Cantonese cuisine

Hong Kong's diversity means there's something for every cuisine lover. There's even a Czech restaurant with draft beer. The local cuisine is Cantonese, one of the main Chinese cuisines. Classic dishes include fried noodles or rice with beef or pork.

Another local specialty is rice noodles in soup with dumplings of shrimp, beef, fish, etc. Rice, or rice noodles, are the main side dish, as they are almost everywhere in Asia. As Hong Kong is on the coast, we definitely recommend trying fresh fish and seafood.

How to eat like a local

If you want to eat like a local, you need to head to a local restaurant. You can usually tell them by the type of guests and the lack of signs in English. Be prepared that none of the staff will speak English and with any luck they will have a menu in English. Fortunately, most restaurants have menus with pictures, so you can choose based on the pictures, or choose based on other diners' dishes. Like other restaurants in Hong Kong, customers are expected to be able to eat with chopsticks. Cutlery will be brought to you on request.

The price of local food is up to 50 hkd and depends on the time of day you eat (cheaper over lunch and in the afternoon - tea set, when a hot drink is usually included). Most restaurants charge an extra charge of approx 3 hkd for a cold drink/drink with ice.

Usual restaurant prices

If you don't want to sit at the same table with the locals, choose one of the larger and more modern restaurants. The price of a meal in the cheaper restaurants ranges from 50 hkd upwards, but you should rather expect to pay around 100 hkd for a meal.

Another alternative may be chain restaurants such as Green River or Café de Coral, where meals cost around 50 hkd. Since space is at a premium in Hong Kong and you are mainly paying for the space, expect that especially in smaller restaurants the staff will actively encourage you to leave very shortly after you finish eating.