A Food Lover’s Guide To Hong Kong
In 2016, I found myself on a layover in Hong Kong on the way to Manila with a couple of friends. We were in our twenties then, and seemingly impermeable to jet-lag. Instead of puttering between the airline gates or napping at an airport hotel, we decided to stash our bags in storage and take in as much of the city as possible in the 24 hours we had.
It was an incredible decision. One of the friends I was travelling with had family living in the city: her aunt took us to her favourite dim sum restaurant, while her uncle shepherded us through the public ferry to see the Hong Kong’s electric nighttime skyline, then up one of the transit system’s original tram tracks to Victoria Peak, the highest lookout in the city. We shopped for trinkets at a late-night street market. We packed high-quality tea into our carry-ons. “I can’t wait to come back here,” I thought at the time, and while it took almost ten years, I recently had the chance to return for more than just a day.
Where To Stay In Hong Kong
It was impossible not to be charmed by my stay at the Mandarin Oriental The Landmark, a hotel in the Central district that has maintained its sleek mid-century decor since it opened in the early 1960s. From the sculptural crystal chandeliers to the towering flower arrangements to the light Osmanthus fragrance that lingered in every room, it was a delightful stay. The breakfast buffet at the Clipper Lounge, one of the hotel’s restaurants, was a real highlight with its mix of fresh pastries, continental breakfast items and traditional Cantonese picks, from rice rolls and chicken congee to hot soy milk served with youtiao, a fried donut for dunking. (You don’t have to be a guest at the hotel to book a table.)
Short-term apartment rentals such as Vrbo and Airbnb also operate in Hong Kong, and you can find reasonable prices on centrally located apartments, particularly in Kowloon, a cultural district home to art galleries, museums and beautifully appointed public parks.
Where To Eat And Drink In Hong Kong
I can’t stress this enough: get ready to eat. With almost 17,000 restaurants, cafés and bars, Hong Kong is one of the most competitive dining cities on the planet, with options that range from a $10 bowl of noodle soup loaded with shrimp wontons at the Michelin-recognized Tsim Chai Kee to a $400 eight-course tasting menu of exquisite French-Cantonese fusion dishes at award-winning VEA. (I had a matsutake mushroom-caramel tart there that changed the way I think about dessert.)
Bonus: Both restaurants have a Canadian connection. A cousin of the Tsim Chai Kee family opened two Canada-side locations in the GTA under the name Jim Chai Kee. And since moving to Hong Kong in 2010, Toronto-raised chef Vicky Cheng has become a culinary celebrity, opening Michelin-starred restaurants VEA and Wing, as well as casual café Medora and a gelateria named after his two daughters, Liz and Tori. And this isn’t an unusual Hong Kong story—after a large wave of migration to Toronto and Vancouver in the ’80s and ’90s, many second-generation Hong Kong-Canadians moved back; today the region boasts one of the largest populations of Canadians abroad.
No trip to Hong Kong would be complete without partaking in a dim sum lunch or a stop at a dai pai dong (street food stall), two dining traditions that define the culinary soul of the city. You’ll easily find dim sum options for every taste and budget, from the old-school-style dumplings and tea at Luk Yu Teahouse to modern and upscale takes on the classics at Duddell’s.
The traditional street food stalls that once lined every market in the city are harder to come by—only 17 officially licensed ones remain in spots such as the Ladies’ Market or Temple Night Market—though you’ll also find plenty that have moved into cooked food markets, a type of food court where you’ll find everything from condensed milk french toast and steamed rice rolls to blistered green beans and clams with black bean sauce. (I tried all of these at the Sheng Wun Centre, just minutes from my hotel). If all the options seem overwhelming, book a food tour—it's a great way to visit different neighbourhoods and taste the best Hong Kong has to offer.
If you’d rather wander on your own, bar-hopping is another excellent way to see the city. Start the night with a stroll among the bumping bars on Lan Kwai Fong, a bustling club district owned and developed by a Canadian. Head over to Bar Leone for smoked olives and fig-leaf negronis if you're a cocktail purist, or to Peridot’s crystal-studded lounge for a massive selection of Japanese whiskeys and an incredible 38th-floor view of the harbour.
While major credit cards are accepted at most big-box retail stores and restaurants, you’ll want to have Hong Kong Dollars on hand for shopping at night markets, convenience stores or local eateries.
What To Explore In Hong Kong
If you feel the need to walk off all that food and drink, take a hike—literally. Despite its reputation as a dense urban centre, Hong Kong and its nearby islands offer a large network of hiking trails that range from an easy coastline stroll to a multi-day mountain trek. One afternoon, as we took the Ngong Ping 360 cable car up Lantau Island’s mountains, I spotted multiple hikers making their way up the same route by foot. At the peak, we stopped to get a glimpse of Tian Tan, the second largest Buddha monument in the world that's connected to the Po Lin Monastery.
If you’d like to get on the water, Tai O, a heritage fishing village, is a 30-minute bus ride from the monastery on Lantau Island. You’ll find vendors selling boat tickets to take you through the canals of this historic neighbourhood, where houses are built on stilts and many families still make a living off commercial fishing or selling street snacks such as tofu pudding, fresh mango mochi and marinated cuttlefish. My favourite bite was chopped and salted scallops piled on vermicelli noodle nests, each steamed in their own individual scallop shell at Fook Moon Lam.
If arts and culture is more your speed, a visit to the M+ Gallery is a must for a comprehensive look at the region's contemporary art scene. Then, shop for niche perfumes and designer bags at the nearby K11 Musea, a luxury shopping mall.
My favourite shopping experience? The small boutiques at PMQ, a former police headquarters transformed into a retail court where local designers and artisans display everything from beaded jewellery to silk slips, ceramic mugs, crocheted stuffed animals and more. I picked up a zippered vest a designer had made from denim scraps and a vintage brocade cheongsam, a traditional garment thoroughly re-imagined into something contemporary.
When To Go To Hong Kong
Hong Kong is largely comprised of a series of tightly clustered islands on the Pacific, meaning it can get very hot and humid in the summer; early spring and fall offer ideal weather conditions of about 20 to 25C. (Regardless of the season, be sure to pack an umbrella and light raincoat.)
How To Get To Hong Kong
Many airlines will include Hong Kong as a stopover city to break up long-haul flights to Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore and other destinations. If you find yourself on such a layover, like I once did, it’s worth extending it by a day or two to explore.
No matter where in Canada you’re flying from, Hong Kong is, at minimum, a 13-hour flight. I recommend flying with Cathay Pacific—the in-flight service was incredible, the food shockingly fresh and departures out of Hong Kong International Airport offer warmed Cantonese-style egg tarts on request. If you're in the mood to splurge, business and first-class tickets give you access to the airline's airport lounges, which offer amenities such as all-you-can-eat noodle bars, shower facilities and more. (Even if you’re not flying fancy, joining their membership points program allows you to buy passes to some of these lounges on economy flights.)
How To Get Around Hong Kong
Hong Kong is an excellent entry point for first-time travellers to East Asia. Most of its public signage—street signs, billboards, transit, etc.—are labelled in Cantonese and English, a holdover from its period of British colonization.
Central Hong Kong is also a pedestrian’s paradise: the sidewalks are wide, clean and very walkable. (Note: Jaywalking is a strictly enforced infraction that comes with a HKD $2,000 fine, or around CAD $355.)
An extensive subway and ferry system also make it tremendously easy to get around, even from island to island. It took me just 15 minutes to walk from my downtown hotel to the Victoria Harbour’s central port, hop on a CAD $1 ferry and cross the harbour to the mainland. Access to either system can be paid for with a pre-loaded Octopus Card (Hong Kong's public transit card, which can be purchased from any subway station and loaded with funds) or a credit card.
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Chantal Braganza is a writer and editor living in Toronto. She is deputy editor, food at Chatelaine, a cookbook nerd, lover of vintage dish ware, and currently training for yoga teacher certification. Her first book, Story of Your Mother, is out with Strange Light Press.
