Originally Posted by
phol
Honestly, you dont need to spend mega bucks here to get great food. Hong Kong is the home of the status seeking who will eat anywhere so long as the price is high... bearing no reflection whatsoever on the food quality. The Michelin guide will be your best bet... and the main difference between a 2 star and a 1 star will be the service/presentation surrounding the food. There are some very cheap 1 star/Bibs Gourmand places here.
Din Tai Fung for example is one of my favourite restaurants globally. I couldn't care less what the service is like, for ~100HKD per head you cannot fault the food.
I really like DTF, but I was surprised it was given 1 star. Not because the xiaolongbao aren't tasty, they are: but really -- it's really a 'one trick pony' sort of place. Similarly, I would not give 1 star to somewhere that serves the best hot dog or burger, nothwithstanding that those foods can be extremely delicious.
One can have superb, very inexpensive food in HK (e.g. a wonderful won ton soup, great piece of roast pork), but the OP is specifically (I think) asking about a decent meal for he and his wife, which I took it to read as somewhere reasonably fancy. Doesn't have to have 3 michelin stars, but DTF doesn't really cut it in my book. And many such places in HK do cost a minimum of HK$1k and above for the food alone. A great dim sum lunch will cost similar at a top place, but dinner at the same restaurants will be considerably more.
However, I have had superb, memorable food, with great service for much less than the US$700 that the OP quotes. I could also see that the menu would allow me to order such a meal without difficulty, depending on the ingredients chosen.
tb