I'm going to be in HK with my wife for a friend's wedding in November. With all the wedding events, my wife and I really only have one free night to go have a great dinner on our own. No real price limit--just want to have the best Chinese food we can. Any recommendations? We'll be staying in the Causeway Bay area, so any suggestions in that neighborhood would be particularly appreciated.
OP asks an 'impossible' question to answer properly:
1. A great meal, aka chinese banquet, includes multiple dishes
2. Two people sharing a chinese meal can't gobble down a banquet
3. OP doesn't mention cuisine preference, eg cantonese, sichuan, shanghainese, peking (aka duck), etc. etc.
Chris recommends a good place and the Four Seasons is also good. If you want great seafood, I could recommend 1 or 2 places in Wanchai area. Another one that comes to mind is the Peninsula hotel, second floor. A good and popular place for locals wanting shanghainese is 2 blocks from Fortress Hill MTR (Oil St exit).
And Causeway Bay/Times Square area only has about 4-5 good cantonese spots, no.
And if you do go to a 'great' place, but don't know the specialties of the house, chances are you won't get a 'great meal'......get my drift?
Programs: AC E, SPG nothing but wannabe Platinum :-)
Posts: 1,535
Quote:
Originally Posted by lshansky
No real price limit ...
Careful. HK restaurants can get expensive awfully quickly. Quite a few of them prey on the unsuspecting tourists as well - I've paid for peanuts that were simply placed on the table as though they were free. Paradoxically, fresh seafood can get very pricey as well.
But that's not to say that you can't find good, reputable restaurants in HK. Aside from the choices mentioned, there's a good restaurant (Maxim's I think it's called) right beside City Hall. (Make sure you go to the one upstairs - 2nd or 3rd floor IIRC.) I've only been there for lunch, but I'd imagine it's a good place for dinner too. On a clear night, the restaurant in The Peak will offer fantastic views. It's not a bad place but it's not the best in HK either.
If you really want an "authentic" experience though, the sidewalk hole in the wall will be the place to go. You won't have troubles finding these.
If your friend's wedding is a Chinese one and the banquet is in one of the major hotels then frankly that's where you'll do best. Formal Chinese meals (as opposed to street food, noodle joints etc) really don't work well at all for groups of less than at least four because to get the "correct" balance and progression of food you need many dishes. The Chinese simply don't do formal meals with two people.
Really? I thought it was pretty straightforward. If someone asked me the same question about Chicago (my hometown), I'd know what to tell them.
I don't know. If someone asked me where they should go for the best American food, I'd struggle to come up with an answer for them. It could be at a pricey steakhouse or it could be a twenty-four hour diner.
Is there anything that the OP doesn't like? Perhaps it's easier to start there.
Don't be shy at the wedding banquet. You'll get to taste some good stuff.
If you're lucky, you'll get the goose web with the abalone.
There'll be the steamed fish, done the Cantonese way, shark's fin, crispy chicken, scalloped stuffed zuccini, etc. Not in that order, but just the dishes I like at wedding banquets. Plus lots of wine.
If I was to take my visiting friends to dinner, I'd take them to a seafood do. Get the company junk, motor out to Lamma. I'd order:
chili blackbean clams,
chili n salt squid,
chili n salt mantis shrimp,
red swimmer crabs with ginger and spring onion,
baked lobster in cheese and yee min as base
garlic steamed prawns,
steamed garouper,
and a fried rice for the guests.
All this of course with gallons of cold white wine.
All depends on what you like, I know people who don't like seafood, so I don't go to Lamma with them.
If I was to take my visiting friends to dinner, I'd take them to a seafood do. Get the company junk, motor out to Lamma. I'd order:
chili blackbean clams,
chili n salt squid,
chili n salt mantis shrimp,
red swimmer crabs with ginger and spring onion,
baked lobster in cheese and yee min as base
garlic steamed prawns,
steamed garouper,
and a fried rice for the guests.
Indeed, but that's food for 6 at least. Doesn't really work for two people unless you're happy to pay for 6 and leave a lot of food behind.
A good American restaurant in Hong Kong would be Morton's or Main Street Deli.
I meant that if OP (or myself) had guests visiting in the States and wanted the "best American food", it would be awfully difficult to pin down what exactly that meant. Similar to Chinese food, it means too many things, ranging from cheap to expensive, simple to fancy, sit down to on the go, etc.
I don't waste my time with American food in HK. Need to save my precious stomach room for fish ball noodles
