Cicerone

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 [email protected]

dorie

Thank you for the list, it will really help.

dorie

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.

ekscrunchy

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!

dorie

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.

marya_

Dorie:

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

TravelsMonicaJoe

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

ekscrunchy

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.

dorie

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.

dorie

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?

Cicerone

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.

julia1

Bookmarking. Thanks for the info!

dorie

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

dorie

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?

rkkwan

Basically just like most Sundays. Everything open.

dorie

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

dorie

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.

tansmets

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.

dorie809

Thank you for all the suggestions, now we need some Chinese restaurant ideas both for lunch and dinner. We are staying in Central but will travel for a great meal!