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One of Hong Kong's busiest areas, Central is particularly crazy at lunchtime, when office workers crowd the streets and eateries. Most restaurants have set lunches—generally good values—with speedy service, so everyone gets in and out within an hour. At night the norm is either a formal dinner or a quick bite followed by many drinks, especially in Central's nightlife center, a warren of cobbled backstreets called Lan Kwai Fong. Mostly known as a drinking hole with mediocre dining options, LKF has stepped up its game in the last few years with some serious restaurants, most of which are tucked away in commercial buildings, away from the hustle and bustle of the street-level bars.
For a wider array of choices, head up to SoHo, but be wary of where you go: a lot of these places are average in terms of food and service quality. NoHo is a bit more bohemian, with some excellent hidden, independent culinary gems, especially along Gough Street.
Admiralty, wedged between Central and Wan Chai, is home to large shopping malls, and much of the food is aimed at meeting the lunch needs of workers and shoppers. It's also home to several large hotels and their respective high-end restaurants.
Once a mainstay of the Hong Kong streets, there are now only a little more than 20 licensed dai pai dongs—that is, open-air food stalls specializing in various types of local dishes. These outdoor eateries are popular for their dirt-cheap prices, minimal service, and—of course—their awesome food. There's usually no English menu, so be prepared to point to the dishes at neighboring tables.
Known as the "Demon Chef," Alvin Leung ripped up the rule book to create Bo Innovation, which wowed diners in Wan Chai for half a decade before moving to Central in 2022. Dishes tend to be clever reworkings of Cantonese classics using molecular techniques, and the nightly set menus are themed to help create a unique and thought-provoking dining experience unlike any other.
Celebrated chef Gray Kunz’s restaurant offers expertly prepared modern European fare in a casual and relaxed 49th-floor locale with stunning urban vistas. A fan of fresh, seasonal ingredients, Kunz incorporates local produce into the ever-evolving menu whenever possible, often adding Asian flavors to excellent effect.
This place is good—really, really good. Tucked away in a nondescript building in a hidden alley off Lan Kwai Fong, this reservations-only private kitchen plates up inventive, French-inspired Shanghainese dishes that are prepped in a polished open kitchen.
A Hong Kong legend, this Four Seasons stalwart was the first Chinese restaurant in the world to be awarded 3 Michelin stars back in 2009, an accolade it retained for 14 years. The elevated Cantonese cuisine on offer emphasizes seasonality and showcases masterful techniques.
This gorgeous restaurant is truly the full package. For starters, the space is gorgeous—cool, classy, and intimate at the same time. More important, though, is that Vasco serves truly inspired Spanish cuisine with global influences. The red Palamos prawns and sea urchin is a standout, as is the incredibly tender roast pigeon, which is balanced by tart apple cream. For dessert, a combination of rice and cardamom rounds off the meal perfectly. Our recommendation is to go for the chef 's tasting menu, which offers the crème de la crème that the restaurant has to offer. If you’re looking for something less formal, head to Vasco’s sister restaurant, Isono, one floor below.
Spearheaded by Umberto Bombana (the former executive chef of the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong), this glitzy haunt is for many the best Italian fine-dining restaurant in Asia. The service is crisp, the wine list is extensive, and the interior is nothing less than glamorous.
Chef Jason Atherton worked at some of the best kitchens in the world before opening the highly successful London restaurant Pollen Street Social in 2011. His culinary empire has since expanded to more than a dozen outlets around the world, with Aberdeen Street Social being one of the more recent additions. This bi-level space is located at the former Police Married Quarters and encompasses a restaurant, café, and bar. Head upstairs to enjoy meticulously plated modern British fare, such as the signature CLT (crab, lettuce, and tomato) and braised ox cheek with roasted bone marrow. You can also grab a table downstairs and try the casual, all-day menu and house special drinks.
This contemporary French fine-dining stalwart in the Landmark Mandarin Oriental has put a greater focus on sustainability in recent years, earning a Michelin green star for its efforts. Interiors are light and refreshed, while Netherlands-born head chef Richard Ekkebus has introduced an entirely dairy-free menu in an effort to emulate the comparative lightness of Asian cooking that does without cream, butter, and heavily reduced sauces. Dress to impress.
Touting itself as Hong Kong's "first authentic Italian steak house," Bistecca has become one of the best places to go for delectable beef. The space is charmingly rustic, decorated with butcher knives, hanging bunches of herbs, and a giant display case that shows off the restaurant’s premium cuts imported from the best suppliers around the globe. The steaks are all aged to tenderness and flavored with flecks of sea salt and peppercorns, then grilled and drizzled with a little Tuscan olive oil and lemon.
Only prix-fixe menus are served at this ultra-luxe French restaurant in the Four Seasons, a Hong Kong fine-dining institution which has retained either two or three Michelin stars every year since opening in 2008. The dining room, with its floor-to-ceiling windows framing harbor views, is as spectacular as the food, masterminded with passion and precision by executive chef Guillaume Galliot.
As its name suggests, this restaurant goes back to the basics by focusing on a few key ingredients. Everything that passes through the kitchen is top grade, whether it’s the fresh homemade tagliatelle with chicken and truffle emulsion, or the whole roasted Italian sea bass with fennel. Dishes are categorized into small or large plates, but everything is designed to share. Fish & Meat offers decent cocktails, but if you’re serious about your drinks, check out its sister bar, Stockton, which is located below the restaurant.
The menu here is inspired by the multicultural flavors chef Harlan Goldstein grew up with while living in New York. Italian preparations take precedence, but you’ll also find things like salmon crudo with a citrus dressing and crispy falafel served with tahini. The handcrafted pastas are easy favorites, but if you’re in the mood to feast, go for the 38-ounce fiorentina (steak Florentine style, designed for two) with a side of black-truffle mash. Gold also has a great wine selection, and you can always enjoy a glass on the restaurant’s open-air terrace.
Lobster and steaks top the bill at this classy grill in the Shangri-La Hotel. With a vibe that is at once formal and cozy, the restaurant features live jazz performances Tuesday to Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons. For a luxe blowout, go for the seafood platter, where you can find Boston lobster, seasonal oysters, Alaskan crab, prawns, and fresh clams.
In the running for Hong Kong’s most gorgeously-attired restaurant, this elegant eatery is named for its singular location in a grand old courthouse, part of the Central Magistracy block at Tai Kwun, Central’s former police compound-turned-lifestyle hotspot. Serving elegant, old-world British fare with elevated ingredients, meals at Magistracy might open with fresh oysters, smoked salmon or dressed crab, and progress to rare rib of beef, carved tableside and served with Yorkshire puddings. The gin and tonics here are some of the best in the city.
This Terence Conran–designed dining room at the Mandarin Oriental mixes old-school elegance with elevated grill offerings like New Zealand grass-fed wagyu beef and even whole roasted pheasant. Start with fresh oysters and caviar, and finish with classic indulgent desserts.
Head chef Nurdin Topham has made it his mission to bring what he calls "nourishing gastronomy" to Hong Kong. His food—which is heavily influenced by Scandinavian cooking techniques—places emphasis on taste, nutrition, and sustainable eating. Ingredients are sourced from local farms whenever possible and are used in the restaurant’s two tasting menus. Dishes are tweaked regularly to reflect the season’s freshest produce, but dishes like heirloom tomatoes with king crab or Taiyouran egg with whole grains and shiitake mushrooms have become house favorites.
From atop the Island Shangri-La Hong Kong, Petrus scales the upper Hong Kong heights of prestige, formality, and price. Luxe French fare is served in a clubby dining room decked out with heavy curtains and glittering chandeliers—this may be one for the dealmakers.
Having found great success in the United Kingdom, restaurateur Alan Yau has returned to his home city with this retro-inspired restaurant concept headed by Australian chef Shane Osborn. The menu combines Osborn’s classical culinary training with seasonal Asian ingredients such as soy dressing and fresh wasabi leaves. Meats are done especially well, and diners tend to wax lyrical about the Sagabuta pork loin, as well as the dry-aged rib eye prepared on the Josper grill. Aside from lunch and dinner, St Betty offers a fantastic weekend brunch and Sunday roast menu.
Helmed by veteran chef Satoshi Sase (who hails from the much-lauded Sushi Zen in Hokkaido, Japan), this high-caliber Japanese restaurant offers some of the freshest fish in town set against a tranquil and sophisticated setting. Omakase is the way to go here, which means you leave your meal in the hands of the chefs, allowing them to dictate the menu according to the best ingredients of the day. The omakase menu is designed according to the seasons and usually consists of sashimi, appetizers, and a wide array of nigiri sushi.
This funky izakaya has a hip but relaxed feel. The open kitchen serves up authentic Japanese fare with a modern twist, including miso-marinated black cod wrapped in hoba leaf. You can also enjoy jet-fresh fish from the sushi bar, as well as a range of innovative desserts. Another bonus is the outdoor balcony, which allows you to take in the surrounding Central night view.
