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I liked Tim's Kitchen; they are now at a new address. I highly recommend. It is more of a restaurant than a private kitchen, but you need to choose your dishes in advance.

I also liked Fu Sing,which I recommend for roast pork and other Cantonese dishes.

Fabulous dim sum at Fu Sing and at the Four Seasons, where the dim sum is not crazy pricey...


More on private kitchens:

http://www.boston.com/ae/food/restaurants/articles/2010/10/27/private_kitchens_in_hong_kong_serve_upscale_discerning_clients/

There are dim sum reccos on my list, as well as a place or two with Peking duck. Top of my list for dim sum would be Lok Cha Teashop, for atmosphere and great vegetarian food. The dim sum restaurant at the Chi Lin Nunnery is also quite good, also vegetarian. I would possibly include Shanghai Garden, which would offer Shanghainese versions of dim sum (including the fabulous dumplings).

Peking duck is available here, although it is not “native” as it is not Cantonese. (Kind of like having southern fried chicken in Boston.) But I think still enjoyable. A possible choice might be the Man Wah restaurant at the JW Marriott, which has good dim sum and good Peking Duck. (This is a little on the formal side, as it is popular for business lunches.)

You might consider including a “view” restaurant during your three days, as you can enjoy food and a view. IMO, no one steams a fish quite like the Cantonese, so I would try to include a seafood restaurant for that.

A “private kitchen” means many things these days. It used to mean a restaurant without a restaurant (or liquor) license, usually in someone’s apartment. However, these days, many “private kitchens” do have full restaurant licenses, although a good number still do not have liquor licenses. It usually refers these days to a small restaurant, outside of a hotel, which does not have a set menu, but offers whatever the chef has purchased that day as freshest at the market. My favourite for Chinese is Gong Guan, but you have to be a party of at least 6 to eat there (unless you want to pay for a table of 6). Dinner only, and there is little English spoken. Gitone Fine Arts is another good one, and probably the one which really qualifies as a “private kitchen” as it is an art studio during the day. My favourite for western would be One-Thirty One in Sai Kung, or TBLS Kitchen Studio on Hollywood Road in Central.

Dim Sum - the restaurants at hotels around Hong Kong offer good dim sum, ease of communication(English) but with limited offerings and the highest prices usually with added service charges and tax set by the hotels. The stand alone restaurants in malls and office buildings with moderate prices offer more choices and most will have English speaking staff. The really local places, "Yam Cha" kind of places, are the cheapest but you might have problems communicating and the I find quality of the food not as good as the first two options.

Peking Duck - as Cicernoe have said I don't find them exceptional in Hong Kong and it's ofen served differently from the Peking Duck found in S.E. Asia. The place that a lot of my Hong Kong friends seem to talk about is the Chinese restaurant at the Mira hotel in Kowloon. I've eaten there and I don't think it was that exceptional.

The best food in Hong Kong IMO are the Cantonese sea food.

Thanks everyone, We want to visit Chi Lin Nunnery anyway, so that sounds like a good bet for dim sum. I think I remember that GPanda had lunch there when they visited the nunnery with you, Cicerone, and liked it. Maybe we should skip the Peking Duck and focus on Cantonese sea food restaurants. What were your favorites Hanuman?

Cicerone, Just looked on the web & Lok Cha Teashop looks fabulous, but says it will be closed for renovation until mid-January. We'll be in HK in early Feb, so hope that it makes its timetable, but knowing how those things go, I'm not optimistic...

Hi CFW,

One of my favourite restaurant in Hong Kong is the Lei Garden. They have several branches and they offer very good sea food(steam fish live from the tank etc). I don't' think you can go wrong there but ordering in English or asking for suggestion could be difficult.

http://www.leigarden.hk/eng/cuisine/

Did you know that Chinese New Year is in early February for 2011? Expect a lot of closed shops and restaurants during the 1st week of February.

This could be of interest to you:

http://khun-pook.smugmug.com/Food/seafood/10359742_d7GhF#717036322_A4RYc

Choose the live seafood from tanks by the fishing pier then have them sent to one of the nearby restaurant and cooked the way you want.

My feeling is that Lock Cha will be open by early Feb, mostly because they would want the business in the lead-up to Lunar New Year. But there are other places to consider if it is closed.

By the way, Lunar New Year is a great time to be in Hong Kong! The skyscrapers are all decorated and the local markets are very festive, lots of red everywhere. Actually, hardly any shops and restaurants will be closed for the entire holiday, and definitely not for a week. (Hong Kong is not the PRC or Vietnam.) On the first day of the holiday (Feb 3), most shops and restaurants (other than in hotels) will be closed. You should not be overly affected by this, as you can always go to a hotel, and the odd independent restaurant will also be open. (Some in SOHO or Lan Kwai Fong, for example, and Malay or Indian restaurants.) Personally, I enjoy walking places like the business district of Central on this day, as it is eerily empty and quiet, about the only time you ever see it that way. On the second day, at least of third of shops in malls are open (this is a recent phenomenon). Many restaurants are back open as well, including restaurants a tourist is likely to go to (i.e., with English menus and English-speaking staff). By the third day, basically every shop or restaurant a tourist would need will be open. The only places which stay closed for longer are places like drycleaners, hairdressers (not in hotels), nail salons, etc. The average tourist is not going to notice this or be affected by it. Smaller, casual family restaurants may also stay closed for 3-5 days; but again, the average tourist won’t be affected. Public transport runs on a holiday schedule, which means more often than on weekdays, and which means you can get to places in the remoter New Territories which only have bus or ferry service on Sundays and public holidays (i.e., country parks near Sai Kung). All tourist sites are open, although some museums may be closed on the first day only. The first day (Feb 3) would probably be a very good day to go places like the Peak or the Po Lin Buddha, as they are likely to be empty; as people are making their new year’s visits to relatives and are not out at sights.

There are fireworks in the harbour on the second evening of the holiday (Feb 4) which are spectacular. Also be sure to stop by one of the flower markets that will be in place for about 2 weeks before the start of the holiday. Victoria Park has a very good large one, this has a frenzied fire-sale of flowers starting around 11 am on the day before New Year (Feb 2) and running to like 2 am the next day; however, I would earlier in the week to see it when it is full of flowers.

I don’t think you would have a problem with English at the Lei Gardens. They are in all the tourist books and also have a Michelin star. They have an English website. I suppose their Kwung Tong branch may have less English than others, but you are more likely to go to the Elements Mall, TST or Wan Chai branches (which have the Michelin stars. That being said, Kwung Tong is very local and you would certainly be the only tourist, so that may be fun. It’s not a charming area, but interesting in its own way, and well off the tourist path. There is a great Muji store in the same mall in which the Lei Gardens is located.)

Mmmmmm! Seafood looks fabulous. Actually, some of the best dim sum we've had has been in BKK.

Sounds really interesting.

Good news, Lock Cha is open. The renovations took place earlier this year; as per the date on the website ("we will reopen January 23 2010" That was 11 months ago). I did not notice the year on the website myself until I went past the teachouse last night and saw that it was open. I went in and asked about the renovations, and they said "those already took place". I then checked the website and saw the 2010 date. The OP's trip is in 2011. I know, time goes so fast....