A gweipo’s guide to tourist dining in Hong Kong

Since dining out was one of the highlights of my recent trip to Hong Kong, I thought I’d dedicate a post to the restaurants we tried.

Day 1

Walking up Nathan Road at 8 a.m., Tom spotted a basement restaurant that appeared to be open (nothing else seemed to be at that hour). So we ducked into Very Good Seafood Restaurant (90-94 Nathan Road, TST, ph. 2366 5660) for dim sum. It was no-frills, old school dim sum.

For lunch, we found ourselves eating dim sum again. (When in Hong Kong, right?) This time we ate high off the ground in the new iSquare building at Star of Canton (24/F, 63 Nathan Road, ph. 2799 9368). The food was fresh, the harbor views would have been delightful but for the fog and rain, and we were the only white folks in the place.

That night my friend Kiska treated us to a curry buffet at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club in Causeway Bay. Delicious food and lovely conversation. Again, the fog and rain obstructed our harbor view, but the excitement of finding a cab during an electrical storm after dinner all but made up for that.

Day 2

For breakfast we tried our hotel’s breakfast buffet. Typical of Hong Kong, it was a mile long and featured both Asian and western food. (The Window Cafe, Kowloon Hotel, 2/F, 19-21 Nathan Road, TST, ph. 2929 2888.)

My friend Erica treated us to lunch at the historic Foreign Correspondents’ Club (2 Lower Albert Road, Central, ph. 2521 1511). Again, I ate delicious Indian food. Tom was still stuffed from the breakfast buffet, so he regrettably only ordered an iced tea.

For dinner that night, we didn’t meet friends. I led us to a place I knew from my years in Hong Kong–Peking Garden (3/F, Star House, TST, ph. 2735 8211). Tom had the best hot and sour soup he’s ever tasted and I chose a chicken and corn chowder. For our entrees, I ordered us mapo tofu and a diced chicken dish.

Day 3

Learning our lesson from the day before, we opted for a fruit salad breakfast in our hotel’s lobby coffee shop. Good people watching. For lunch we met my college roommate Rita and headed up to the Chinese University of Hong Kong. There we ate with the good folks in the Alumni Affairs Office, who treated us to dim sum at the Benjamin Franklin Centre Staff Canteen.

For dinner we braved the rains again and met six fabulous friends in Central at Tsui Wah (84-86 Des Voeux Road Central, ph. 2815 3000), thanks to the suggestion of my friend Terry. Hello, Hainan chicken rice! I ordered a hot Horlick’s but was served a hot Coke (haw luk vs. haw lok). The Coke went back to the kitchen and my hot Horlick’s arrived in no time.

Day 4

After another fruit salad breakfast in the hotel lobby, we later met friends Erica, Shannon, and Sebastian for a Vietnamese lunch at Nha Trang (88-90 Wellington Street, Central, ph. 2581 9992). I hadn’t had pho ga that fresh since Saigon ’91.

After lunch we walked over to Holly Brown Coffee (G/F, 22 Stanley Street, Central, ph. 2869 9008) for a quick cup of tea/coffee. I don’t remember western style coffee houses in Hong Kong when I lived there except for a Pacific Coffee in TST. I think.

For dinner my old friends Rita, Ling, Rick, Robecca treated us to a fabulous Cantonese banquet at Serenade (2/F, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, TST, ph. 2722 0932).

We ordered about a dozen dishes, including roasted goose, scallop cakes, black hair moss, and a nice sauteed milk and crabmeat melange. The harbor view at night was finally clear and quite visible from where Tom and I sat. The short harbor-front stroll after dinner was the icing on the cake.

There were so many other restaurants and cafes I wanted to hit on this trip, but I can’t complain about any of the above places. Now that Tom has sampled Hong Kong, maybe next time we can try a dai pai dong.

Or Chungking Mansions!

What’s your favorite restaurant or cuisine?