Hong Kong Food Travel Guide

Hong Kong is a city that lives to eat. Cantonese cuisine – one of the eight great culinary traditions of China, refined continuously for over two thousand years – reaches its most sophisticated expression here, in a city that combines the cultural depth of southern China with the cosmopolitan energy of a global metropolis. The result is a food scene of extraordinary range and quality: from dai pai dong (open-air cooked food stalls) where wok hei-charged stir-fries are prepared over roaring flames, to the serene dining rooms of Tim Ho Wan – the world’s most affordable Michelin-starred restaurant -where dim sum is elevated to the level of art.

The city has more restaurants per capita than almost any city in the world, and the competition for diners is fierce, which means standards are exceptionally high at every price point. Hong Kong’s street food culture is as compelling as its fine dining. Egg waffles – crisp, bubble-surfaced, eaten warm from a street cart – are the city’s signature snack. Pineapple buns, stuffed with nothing but butter, disappear from bakeries by mid-morning. Silk-smooth milk tea, a legacy of British colonial rule brewed with evaporated milk and pulled through a stocking strainer, is an institution found in every cha chaan teng (Hong Kong-style café). The Temple Street Night Market in Kowloon is one of Asia’s great street food experiences, while the city’s wet markets – particularly those in Wan Chai and Sheung Wan – are a window into an ingredient culture of remarkable depth. Hong Kong rewards the food traveler endlessly.