddler crabs, mudskippers and egrets among the mangrove beds. It’s all part of the protected Hong Kong UNESCO Global Geopark, and the only transport in or out is by ferry, a service launched in 2016. Boats runs on weekends and public holidays only, with one service a day in both directions.
Explore the blue-collar neighbourhood of Sham Shui Po
Catch the vintage-styled Star Ferry from Central Pier and in ten minutes or so you’ll swap the executive sheen of Hong Kong Island for the more chaotic, culturally diverse charms of the Kowloon Peninsula. Most visitors stay within the orbit of Kowloon’s Nathan Road, the famous ‘Golden Mile’ lined with shops, boutiques and eateries, or the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront promenade with its stunning skyline views of Hong Kong Island.
But venture deeper into the maze and you’ll uncover a more authentic side to the city, especially in the close-knit neighbourhood of Sham Shui Po with its lively street markets, wholesalers and food vendors. Traditionally a working-class area little explored by tourists, that’s all starting to change now thanks to an influx of creative independent businesses and a burgeoning art scene.
Shopping is of course one of Hong Kong’s premier pleasures, and that’s no different in Sham Shui Po, whether you’re haggling for cut-price electronics and vintage gadgets at Apilu Street Flea Market, or digging through fabrics, fastners and buttons in the shops along Cheng Sha Wan Road, a favourite haunt of design students. Exemplifying the new breed of Sham Shui Po retailers are places like Midway Shop, with its covetable Japanese homewares and hip printed tote bags, or Savon Workshop, a local brand selling homemade soap, together with the raw materials for DIYers to make their own.
A handful of Sham Shui Po shops double as community-led art spaces, or vice-versa. These spaces exhibit and sell the works of emerging local creatives, as well as hosting talks, screenings and community events.
Sham Shui Po is just as idiosyncratic when it comes to eating. You’ll find market stalls piled high with fresh fruit and veg along Pei Ho Street, while dotted here and there are throwback restaurants brimming with vintage cool, like Kung Wo Beancurd Factory, known for its silky-sweet tofu pudding. Close by, Yuen Fong Dumpling Store wrap all their potstickers fresh to order, served either fried or in a zingy fish broth. Sham Shui Po is also home to oldest surviving branch of Tim Ho Wan, a dim sum restaurant that garnered global fame as the world’s cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant when it opened in 2010. Confronted with so much culinary choice, why not sign up for a ‘Best of Hong Kong’ food experience with local tour company Humid with a Chance of Fishballs? You’ll make half a dozen foodie pitstops along the walk, and finish up with a better understanding of what makes Sham Shui Po tick.
Get back to the wild in Sai Kung
It might come as a surprise to learn that in high-rise Hong Kong, the great outdoors is right on your doorstep. For all Hong Kong’s famously sardine-packed urban living, roughly three-quarters of the territory is green space, with around 40 percent of Hong Kong designated as country parks or nature reserves. Top of the crop when it comes to natural escapes is the Sai Kung Peninsula, an undeveloped wonderland of lush green hills, pristine beaches and tiny offshore islands. A haven for hikers, one of the most popular routes in Sai Kung is the challenging yet rewarding MacLehose Trail, which weaves between secluded bays and verdant peaks. It’s even possible to camp on the sand under the stars in Sai Kung.
The jumping-off point for outdoor adventure is Sai Kung Town, a laidback coastal community where seafood restaurants rub shoulders with quaint boutiques, cafes and traditional markets. Hugging the waterfront, Sai Kung Seafood Street invites you to browse tanks of ruby-red king prawns, razor clams, lobster and locally-caught fish, point to what you fancy and have wok-savvy chefs turn your catch of the day into a gourmet feast. Chuen Kee Seafood, a family-run restaurant in business since the 1980s, is one of the best. You’ll also find water sports operators where you can sign up for scenic safaris exploring the region’s many islands, beaches and rock formations, either by stand-up paddleboard (SUP) or kayak, in addition to snorkelling and scuba-diving excursions.
A fun trip out of Sai Kung town is to catch a kaito (ferry) to tiny Yim Tim Tsai island, whose name means ‘little salt pan’ in Cantonese. In the past, Hakka settlers produced sea salt there, an essential commodity in the days before refrigeration. On weekends you can see this heritage industry in action, and visit charming St Joseph’s Chapel, built in 1890. But the big draw in these parts when it comes to unspoilt serenity is the Hong Kong Global Geopark, a UNESCO-listed natural playground home to surreal volcanic rock columns and sea caves. Tour operators run boat, kayak and SUP excursions into the Geopark; The Volcano Discovery Centre in Sai Kung advises on the best ways to explore.
