www.weather2travel.com/climate-guides/hong-kong

Nice time last month B4 big rains start in April warmer

fourseasons.com Best upscale DS or Lee Restaurant best overall

with best selection www.chowhound.com will have all the best

with honest reviews check there.

Happy Journey!

We would also appreciate some info on not to be missed sites in Hong Kong.

I was in Hong Kong in early March of 2010. I am an avid swimmer and learned, from my research, that a heated pool is necessary to insure swimming at that time of year. So you need to look for an indoor pool, or a hotel with heated outdoor pool. Four Seasons has 2 outdoor pools--one heated and one not. The swimming is fabulous. YOu will find more detailed info here:



http://www.fodors.com/community/asia/hong-kong-hotelswith-pool.cfm


While the dim sum at the Four Seasons Lung King Heen is excellent, and the value is definitely there for lunch, you can also do very well in a much lower price range. Fu Sing is one good option but there are many others.

look for posts by Cicerone, who lives in Hong Kong. She has several long threads about things to see and do as well as a great restaurant thread.

ekscrunchy,

Thank you for your quick response. I have just read the link you sent and am worried about the weather. Was it as foggy and damp as they suggested it could be.

Did you stay at the FS. We are booked there for 10 days in a harbour view room. What are your thoughts on the hotel. My husband would like to be able to swim and use the pool area on Sunday after a great Dim Sum lunch! I'll pass and go to the mall with some time for myself.

We were in HK 6 years ago waiting to go on a cruise and didn't see or eat enough to satisfy us, so back we go.

The restaurants are VERY important to us as we travel to eat!

Dorie: Yes, I spent about 5 nights there last year. It is a magnificent hotel. My friends had the harbor view room but I took the non sea view; we were both happy with our choice. We had a dim sum lunch at LKH and I recommend it. The price was surprisingly reasonable for such a well-rated hotel restaurant; we paid 140HKD for a dim sum lunch for three which worked out to less than $20US per person at the exchange rate at the time of my visit.

We had decent enough weather; it was cool and foggy a few days but we also had some sunny days. I would not be deterred by thoughts of poor weather.

I am also a bit of a food fanatic ( a brief peek at my trip reports on this forum will confirm that, for better or worse!) Although I never completed the trip report for that particular trip, I did write about my meal at LKH (look at the very end of this link; that visit to HK came at the end of a 3 week stay in Burma followed by a few days in Shanghai, another great eating city.)

http://www.fodors.com/community/asia/burma-shanghai-hong-kong-part-two-of-asian-odyssey-2010.cfm

As I mentioned, I also had two good meals at Fu Sing, at their Wanchai location, one in the company of a prolific Chowhound-er who is a native of HK. That restaurant is known for dim sum, although my two meals there were dinners. Typical HK style place..gruff service, perhaps, with some servers less-than-adept in English, but some divine dishes--the cha siu and the pork belly rank with the best dishes of that long trip. I would certainly return on my next visit to the city.

There is a more upscale restaurant, Lei Garden, in the IFC Center that houses the Four Seasons. We had an excellent meal there, too.

I will be happy to give you further details, but since I've only been to HK a few times and am not so knowledgeable about the dining scene, I would recommend taking a peek at the many HK dining threads on Chowhound since there are a few regular posters there who visit frequently and are enamored of the food (as I am!)

And I forgot: I swam every morning. The pool itself, the view from the pool deck, and the service (pool guy rushing to bring you your terry robe as you ascend the pool stairs)--impeccable. There were a few swimmers using the non-heated pool but I was not among them. Both pools are large enough for serious swimming.

ekscrunchy,

I am looking forward to reading your trip report this evening, thanks for all the info. We did have dinner at Lei Gardens on both of our trips to HK. The hotel restaurant LKH sounds perfect for our Sunday Dim Sum.

I'm so glad you liked the Four Seasons. We stayed at the Peninsular the last two times, but the tower is closing in January for a redo so we had to choose a new spot.

There is not alot of talk on Chowhound about HK right now, but we have plenty of time to plan all our meals, which we love to do.

Again thanks for all of your help. I love to plan these trips and take lots of time picking out restaurants.

Dorie: I look forward to "discussing" your forthcoming trip, especially the restaurants! I can almost guarantee that you will not be disappointed by the Four Seasons. Marvelous breakfasts, too, in which dishes are not served buffet style but brought freshly made to your table.

ekscrunchy,

Breakfast sounds great. We hate to eat at breakfast buffets as we always eat too much.

The more I read about the hotel the more I like it. Now if I could only find a way to get a less expensive rate!

We have booked round trip on Continental out of Newark, with a quick trip up the day before from Florida.

Dorie: I hope you have better luck getting a discount rate than I did!! I ended up booking with a Virtuoso agent, who got us free breakfast and upgrade contingent on availability. There was a sports event in the city and the hotel was full, so we did not get the upgrade but did love that breakfast, as I mentioned. I'm afraid I did eat too much at breakfast in spite of it not being a buffet!

Are you set on that hotel, or are there others in contention?

Another place we ate was Tim's Kitchen, which has changed location since my visit. Interesting concept; you had to choose many of your dishes in advance (they fax you a menu and you can go over it with the hotel concierge). Not sure what the latest reports are, but it might be worth considering. There is also lots of talk about a place called The Chairman. Again, there are a few very knowledgeable posters on Chowhound that are always willing to help out a visitor.

ekscrunchy,

I think we are pretty well set on the FS. We looked at the Ritz, but the pool was indoors. The Intercontinental from all that we have heard has really turned into a very comercial hotel, not what we want. The Mandarin Oriental looks nice but the rooms are not as nice, and is more of a bussiness hotel. We have never stayed on the HK side so this is also interesting for us.

I have been reading up on restaurants and the Chairman comes up quite often. I put it on our list for an early lunch. I am looking for a Dim Sum lunch spot that has soup dumplings. So far Ye Shanghi, in the Pacific Place Mall, is the only place I can find that has them. We have eaten there and enjoy the food so we just might go back again. Zen is still getting good press so we will go there. It was one of our favs on our last trip.

Here are my thoughts and observations:

1. If I had to choose one month NOT to visit Hong Kong, it would be March. (The next worse month is February, but my motto for February is “at least it’s not March”. You also have Lunar New Year during Feb in some years, which adds to its appeal. ) March is the month I typically try to get out of Hong Kong for at least part of the time. It’s either damp, foggy and cool, or damp, foggy and warm. It is the weather in which your mirror never clears all day after your morning shower, and mold grows on your shoes and leather car seats. If you can move your trip to most any other month, I would think that is a better idea. You could of course luck out and have great weather in March. The odds are against you, esp for 10 days, but it can of course happen. Then, thank your lucky stars and enjoy.

2. As you seem to have been to Hong Kong a few times before, the weather may not be as much of a factor to you. Only you could know. I don’t know if you could or would want to swim outdoors in March, even in a heated pool, but that will be a matter of luck in the weather and your own preferences. I would not pick a hotel in March based on its outdoor pool. If it is nice enough to sit outdoors when you are there, please don’t waste time sitting by a pool.

3. As you have 10 days, you might want to split time between hotels. I am not usually a fan of moving hotels within a city, but you have a big chunk of time, and a nice budget, and may want to consider it. In that case the Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons might be interesting. The Ritz really has the views (March fog notwithstanding) and has a rather stunning indoor pool. It’s an infinity pool looking out over the western harbour, so seems to float 115 stories above the water. Really fantastic at sunset. The pool has a ceiling with electronic bits imbedded into it which projects images onto the ceiling in a mosaic-like pattern (clouds, colours, her images), it’s rather spectacular. There are several very good restaurants.

You could also consider staying someplace like the East Hotel, in the far east of Hong Kong Island, which is an area not frequented by tourists. (See http://www.east-hongkong.com/en/default.aspx) The area is a lot of offices and shopping malls, but you can get to interesting bits from there rather easily. such as the Tai Hang area to the west in Causeway Bay which has the charming Lin Fa Kung Temple on Lily Street and is a mix of upscale restaurants and noodle shops, or the Sai Ho Wan area on the waterfront to the east where you can find some interesting temples as well as the excellent Museum of Coastal Defense (see http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/Museum/Coastal/en/index.php).

4. If you don’t switch hotels within Hong Kong, consider an overnight to Macau which would give you time to see the quieter parts of the various Macau islands away from the obnoxious casinos. Or consider going to areas of the mainland PRC which are a day trip or overnight trip, like the Kaipíng area which is about 2 hours from Guangzhou, to see the diaolóu (often called, somewhat erroneously, “watch towers”). These were built by returning overseas Chinese in the early part of the last century. Some articles can be found at the Frommers.com website and at http://www.kaiping.gov.cn/test/diaolou/eng; http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/en_curiosity/2006-02/15/content_79330.htm; and http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/1688. Or consider a trip to
Crosswaters Lodge, an “eco lodge” outside Huizhou, which is about 70 miles from Hong Kong. You can take a car or train. It’s in a lovely mountain area with birding, hiking and visits to local Hakka villages. Quite interesting and pretty and very untouristed. Huizhou is a largish city, with some pretty areas along the river. For the lodge, see crosswaters.net.cn/. You need a PRC visa for either of these trips.

5. The soup dumplings you mentioned are Shanghainese, not Cantonese, which is why you have so far only seen them at Ye Shanghai (which is quite good). You can sometimes find them in Cantonese restaurants as well; I can’t recall if Zen has them. One place I would recommend for them is below:

Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao
Shop 310, Tai Yau Plaza
181 Johnston Road
Wanchai
Tel: 2573-8844
(see website for other outlets in Hong Kong at http://www.crystaljade.com/hongkong.htm

You should also be able to find them here:

Shanghai Garden
1/F Hutchison House
10 Harcourt Road
Admiralty
Tel: 2524 -181
http://www.maxims.com.hk/en/index.asp

I have an embarrassingly long restaurant list which I would be happy to send you if you send me an email at ciceronehongkong@live.hk; I would suggest you wait until Jan or Feb to get my list as I update it about once a month (restaurants tend to open and close here with lighting speed).

6. I personally would never rule out a restaurant because it is in a hotel. In Asia, unlike Europe and America, some of the very best restaurants are found in hotels. This is changing, but still I would say it is more the rule than the exception that the better restaurants here are in hotels; for example Lung King Heen mentioned above in the Four Seasons. That is certainly the case with “name” restaurants like Nobu.

Cicerone,

Thanks for all the information. We are unable to change our travel dates so we will deal with the weather as best a possible. We have been to HK twice, both times in early March so we really know what to expect weather wise. That said one trip was cold and damp in the 50s, and the following year we saw sunny days in the high 60s, and clear views from the Peak.

I would be very honored to have your restaurant list and will contact you after the new year here, Jan 2012.

Hotel dining is fine with us and we expect to try out the best ones HK has to offer. We do need one special dinner as my brother will be in HK for three nights while we are there. Should it be the Ritz or the Four Seasons restaurant.

Dim Sum is high on our list for lunch and we are starting our list with Ye Shanghi and The Chairmen. I have lots of reading to do and will check back here everyday to see whats new.

Thanks again for you help, all suggestions are appreciated.

We are about a month away from our trip and I'm trying to firm up our restaurant selections. Here is our list so far, and please critique as much as you like. We will be in Hong Kong for seven days right before the Rugby 7s.
LUNCH
Zen
Din Tai Fung
Sunday Dim Sum Tin Lung Heen
Liu Yuan Pavilion
Ye Shanghai

DINNER
Crystal Jade
The Square
Isola
Fook Lam Moon
Tosca
Lei Gardens
Man Wah

Thank you so much for all of your help planning this trip.

I just wonder if someone will get tired from all the high-end dining. Just curious about it.

Dorie I know only a few of those restaurants so cannot comment on most. We did have a very good dinner at Lei Gardens in the IFC Center connected to the Four Seasons. That would be an appropriate spot for the "special" dinner with your brother, as would Lung King Heen in the Four Seasons. The latter is a bit more elegant, especially at dinnertime.


Ye Shanghai, Crystal Jade, and DTF are part of fairly upscale Asian chains and all will give you very good food in a slick environment. I've been to DTF in several Asian cities and always have had a good meal. The xlb, or sup dumplings, at DTF are legendary. I, too, read quite a bit about The Chairman but did not have time to go there.

You will absolutely be able to swim in March, even if the weather is chilly, as the FS' largest pool is very well heated. I swam every morning before breakfast and had the pool mostly to myself. We were there DURING the Rugby tournament and the city was packed!

For more food information I will direct you to www.Chowhound.com, where there are several posters local to HK or frequent travelers to HK who are very knowledgeable about the local food scene.

I wish I were going along with you!

Zen
Always a good choice. Make a booking.

Din Tai Fung
Don’t know it

Sunday Dim Sum Tin Lung Heen
To be frank, if you are gong to Tosca, I am not sure it is worth going to this one as well (view is not of the harbour but looks north and west). I would pick one. If you wanted to spend a lot of money on dim sum, I think I would go to the Four Seasons actually.

Liu Yuan Pavilion
Don’t know it

Ye Shanghai
I actually think I would go here for dinner and switch out the Square or Crystal Jade for lunch. Otherwise fine for lunch.

DINNER
Crystal Jade
Also a good choice for lunch, but hard to go wrong for either meal at any of their outlets. Some outlets are more casual than others, the one in Wan Chai is not particularly upscale, IMO.

The Square
I like it for dim sum, but fine for dinner.

Isola
Due to construction going on in front of the IFC building, their view is not much at this point, lots of cranes. It is better at night, and if you are not sitting outdoors (which you may not want to do in March in any event). For the IFC Mall, the higher you can go, the better the view will be at this time. Isola is a bit too low.

Fook Lam Moon
Not sure which outlet you mean. I like the one on the Wan Chai side.

Tosca
Consider joining the blue plate special crowd and booking a table before sunset (maybe half an hour) and go and have a drink at the table while the sunsets. I think the earliest booking they take is 5:50 or 6 pm which may just make it for sunset in March; you will then get the fabulous views both day and night, which are really something (assuming the March weather cooperates.)

Lei Gardens
Not sure which outlet you mean, again hard to go wrong with this one.

Man Wah
One of my personal favourites, for atmosphere and food.

Cicerone thanks for your input. I have changed Sunday lunch from Tin Lung Heen to Lun King Heen, reservation is made.

Ye Shanghai will now be for dinner, and The Square lunch.

Fook Lam Moon on Johnston Street, is that the one you mean? and Lei Gardens at the IFC.

Are there any reservations that need to be made before we leave or can we arrange them upon arrival.

I would love to have your restaurant list if possible. Thanks again for all of your help.

All the restaurants on your list are quite popular, so even for lunch on a weekday and esp on a Sunday you are going to need a booking at least a day or two ahead. (I have experience at not being able to get a table for lunch at virtually all of these at one time or another calling a day or more ahead.) For an April visit, you can probably wait to book most of these until a week or two out; however for Tosca you might want to check now just to make sure.

Also the trick for lunch is to book at 11:45 or 12, as most of the nation seems to have lunch at 12:30, so if you are willing to book a bit early, you can usually secure a table. Conversely, booking for 1:30 or 2 pm usually means you can get a table.

Many of these places, like Lei Gardens and Crystal Jade, are more popular for lunch than dinner and you may be able to do walk-in for dinner. And Hong Kongers are famous for double booking (I do it myself), so the other thing to try is to call at 6 or 7 pm and see if there have been cancellations for that evening; you may be able to get a table that way.

Yes, the Fook Lam Moon on Johnston is the one I was referring to. Bone up on your Cantopop stars before you go....

If you want my restaurant list, send me a message at ciceronehongkong@live.hk

Thank you for the list, it will really help.

ekscrunchy, you were right! The pool was just beautiful and the weather amazing. We just returned and we were lucky enough to enjoy temps in the 70s' every day. We were just to busy to use the pool, but next time it will be on the top of our list. The hotel was also over the top.......They gave us an upgrade that was not to be believed, what a great time we had in Hong Kong, can't wait to return. Restaurants were wonderful, with a slight problem at one, Fook Lam Moon, but all in all the food was super. Thanks again for your help.

Dorie I am so glad that the hotel, and the time frame, worked out for you. Despite the reputation as a poor month to visit Hong Kong, I thought the weather was excellent and would not hesitate to return again at that time of year. Thanks for checking back!

cicerone, Thank you for all the help you gave us. Our dining was wonderful except for Fook Lam Moon where they just ignored us and then once our order was taken we waited over an hour to be served half of what we had ordered while all the tables around us that arrived well after we did we served in a prompt time frame. We were the only non Chinese table and we really felt out of the loop there. We left after half the meal was served, paid the bill, and went elsewhere and finished up our meal.

Tosca at the Ritz was not worth the steep price. The view was outstanding but the food was not.

Dorie:

Any more thoughts about your experiences in HK that you can share?

The rooftop restaurant at the new ICON hotel has great dim sum and view

Marya: I'll put in another mention of FuSing (see above); I had two dinners at their Wanchai location and thought the food was excellent. If you do go there, take along a list of their "best dishes," and focus on those.

Here is the list of restaurants we dined at and our thoughts on each one;

Crystal Jade- We know that this is a chain, but the food was wonderful, and the service great. Our favorite dishes there were the xiao long boa, chicken with cashews and chilli peppers and the shrimp with egg whites.

Lei Gardens- Another chain but quite possibly the best meal we had. Peking duck, chicken hot pot, fried rice, prawns with garlic were our favorites.

Ye Shanghai- A great dinner. we loved the xiao long boa, Kung po chicken.

Tosca- not worth the trip or the price. Pasta was fair and the rest sub par. The view was amazing but not worth eating there.

Isola- Another dissapointing dinner. The dining room was shabby, the menu dirty and it went downhill from there.

Zen- A great lunch that we liked so much we did it twice. Lobster and noodles, sliced BBQ pork, fried rice, an eggplant and noodle dish, BBQ pork buns.

Lung King Heen- Sunday Dim Sum lunch. In one word FABULOUS.
Lobster and scallop dumplings
shrimp dumplings with mushrooms
shanghainese pork dumplings
shrimp and pork dumplings with conopy
crabmeat dumplings with asparagus
and the best BBQ pork buns with pine nuts we have ever had. This is a lunch not to be missed. The service was great and the setting and view lovely.

We have just booked a return visit to Hong Kong for the first ten days in April.

Are there any new restaurants we should not miss?

Well there are thousands of restaurants here, so I think that is really too hard a question to answer. It depends on your taste, budget, etc. If you wait until like Febuary 2013 I can send you my most recent restaurant list. Some new restaurants will surely open (and others will close) between now and then.

Since this is your second trip and you know the place better and presumably have a bit of time, I would say to consider One Thirty One in the New Territories. Without a car it's a bit of a trek, but you can add a walk/hike in the area or a boat trip around Sai Kung first and make a day of it. I think this may be better for lunch so you can appreciate the setting, or get there for sunset.

Let us hope and pray that Michelle Garnaut's replacement for M at the Fringe will have reopned by then.

Bookmarking. Thanks for the info!

Thanks, Cicerone One Thirty One sounds interesting and we will have plenty of time this trip.

I have another question. Our first day in Hong Kong is Easter Monday, what is open as I just read that it's a holiday.

Thursday is Ching Ming Festival, is everything open on that day?

Basically just like most Sundays. Everything open.

rkkwan, thank you, that's great news. We really did not know what to expect.

I am starting to plan for our return to Hong Kong in March, and would like some thoughts for a great Italian restaurant. My husband has requested a few non chinese meals for our 10 day stay. We tried Isola and Tosca last year and would like some other suggestions, thanks.

I have to be honest, IMO Hong Kong is not a great place for Italian food. I've been pretty disappointed by high end Italian restaurants here - you can get much better Italian food in a cheap restaurant in NY. I think they modify the food a bit to the Chinese palate. However, a few places are ok:

8 1/2 - Otto Mezzo - 2 or 3 Michelin stars with the prices to go along with it. I thought the food was very good, not enough to justify $200 USD or so per person though.

Cafe Gray - on the top of the Upper House in Pacific Place - not really Italian, but the best pasta appetizer I've eaten in my life.

Cenacolo in Soho has good, cheap Italian food. Good if you want a filling pasta or chicken parmesan with some garlic bread...

Bistecca is an Italian steakhouse. I have not yet been, but it gets great reviews.

Lupa is so so. It is the same Mario Batali restaurant that is in NY, however the food and atmosphere is much better in NY. The one in Hong Kong tries too hard.

Posto Pubblico is a New York style Italian bistro type place in soho. Dark and crowded, the food is decent, but again, expensive for what you get.

Nicholins in the Conrad - some people like it, but I found my recent lunch there disappointing. The atmosphere is very stuffy.

Linguini Fini has very good vegetables and cheeses but I found the pizzas disappointing.