Where to Eat in Hong Kong Now

Two Michelin stars give this restaurant culinary clout, and the elegant, magazine-worthy decor add style on top. With eye-catching art on the walls and talks, screenings, and exhibits of international contemporary art held frequently, the two-story restaurant feels like an art collector’s private home. Both breathtaking and welcoming, Duddell’s is a place to savor traditional Cantonese cuisine like braised whole South African abalone, or crispy Iberico pork with fried rice, or a double boiled fish and pork soup. Not surprisingly in this atmosphere, the food is plated beautifully. Even if you aren’t the type to take pictures in restaurants, you may rethink that while dining at Duddell’s.

LockCha offers traditional tea service and vegetarian dim sum in a stunning colonial-era building with elegant furnishings, carved wooden panels, and framed calligraphy on the walls. When it first opened in 1991, it was a simple tea shop, but over the years, it evolved into a haven for tea lovers and connoisseurs, and an important player in the revival of the traditional Cantonese teahouse. From the start, LockCha’s discerning founder, Mr. Wing-chi Ip, did things differently from other shops, buying his tea directly from farmers and focusing on unblended, pure, single-harvest tea. This attracted attention and loyal customers. Today, LockCha not only sells more than 100 different teas but also designs and sells tea wares—teapots, cups, canisters, and so on. There are also concerts every Saturday night, and tea and calligraphy classes on weekdays.

For high-end Chinese dining with out-of-this-world views, Hutong can dazzle the palate and the eyes. Enter the restaurant through a traditional lunar gate, as though entering a secret culinary society, into an artfully designed, softly lit space filled with antiques and traditional furniture. Try the tasting menu—which includes traditional favorites like sweet and sour soup with prawns, and beef stir frys—or à la carte dishes. Chili crab or steamed cod will whet the appetite, or order something more exotic like roast suckling pig with pancakes, or a sweet and spicy glazed eel.

Noodles are comfort food to much of the world, and Mak’s Noodles does its part to deliver comfort to Hong Kong. The Mak family opened its first restaurant in Guangzhou, China, before WWII, and the first in Hong Kong in 1968. The family now has locations in Macao and Singapore. Mak’s bowls of Hong Kong–style wonton noodle soup are praised for their juicy little shrimp- or pork-filled wontons and springy noodles. The small bowl offers just four (perfect) wontons, each stuffed with a whole shrimp and a bit of minced pork. The restaurant is unpretentious and wildly popular, so make a reservation or be prepared to wait for a seat.

For Hong Kong‘s best contemporary Italian, there’s only one choice: 8 ½ Otto e Mezzo, the only three-star Michelin-rated Italian restaurant outside of Italy (the name comes from film director Federico Fellini’s 1963 movie, 8½). Chef Umberto Bombana, formerly of the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong, is a native of Bergamo, in northern Italy, and among his many talents is creating culinary masterpieces with white truffles—he’s been called the King of White Truffles. Bombana creates Italian dishes like veal tenderloin with black winter truffle and whipped potatoes, but he doesn’t limit himself to Italian ingredients. Asian ingredients are showcased in dishes like cavatelli with shellfish ragout, and abalone carpaccio, Hokkaido sea urchin, and tagliolini with lobster.

Few call this restaurant by its actual long and somewhat odd name, preferring simply Happy Valley Dim Sum or Dim Sum in Happy Valley. Look for the green retro sign with the words Dim Sum running vertically in gold under big red Chinese characters. This cozy 1950s-style Shanghai café—with snug wooden booths under old movie posters—serves some of the best dim sum in Hong Kong. Order from a menu that includes lots of vegetarian options as well as panfried shrimp and chive dumplings, lobster and shrimp dumplings, and fried rice rolls with soy sauce.

If the cheeky name doesn’t grab your attention (it means “good fortune for your mouth” in Cantonese), then it’ll have to be the loud music, waiting crowds, and terrific food. Informed by the old-school Hong Kong cha chaan tengs (teahouses) and the late-night Chinatown hangouts of 1960s New York, Ho Lee Fook is unpretentious, unfussy, and focused on the food. From the open kitchen, chef Jowett Yu and his staff cook up signature dishes like roast Wagyu short ribs with a soy glaze, and favorites like crispy chicken, prawn toast, pork belly with Taiwanese caper salsa, and green beans with shimeji mushrooms and five-spiced tofu. That wait to get inside? It’s worth it.

A legend in its own time, Tokio Joe’s has maintained a loyal following for more than two decades, which is a rarity in the restaurant world. The reasons are plenty: knowledgeable, efficient service; a comfortable, laid-back ambience; and of course, excellent delicate sushi, sashimi, and an expertly curated omakase menu, with fish from Japan, Norway, Brazil, and other parts of the world. The menu changes every six months, though signature dishes like the beloved tuna salad and spicy tuna roll remain year after year. Other perennial favorites include the seared toro, fresh crabmeat, and avocado roll, and the House Special roll—made with deep-fried soft-shell crab, avocado, cucumber, crab roe, and mayonnaise. Everyone loves the fried egg and mushroom don (noodles), and Joe’s special seafood ramen will never go out of style.

Australian-Vietnamese celebrity chef Luke Nguyen has put his energy into creating fresh, modern, healthy renditions of Vietnamese street food and traditional family recipes at Moi Moi, his new Hong Kong restaurant. A master at balancing sweet and sour tastes as well as spicy and bitter, Nguyen gets big raves for his food, especially the panfried rice cakes topped with tiger prawns and caramelized pork neck. Other hits include green tea–smoked duck in rice-paper rolls, citrus wild salmon, caramelized Kurobuta pork belly, a pho made with raw Wagyu beef, and slow-braised free-range chicken drumsticks with coconut juice, fish sauce, ginger, and garlic. Moi Moi has an extensive and creative cocktail menu to accompany the feast.

Missy Ho’s cool, anything-goes vibe starts with its fun name and continues when you step into the space, a mash-up of an English pub, Grandma’s attic, and a college dorm room. The chef turns out shareable dishes so good that the spotty service can be overlooked. Favorites on the menu include fried chicken, tender and juicy little pieces served with mustard sambal aioli that go down like a bucket of popcorn. Everyone loves the Wagyu cheeseburgers, miso cod tacos, leek and pork gyoza dumplings, and hickory smoked pepper duck with tamarind ponzu sauce. If you can get a table and cope with the chaos, this place will rock your palate. The restaurant’s buzzy vibe continues even after the kitchen closes for the evening, when a swing near the bar is unfurled from the ceiling and patrons begin to try on costumes.

When classic formal Hong Kong Cantonese fits the bill and the occasion, then the Peninsula Hotel’s Michelin-starred restaurant is the go-to. In keeping with the age and era of the hotel itself, the decor of Spring Moon was inspired by a 1920s Shanghainese dining room, with teakwood floors covered by Oriental rugs and wall treatments showcasing art deco–inspired stained glass windows in dark oranges and yellows. Known for its dim sum and XO sauce made with a secret recipe, Spring Moon offers an à la carte menu with timeless favorites like Peking duck, wok-fried lobster with black bean and chili sauce, wok-fried premier Korean beef filet with honey-pepper sauce, and pan-fried dumplings filled with pork, cabbage, and mushrooms. The restaurant’s signature oven-baked fortune chicken with shredded pork and preserved vegetables must be ordered 24 hours in advance.

The sweeping views of Victoria Harbour are as much a part of dinner here as the modern European fare. A standard-bearer since it opened in 2009, the posh Café Gray Deluxe, led by chef Gray Kunz, is at the top of the Upper House, one of Hong Kong’s most exclusive boutique hotels. Kunz’s vast experience cooking in European, Asian, and American kitchens and his mission to serve organic seasonal ingredients mean unfussy dishes rich in flavor, such as steamed grouper with pickled mustard greens and pak choi; grilled organic chicken with citrus tabbouleh; or a prime Kansas strip steak served on a plank with onion rings and creamed spinach. Before or after the meal (or instead of!), try to get into the Café Gray Bar for a drink or two. The bar’s 46-foot-long white marble bar is legendary, and so are the views.

The entrance to this establishment, otherwise unmarked, reads “Consulting Room.” The staff wears white medical coats, and the boss, Dr. Fern, is apparently an expert in botanical cures who prescribes gin to customers, er, patients, for all “stress-related ailments.” Dr. Fern’s Gin Parlour is a theme bar, but a cozy one, with comfortable old-fashioned chairs and fern-patterned wallpaper. Choose from 250 kinds of gin (who knew there were so many?) and a huge selection of G&Ts served in tall, narrow glasses with long blocks of ice. WIth options like a Williams Great British Extra Dry Gin and tonic garnished with ginger cube, grated lemon, and lemon twist, and a Opihr Oriental Spiced Gin and tonic with a clove- and cardamom-studded orange slice, it’ll be hard to leave the place without trying a few different concoctions. Gin martinis are a big part of the medicinal offerings as well.