Hong Kong is known as Food Paradise for many years, where it never disappoints you as it offers everything you could think of, from world-class dishes and Michelin restaurants to cheap eats and street food, Hong Kong has proudly presented the best quality of food from everywhere around the world. Today we are going to share something local, something has a taste of Hong Kong, aka Home Kong. They might not be the best, but they could be one of the best.
Related Article: Discovering Hometown Hong Kong as a Tourist
Lovely Modern Cantonese Dim Sum
This Cantonese restaurant offers the cutest and the most interesting shape of dim sum. We thought it wouldn't taste like what it looked like; it was surprisingly delicious. Our favourite would be their signature charcoal custard buns and the "Mangosteen" which is actually a crispy sticky rice pastry with crab meat and lobster soup inside. Their "Mangosteen" was very juicy and tasty! And seriously, nothing could beat their custard bun! Everything was in a very high standard and we loved how they made those dim sum so fancy! We would definitely come back for such a good customer service and high quality food, and order our favourite again next time!
Social Place | No. 30 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong ★★★★★
Shanghai Cuisine Speciality & 8-coloured Soup Dumplings
We actually went to this restaurant once few years before, and we thought we should give it a go again when we were around. Unfortunately this restaurant didn't meet our expectation this time, their dishes didn't worth the money we spent here. Only one, or perhaps two dishes we tried were good, but most of them was just alright, especially their signature soup dumplings, were as simple as the ones we could get from a cheaper but high standard restaurant somewhere else. In overall, we would still recommend you to try at least once, but this isn't a restaurant that we would go for the third time.
Paradise Dynasty | 6/F, Lee Theatre Plaza, No.99 Percival Street, Causeway Bay ★★★☆☆
High Class Western & Chinese Fusion Restaurant in Central
This Cantonese restaurant in Soho offers Cantonese food and alcohols at the same time. It's more like a Western and Chinese fusion restaurant. We enjoyed our dinner over there. We had a very nice cocktail, some dim sums, fried rice and also Chinese desserts. The taste was fantastic, however, their price range was way too high. Is it because it's located in Central? But we're quite sure that you could still be able to find something similar at a more affordable price. Try once and see if it's worth it or not?
Steam | 11 Staunton Street, Central, Hong Kong ★★★★☆
Hong Kong Styled Western Cuisine
The most memorable thing we could remember here was the taste, and also their cats! This could be the reasons why this restaurant was busy all the time. Happyland runs by locals and offers fusion food with a taste of Hong Kong! Their service was excellent and made us feel like home when we were there! We love their appetisers very much! We'll definitely come back for that again! Remember to make a booking in advance to avoid any disappointments!
Happyland | Shop 205-06, 2/F, Universal Commercial Building, Tsim Sha Tsui ★★★★☆
Home-made Meat Pie with Expensive Lobster
We found this restaurant on the internet and we thought it would be nice to try. The lobster meat pie looks cool in the picture, but the taste was totally under our expectation. The whole thing was too salty. And the weirdest thing was the meat pie tasted like the shrimp dumpling (one of the signature Cantonese dim sum), what we mean is we couldn't really taste the lobster bit. It was quite disappointing. However, this restaurant offers many other favours of meat pie and we believed that there could be some exceptions. We shall try another one next time and we might probably change our mind.
Meat Pie Gor | No. 28 Luen Yan Street, Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong ★★★☆☆
Dai Pai Dong is Hong Kong Culture
Imagine having dai pai dong (open-air food stall) in summertime, we'd all be dying. Tung Po Kitchen is a dai pai dong styled indoor restaurant, so now you can even try dai pai dong with air conditioning in summer! Have you ever tried drinking beer in a battle bowl? This could be a Hong Kong style of drinking beer! Try this like a local! Their dishes were fantastic! We love the atmosphere there, just like a real dai pai dong on the street! It would be five star rating if it wasn't that expensive though. We suggest that you could come with more friends so that you could try loads of dishes and split the bills!
Tung Po Kitchen | 2/F, Java Road Municipal Services Building, 99 Java Road, North Point ★★★★☆
Pineapple Bun Can be Served on the Table
This could be the best pineapple bun with butter we have ever tried! Don't say you've come to HK if you haven't tried one before. This bun is very common in the local bakery in Hong Kong; but this one here was warm, crispy on top and super soft inside. It has a cold piece of butter inside and we totally loved the combination of warmness and coldness so much. This cafe is a good place to have a quick breakfast in a very local Hong Kong style.
Kam Wah Cafe & Bakery | No. 45-47 Bute Street, Mong Kok, Hong Kong ★★★★★
Michelin Starred Roasted Goose in Hong Kong
You don't need to spend much to try Michelin and Yat Lok Restaurant is one of those cheap Michelin that you should definitely try. Their roasted goose is very popular. It comes with various choices of noodles. You could also have a mix of different roasted meat, like BBQ pork or roasted pork. The soup base was so good! It was probably because of the meat which made the taste of the noodles so rich! Yum!
Yat Lok Restaurant | G/F, 34-38 Stanley Street, Central, Hong Kong ★★★★★
The Hong Kong Styled French Toast Like No Others
Something that you should also try before leaving HK is Hong Kong styled French Toast! This one from Shui Kee Coffee is quite similar to the French toast everyone generally knows of but it's also very different from it. What makes it stand out from the others? We weren't so sure about that but it literally tasted different from every others we've tried, possible because it fried with egg. This could be their secret recipe. Don't forget to order their signature milk tea in a bottle as well! It went so well with the French Toast! We had a very nice breakfast over there!
Shui Kee Coffee | Shop 17, 18167, Sheung Wan Municipal Services Building, Sheung Wan ★★★★★
Not to Miss Cha Chaan Teng in Hong Kong
Cha chaan teng (Tea restaurant) is probably the localist restaurant in Hong Kong. Law Mark Kee has the best interior design of a Cha chaan teng and that was exactly the most attracting point to us when we first bumped into this place. The pictures in the menu look very attempting and mouthwatering, and for some reasons the pictures here couldn't do it justice as they tasted even better than they looked like. Their fried noodle with soft shell crabs in typhoon shelter style, and also the deep-fried squid were super yummy! They were spicy, and the squid wasn't oily at all, which was just perfect. The price was affordable, though you can't compare this chained restaurant with a family cha chaan teng business.
Law Mark Kee | L1-11 V City, Tuen Mun, Hong Kong ★★★★★
We can't wait to try more different restaurants in the future soon!