Looking for new restaurants/ buffets
 

Hey,

I've been in HK a while now and always find myself going to the same places.

I was wondering if anyone had any good ideas of places to eat and socialize? I'm easy on the location - HK or Kowloon side.

I'm looking for some sort of buffet place. My price range is a bit broad $250-$500 depending on the occasion. Does anyone have any ideas.

Also, I frequently find myself in Causeway Bay. I've been to quite a few restaurants, but I'm looking for some cheap eat. Sub 100HKD. Ideally close to $50.

^

Tim Ho Wan is fine, but there isn't one in CWB for a cheap lunch and it's not a buffet restaurant.

Pick a MTR Station and use Openrice.

Having said that, my experience is that reviews of non-Chinese restaurants on OpenRice are often quite bizarrely out of line with my perceptions of these places as a non-Chinese.

I know about OpenRice.
While I find it really useful, it's hard to find hidden gems there.

I agree with Chris too. I've been to 'western' places with great reviews where the food is mediocre and vice-versa.
Also, I find the price ranges on their website can be well out of what I have eventually paid (both above and below).

That's why I am asking for advice here.

Mask. Behind the Sheraton in Kowloon. It is my go to place on every visit.

Check out the area near the Indonesian consulate for eats from that country. I think I used to eat at a place called Warung Chandra, but it has been a while.

For that price range, possibilities are endless. So it's tough to answer the question unless you're more specific on the preferences. Are you looking for breakfast, lunch, dinner, tea buffet? Unless you're talking about dinner buffet, just about every buffet at even 5-star hotels will be <$500.

On the HK side, I'm mostly only familiar with buffets at the three Admiralty hotels, but Cafe Too is my favorite for breakfast & lunch. On the Kowloon side, Cafe Kool is my favorite for breakfast. For lunch/dinner, Yamm (Mira), Cafe on M (G.Stanford), Osteria (HI - lunch only with antipasto/crabs/dessert) are some of the good ones. I tend to do buffets more on the Kowloon side, because it's quite a bit cheaper for the same quality. Plus places like Yamm and Cafe on M often offer online coupons.

But since you live in HK, you've probably been to a lot of these places already, no?

When it comes to buffet prices, I actually find that Openrice's listed prices are usually accurate. The only time when there's discrepancy is around the Holiday season (sometimes the entire month of Dec) when places jack up the price using Holiday as the reason.

Loved it the first time I went then after the second visit where they mixed up our orders and things didn't come out at the right time and the chicken and beef was not tender we gave up on Mask.

Walk up behind the Mariner's Club (I think it was called that) near Mask and there are tons of Restaurants.

We would just come out at a Station and look around or just head out and find places. We were happy to try anything.

I'm looking primarily for dinner, rather than lunch and breakfast. My lunch budget would be 250 max haha.
Thanks for the suggestions. I'll try looking again at OpenRice.
I've tried Cafe on M and it was good, not sure it was worth the price though. Not tried Yamm, so that's one to look at.

Okay, I don't know of any great lunch buffet for <$250. But there's a bunch for ~$300 in TST. Among those, I like Cafe on M and Yamm the most and you should go to their websites to see if they offer any coupons.

$500 budget for dinner buffets is tight if you want one that will blow you away, but there's a lot of great places in TST that run only slightly above that.

If you have certain types of credit card, there's 10-20% discount at Cafe on M. I actually think Cafe on M is worth the price. I think Cafe Kool is slightly more expensive and offers more selections for dinner, but then Cafe on M seems to be more abundant with the premium items (lobsters, crab legs, think they also had suckling pig the last time I went). IC's Harbourside is better but way pricier.

Mind you, I usually stick to 4.5~5-star hotels for sleeping and dining in HKG. So it's possible there're cheaper places that are excellent. If there's a place like that, I'd like to know about it. Hotels like BP International and Eaton will have buffets that probably meet your budget, so you could read up on their reviews. But from my limited experiences with cheaper buffets, you sort of get what you pay for.

Try the Seafood Laksa and Beef Rendang at Sabah in Wan Chai. Socialize afterwards :)

Just back from HK, and found this *terrific* italian wine bar on Staunton in the midst of the fun, at Staunton and Aberdeen by PMQ.

"Stazione Novella". Ming Hing House, 52-56 Staunton St, Hong Kong. Free unlimited small bar tapas 5-7 Mon-Fri. I had a great time with heavy wine pours and a little free food for an hour before meeting a buddy at Little Bao. No wifi, excellent space. I will go back when I'm in HK again.