The Hong Kong Menu

Jordan / Mong Kok

The benchmark dish for any dim sum restaurant. Translucent pleated wrappers, plump whole shrimp. A master chef har gow wrapper is thin enough to be nearly transparent. Order these first at any teahouse.

Jordan / Mong Kok

Open-topped steamed dumplings filled with pork and shrimp, topped with a dot of roe or carrot. The most popular dim sum item in Hong Kong. Available at every teahouse.

Yau Ma Tei / Jordan

Silky steamed rice noodle sheets rolled around shrimp, char siu pork, or beef. Served with sweet soy, sesame sauce, and peanut sauce. The texture is what Hong Kong street food is famous for.

Citywide

The definitive Hong Kong pastry. A buttery shortcrust shell filled with smooth, lightly sweet baked egg custard. Eat warm from a bakery. Tai Cheong Bakery in Central is the famous version.

Citywide

Glutinous rice packed with chicken, mushrooms, Chinese sausage, and egg yolk, wrapped in lotus leaf and steamed until fragrant. Heavy and filling — order one per two people.

Citywide

Available steamed (soft, pillowy) or baked (glazed, golden). Both are Cantonese icons. The baked version from cha chaan tengs is a perfect breakfast. The steamed version is a dim sum staple.

Wan Chai / Central

The pinnacle of Cantonese roast cooking. Crispy mahogany skin, rich dark meat, rendered fat. Kam's Roast Goose in Wan Chai has the queue of locals that means something. Order with rice and mustard.

Citywide

Pork neck marinated in honey, five-spice, and red yeast rice, roasted until caramelized. The fatty cuts are best. Eat with white rice and the pan drippings.

Jordan / Sham Shui Po

Thin, springy egg noodles in clear shrimp roe broth, with three or four wontons. The broth takes hours. The noodles are cooked in seconds. Best bowls found in no-English-menu shops.

Citywide Street Food

The definitive Hong Kong street food. Spongy fish balls in thick, mildly spicy curry sauce on skewers. Available throughout Mong Kok, Sham Shui Po, and Temple Street Night Market.

Citywide

Slow-cooked rice porridge with toppings: century egg and pork, fish, abalone, or preserved vegetable. A Hong Kong breakfast institution available at shops opening at 6am.

Cha Chaan Tengs Citywide

Soft milk bread with a crumbly sweet pastry crust — no actual pineapple. The Hong Kong upgrade: order with a thick slab of butter inside (bo lo yau). A cha chaan teng breakfast staple.

Sai Kung

Choose live seafood from waterfront tanks: coral trout, mantis shrimp, crab. The restaurant steams it with ginger and scallion. Priced by weight, agree before cooking.

Lamma Island

A 25-minute ferry from Central. Sok Kwu Wan and Yung Shue Wan have waterfront seafood restaurants. Cheaper and more relaxed than Sai Kung. The whole steamed fish and garlic butter crab are the standards.

Tai O, Lantau

The stilt village of Tai O is famous for dried seafood and shrimp paste. The flavour is intense. Buy small jars to take home. Try the fish balls at the market stalls.

Cha Chaan Tengs Citywide

Strong Ceylon tea blended with evaporated milk, filtered through a cloth sock. Stronger and richer than British-style milk tea. Served hot or iced. The standard by which every cha chaan teng is judged.

Cha Chaan Tengs Citywide

A Hong Kong invention: three parts milk tea, one part coffee. Stronger than either alone, somehow balanced. A true cha chaan teng classic you will not find anywhere else in the world.

Cha Chaan Tengs Citywide

Thick white bread with peanut butter or kaya jam, dipped in egg, deep-fried until golden, topped with butter and condensed milk. A Hong Kong cha chaan teng breakfast standard.