Last updated on June 5th, 2026 at 11:47 pm
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Hong Kong boasts a diverse array of unique local dishes. As Hong Kong is a food paradise, this blog post will explore the best places to eat in the city.
Let’s get started!
Dim Sum
Ah, dim sum. The food Hong Kong is most known for.
It’s hard to choose what dishes are the best, but the following dim sum dishes are often representative of what to eat:
- Har gow
- Pork siu mai
- Lo mai gai (glutinous rice)
- BBQ pork bun
- Spring rolls
It’s always one of these five pictures whenever you see dim sum anywhere. That’s how iconic these dishes are. Although these are the main dishes, there are other dishes like chicken feet, black bean spare ribs, turnip cake, and more!
For more details on what to order when eating dim sum, check out my detailed dim sum guide.
Siu Mei
The second most important item on the list of what to eat in Hong Kong is siu mei.
Siu Mei is a Hong Kong-style barbecued meat dish and a classic in Hong Kong.
These meats include BBQ pork, roast pork, roast goose, white cut chicken, and soy sauce chicken, and are often seen hanging out by the restaurant’s windows. It’s great because, by looking at the store’s window, you know when a restaurant is out of meat and don’t even have to ask.
BBQ Pork
BBQ pork, which Hong Kongers call char siu, is probably the most famous siu mei. If there is ONE Cantonese roast meat you must eat in the city, it’s this.
Char siu is boneless pork with a signature red-glazed look and a sweet sauce.
Hong Kongers have been innovative in using char siu in their dishes. Since this meat is versatile, it pairs well with a variety of dishes, from pastries to rice and noodle dishes, and is also enjoyed on its own with white rice.
This tender, succulent, boneless pork is absolutely delicious and one of my all-time favourite Hong Kong dishes.
Oh, and don’t forget to order char siu, which is half fat and half lean. It’s the right amount of chewiness. If you don’t specify, the restaurant might not serve this combo, and you’ll miss out.
Roast Pork
Hong Kongers often eat roast pork on special occasions, such as weddings, business openings, and holidays, but it is also eaten daily.
Roast pork, also known as siu yuk, is another popular pork dish (can you tell Hong Kongers love pork?) where chefs roast the entire pig until the skin is perfectly crispy. Chefs then chop it into pieces for customers.
With a thin layer of crunchy skin and juicy meat, roast pork can be eaten on its own, but restaurants also serve hoisin sauce, salt, and/or mustard on the side, allowing people to dip the roast pork in the sauce of their choice.
Roast Goose
Roast Goose might not be as famous as char siu or roast pork, but it still absolutely belongs in the siu mei category (it’s also the most expensive).
Hong Kong roast goose features a thin, crispy, shiny layer of skin on top, complemented by tender goose meat underneath. This dish is served with plum sauce.
As for which restaurants to visit to eat this dish, go to Kam’s Roast Goose or Ki’s Roasted Goose.
Soy Sauce Chicken
Soy sauce chicken is marinated in soy sauce, making it saltier than white-cut chicken.
White Cut Chicken
On the other hand, white-cut chicken is not marinated; locals dip it in a ginger-scallion sauce. Hong Kongers ADORE this sauce. It’s common for restaurant-goers to ask for more because they can’t get enough of it.
Many Cantonese restaurants, both luxury and budget, offer menus with 1-3 siu mei. If you haven’t tried any of these meats before, I recommend this option for first-timers unsure what to eat, since you can choose from a variety and see what you like best.
Shrimp Toast
Shrimp toast is a small piece of bread (often triangular or rectangular) topped with fresh shrimp. It is usually deep-fried or baked. Restaurants might make slight variations, such as sprinkling sesame seeds or adding mayo.
Egg Tarts
Egg tarts are a dessert and an afternoon snack. These sweet things are found everywhere. Since Hong Kong streets are filled with bakeries, pop inside a local bakery and pick up some warm egg tarts. There is a choice between a butter pastry base and a flaky pastry base. Get the flaky pastry base for egg tarts fresh out of the oven. Get the butter pastry base if the egg tarts look like they’ve been sitting out for a while.
Beef Ho Fun
Beef ho fun is a dish of rice noodles served with soy sauce, beef, scallions, onions, and bean sprouts. The beef and bean sprouts give the dish a chewy taste, while the rice noodles are silky and soft. This dish is bursting with a sweeter flavour and is a signature comfort food.
Swiss Chicken Wings
Despite the name, Swiss chicken wings didn’t come from Switzerland. Like beef ho fun, Swiss chicken wings are also sweeter, as they’re made with soy sauce, Chinese wine, and sugar.
The best place to eat this dish is Tai Ping Koon. Its Swiss chicken wings and beef ho fun are pretty famous among locals, and it’s a restaurant chain many have heard of.
Beef Brisket
Hong Kongers love beef brisket because it can be used in different ways. There’s curry beef brisket rice, beef brisket noodles, and beef brisket cooked with red wine.
My favourite way to eat beef brisket is to braise it in red wine. Mixing the sauce with the rice is oh-so delicious. Curry beef brisket rice is in a solid second place. You might think it’s spicy because it’s curry, but as someone with a low spice tolerance, it’s not that spicy. Hong Kong food generally isn’t spicy.
Claypot Rice
Claypot rice is an old-school dish in which chefs cook the rice in a traditional clay pot. This results in fluffy rice that is slightly burnt at the bottom. Some people love the crispy rice because the crunchiness adds something extra, while others pass on this.
There will be toppings on top of the clay pot rice. For the most authentic experience, opt for the clay pot rice with lap cheong, a traditional Chinese sausage.
Lap cheong is a type of cured meat. It’s not the healthiest food, but it’s SO good. Do not eat it often.
Wonton Noodles
When it comes to what to eat in Hong Kong, wonton noodles are always a must-try.
Wonton noodles are fresh, thin, chewy egg noodles served with clear broth and juicy shrimp wontons (the most common type, but there are also veggie and pork wontons).
Mak’s Noodles is probably the top restaurant choice when it comes to this dish.
Fishball Noodles
While wonton noodles use egg noodles, fishball noodles often use rice noodles. The texture and colour of the noodles are different. Hong Kong makes good noodle soup dishes, so here’s another dish you’ll want to try if you like this kind of thing.
Baked Tomato Pork Chop with Rice
This dish is exactly as the name suggests. It’s a pork chop baked with tomato and rice in a ceramic oven dish. This is often served for lunch and is commonly found in Hong Kong cafes, also known as cha chaan tengs.
French Toast
Hong Kong-style French toast is a deep-fried slice of toast, typically served with syrup and butter. It is usually eaten during breakfast or as an afternoon snack in Hong Kong cafes.
It’s sweeter than you might expect for Hong Kong standards, which might surprise people since Hong Kong’s local desserts generally have lower sugar levels than Western desserts. People in Hong Kong don’t love super-sweet desserts, but they can’t even resist French toast.
The best tip for eating French toast is to eat it at a restaurant rather than ordering takeout or delivery. With the amount of syrup, the dish can get soggy fast, so dive right in as soon as it is served.
Pineapple Bun
The name ‘pineapple bun’ confuses tourists because it doesn’t align with taste or appearance. The bun has a crusty, sweet outer layer and a piece of sliced cold butter inside. As the bun is warm, the butter will melt.
Although this is the most common way to eat a pineapple bun, I prefer pineapple BBQ pork buns. Instead of a piece of butter inside, small pieces of juicy char siu are inside. It’s the ideal balance of sweet and salty. I can never get enough of these.
Curry Fishball
At Hong Kong street food stalls, there are often dozens of food options. One of the most popular choices is curry fishball.
You’ll often see people crowding around the street food stalls, eating curry fishballs on skewers as an afternoon snack before they head off to do whatever they need to do next.
Now, I must say that curry fishball isn’t for everybody. Some tourists might think it has a strange, bouncy texture. It also has a strong fish taste that would turn some people away. Conservative eaters probably won’t jump on this ship, but most Hong Kongers love this street snack. It’s a signature street food that is a local favourite.
Fish Siu Mai
Siu mai is often associated with dim sum, but that’s pork siu mai. Fish siu mai is another street food equally popular as curry fish ball.
Fish siu mai and pork siu mai taste pretty different. The appearance might be similar on the outside with the bright yellow wrapping skin, but look closely. Pork siu mai looks brown on the outside, and fish siu mai has a more white or cream colour. That’s because one uses pork while the other uses fish meat. Another main difference between the two is the texture. The pork siu mai has chunkier pieces of meat, while the fish siu mai has smoother pieces.
Cheung Fun
Like fish siu mai and cheung fun, rice noodle rolls can be served as street food or dim sum. How they prepare the cheung fun and its taste vary depending on where you eat it.
At a dim sum restaurant, cheung fun is usually wrapped with fillings such as shrimp, beef, or char siu and served with soy sauce.
At a street food stall, cheung fun is served with a combination of peanut, spicy, and hoisin sauces. There is no meat filling, but it’s more about the silkiness and the combination of sauces that make this street food snack popular.
Yin Yeung
Yin Yeung is half coffee and half milk tea. It’s a perfect mix of both, so get it when craving coffee and milk tea. It’s the best of both worlds. Besides Hong Kong milk tea, this is the most popular local drink, so you should definitely try it.
Egg Waffles
The ideal egg waffle is crisp on the outside and edges, while chewy on the inside. This street food snack is available at many stalls throughout Hong Kong. Some stalls offer ready-made egg waffles for immediate purchase, but look for ones made on the spot. They take longer to make, but they’re fresher.
The most common flavour is original, but Hong Kong restaurants and stalls have used their creativity to create unique flavours and combine egg waffles with other desserts, such as ice cream.
Hong Kong Milk Tea
Hong Kong milk tea is made with black tea and evaporated milk. It’s not very sweet, but adding sugar can adjust the sweetness level.
It’s a creamy and smooth beverage and a signature local drink. Served cold or hot, it is ordered at lunchtime or afternoon tea.
The most famous milk tea place in Hong Kong is Lan Fong Yuen in Central.
Fresh Seafood
Hong Kong is known for its fresh seafood. Sai Kung, Lei Yu Mun, or Tai O Fishing Village are the best places to satisfy this craving. These places are out of the way for the average tourist, as they require a longer travel time, but thankfully, there are restaurants within the city centre that serve fresh seafood as well.
Additionally, most restaurants offer several options for how you would like your seafood dish prepared. For example, there are several methods of cooking lobster. It’s baked with cheese, steamed with garlic, braised with yi mein (Cantonese egg noodles), and more. Get the lobster yi mein. It’s the most common way Hong Kongers eat lobster, and it’s mouth-watering and tasty.
You might not like how the seafood is cooked or marinated, but you cannot deny its freshness. You’ll be delighted with the quality of the seafood at Cantonese restaurants in Hong Kong.
Milk Pudding
Many tourists already know about mango pudding, a typical dim sum dessert dish at restaurants, but have you heard about steamed milk pudding?
Both dishes have the same texture—smooth, delicate, and bouncy. For milk pudding, though, you can serve it hot or cold. Most people go with the cold milk pudding because it’s refreshing and quenches their thirst when the heat is too much, and in Hong Kong, that’s most of the year.
Yee Shun Milk Company in Causeway Bay makes the best milk pudding. It’s their signature dish, and people are always lining up to get a bowl of this tasty treat.
If Causeway Bay is not a district you plan to visit on this trip, consider visiting the Australia Diary Company in Jordan. Instead, this restaurant has won many accolades over the years and is also famous for its egg custard pudding and scrambled egg sandwiches.
Final Thoughts- What to Eat in Hong Kong
With more than 25 HK signature dishes, you’ve got plenty of choices for what to eat in Hong Kong. In an ideal world, you could try every single item on this list, but as a tourist visiting Hong Kong, some people will be visiting for only 24 hours, while others might stay a bit longer, like 3 days.
Everyone has different food preferences, so hopefully going through the list will help you decide what you want to eat during your trip to Hong Kong.
Now to You – What to Eat in Hong Kong
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Xoxo,
Nicole
