Hong Kong ranks as one of the top food cities in the world. It's a combination of many factors - first there's thousands of restaurants and, if you are dining alone, the cost of a meal at many of these restaurants may be cheaper than shopping for groceries and preparing a meal yourself.
If you are in Hong Kong for a limited time it makes sense to focus on the local cuisine. There's quite a variety from dim sum to seafood and price range from street stalls to 3 Star Michelin Restaurants. It's best to pick a cross section of cuisines and coordinate where you are in the city with what restaurants are nearby. Chances are there is a Top 5 restaurant in a cuisine category within walking distance of wherever you are in the city.
dai pai dongs and cooked food centres
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Dim Sum is a traditional Cantonese dish - without going into too much detail Dim Sum is basically the Chinese version of Spanish tapas. Obviously the dishes are completely different but it's a similar concept in that you order a few small dishes to comprise a larger meal. Most of the dishes are served in a steamer basket.
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Noodles may be more of a North China, above the Yangtze, dish, however, it is strongly represented in Hong Kong. What is overwhelming to the first time visitor is not just the different meals in which noodles are used, it's also the variety of the cut and composition of the noodles themselves. Each place seems to have taken their own approach creating several favorites across the city.
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The Hong Kong roast meats are a thing of beauty. Crispy skin, moist and tender meat. There's three options: goose, pork, or duck - or if you can't decide, order all three. With a side of rice and a coke the best part is the complete meal costs about $6 USD.
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Hong Kong is an island. There's water all around, yet I don't feel that seafood is the city's strongest cuisine. There's a few good dishes but beyond the classics of Typhoon Shelter Crab and Salt and Pepper Crab I've struggled to find quality options.
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Your Tsiu Wah's, Maxim's, Fairwood's, Cafe de Coral's, Pacific Coffee Company, etc.
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In a section of the world where there is more rice than oats, congee is the gruel-like equivalent to oatmeal although since you can also eat it for dinner it's also similar to a thick soup. At the best congee restaurants, the plain rice is good alone, however, it's common to add a meat or a few vegetables to the dish for additional flavor.
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If it's winter, and you're in Hong Kong, try to eat some claypot rice - there's not much to the dish. It's simply rice, in a claypot, with a meat and/or vegetable topping of your choice.
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Pork Claypot Rice
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Scallop and Geoduck Claypot Rice
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Before moving to Hong Kong I scoured the city to ensure it had hamburger joints, pizzerias, fried chicken, and a few other foods I get cravings for from time to time. I've expanded the cravings to not only include Western cravings but also any non-Chinese cravings, like Japanese, Indian, Thai, etc. Most of these places in the central to tin hau "corridor" and Tsim Sha Tsui areas.
