Pocket List: 5 ways to experience Hong Kong by Tatler Best co-jury head Fontaine Cheng
Hong Kong doesn’t so much dine as it devours: noisily, gleefully and always with intent. Tables are crowded, teapots clatter, someone’s auntie is arguing about the bill, and somewhere, something glorious is being deep-fried. It’s a city that treats eating as its unofficial national sport, where breakfast can be a social ritual, lunch a street-side showdown, and dinner a minor spectacle of garlic and gossip.
As Tatler Asia’s regional dining editor, and Tatler Best content lead and co-jury head for Hong Kong and Macau, Fontaine Cheng knows this rhythm by heart. She eats for a living, yes, but more importantly, she eats with curiosity. Her Pocket List is a love letter to the city’s daily performance of appetite: where nostalgia meets nerve, and where flavour always wins.
In case you missed it: 5 ways to experience Singapore by Tatler Best co-jury head Dudi Aureus
Fontaine Cheng, Tatler Best content lead, co-jury head for Hong Kong and Macau, and regional dining editor at Tatler Asia, Fontaine Cheng
Pimp up your pineapple bun at Cheung Hing Coffee Shop
Pineapple buns, best taken with spam and egg, and washed down with strong Hong Kong-style milk tea
There are pineapple buns, and then there’s the version at Cheung Hing Coffee Shop in Happy Valley, with its crisp exterior and fluffy bun interior, which can be amped up with a slice of pan-fried spam and a fried egg (that you’ll need to order separately). Wash it down with Hong Kong-style milk tea for breakfast, lunch or a wee snack.
Cheung Hing Coffee ShopAddress: 9 Yik Yam Street, 9 Yik Yam Street, Happy Valley, Hong Kong
Fight for your dim sum at Luk On Kui
Go for the old-school yum cha vibes, stay for the rustic dim sum
There’s no polite queuing here. At Luk On Kui, dim sum is sport. Trolleys rattle past, regulars are there bright and early, and hesitation means going hungry. It’s loud, unfiltered and brilliant, a living snapshot of the city’s appetite for movement and noise. The beef balls, pork liver siu mai and fried sugar egg puff are must-tries.
Luk On KuiAddress: 2-3/F, 40-50 Des Voeux Road West, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong
Feast at sea with Shun Kee Typhoon Shelter
The quintessential typhoon shelter dinner comes with plenty of garlic
At Shun Kee, dinner comes with sea breeze, skyline, and a heroic amount of garlic. Floating just off Causeway Bay, it’s one of Hong Kong’s last surviving typhoon shelter seafood experiences. Part meal, part spectacle. Go with friends, go hungry (the set menu comes with typhoon shelter crab, fresh razor clams, prawns, soy sauce noodles and more), and definitely BYOB.
Shun Kee Typhoon Shelter SeafoodAddress: Water Selling Kiosk, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
Order ja leung and congee at Chee Kee
The art of texture: crisp dough stick, soft rice roll and silky congee at Chee Kee in Yuen Long
In Yuen Long, Chee Kee turns texture into religion. Here, the ja leung, a crisp dough stick rolled in silky rice-noodle, is made fresh and still breathing steam when it hits the plate. Dunk it in congee so velvety it could soothe heartbreak. This is Hong Kong comfort food.
Chee KeeAddress: Shop C10, G/F, Kik Yeung Road Food Market, Yuen Long, Hong Kong
Score a strike and a roast goose at Kamcentre
Roast goose (with a side of bowling) done properly
The best goose in Hong Kong doesn’t come with chandeliers or tasting menus. It comes with a bowling alley. At Kamcentre Roast Goose, tucked inside the South China Athletic Association, the bird comes perfectly bronzed. The skin shatters, the meat collapses into itself, and the juices are a masterclass in everything that can be achieved through patience, fire and fat. There are also other great Cantonese dishes to try too. Side note: the watercress soup is vivid and unapologetically vegetal yet delicious and the ideal moral reset after the excess.
Kamcentre Roast GooseAddress: 1/F, South China Athletic Association, 88 Caroline Hill Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
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