161 Best Restaurants in Hong Kong, China

One of the best Korean restaurants in town, Go Koong covers extensive ground, from raw meats and seafood that are cooked sizzling on the tabletop grills, to kimchi stews and thick pancakes studded with shrimp, squid, and scallions. The complimentary banchans (appetizers) are a feast in themselves, with more than 10 different items available every day. Order the smoked duck-breast salad to start before moving on to more substantial fare such as the tender beef ribs steamed in whole pumpkin. If you still have room at the end of the meal, remember to try the patbingsoo—a giant bowl of crunchy shaved ice laced with sweetened red beans and fresh fruit.

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.

Travel back to the romantic 1960s at this retro restaurant. Both the decor and the food have remained largely unchanged since the restaurant’s heyday, and you’ll find local interpretations of borscht, gravy-covered steaks, and other western dishes.

You don’t have to be vegetarian to enjoy the food at Grassroots Pantry. The health-conscious, plant-based menu here is full of vibrant flavors and always reflects the season’s freshest produce. Try the appetizer platters or the market-inspired stir-fries and pastas. Grassroots also offers a delicious selection of gluten-free desserts. Being healthy never tasted so good.

Come here for a refined, modern rendition of classic Korean cuisine. Barbecued meats are a must, and we especially recommend the sam gyup sal (thick slabs of pork belly). Moving away from the conventional dishes, Han Ga Ram also offers a few newfangled creations such as bulgogi beef and spicy pork sliders, which are available on the lunch menu. Traditionalists may want to wash down their meal with soju (a distilled rice liquor), but the staff is also happy to suggest wine pairings to go with each dish.

Located on a boisterous stretch of Temple Street, this crowded, open-air eatery is the perfect spot to soak in the local atmosphere. The food isn’t amazing, but it’s cheap and offers a wide range of choices. Stick to the wok-tossed stir-fries laced with pungent black-bean sauce or spicy chili salt. Hing Kee is also known for its clay-pot dishes, which are especially comforting during the colder winter months.

Just beyond the northern boundary of Tsim Sha Tsui, on a side street off Nathan Road near the Jordan MTR station, this humble place is popular among locals seeking a quick bowl of noodles or a simple, tasty Shanghainese dish. Try a dish of Shanghainese rice with vegetables, topped with your choice of meat, or the fried noodles, soup noodles, and sweet spareribs.

Opened by award-winning Sydney-based chef Jowett Yu, this funky eatery is nothing like your average Chinese restaurant. As the tongue-in-cheek name suggests, the food here is bold and playful, inspired by old-school Chinatown classics but with a decidedly modern twist. Standout creations include the Yunnan-style steak tartare with hot-and-sour sauce, as well as the roast wagyu short ribs with a jalapeño puree. The cocktail list is just as inspired—try the Cooler, which is made with vodka infused with oolong tea.

If you’re looking for stellar Cantonese cuisine, this is the place for you. The chefs serve a range of modern classics made from the freshest ingredients and influenced by their reverence for natural flavors. There are excellent—and expensive—dishes on the menu like double-boiled bird’s nest and braised abalone, but the humbler dishes like smoked vegetarian goose and braised beef brisket with pear really steal the show. Hoi King Heen is a great dinner destination, and the lunchtime dim sum menu is also worth checking out.

Though it’s expanded across Asia, Honeymoon Dessert’s first-ever store in Sai Kung still draws droves of loyal and new fans alike. The store sells homemade traditional Chinese desserts such as black-sesame sweet soup and the refreshing mango-pomelo sweet soup. It also does newfangled items, including durian pancakes and glutinous rice dumplings dusted with desiccated coconut and filled with fresh mango. In the summer, don’t miss out on the wide selection of cooling grass jelly creations.

Hotpot cooking is immensely popular in Hong Kong, and places like Hotpot Instinct are packed even during the steamy summer months. The large menu offers thinly sliced beef, pork, seafood, and a range of house-made fish balls and meatballs, which diners then dip into a boiling vat of broth at their table.

On the 101st floor of the ICC building, Inakaya flaunts a jaw-dropping, bird’s-eye city view and an equally extravagant interior, the highlight of which is a robatayaki (Japanese equivalent of barbecue) room, where a long counter is adorned with baskets of fresh ingredients. Because robatayaki is served in bite-size morsels, prices can add up, but it’s a fun and unique experience.

Expert in the art of yakiniku (grilled meats), Iroha stocks top-quality ingredients for its tabletop grills. Many go for the premium Wagyu beef selection, but the seafood choices are also worth trying. The thick-sliced salted beef tongue is legendary.

This might not be the prettiest restaurant you’ve ever seen, but its panfried beef patties (translated as “veal goulash” on the menu) are incredibly delicious. The browned pastry packets arrive at the table piping hot and bursting with tender minced beef—good luck stopping after just one.

Located within the International Finance Center, Isola’s floor-to-ceiling windows and harborside terrace afford spectacular views of Hong Kong’s famous skyline. The restaurant serves regional Italian fare, with selections like hand-twisted pasta with Parma ham, black truffle, fava beans, and Norcia cheese, or sea bass baked in sea-salt crust. Don't pass up the simple and well-executed stone-baked pizzas. Isola is also as much of a nighttime destination as anything else, and it’s worth coming just to sample cocktails in the equally trendy Isobar upstairs.

British celebrity-chef Jamie Oliver’s first Hong Kong venture may have had a slow start, but its heart is in the right place. The restaurant offers casual, unpretentious Italian cuisine with a heavy emphasis on sustainable, responsibly sourced ingredients. The menu follows the blueprint set out by other Jamie’s Italian outlets around the world. House favorites include hearty sharing planks loaded with cured meats, cheeses, pickles, and greens. Other familiar dishes include the famous prawn linguine.

This well-established Indian restaurant has kept up with the times, and although you’ll still find the spice-scented classics on the menu, the newer dishes with a contemporary twist are the ones that steal the spotlight. Try the mirchi kebab—delicious grilled chicken flavored with coriander and chilies and served with a cooling cilantro dip. We also recommend the grilled halibut and the mackerel curry. The restaurant has a wide range of vegetarian specialties that can impress even devout carnivores. For a true Indian feast, drop by for the buffet lunch, which is available from Monday to Saturday.

The food at Jaspa's is delicious and filling, perfect after a day walking in the hills or enjoying the beach. The international menu is wide-ranging enough to satisfy all tastes. The chicken and Peking duck fajitas arrive on your table sizzling hot; grilled snapper with Asian herbs and Parmesan-crusted rack of lamb are also delicious. Enjoy your meal indoors or opt for a table on the alfresco terrace.

One of the oldest restaurants in Hong Kong, Jimmy’s Kitchen opened in 1928 and continues to serve comfort food from around the world in a private-club atmosphere. The handy location just off Queen’s Road in Central and a menu that offers a wide selection of dishes—including steak, borscht, goulash, bangers and mash, curry, and burgers—have made Jimmy’s a favorite with both Chinese locals and tourists looking for a taste of home. It’s not cheap, but it’s a good choice for a night out with friends, especially if your group’s cravings are pulling you in different directions.

The space is dingy, the tables are cramped, and the staff is brash—but the food makes it all worth it. Kam Fung has been around for more than five decades, serving traditional Hong Kong café fare such as crumbly crusted freshly baked egg tarts, and pineapple buns wedged with a thick slab of butter. Wash everything down with the velvety smooth milk tea after a meal that’s cheap, quick, and absolutely satisfying.

Anyone seeking an authentic hot-pot experience need look no farther than Ko Lau Wan. Locals flock here for the tender beef and seafood that you cook at your table in a piping-hot pot of broth. The soup selection is quite extensive, but the satay broth and the fish stock with crab are particularly tasty. The owner comes from a fishing village in the New Territories, so there’s no wonder the cuttlefish, shrimp balls, sea urchin, amberjack, and abalone are all so tantalizingly fresh. The adventurous should try the geoduck, a giant clam popular among Hong Kongers, which can be eaten raw with soy sauce and wasabi or slightly cooked in soup.

A collaboration with the world-renowned Krug Champagne house, this private dining room is a must-visit for serious epicures. The experience is a bit surreal—guests are led through the hotel’s legendary Chinnery Bar to a black door that announces the exclusive Krug Room; within is a table that seats up to 12 diners and gives full view of the kitchen, where chef Uwe Opocensky and his team are busy at work. This is essentially Opocensky’s creative workshop: he trained at El Bulli, and he calls his cuisine “progressive gastronomy.” Salads may appear like potted plants with edible soil, while consommé are served in teapots with herbs and flowers. A meal here isn’t cheap; it costs at least HK$2,688 per person—but you get 10 to 14 courses (sometimes more) with Champagne pairings.

Health-conscious diners will appreciate the simple Shanghainese vegetarian food served at this popular restaurant in the One Peking Road tower. The menu revels in its vegetarianism, rather than trying to emulate meat; highlights include the Golden Treasure Cold Platter, which includes delicious sweet gluten with mushrooms; the Shanghai-style cold noodles with seven different sauces; and bean-curd dumplings. Good, too, are the sweet panfried cakes. Set-price meals are incredibly cheap, but beware the high prices on the à la carte menu.

Joël Robuchon, one of the world's most iconic chefs, claims that his atelier (or “artist’s workshop”) is for contemporary casual dining. Diners sit on barstools around a counter designed like a modern Japanese sushi bar so that everyone can watch the chefs at work in the open kitchen.

This French-owned spot specializes in authentic, thin Breton crêpes filled with all sorts of sweet or savory fillings. Most of the clientele is French, which is a good indication of the authenticity of the food. Fillings for these made-fresh-to-order pancakes range from traditional to experimental; La Complète buckwheat galette is loaded with a classic combination of egg, ham, and deliciously gooey melted cheese, while L’Italienne has tomato, mozzarella cheese, anchovies, and olives. The dessert crêpe selection is just as wide-ranging. La Crêperie also carries a delicious apple cider—the traditional drink of choice for accompanying galettes in Brittany.

In homage to the iconic Relais de Venise restaurant in Paris, this intimate neighborhood brasserie offers only one entrée: steak frites. A typical dinner here includes a green salad, a perfectly grilled entrecôte steak, and unlimited refills of crispy, stick-thin fries. It’s probably one of the best deals in town. But if that’s not enough food for you, you can always pick up something from the dessert trolley, which features traditional confections such as éclairs and mille-feuilles.

You can identify Lab Made by the large crowd that’s usually gathered in front of the store. They come for the super-smooth, house-spun ice cream, which is made using liquid nitrogen. The freezing process takes only a minute, which is why everything can be made to order using the freshest ingredients. There are usually only a handful of flavors to choose from, and the menu changes on a weekly basis. If available, go for one of the Hong Kong–inspired flavors, such as bean-curd pudding or sweet red-bean soup.

Foodies were understandably excited when this iconic French patisserie set up shop in Hong Kong. Its pastel-colored macarons come in a rainbow of flavors, such as classic rose and sea-salt caramel. You can enjoy these delectable confections in the sit-down tearoom, or take them to go in one of the gorgeous pastry boxes.

Visit this outdoor stall for authentic Chinese desserts. Sweet soups made with red bean or ground black sesame are served in both hot and chilled versions. Warmed, chewy, glutinous rice balls heaped with sugar, crushed peanuts, and desiccated coconut are messy but delicious.